Health & Medical Professions


Interested in pursuing a career in healthcare and medicine? Below you will find resources, events, opportunities, and advice to help you explore & confirm your interest and kickstart your career.

Explore a Career Path in Healthcare and Medicine

Pursuing a career in health means you’ll make a lifetime of difference, whether you’re drawn to medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinarian science, public health, or another field. In this career community, you will find helpful information and resources to help you explore possible career fields of interest, prepare your next steps, and successful apply to medical or health profession schools.

CAPD’s Prehealth Advising team is here to support you as you explore your interest in health professions.

How do I determine if a career in Healthcare and Medicine is right for me?

There are a variety of ways to begin exploring careers in healthcare and medicine.  The first step is to determine if a career in healthcare is right for you?

If you realize you have an interest in helping others, having a direct impact on peoples lives, an interest in the human body, amongst many other factors, a career in healthcare and medicine might be right for you!  The next step is begin determining the type of career you want to pursue.

  • Do you prefer a career that involves direct patient care or engaging in medical research?
  • Do you have an interest in both direct patient care and research?
  • Or maybe you have preferred interest in the promotion of health overall through advocacy, education, and/or business.

As you consider the answer to these questions, it will be important for you to research the various career paths in healthcare and medicine, along with identifying which career paths and specific positions align with you and your values, interests, skills, preferences, and experiences thus far.

Researching Career Paths in Healthcare and Medicine

The following websites will be helpful as you research career paths and specific positions in healthcare and medicine.

Explore Career Paths in Healthcare and Medicine

The 3 websites below will assist you in exploring different careers in healthcare and medicine.

  • Explore Healthcare Careers – the Explore Healthcare Careers website provides easy access to updated, peer-reviewed career descriptions that inspire and motivate students to find health careers that suit them.
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook  – to assist you in exploring career paths, you can use the Occupational Outlook Handbook to view statistics on salaries, working conditions, education required, etc. in the many careers/jobs in the U.S.
  • Career Paths in Academia & Education – if you are interested in a career in Academia & Education related to Healthcare/Medicine, CAPD’s website will provide you with valuable resources, events, opportunities and advice to help you confirm you interest and kickstart your career.

Becoming a Physician (MD, MD-PhD, DO)

  • MD – Doctor of Medicine

We’re here to help.

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Schedule an appointment

Prehealth Advising is here for you through every step of the process. Need advice? Plan an appointment that fits your schedule or join a virtual Prehealth Advising Drop-In session.

Two veterinarians with a dog.

Join the prehealth mailing list

Stay up-to-date by joining the prehealth email list; just email prehealth@mit.edu with the subject: “Please add me to the [year] prehealth email list.” (Use the year you plan to enter medical school, not the year you graduate from MIT.)

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Join the Prehealth Facebook group

Find your MIT prehealth community, get advice, and connect with other students by joining the Prehealth Advising Facebook group.

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Consider applying to a medical interpreting course

This 4-week IAP course trains multilingual MIT community members in core principles, standards of practice, ethics, and medical terminology. Participants will be qualified to work or volunteer as interpreters in healthcare settings upon completion of the 40-hour course.

In IAP 2023, this course will be offered by CAPD’s Prehealth Advising Office and MIT ActLingual with support from the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund, MIT Medical, MIT Coop, and the MIT Community Service Fund. Class facilitated by UMass Chan Medical School.

The application for the 2023 IAP Medical Interpreting Course is now closed. Please check back with us next fall.

Sidebar

Mental Health Awareness Month Webinars

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! In recognition, the MIT HR WorkLife and Wellbeing Center is hosting a series of live webinars throughout the month that will focus on personal wellbeing and mental health.

Experts in their fields, will share …

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Learning to become a medical interpreter

You’re in the hospital with a serious condition. The doctor is asking you questions. The nurse is explaining your discharge instructions. The problem? You don’t understand or speak English. Or at least not well enough to grasp the complex information …

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International Women’s Day: MIT Healthcare Innovation and Gender Equity 

International Women’s Day: MIT Healthcare Innovation and Gender Equity 

Date: Wednesday, March 8 from 6-8PM 

Location: E38 iHQ 795 | 7th Floor – Hacker Reactor

Join us for an inspiring and empowering evening as we celebrate International Women’s Day and recognize …

By Simona Rosu
Simona Rosu Senior Assistant Director, Postdoctoral Career and Professional Development
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First-year students discover medical careers in Prehealth Advising-led SP.252

”I’m not sure what I want to do, but I know I want a career where I can directly improve people’s health.“

These sentiments are what Prehealth Advising’s first-year discovery subject Careers in Medicine (CiS) SP.252 helps students explore and, …

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Prehealth Advising runs its seventh Discover Prehealth FPOP

MIT is well-known for developing the talents of future engineers and scientists, but people often haven’t heard of its success developing our future physicians.

And in late August, MIT Prehealth Advising ran its 7th Discover Prehealth FPOP for 25 incoming …

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Akunna Rosser Senior Assistant Director, Prehealth Advising
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Featured Resources

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The Guide to Shadowing a Physician includes a variety of tips and strategies to help you acquire a shadowing opportunity. …

Labssense hosts positions from startup healthcare companies seeking individuals interested in working with various cutting-edge technologies such as CRISPR, AI-enabled …

The Guide to Shadowing a Physician includes a variety of tips and strategies to help you acquire a shadowing opportunity. …

Since our founding in 1999 as Opportunity Knocks, one of the first job boards focused exclusively on mission-driven careers, the …

Since the magazine was founded in 1956 New Scientist has also been helping to put brilliant scientists to work with …

Infinite Careers Profiles