Pre-Med Shadowing in Portugal for Experience & Applications

Arya Haala Start Date: Feb 20, 2024 - End Date: May 29, 2024
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Professional Development
  • Guimaraes, Portugal

My Travel Story

by: Arya Haala Start Date: Feb 20, 2024 - End Date: May 29, 2024
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Professional Development
Hello! Today I want to talk about an amazing opportunity and to ask for your support as I take the next steps in my pursuit of becoming a physician of pathology. Since I was young, I have had an affinity for the sciences. What started with an obsession with dinosaurs eventually led me to labs, microscopes, and baking soda volcanoes. Although this was tons of fun, I wanted to apply this passion to the medical field, and thus I landed on pathology. I plan on becoming a physician of pathology, and while I know I could switch fields, I am certain I want to work with different cases and further cancer and disease research.

This last semester I became very involved in the Pre-Med Club on my campus. They helped me understand medical school requirements and how I can make a change in my community through them. One requirement is job shadowing within the medical field. While I was searching for opportunies in this, I stumbled upon Atlantis, a shadowing program that would not only help me understand different medical fields, but also gain global experiences in medicine.

Atlantis is a pre-med abroad program that connects pre-health students with doctors in hospitals across the world. It is designed to help students like me understand their place in the medical field and get first-hand experience shadowing physicians. As you may know, getting serious shadowing experience in the States is both extremely competitive and rigorously regulated. Yet, pre-med students are all but required to have shadowing experiences, along
with unique extracurricular pursuits, to get accepted into medical school. An Atlantis program satisfies both needs.

After hearing about this incredible experience, I applied the next day, interviewed the following week. Luckily I was accepted into the program, but I am still trying to pay for it. Through this program, I will get the opportunity to: shadow international physicians, rotate weekly through various specialties, shadow for 20 hours per week, go on group excursions to experience my host country’s culture, connect with other pre-med students around the world, and grow personally through this international experience.  I will be traveling to Guimaraes, Portugal for two weeks, and I am so excited to experience healthcare from a new cultural perspective!
  • Guimaraes, Portugal

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