Hope Medical Scholars is a 501c non-profit organization founded by Harvard Medical School students dedicated to increasing access and exposure to medical school for students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine and for first-generation low income students.
Having graduated from and taught at inner city high schools, Hope Medical Scholars founders understand the challenges faced by students at these schools. Frequently, many gifted low-resource youth have difficulty gaining exposure to undergraduate premed or medical student lives because they lack access to role models. The program was founded in 2017 to provide these students with the resources to only explore college life but to empower them with the network opportunities and build the confidence they need to materialize their dreams. Since 2016, the program has helped several high school students gain acceptances to some of the most selective colleges in the country, including Brown University, Columbia University, and Dartmouth College.
Program structure
The program schedule is catered to the interests and needs of each selected scholar. An example schedule is below:
Arrive at Tosteson Medical Education Center at 7:30 AM.
Address: 260 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115
07:30 AM-08:00 AM: Breakfast with your mentor (Jade Connor)
8:00 AM-12:30 PM: Class: Heart and Blood Vessels: Cardiac Contractility
12:30 PM-1:30 PM: Lunch with HMS students
1:30 PM-2:30 PM: Patient Clinic (Asthma)
2:30 PM-3:30 PM: Tour and meet the faculty/staff
Selection process
Students will be selected based on their application materials. Students are encouraged to have a strong:
Interest in medicine or a medically related field
Academic record
Record of leadership
Students who have overcome significant obstacles including familial, financial, or social obstacles are encouraged to share their narratives in the application. There will be a minimum of 10 Hope Medical Scholars chosen per month.