Gaining hands-on experience in college gives you an edge after you graduate. It provides invaluable opportunities to explore your options, meet the challenges you’ll face in your career, and apply the skills you’re learning to real-life situations.
At UAB it’s easy to gain experience that will help you succeed in your field. With renowned research and medical centers on campus and a location in the heart of Alabama’s largest metropolitan area, UAB offers limitless possibilities. And you don’t have to wait. You can take advantage of many opportunities as early as your freshman year.
So where do you start? Here are a few ideas.
- Look for classes that blend experience into the curriculum. Some courses take you into the field or involve you in research and real-world projects. For example, one engineering class performed experiments aboard NASA’s zero-gravity plane. And some education students actually teach in local elementary school classrooms.
- Join a student organization. Whether you take part in a professional association related to your career or one tailored to your interests, you can learn leadership skills and work with others on projects that will give your resume a boost. Your options are wide open, from writing for the Kaleidoscope to representing other students in the Undergraduate Student Government Association.
- Internships, mentorships, jobs, and volunteer positions are readily available both on and off campus. The UAB Career Center can help you with your search, and its Experiential Education programs can help you gain experience in your career field while you're still in school.
- Many programs are designed to help you gain experience. You’ll find some of these in your department or school along with larger ones such as the Study Abroad Program, the Honors Program, ROTC, and the Early Medical School Acceptance Program. Students in some of these have been able to assist researchers in labs, travel overseas, or shadow physicians in UAB clinics—and that’s just the beginning.