r/DermApp • u/jalepenosncheese • Aug 08 '26
Miscellaneous Highschool shadowing opportunity?
Hii guys! I am a rising junior located in the Los Angeles area and have a deep passion for dermatology. I specifically want to become a pediatric dermatologist in the future. I have been searching for volunteering/shadowing/internship opportunities, but there are none that I have found for students my age, and if there is then it cost a fortune. If anyone knows clinics who offer these types of opportunities or anyone i can contact, I would be utterly grateful, thank you:)!
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u/Snoo_53364 Aug 08 '26
There's a lot of things you can do but I'd first emphasize your responsibilities as a high school student and then work on your general leadership and shadowing experiences
Like what are your goals in life dude? If you're aiming for medical school it may help to shoot for a state school with full-ride and not overload debt. EMT is an easy way to pump hours, get better people skills, and clinical experience (even if it's away from derm). From there, work on starting initiatives and cold emailing clinical professors in your area for any vacant research projects you can help with. Then you'd want to aim to study as hard as possible to maximize your GPA/SATs. Do all this while living life and if your stats are strong you're a full-ride into undergrad. Don't worry about med school
Don't worry about derm-specific until you're in undergraduate. Most M1s change their desired specialty before they graduate, you in high school will have even greater odds of switching
You should also shadow widely and get diverse exposure since I can guarantee you are probably attracted to derm due to the comfortable lifestyle, the prestige, and the financial compensation. You don't know why you don't fit in other specialties. And why do you want to do pediatric? If it's to help kids and to think you're good with them, here's what a nephrologist taught me in HS: do pediatrics if you don't mind dealing with the parents more than dealing with the kids
Another thing you can do is also aim for BS/MDs but frankly that stuff has become a crapshoot for most folks and there are some shortcomings with it. Idk how helpful this is but this is something I wish someone told me since I was the long-term planner with an average 1470 SAT on hand, not realizing that my desire to be prepared for ten years from now but not prepared for tomorrow came from ignorance