Teaching/Mentorship

Brief Description:
Teaching - Teach high school students in the Los Angeles area to the rapidly developing world of biotechnology through hands-on laboratory experience

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Student Comments:

1. “Super fun program that allows you to work with high school students with less science resources for their school programs and teach them easy lab skills (ex. pipetting, running gels, etc.), but using pop culture themes! We would dress up as different movie characters for our presentations and the entire session would follow an immersive story-line. It made me more comfortable with showcasing my personality and teaching large groups of students (who may or may not be very interested in science), so definitely was a great learning experience. The interview process involves preparing a quick 5 min teaching session on any science topic, and my tip is to try using fun analogies and creative methods!”
2. “So much fun, very interactive, and the kiddos are truly amazing to work with.”

Brief Description:
Teaching neuroscience to underserved primary education students

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Student Comment:

1. “Help design/create digestible neuroscience presentations to be given at science fairs and underserved schools to elementary and middle school aged students. Fun, not high commitment unless you want to be involved in leadership.”

Brief Description:
Teaching - Undergraduate (Teaching) Assistant - unpaid, but rewarded with grades

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Student Comment:

1. “I was a UA and later TA for LS 30. It has become such a rigorous program through the years that I have seen. I cannot speak to the other leaders, but those in charge of LS 30 are super into teaching and dedicating their time to support students as much as they can. Highly recommend participating because you get to lead or help lead a section (or for certain classes, help facilitate in-class discussion). Through this, you can hone your teaching skills and public speaking - which is a great plus for anything that you do later on.”

Brief Description:
Mentorship organization that pairs you with an upperclassmen premed mentor

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Student Comments:

1. “Medical friends is a really great mentorship program that really helped me during my first couple years at UCLA. There is just so much information that gets thrown at you and that you need to know as a premed student that it helps to have an entire organization devoted to helping you navigate classes, extracurriculars, research, the application process and more. In addition as a 3rd and 4th year you can help mentor students and that is something medical schools really like. A lot of schools want to see students that are willing to help each other out and showing that you were a mentor can demonstrate that. They want to know you will get along with your fellow classmates and be willing to accept/give help because med school is tough, and having people alongside you is very helpful”
2. “I was also part of this org throughout all four years of undergrad, and it was very helpful with guiding me throughout each year of undergrad and keeping me on track with certain deadlines/things I need to be aware about. I learned about various programs through this org and met upperclassmen who became my mentors. This was a relatively smaller club (20-30 active members usually), so it was easy to get heavily involved with a leadership position and also implement ideas that you had. I'd recommend joining some kind of mentorship org if you haven't found a good support system yet!”

Brief Description:
Teaching - Paid position as a learning assistant-esque tutor. Almost complete independence to design worksheets and lead sessions

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Student Comment:

1. “You have similar duties to a learning assistant, only you do not attend course sessions, and you have to plan sessions by yourself. You develop your teaching and organizational skills by planning lessons, logging attendance and responding to your students' questions. You may lead up to 6 sessions a week of <12 students in courses from both South Campus and North Campus. Depending on the course, you may go over problem sets, reteach complicated concepts, or facilitate discussions. You may also provide essay feedback if you're the PLF for an English course. You are hired on a per-quarter basis AKA you can take a quarter off, then come back whenever you want. Definitely a high commitment high reward job. Also is the highest paying job on campus, which ain't bad either”

Brief Description:
Tutor and provide health education for at-risk youth in Los Angeles

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Student Comments:

1. “Mentor and support youth after school by helping them with their homework and giving health presentations; if you enjoy teaching, mentoring others, and learning more about public health, this is an incredible opportunity to do so!”
2. “Big experience if you enjoy teaching and want to get involved in public health early on. Working with kids can be a learning curve, but it's so rewarding when you see them developing skills they struggle at or opening up to you at site”
3. “An amazing org for anyone with any interest in public health, teaching, or working with kids; allows undergrads to step outside of the UCLA bubbles and form meaningful, long-term connections with kids in the greater LA area by helping them with their homework and presenting health modules geared for their age group; going to site and interacting with the kids was honestly one of the highlights of my week”
4. “Really good organization if you are interested in public health and education. Kids are super great to work with and honestly were always one of the highlights of my week. Was talked about a lot on my med school application process”
5. “Mentoring and delivering health-focused modules for underserved youth was both fulfilling and enjoyable. TEACH introduces you to the significant importance of community development, health education, and a strength of personal mentorship relationships in inspiring youth with limited resources and support systems. As one year as an intern, I became a Site Coordinator and oversaw a group of interns and gained a different perspective on how health education can be delivered in the community organizationally. For the recruitment process, be sure to display your enthusiasm and passion for working with youth and for engaging with public health issues in the community context. Currently a DGSOM med student.”

Brief Description:
Teaching - Paid employment community service mentorship

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Student Comment:

1. “As a BruinCorps member, you commit to helping under-resourced communities in LA county by serving as a tutor for disadvantaged students. Personally, I assisted underrepresented minorities in a public charter school where I would sit in on classes and have one-on-one interactions with students who were struggling. The school was unfortunately quite understaffed and there were moments where the teachers were unable to teach a specific topic, so I stepped in to help teach whenever possible. This is obviously not a requirement but goes to show how incredibly important it is to provide mentorship for these students. My interview mainly consisted of showing how you would teach math to a student, and I was hired immediately afterward.”