Lehigh University
Career Services Center
Health Professions Advising Office
BioS 202 Biomedical Externship/St. Luke’s Shadow
Program
The Biomedical Externship is a 3-credit course offered on a competitive basis to a
limited number of juniors/seniors each fall and spring semester. Students spend a
minimum of 60 hours at the hospital, including 20 hours of department/service
observation and 40 hours of observation with residents, staff physicians, and medical
students in internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, surgery, and an area to be arranged.
Students also attend educational conferences and early morning rounds or a night on-call.
Academic requirements may vary depending on the coordinating Professor, but typically
include extensive journal, oral and written analytic reports, weekly meetings, discussions,
etc., emerging from these experiences. Required: 3.2 GPA or above. From the catalog:
BIOS 202. Biomedical Externship (3) Analysis of individualized experiences at external biomedical
clinical or research sites. Limited enrollment. May not be taken for pass-fail grading. May be taken only
once and may not be used to satisfy any life science major or minor requirement. (NS)
Application Deadline for Fall 2014 semester: March 14, 2014
Application Deadline for Spring 2015 semester: October 3, 2014
APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
1. Answer the application questions (next page) and write a Personal
Statement (see below). Arrange to have a faculty letter of recommendation emailed
to the Pre-Professional Counselor (see form page 3).
2. Call Career Services at 610-758-3710 to set up a meeting with the Pre-
Professional Counselor BEFORE deadline. Bring printout of completed application
with personal statement, resume, and most recent transcript/audit to this meeting.
3. Topics for the Personal Statement (1-2 pages, double spaced): Why do you
think you want to become a physician? What previous experiences support this
decision? How will the Shadow Program help you clarify your goals? What are your
interests in the area of health care?
4. Discuss your community service, work, and volunteer experiences (both in
and out of a health care setting) as they relate to your future career goals. If you are
unsure about your decision to be a physician, it is acceptable to state that---and talk
about how you think this program will help you decide.
Students are selected by preregistration. The applications of students who are not
selected will roll over into future semesters. Notify the Pre-Professional Counselor if you
wish to be reconsidered and update your transcript/audit.
For more information: Pre-Professional Counselor, Career Services, 610-758-
3710 (mer2)
ST. LUKE’S SHADOW APPLICATION
Please answer the following questions.
Bring a printout of this material (along with your Personal Statement,
your resume, and a recent transcript/audit) to your meeting with the Pre-
Professional Counselor (note deadlines).
Date______________________________________
Name_____________________________________ Class of______________
Major/minor________________________________
Current overall GPA _________________________
Phone ____________________________________ email ________________
1. Why are you interested in participating in BioS 202?
2. Please list and describe previous volunteer experiences, including community service
activities.
RECOMMENDATION FOR ST. LUKE’S SHADOW PROGRAM
Confidential Evaluation of _____________________________________________
Student’s name
Faculty Person/Department _____________________________________________________
To the Student: Read the Explanation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act of 1974 (FERPA) below. Sign the following waiver statement, if you wish to
make such a waiver, and then deliver this form to the faculty member by whom you
wish to be evaluated.
I have read the attached, and I hereby waive my right to access confidential
statements evaluating me and my activities, and said statements being made in
connection with applications for admission I may make or have made to another
educational institution.
Date Student’s Name (Print) Student’s Signature
EXPLANATION OF FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (Buckley Amendment) allows a
student and his/her parents to examine files pertaining to the student which are maintained by
admissions officers, academic deans, social deans, registrars, and other administrators. A summary
of the Act is in the Student Handbook. The Act provides that the student may waive the right to
examine confidential letters of recommendation relating to (1) applications for admission to another
school or (2) applications for a job or (3) an award. Each student should consider the consequences of
relinquishing the rights protected by the Act before choosing to sign or not to sign the waiver, which
appears above.
Not signing the waiver requires that the evaluator be able to provide assessments that s/he is
ready to defend in the presence of his/her colleagues, the applicant, and the applicant’s parents. The
predominant benefit of not signing the waiver is the assurance that there will be an opportunity to
challenge anything that is written.
Signing the waiver may mean that letters from faculty members, with the contents protected
by confidentiality, will be of greater assistance to the student in the admissions process, for the
reason that some admissions officials who read letters lacking a waiver may believe that critical
comments may have been deleted and may view favorable remarks as gratuitous and worthless.
Moreover, there is a possibility that greater emphasis will be placed on GPA and test score results if
there is a question of the credibility of faculty comments.
To the Faculty Member Concerned: Please write a brief recommendation that
assesses this student’s motivation, maturity, and other personal attributes for the St.
Luke’s Shadow Program (BioS 202). Please e-mail this evaluation to:
