Teachers and High School Students Program (TAHSS)

Application process:

• Attend a Mandatory Information Session (January 24 at 8:00pm or January 26 at 5:00pm)
  • You MUST sign up for a Mandatory Information Session here: registration form
  • If you are unable to attend either of the information sessions, please contact us (SciEd@tufts.edu or Valerie Solon).
  • After the information session you will be given a personal link to the application to be filled out online.
• Fill out your application (due February 29 at 11:59pm)
  • You will need:
    • A cover letter
    • A resume
    • Your official high school transcript (sent by the school administrator or guidance counselor)
    • Recommendation forms from two adults at your school (one must be your science or math teacher) due by March 15
• You may be contacted for an interview
• Final acceptance letters will be sent by April 15

To be eligible, you must:

• Be a current sophomore or junior
• Be able to commute daily to the Tufts University Boston Health Sciences Campus
• Be a US citizen or permanent resident (Green Card holder)
• Be interested in STEM and/or health sciences
• Attend a Mandatory Information Session on Zoom
• Complete our online application (available after informational sessions)
• Receive two recommendations from adults at your school, one must be a science or math teacher

The number of spots in the CONNECT program are limited and we prioritize offering the opportunity to students that demonstrate how their environments or experiences (individual, your family, home, neighborhood, or community) position them to contribute to a future workforce that will address the range of health challenges facing our increasingly diverse patient population and their communities.

The CONNECT programming begins the week before the residential experience in Mini Med School and continues the week after, with follow-up experiences throughout the next year.

CONNECT has FIVE key strands:

• Let’s Have Fun – Bonding activities to build relationship between high school students and mentors (games, movies, field trips and more)
• The Hidden Curriculum – Workshops about professional and life skills that are rarely explicitly taught
• Celebrating Diversity in STEM +M – Scientist spotlights of various BIPOC professional role models
• Let’s Learn Some Science – Activities such as reviewing biology concepts prior to Mini Med School and tours of lab spaces
• Individual Mentoring – Structured weekly check-ins with undergraduate STEM Mentors

Mini Med School Highlights

As part of the Tufts Mini Med School program the students live on Tufts University campus for two weeks in July. A few highlights of the program include Basic Biosafety Level 1 training, hands-on microbiology and anatomy labs, simulation center patient cases, guidance by medical student TAs, lectures on biomedical topics and career opportunities, patient presentations, and filmmaking capstone projects. For more details, please look at the Mini Med School webpage here.