Hello!

Thank you for your question! Personally, I was not in HSSP, and neither were any of the current advisors. We are in a transition stage right now as we are recruiting more advisors to replace the graduating seniors–so we don’t have as many right now! However, we may have some folks entering who were in HSSP. I will have them update this response in the coming weeks if that turns out to be the case :).

However, I was in WISE RP and can speak to the general vibe of UMICH learning communities. I personally loved my experience! I found that it was really great to have a community of people I could relate to. Many of us were taking a lot of the same classes and had similar aspirations. There was also great mentorship from faculty and sophomore leaders/RAs. I know HSSP is similar in this way. There are many opportunities such as panels with professionals/older students in the field, and I believe HSSP has some form of partnership with the hospital. Overall, I found it a great way to make friends (nearly all of my friends today were part of my learning community, including all of my current roommates), network/find opportunities that you might not have otherwise, and talk to older students/professionals who had already navigated the struggles of being a STEM student/pre-med at Michigan. Not to mention, The Hill location is fabulous, and Mojo’s dining hall is top tier. Couzens (the dorm you would be living in) is extremely close to the Biological Sciences Building, the Undergraduate Sciences Building, the Chem Building, and the CCCB–so that is also very convenient!

You are required to take a one credit course each semester, and this is at a set time each week or every other week. In my learning community (and I imagine it is the same with HSSP) there was also a required two hour block we had to be available each week in case there was a scheduled event/workshop/panel. This was the only (somewhat) downside for me, because I couldn’t join other clubs I was interested in that met at this time, and I had some trouble second semester arranging my schedule around the required class.

If you haven’t yet, I would take a look at HSSP’s instagram. This may provide some more insight on the programs they offer.

I hope this helped! Again, I believe we have at least one entering advisor who participated in HSSP last year, so be on the lookout for another reply :).

-Cate, PMH Co-President

Hi! 
Thank you for your question. I was in HSSP last year and I really enjoyed my experience there. In my personal opinion, HSSP provides you with a lot of opportunities for networking and shadowing opportunities which are important aspects of being a pre-med student. I was able to meet so many wonderful people from a variety of medical related professions and who took different pathways to medicine -some of them are now my mentors and advisors. HSSP gives you the platform and then you can use it in whatever ways will benefit you on your pre-med journey. 
It’s also nice just to meet other pre-health students and make friends who have similar interests as you! 
I would like to add that there are some requirements. There’s a course that you have to take (ALA 106- FALL and ALA 109-WINTER). I didn’t find the course super demanding. They do understand that we are first year students which can be daunting on its own and additionally we are pre-med students so our course load can be a bit heavy. There was also a requirement that we went to shadow a medical professional twice a semester and we had to write a few small reflections each semester. Overall, I think that it is a beneficial learning community for any pre-med student to join. I hope this helped and I hope your first year goes well, if you have any other questions feel free to reach out again! 
 
~Diamond, PMH Advisor  
 

Hi! 
Thank you for your question. I was in HSSP last year and I really enjoyed my experience there. In my personal opinion, HSSP provides you with a lot of opportunities for networking and shadowing opportunities which are important aspects of being a pre-med student. I was able to meet so many wonderful people from a variety of medical related professions and who took different pathways to medicine -some of them are now my mentors and advisors. HSSP gives you the platform and then you can use it in whatever ways will benefit you on your pre-med journey. 
It’s also nice just to meet other pre-health students and make friends who have similar interests as you! 
I would like to add that there are some requirements. There’s a course that you have to take (ALA 106- FALL and ALA 109-WINTER). I didn’t find the course super demanding. They do understand that we are first year students which can be daunting on its own and additionally we are pre-med students so our course load can be a bit heavy. There was also a requirement that we went to shadow a medical professional twice a semester and we had to write a few small reflections each semester. Overall, I think that it is a beneficial learning community for any pre-med student to join. I hope this helped and I hope your first year goes well, if you have any other questions feel free to reach out again! 
 
~Diamond, PMH Advisor