Visiting Student Program
Formerly known as the Collegiate Volunteer/Shadowing Program
This program is designed to give students interested in pursuing a medical/health related career an opportunity to gain clinical, research, and professional experience. While giving primary consideration to collegiate students, high school students over the age of 16 may apply; provided mentors agree to host them in their professional environments. Candidates who are 16 and 17 years of age require additional documentation and must complete the minors in the research workplace process.
Those 18 and older simply complete the visiting student application below.
For security and safety reasons it is the University’s decision that visiting individuals establish legitimacy on campus and receives all necessary training and testing to assure their own and the University’s patients’ safety. Thus, the program has a new protocol for participation.
Steps to becoming a volunteer in a lab/shadow
All students not enrolled at UT Health San Antonio, but wishing to serve as a volunteer/shadow in a laboratory or clinical setting must complete the following steps.
1. Find a mentor
- Through independent research, students are encourages to determine which area of science/medicine is of most interest to them.- Search our website for scientific topics of interest
- Search our website for faculty with research endeavors and clinical focuses that match your topic of interest
- Select a potential mentor and contact them, preferentially by first contacting their departmental office and/or by sending them an email directly. Describe interest in learning under their tutelage by sending the faculty member an email asking if their schedules will allow them to serve as a mentor
- Once a mentor agrees, the visiting student form must be completed.
2. Application process
The first step is to complete the electronic visiting student form. See link below.
Part I is competed with student information. Part II is completed by the department of the faculty mentor and is signed by the faculty mentor (sponsor), a departmental contact and the departmental chairperson as well.
Fees
The registrar’s office will be processing the forms and collecting the $25 fee. This fee is assessed per academic year. The academic year at UT Health runs from July 1st through June 30th of the following calendar year. If a student is going to be visiting through the summer months, then they might be bridging two academic years and so they will be assessed two $25 fees, for a total of $50. Processing fees are non-refundable.
There may be an additional fee charged to each student for processing the background check. This second charge may be the responsibility of the student or the sponsoring department-depending on how each individual department chooses to proceed. Please contact the UTHSA Police Department for more information regarding background checks.
3. Processing
After processing is completed by the Office of the Registrar, the visiting student is provided documentation to take to the Campus Police Department to obtain a university badge (potential ($10 charge) and parking permit (potential additional charge depending on parking area availability and arrangements made by sponsoring department and UTPD).
International visiting students and others
For international visiting students please contact the Office of International Services.
Policies
Visiting students are subject to the same rules and regulations as UT Health San Antonio students. Violation of any school policy may result in immediate withdrawal or other sanctions. Please see updated HOP Policies for more information.
Visiting Student UPDATED HOP Policy 14.2.2
MInors in the Research Workplace UPDATED HOP policy 8.11.1
Student Volunteers in Clinical Settings UPDATED HOP Policy 14.2.3
