Career exploration offers high school students exposure to career options at Mayo Clinic through a variety of real-world learning experiences and programs to help students discover a life-changing career.

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High School Unpaid Internship (formerly called High School Mentorship) provides high school students in the 11th and 12th grades the opportunity to learn and work in a professional environment while earning school credit. The student spends a minimum of 60 hours over the course of a semester/summer working alongside a Mayo Clinic Host (and support staff) as they learn more about that field.

Students cannot have patient access, access to patient information, or access to confidential information. We do require the student and parent/guardian to sign a confidentiality agreement in the event that in order for the student to complete their internship they may be exposed to confidential information, and they are to treat it as such.

Essentially the student would act as an assistant as they learn on the job skills, learn from Mayo staff what drew them to their career, what training they received to pursue their career, what they can do now in school to prepare to pursue that career path. If the student is not able to earn school credit over the summer, then they cannot participate until the new school year. 

 In-Person Unpaid High School Internship for Credit

  1. Student and Education Coordinator (teacher or counselor) must find a Mayo Clinic employee that will be willing to serve as the Host. (LinkedIn and Mayo Clinic Research tab are the best resources for finding a host in the areas of interest) Student and Education Coordinator need to review and sign the Participation Agreement before completing the application.
  2. Once a host has been identified, the student needs to complete the application with the help of the Education Coordinator. The student will need to have the Host and Supervisor complete the agreement of their responsibilities before the application can be submitted. The student will also have to attach their Guidelines and Confidentiality Agreements to the application for submission to go through. 
  3. Once the application has been received, the information will be uploaded to our Non-Employee Access System. 
  4. The student will receive an email letting them know to expect an email from Lifecycle to complete a virtual ID verification. (The student will need to check their junk/spam folder as well as any other folders or tabs if they don’t see the email in their inbox).  
  5. Once the student has cleared the NEA system, an onboarding email will be sent with steps to get started. 

Virtual & Hybrid Unpaid High School Internship for Credit

  1. Student and Education Coordinator (teacher or counselor) must find a Mayo Clinic employee that will be willing to serve as the Host. (LinkedIn and Mayo Clinic Research tab are the best resources for finding a host in the areas of interest). Student and Education Coordinator need to review and sign the Participation Agreement before completing the application.
  2. Once a host has been identified, the student needs to complete the application with the help of the Education Coordinator. The student will need to have the Host and Supervisor complete the agreement of their responsibilities before the application can be submitted. The student will also have to attach their Guideline and Confidentiality Agreements to the application for submission to go through. 
  3. For a virtual/hybrid experience, a letter from the host needs to be submitted (see samples) to: careerexploration@mayo.edu. 
  4. Once the application has been received, the information will be uploaded to our Non-Employee Access System. 
  5. The student will receive an email letting them know to expect an email from Lifecycle to complete a virtual ID verification. (The student will need to check their junk/spam folder as well as any other folders or tabs if they don’t see the email in their inbox).  
  6. Once the confidentiality agreement has been received, and the student has cleared the NEA system, an onboarding email will be sent with steps to get started.