AMCAS Most meaningful- tie it back to medicine?

[lavacake]

Hi, for the MM section, should we always tie it back to why medicine/how it'll contribute to me being a doctor? I've seen examples where all three MM activities tied it back to medicine, and others where it just explained why it was the most meaningful without explicitly tying it to medicine (ex. I grew in x y z traits through this)

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[jtd2081]

Idk if this helps but not all mine directly tie back to medicine. If it was meaningful into your choice to become a physician, which I guess just so happens to also coordinate with being a physician, then I say make it a MM. Don't feel the need to make everything tie back to medicine, but that is just my uneducated opinion. If it helps you my MM are scribing, research, and president of community service organization.

 

[Penguin33]

I think as long as you can write substantially about what you learned from your experience and why it was so meaningful to you, it doesn't have to be tied back to medicine. One of my most meaningful experiences was playing tennis for my school team for four years-- even though I was always at the bottom of the lineup and never got to play any matches!

 

[PatchAdams25]

one of my most meaningful experiences is working as a janitor

 

[Moko]

You should not feel pressured to mark only academic / medically-related / "why medicine" activities as your most meaningful.. you may miss out on showcasing other positive qualities in your application.

Personally, I'm a fan of being explicit in these descriptions (essentially some form of "through activity A, I learned X and Y") because I recognize that I'm a piss-poor writer and am risk-adverse. By being explicit, I ensure that the reader will at least know i) why the activities were important to me, and more importantly, ii) what I gained from the experiences. The latter will demonstrate introspection and implicitly tie back even non-medically-related activities to medicine by identifying qualities that I believe are important for personal and professional growth.

In the end, you only get credit for what the reviewers pick up on, and it's not their job to make connections on your behalf or to guess what you learned from your experiences. So imo, there's nothing wrong with being explicit so long as it's done with humility and some common sense. Help them help you !

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

one of my most meaningful experiences is working as a janitor

Same here man. Ill be tying mine back into medicine just because of the setting I was employed in though. You seriously learn so much about yourself and about dealing with other people in those types of jobs.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Mine basically talk about the personal qualities I developed doing those activities.. the ways those personal qualities tie into medicine are intended to be implicit but obvious. If my writing is decent enough it should hopefully work out fine.

 

[MaxPlancker]

It should tie into medicine if the experience actually had an impact on your decision to pursue medicine. Otherwise, it's disingenuous and pretty easy to see you are trying to tie something to medicine that really has no ties. Not everything needs to relate to medicine...of the 15 slots on my AMCAS, only 3 related back to medicine and I had a great cycle.

 

[PatchAdams25]

Same here man. Ill be tying mine back into medicine just because of the setting I was employed in though. You seriously learn so much about yourself and about dealing with other people in those types of jobs.

Yeah my parents are self employed and run a small janitorial company so I've been buffing floors and cleaning toilets since I was 14.. as my father says "nothing builds character better than scrubbing bathroom floors on your hands and knees"

 

[mcatjelly]

Only 1 of my meaningful experiences had even half a relationship with medicine, and I got interviews just fine.