*~*~*~*Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2015-2016*~*~*~*

[Catalystik]

The organization that hosts these conferences has a very long name and thus I need to use its acronym in the description space. However, the name is so long that I cannot fit both the name and its acronym in parenthesis in neither the Organization Name space nor the Experience Name space. I've thought of some possible solutions:

1.) The organization has the word, "international" in it. So, maybe I could abbreviate international as Int'l (or some other way) in the Organization Name space, which would allow me to write the name plus its acronym in parenthesis.

2.) Use the organization's acronym in the Experience Name space, write the organization's full name in the Organization Name space, and hope adcoms make the connection between the two

Would you suggest any of these?

I vote for the first option. The second would have the acronym appearing several typed lines above the full name typed out, which would be confusing.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[neuroresearchguy23]

Just a few quick questions. For my undergraduate work experience, I wanted to put the 3 jobs I held. The most recent one is part time teller, where I worked at two different branches for two different durations (one was in 2011 and the other was in 2013). The other two were sales associate and part time manager.

1) Should I put them in reverse chronological order with the name, organization name, contact, etc. filled out in respects to the most recent job I had?

2) Should the total hours in the be for all three jobs combined and then type in the hours for each individual job in the description or just put the hours for the first job held?

3) If the total hours should only be for the first job held, should I hit the repeat button and list the two separate date ranges with their respective hours?

4) (Unrelated to the above questions) For hobbies, would it be better to just put 1 in the total hours and then in the description put the hours per week with each hobby I list or should I just put the total number of hours I calculated for my hobbies? It's rather high since I've been doing them for a long time and I don't want to put a number that is meaningless...

Thanks for your help!

 

[Catalystik]

I know longevity is important, but would short term activities by their nature be considered? I volunteered at my middle school for a few weeks for about 30 hours after I started college, helping my former science teacher with setting the lab up and other things. Last spring my uni hosted a science/engineering tournament for hs kids on a saturday, and I helped set up the labs and get equipment for the professors (microscopes, burners, etc). One day thing, about 10 hours.

They will have more impact if you group them under a Short-Term Community Service entry. That said, forty hours isn't much, but if you have no other entry in this category, it's better than nothing.

 

[Catalystik]

Just a few quick questions. For my undergraduate work experience, I wanted to put the 3 jobs I held. The most recent one is part time teller, where I worked at two different branches for two different durations (one was in 2011 and the other was in 2013). The other two were sales associate and part time manager.

1) Should I put them in reverse chronological order with the name, organization name, contact, etc. filled out in respects to the most recent job I had?

2) Should the total hours in the be for all three jobs combined and then type in the hours for each individual job in the description or just put the hours for the first job held?

3) If the total hours should only be for the first job held, should I hit the repeat button and list the two separate date ranges with their respective hours?

4) (Unrelated to the above questions) For hobbies, would it be better to just put 1 in the total hours and then in the description put the hours per week with each hobby I list or should I just put the total number of hours I calculated for my hobbies? It's rather high since I've been doing them for a long time and I don't want to put a number that is meaningless...

1) Yes
2) I suggest the Total Hours box should be the sum of all the jobs, which were individually entered in the narrative with each employment situation.
3) n/a
4) You might consider including the hours only for the most recent years (or the college years if that's where you are) and then give a vague narrative overview of any involvement before that. Then the total number you enter won't look so ridiculous. Including the hours per week for the date span you pick is a fine idea, too.

 

[neuroresearchguy23]

1) Yes
2) I suggest the Total Hours box should be the sum of all the jobs, which were individually entered in the narrative with each employment situation.
3) n/a
4) You might consider including the hours only for the most recent years (or the college years if that's where you are) and then give a vague narrative overview of any involvement before that. Then the total number you enter won't look so ridiculous. Including the hours per week for the date span you pick is a fine idea, too.

Thank you!!!

 

[plage noire]

I have a couple of questions about possible publications... I know that generally "publications" refers to scientific research articles and whatnot. I am a career changer and have been "published" in other contexts and want to know if I should/can list these as publications.

The first was design/research work that I did in undergrad. A professor of mine built upon some of the stuff that I and others did while doing an urban planning project for a city. Some of my work (graphics) were published in an industry magazine.

The second is that I illustrated a book. The book was written by a physical therapist and I did medical illustrations throughout it. "Illustrated by plage noire" is not listed officially on the cover, however.

My basic question about both of these is that my work was published (obviously the second was much more in depth than the first), but I'm not the author of either (as I didn't write any text) - can I list them as publications?

Thanks for your help!

 

[charlie517]

So I saw that using "&" to save characters was okay in the Experience Name, how about during brief descriptions of shadowing (ie. during clinic hours & post-ops OR clinic hours & morning rounds)?

 

[Hongiddong]

Would this look bad because of the low amount of time and year and description, and does this activity fit the following category, extracurricular?

For extracurricular:
College and Career Fellowship
Feb 2011 - Nov 2013
42 hours

Every Friday, this group met up to learn more about the bible, sing worship songs, and hang out with one another. Some other activities that I did with this group was cooking on women's appreciation night, bowling, hiking, and celebrate holidays together. I made friends with an array of different people in this club. I met students from Cal Baptist university, University of California, Riverside, and medical students from Loma Linda. I also met people of diverse professions such as a mechanic, public health specialist, and a state patrol officer. My experience with the community here helped me to grow out of my shell and be less shy.

 

[HCHopeful]

1) Just want to say thanks to @Catalystik for taking the time to answer all of our questions!

2) What would be considered too "science-y" when describing research? I am reading and re-reading a description I have and it just seems to focus too much on the tests I ran instead of my actual research. Is there a "right" way to approach it?

 

[ejay19955]

What would be the most appropriate way to cite the publications when I authored multiple articles / posters? I have the full citations listed in other slots. In my research activity description, I am referring back to those citations like this:

-Did X (A et al., 2015; B et al., 2013)
-Did Y (C et al. 2014).
-Did Z (C et al. 2015).
-Did W (A et al., 2015).

A is me, and how should I distinguish between the citation for X and citation for W? X is a journal article and W is an abstract. Listing more authors makes me go over the space limit. I listed the abbreviations of the journal or conference for now, like this:

-Did X (A et al., 2015, JASAL; B et al., 2013)
-Did W (A et al., 2015, SFS)*

(*Journal names are made up here haha)

^ Will this be clear to the adcoms or should I be more specific? Again, I have the full citations in other slots, but I don't know if the adcoms will be willing to look at other activities while reading this...

Thank you in advance!

 

[Catalystik]

I have a couple of questions about possible publications... I know that generally "publications" refers to scientific research articles and whatnot. I am a career changer and have been "published" in other contexts and want to know if I should/can list these as publications.

The first was design/research work that I did in undergrad. A professor of mine built upon some of the stuff that I and others did while doing an urban planning project for a city. Some of my work (graphics) were published in an industry magazine.

The second is that I illustrated a book. The book was written by a physical therapist and I did medical illustrations throughout it. "Illustrated by plage noire" is not listed officially on the cover, however.

My basic question about both of these is that my work was published (obviously the second was much more in depth than the first), but I'm not the author of either (as I didn't write any text) - can I list them as publications?

Rather than Publications, I feel this would fit better under Artistic Endeavors.

 

[Catalystik]

So I saw that using "&" to save characters was okay in the Experience Name, how about during brief descriptions of shadowing (ie. during clinic hours & post-ops OR clinic hours & morning rounds)?

If you have to, you have to, but I'd rather see you tighten up the words and not use abbreviations in your narrative, if possible. Eg, clinic and hospital rounds.

 

[Catalystik]

Would this look bad because of the low amount of time and year and description, and does this activity fit the following category, extracurricular?

For extracurricular:
College and Career Fellowship
Feb 2011 - Nov 2013
42 hours

Every Friday, this group met up to learn more about the bible, sing worship songs, and hang out with one another. Some other activities that I did with this group was cooking on women's appreciation night, bowling, hiking, and celebrate holidays together. I made friends with an array of different people in this club. I met students from Cal Baptist university, University of California, Riverside, and medical students from Loma Linda. I also met people of diverse professions such as a mechanic, public health specialist, and a state patrol officer. My experience with the community here helped me to grow out of my shell and be less shy.

Yes, by definition it qualifies as Extracurricular, even though it sounds like it wasn't a campus organization. "Other" is another potential tag.

The low number of hours isn't necessarily a negative, so long as you can articulate an impact that enhances your candidacy for med school.

 

[Catalystik]

What would be considered too "science-y" when describing research? I am reading and re-reading a description I have and it just seems to focus too much on the tests I ran instead of my actual research. Is there a "right" way to approach it?

I suggest the opening sentence be a brief overview of the project that a lay person would understand. After that be as technical as you like. If you learned 10 techniques, don't feel compelled to list every one of them. Giving a sense of your role with the project is more important.

 

[Catalystik]

What would be the most appropriate way to cite the publications when I authored multiple articles / posters? I have the full citations listed in other slots. In my research activity description, I am referring back to those citations like this:

-Did X (A et al., 2015; B et al., 2013)
-Did Y (C et al. 2014).
-Did Z (C et al. 2015).
-Did W (A et al., 2015).

A is me, and how should I distinguish between the citation for X and citation for W? X is a journal article and W is an abstract. Listing more authors makes me go over the space limit. I listed the abbreviations of the journal or conference for now, like this:

-Did X (A et al., 2015, JASAL; B et al., 2013)
-Did W (A et al., 2015, SFS)*

(*Journal names are made up here haha)

^ Will this be clear to the adcoms or should I be more specific? Again, I have the full citations in other slots, but I don't know if the adcoms will be willing to look at other activities while reading this.

Too complicated. Why not just say at the end of a Research entry,"Led to first-author (or co-authored) article/abstract listed elsewhere" or (more briefly) "Paper/abstract/poster cited elsewhere". Even without those words, those who care should be able to link up your research and the pub from the title in your citation.

 

[neuroresearchguy23]

One of my contacts for a volunteer experience I had during college, left her position and took another position in the same hospital. I called the office of volunteer services to get in contact with her, but I was unable to. They said that if anyone calls, they can verify my hours and my work done there. Should I leave the original contact in my work actives but put a note in my description that says she took another position but the office can verify or should I just put the office as the contact?

Also, for tutoring, I'm going to be tutoring up until the end of next year. Should I put my date range as when I started till June 2016 or should I put when i started till right now, and then hit the repeat for the dates june 2015-jun 2016 and just approximate the hours?

Lastly, for my research involvement, in the organization's name, should I put the hospital I did research for or the name of my research lab?

Thanks!

 

[NorthOfBroad]

I continued a volunteer experience from sophomore year of high school to sophomore year of college. Should I include all the total hours and break it down as High School: 123 hrs and post-high school: 456 hours in the experience summary? Or should I just say I just state I began it in high school and only list the college hours? I guess I am hesitant because I did not continue it to the present.

 

[slatewater]

If you are aiming to appeal most to research-intense institutions, then de-compacting your Publications citations would make it easier to appreciate them.

I'm not necessarily appealing to research-intense schools directly, but I do think I'm going to split publications up. Would it be appropriate to do so as such:

- One entry for accepted manuscripts and textbook chapters (not sure if this should be mentioned? My boss is leading the publication/writing of a textbook with like 30 other surgeons, and I co-authored 3 chapters - would it be appropriate to include these chapters in a publications entry? The textbook is currently in production through a well-known medical publisher (JayPee))
- One entry for accepted abstracts (and mention that one was nominated for an award in this entry)

Thanks a ton

 

[Catalystik]

1) One of my contacts for a volunteer experience I had during college, left her position and took another position in the same hospital. I called the office of volunteer services to get in contact with her, but I was unable to. They said that if anyone calls, they can verify my hours and my work done there. Should I leave the original contact in my work actives but put a note in my description that says she took another position but the office can verify or should I just put the office as the contact?

2) Also, for tutoring, I'm going to be tutoring up until the end of next year. Should I put my date range as when I started till June 2016 or should I put when i started till right now, and then hit the repeat for the dates june 2015-jun 2016 and just approximate the hours?

3) Lastly, for my research involvement, in the organization's name, should I put the hospital I did research for or the name of my research lab?

1) Do this:
First name: Volunteer
Last name: Office
Title: XXX Hospital
On the application it will print off as Contact Name & Title: Volunteer Office, XXX Hospital. Then you can avoid naming a person, even though you're required to fill in the blanks.

2) Use the Repeated feature to distinguish completed vs future hours. But if you enter the dates today, you'll be obliged to use an End Date of May 2015 for the first date span and a Start Date of May 2015 for span #2. On June 1, you'll be allowed to input June instead of May and save it. AMCAS won't allow a future State Date to be entered and saved; you'll get an error message to correct it.

3) Your choice. You can use Smith Lab, The Department or Building of Dr Smith, or the name of the hospital.

 

[Catalystik]

I continued a volunteer experience from sophomore year of high school to sophomore year of college. Should I include all the total hours and break it down as High School: 123 hrs and post-high school: 456 hours in the experience summary? Or should I just say I just state I began it in high school and only list the college hours? I guess I am hesitant because I did not continue it to the present.

You can do it either way, but this is a perfect use of the Repeated feature. I'd suggest breaking the date spans into HS until the day of HS graduation for #1 (entering the Total Hours for that time), and the college years since HS graduation until Sophomore year for #2 span (again, entering the more current total hours).

 

[Catalystik]

I'm not necessarily appealing to research-intense schools directly, but I do think I'm going to split publications up. Would it be appropriate to do so as such:

- One entry for accepted manuscripts and textbook chapters (not sure if this should be mentioned? My boss is leading the publication/writing of a textbook with like 30 other surgeons, and I co-authored 3 chapters - would it be appropriate to include these chapters in a publications entry? The textbook is currently in production through a well-known medical publisher (JayPee))
- One entry for accepted abstracts (and mention that one was nominated for an award in this entry)

I like it. Do include the accepted textbook chapters with [in press] and an anticipated publication date, if known.

 

[neuroresearchguy23]

1) Do this:
First name: Volunteer
Last name: Office
Title: XXX Hospital
On the application it will print off as Contact Name & Title: Volunteer Office, XXX Hospital. Then you can avoid naming a person, even though you're required to fill in the blanks.

2) Use the Repeated feature to distinguish completed vs future hours. But if you enter the dates today, you'll be obliged to use an End Date of May 2015 for the first date span and a Start Date of May 2015 for span #2. On June 1, you'll be allowed to input June instead of May and save it. AMCAS won't allow a future State Date to be entered and saved; you'll get an error message to correct it.

3) Your choice. You can use Smith Lab, The Department or Building of Dr Smith, or the name of the hospital.

Thanks you!!

 

[redskier]

I have a question about categorizing my activity. I spent a summer volunteering abroad in a rural village in South America. I spent the mornings working with the community on building a flood barrier around the school, while the afternoons were spent teaching English and Health/Physical Education to the children in community. I took on leadership roles while there, in initiating and organizing the creation of a school sign and mural as well as leadership activities within our service team. Should this be classified under "community service/non-medical" or "teaching/tutoring"? This would be classified as one of my most meaningful activities in case that has significance for categorization. Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

I have a question about categorizing my activity. I spent a summer volunteering abroad in a rural village in South America. I spent the mornings working with the community on building a flood barrier around the school, while the afternoons were spent teaching English and Health/Physical Education to the children in community. I took on leadership roles while there, in initiating and organizing the creation of a school sign and mural as well as leadership activities within our service team. Should this be classified under "community service/non-medical" or "teaching/tutoring"? This would be classified as one of my most meaningful activities in case that has significance for categorization.

I'd suggest classifying it as Community Service - Not Medical, which seems to best cover all the subcomponents of the activity. Mention the teaching and leadership aspects within your narrative and possibly even in the title you pick.

 

[nontrad1298]

Hi there,

Looking for some advice on whether to categorize my work experience after undergrad as "Paid Employement-Medical/Clinical" or "Paid Employment - Not-Medical/Clinical". I work at Epic, one of the most prominent providers of electronic medical records software that many hospitals in the country use for their charting. My role is that of a project manager that helps hospitals implement our software effectively.

My initial thought was "Not-Medical/Clinical", as it's obviously not a clinical role, but rather more of a business/IT position. I do however work very closely with physicians, nurses, technologists etc in my day to day work and the position is centered around the medical field. Any thoughts?

 

[slatewater]

For 'artistic endeavors' such as a musical instrument, if we've been playing it for like 10 years during weekly sessions, would a simple estimation of the total hours suffice?

 

[Catalystik]

Hi there,

Looking for some advice on whether to categorize my work experience after undergrad as "Paid Employement-Medical/Clinical" or "Paid Employment - Not-Medical/Clinical". I work at Epic, one of the most prominent providers of electronic medical records software that many hospitals in the country use for their charting. My role is that of a project manager that helps hospitals implement our software effectively.

My initial thought was "Not-Medical/Clinical", as it's obviously not a clinical role, but rather more of a business/IT position. I do however work very closely with physicians, nurses, technologists etc in my day to day work and the position is centered around the medical field. Any thoughts?

While you are working in a clinical environment, you are not interacting with patients in a helpful way. Not- Medical/Clinical is the appropriate designation, but be sure to make mention of your time with clinical staffers.

 

[Catalystik]

For 'artistic endeavors' such as a musical instrument, if we've been playing it for like 10 years during weekly sessions, would a simple estimation of the total hours suffice?

See post #108.

 

[vantheman]

I understand this is ultimately my decision, but I have 1 spot left in my work and activities section and I am having a hard time deciding between the two activities below.

1. Teaching and learning seminar. I pretty much attended a weekly seminar (for 15 weeks) where the goal was to educate individuals on how to teach and tutor science. I didn't receive any class credit or anything like that.

2. Conferences attended: In the last year and a half, I have attended two scientific conferences. One was a plant molecular biology conference where I presented a poster (I have this presentation included in my presentations section). The other was an immunology conference at Salk research institute.
***I also attended a premed conference at UC Davis, but I am not sure if this is worthy to include?

So in your opinion, which of these activities do you believe would be better to include? And if you believe the conferences attended would be better, is it worth putting the premed conference?


Thanks for your time!

 

[meekachuu]

Having multiple hobbies in a hobbies section, how would you go about stating the hours and dates? Would you list separate hours and dates in the description?

 

[plage noire]

Rather than Publications, I feel this would fit better under Artistic Endeavors.

I like it. Do include the accepted textbook chapters with [in press] and an anticipated publication date, if known.

Regardless of the category I choose, am I supposed to be providing publication information and/or links to these works? If a link is preferred, would I link to the Amazon page for the book I illustrated? If trying to save space, can we use a URL shortening service such as Bitly?

 

[azzeh123]

.

 

[ejay19955]

Another question: I have a research experience where the PI mi

Too complicated. Why not just say at the end of a Research entry,"Led to first-author (or co-authored) article/abstract listed elsewhere" or (more briefly) "Paper/abstract/poster cited elsewhere". Even without those words, those who care should be able to link up your research and the pub from the title in your citation.

Thank you for your reply, so would it be enough if I say like:

-Did X.
-Did Y.
-Did Z.
-Did W.
This research led to articles and posters cited in other activity descriptions.​

Or would you recommend I specifically mention which one led to a first or second author article? The full citations in the other slots do show where my name stands among the authors.

Thank you so much!

 

[volleyball34]

If you EC is your entire leadership/non clinical volunteer category whats the best route to go in including both of these? I'm on the management team for a philanthropy that raises money for Children's Miracle Network and I just want to make sure that both my volunteer experience and leadership is reflected.

 

[mehc012]

If you EC is your entire leadership/non clinical volunteer category whats the best route to go in including both of these? I'm on the management team for a philanthropy that raises money for Children's Miracle Network and I just want to make sure that both my volunteer experience and leadership is reflected.

What I did, and I think Cat said it was a decent strategy, was to list them as the non-leadership category, but make my leadership role apparent from the title.

So for mine, I have entries under both 'Paid Employment, Non-medical' and 'Intercollegiate Athletics' which are titled "Head of Xyz". The 'Head of' is the tip-off that it is leadership. The categories aren't everything, and you don't need to hit a quota for each one or anything...they're a quick-glance guide for the adcoms. But remember, adcoms aren't dumb, and they can read. If you put information in the title, it's still right there for them!

 

[moemoekyun]

For a research experience, since I'm not using the PI as a contact, would I bring up their name in the description? As in "I was in Dr K's lab, working on xyz project, did abc". I would put down their name so their's some credibility with a real PI name, can look up research projects, but cautious that adcom's might wonder why I'm not using as contact (haven't been able to contact them in months). As I mentioned earlier, it wasn't anything spectacular, but a step above washing glassware.

 

[Catalystik]

I understand this is ultimately my decision, but I have 1 spot left in my work and activities section and I am having a hard time deciding between the two activities below.

1. Teaching and learning seminar. I pretty much attended a weekly seminar (for 15 weeks) where the goal was to educate individuals on how to teach and tutor science. I didn't receive any class credit or anything like that.

2. Conferences attended: In the last year and a half, I have attended two scientific conferences. One was a plant molecular biology conference where I presented a poster (I have this presentation included in my presentations section). The other was an immunology conference at Salk research institute.
***I also attended a premed conference at UC Davis, but I am not sure if this is worthy to include?

So in your opinion, which of these activities do you believe would be better to include? And if you believe the conferences attended would be better, is it worth putting the premed conference?

If you don't have a Hobbies and/or Artistic Endeavors entry, I'd pick one of those over the options presented. Also, I remind you that filling every space isn't necessary. While I don't see either of these choices as adding to your candidacy, if pushed to the wall, I'd pick #1, but be sure to express how attending the seminar made a difference in something you do.

 

[Catalystik]

Having multiple hobbies in a hobbies section, how would you go about stating the hours and dates? Would you list separate hours and dates in the description?

Precise hours are not helpful here. Just list your hobbies and maybe add something interesting about them (eg, if you cook, your best recipe/if you if you do marathons, that you finished in 2456th place/if you read, what genre you collect). Or not. Or a mini-essay on one, if you like. Your dates can encompass all of college. For hours put in a 1 or accurately guess-timate them. I'd rather see the hours per week you engage in them on a regular basis.

 

[moemoekyun]

They will have more impact if you group them under a Short-Term Community Service entry. That said, forty hours isn't much, but if you have no other entry in this category, it's better than nothing.

I also remembered I attended a group's (believe it was a church, my hospital volunteer coordinator invited me to it) to help out with turning some old buildings into an elementary school in a poor town (one day, before school started, about 5-6 hrs) so that's a little something. Anyways, I plan to include this with short-term service, would I use the repeat function for this, going newest to oldest, vice versa, or just total? Then, contact is for latest activity or one with most hours (doubt this would matter too much)? Then other's contacts in the description.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Regardless of the category I choose, am I supposed to be providing publication information and/or links to these works?
2) If a link is preferred, would I link to the Amazon page for the book I illustrated?
3) If trying to save space, can we use a URL shortening service such as Bitly?

1) If at all possible.
2) That works.
3) Yes.

 

[Catalystik]

Would babysitting be named child caretaker or is babysitting a satisfactory name?

Either is fine, but the first has a more professional ring to it.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Another question: I have a research experience where the PI mi


2) Thank you for your reply, so would it be enough if I say like:
a.

-Did X.
-Did Y.
-Did Z.
-Did W.
This research led to articles and posters cited in other activity descriptions.​

b. Or would you recommend I specifically mention which one led to a first or second author article? The full citations in the other slots do show where my name stands among the authors.!

1) Huh?
2) The format under a.) is fine.

 

[Catalystik]

If you EC is your entire leadership/non clinical volunteer category whats the best route to go in including both of these? I'm on the management team for a philanthropy that raises money for Children's Miracle Network and I just want to make sure that both my volunteer experience and leadership is reflected.

What I did, and I think Cat said it was a decent strategy, was to list them as the non-leadership category, but make my leadership role apparent from the title.

So for mine, I have entries under both 'Paid Employment, Non-medical' and 'Intercollegiate Athletics' which are titled "Head of Xyz". The 'Head of' is the tip-off that it is leadership. The categories aren't everything, and you don't need to hit a quota for each one or anything...they're a quick-glance guide for the adcoms. But remember, adcoms aren't dumb, and they can read. If you put information in the title, it's still right there for them!

I agree that Volunteer/Community Service - Not Medical/Clinical is a more important category to have than Leadership and should be your first choice as a designation if you have nothing else in that category.

Alternatively, if you think you can split out the two components and have enough hours for each to have them stand on their own, then you could have both categories, so long as you're careful not to double count the hours of involvement.

 

[Catalystik]

1) For a research experience, since I'm not using the PI as a contact, would I bring up their name in the description? As in "I was in Dr K's lab, working on xyz project, did abc".
2) I would put down their name so their's some credibility with a real PI name, can look up research projects, but cautious that adcom's might wonder why I'm not using as contact (haven't been able to contact them in months). As I mentioned earlier, it wasn't anything spectacular, but a step above washing glassware.

1) You may.
2) It isn't unusual that the PI is not the person who worked directly with a research assistant and wouldn't be able to attest to their dates and hours of involvement.

 

[Catalystik]

I also remembered I attended a group's (believe it was a church, my hospital volunteer coordinator invited me to it) to help out with turning some old buildings into an elementary school in a poor town (one day, before school started, about 5-6 hrs) so that's a little something. Anyways, I plan to include this with short-term service, would I use the repeat function for this, going newest to oldest, vice versa, or just total? Then, contact is for latest activity or one with most hours (doubt this would matter too much)? Then other's contacts in the description.

No, you would not use the Repeated function. I'd list the most recent first, and go in reverse chronological order. Or list the most impressive, and order them by your own system. For each, give hours, dates, description, contact. The total Hours box for the entire slot would be all the individual activity's hours added up.

 

[rrubay]

When listing a contact's title, should we use their "day job" title or the title that's relevant to the activity? For example, I volunteered with an organization whose chair is a doctor. When describing this volunteering activity, should I say this contact's title is "Chair" or "Pediatrician/Physician/etc."? Another example would be the faculty advisor of one of my student orgs. Would they be "Faculty Advisor" or "Professor"?

Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

When listing a contact's title, should we use their "day job" title or the title that's relevant to the activity? For example, I volunteered with an organization whose chair is a doctor. When describing this volunteering activity, should I say this contact's title is "Chair" or "Pediatrician/Physician/etc."? Another example would be the faculty advisor of one of my student orgs. Would they be "Faculty Advisor" or "Professor"?

Use the title relevant to the activity. But you can also sneak in the true professional title if you like.

For example,
Contact's First Name: Professor John
Contact's Last Name: Smith
Contact's Title: Faculty Advisor

This will print out as Professor John Smith, Faculty Advisor

Or,
Contact's First Name: John
Contact's Last Name: Smith MD
Contact's Title: Chair of the XXXX Committee

This will print out as John Smith MD, Chair of the XXXX Committee

 

[moemoekyun]

I think I saw this earlier, but if I'm starting an activity this month, got some hours, and plan to continue till the end of the year, or later (directions on site to next August), that would warrant repeat. First for hours at submission, then second for expected hours, correct?

 

[nRomaleos]

a few questions as head into opening week...

1) Have you mentioned who do we put under the main contact for our compilation of shadowing experiences?

2) I was part of a philanthropy on campus for multiple-years. We volunteered with local organizations and hosted fundraisers. I also had a leadership position for a portion of the time as well. Would this be categorized under: extracurricular, community/volunteer service, other, or leadership? For context, I already have leadership and volunteer services for other activities.

3) Related question. I interned at a philanthropy for the underserved, but was primarily involved in marketing, campaigning, etc. I only received a stipend. Would this be under: extracurricular, comm/volunteer, or other?

 

[justadream]

When you enter in an activity, there is a space for "Organization". As such, would you NOT put the organization name in the "experience name" entry?

For example, let's say you are editor in chief of the Harvard Crimson.

Should you put:

Experience Name: Editor in Chief
Organization: Harvard Crimson

OR

Experience Name: Harvard Crimson Editor in Chief
Organization: Harvard Crimson