*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Work/Activities Tips Thread 2016-2017*~*~*~*

[CHoge25]

While the scope of this thread does not include proofreading, I will make some general comments about research entries for everyone's sake:

The ability to explain one's research in lay terms is desirable and the Research description is a good place to start. Keep your potential audience in mind. Everyone reading your application will not have an upper-level science background, eg administrators and non-science faculty. At the beginning, I would start with something more generally understandable (like your second sentence). After that, technical details are fine. Also, one should spell out all but the most universal of acronyms the first time they are used. Do you think the prof teaching Statistics will necessarily know what PET stands for? MRI, OTOH, is probably OK to use.

Thanks for your feedback.. so for general form for a research experience it should be :
1. Goal of study in lay terms
2. Technical details
3. Your specific role in the study?

Is this what they are looking for??

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[Catalystik]

I understand that future activities are not allowed (ones that haven't begun yet), but what about activities that are about halfway? Currently I have been hired to be scribe and am filling out my paperwork and training and such. I won't begin scribing until about june or maybe even late june. Should I still list scribing?

You haven't yet become a scribe. We've seen a number of folks here not pass their training, or not make it through their trial period. Mentioning it anywhere is risky right now. I suggest you save it for Secondaries and update letters, so you have something new and interesting to say.

If you really, really want to squeeze mention of it in somewhere, and feel confident it will work out, you could mention your acceptance for training and hopes for future employment as a scribe at the end of another clinical activity, but without including projected hours.

 

[CHoge25]

Also,
I volunteered at a summer camp for Hem/Onc children. I was a camp counselor. We had an educational/training on the childrens illness and ways to handle situations. I was a camp counselor and had to make sure kids were safe and took their scheduled medication.
Is this Volunteer/Medically related?

 

[Catalystik]

so for general form for a research experience it should be :
1. Goal of study in lay terms
2. Technical details
3. Your specific role in the study?

Is this what they are looking for??

Yes.

 

[Catalystik]

I volunteered at a summer camp for Hem/Onc children. I was a camp counselor. We had an educational/training on the childrens illness and ways to handle situations. I was a camp counselor and had to make sure kids were safe and took their scheduled medication.
Is this Volunteer/Medically related?

You were a camp counselor for kids who happened to have cancer. Unless you administered meds, poked fingers for blood draws, cared for wounds and intercath sites, etc, you'd be better off marking it nonclinical and spinning it toward the clinical side if you want a chance adcomms will deem it as such. Better not to upsell when it's iffy.

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for your feedback.. so for general form for a research experience it should be :
1. Goal of study in lay terms
2. Technical details
3. Your specific role in the study?

Is this what they are looking for??

Here are some examples of entries used, with thanks to DAPI and Nick Naylor:

For each, scroll down to activities. Then click each activity name to see the expanded narrative.
1) http://www.mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=24817
2) http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=19291

 

[CHoge25]

Thanks for your help @Catalystik . My family is self employed and I have worked for them from the age of 15-22. I honestly have no idea how to estimate the hours, it has been pretty much any time I am home and free for 7 years. Should I put 999? Or just a whole number like 500. Also, listing my mother as a contact is okay, or should I list one of our managers.

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for your help @Catalystik . My family is self employed and I have worked for them from the age of 15-22. I honestly have no idea how to estimate the hours, it has been pretty much any time I am home and free for 7 years. Should I put 999? Or just a whole number like 500. Also, listing my mother as a contact is okay, or should I list one of our managers.

Or 9999 if it's closer, unless you can come up with a ballpark reasonable estimate.

Use the most objective Contact possible. A manager would be ideal. They are not asked to provide a reference, just dates of employment and an idea of hours worked.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

Hi all! Had a couple more questions I'd love to pick your brains on.

1) Artistic endeavor: I've been involved with an instrument, both solo and in larger orchestras, since 2002. In college, I took on a leadership role in our orchestra as well and would love to highlight this additional responsibility in the AMCAS. Should I split the involvement times into pre- and during college (2002-2011 and 2011-2015) and make note of the different responsibilities in each time period? Also, how generic should the title of the activity be? I'm thinking of titling it "____ player and section leader in orchestra" and naming the Organization "____ College Chamber Orchestra", but that obviously doesn't account for pre-college involvement.

2) I conducted Honors thesis research from May 2014-May 2015, with 2 months of that being full time (40hrs/week) and the rest being part-time during school (15 hrs/week). Should I split the time using the Repeated function? Or should I make the time continuous and make a note of the differences in commitment during the narrative?

Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

1) Artistic endeavor: I've been involved with an instrument, both solo and in larger orchestras, since 2002. In college, I took on a leadership role in our orchestra as well and would love to highlight this additional responsibility in the AMCAS.
a) Should I split the involvement times into pre- and during college (2002-2011 and 2011-2015) and make note of the different responsibilities in each time period?
b) Also, how generic should the title of the activity be? I'm thinking of titling it "____ player and section leader in orchestra" and
c) naming the Organization "____ College Chamber Orchestra", but that obviously doesn't account for pre-college involvement.

2) I conducted Honors thesis research from May 2014-May 2015, with 2 months of that being full time (40hrs/week) and the rest being part-time during school (15 hrs/week). Should I split the time using the Repeated function? Or should I make the time continuous and make a note of the differences in commitment during the narrative?

1a) What do you think of splitting out the Leadership component into its own space (to give yourself more space to define and highlight your leadership role) and then using the Repeated function for pre- and during-college periods on the Artistic Endeavors entry?
1b) How about #1 First-Chair XXXXist in Orchestra Performance and Occasional Featured Soloist and #2 Orchestra Section Leader? Now obviously you weren't in a high seat at the beginning, but you could give a Start Date after you achieved excellence and give further backstory in the narrative, if you want to include it.
1c) You could use the college organization in the header and name the HS one in the narrative.

2) Either approach works fine.

 

[banana_phone]

I swear.....this is the hardest part of the application for me so far.

I have grouped several things together: nannying (which I did throughout undergrad, after undergrad, and during my post-bacc -- in three different cities) and elementary school volunteering, also in several different cities.

When I categorize multiple activities within one entry, do I need to include the city name for each one? Its eating into my character count!

For example:

Also:
Smith Family
1200 hours from June 2013 - August 2015
Portland, OR

 

[Catalystik]

I swear.....this is the hardest part of the application for me so far.

I have grouped several things together: nannying (which I did throughout undergrad, after undergrad, and during my post-bacc -- in three different cities) and elementary school volunteering, also in several different cities.

When I categorize multiple activities within one entry, do I need to include the city name for each one? Its eating into my character count!

For example:

Also:
Smith Family, June 2013 - August 2015, Portland, OR

As long as you are giving valid Contact information for each, it's my opinion that the city doesn't matter, so you could exclude it (+/- the state abbreviation). And you could save characters by using a numeric date, eg, 6/13-8/15, where you enter it in the narrative space.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

1a) What do you think of splitting out the Leadership component into its own space (to give yourself more space to define and highlight your leadership role) and then using the Repeated function for pre- and during-college periods on the Artistic Endeavors entry?
1b) How about #1 First-Chair XXXXist in Orchestra Performance and Occasional Featured Soloist and #2 Orchestra Section Leader? Now obviously you weren't in a high seat at the beginning, but you could give a Start Date after you achieved excellence and give further backstory in the narrative, if you want to include it.
1c) You could use the college organization in the header and name the HS one in the narrative.

2) Either approach works fine.

Thank you so much for the quick and organized response! I think, since the leadership role was integrated into most of my college orchestral experience, I'll just split that out from everything before college and talk about it all together. But great call on the Repeated function. You're a champ and I owe you big time!

 

[pillowsnice]

Do I need to use the repeater function if I stopped the activity during summer break but continued it again during the school year?

 

[Catalystik]

Do I need to use the repeater function if I stopped the activity during summer break but continued it again during the school year?

Not if you make it clear in the title that the activity took place during the academic year.

 

[Catalystik]

I've searched past threads but haven't found adequate responses.

I'm an engineer, is it worth listing my senior capstone project as a work/activity? It's technically a class but one past response found said an interviewer 'scolded' an applicant for not listing it. My capstone group spent significant time designing a solution and building a working prototype for a specific, real-world problem, and we won a superlative award at the culminating senior capstone showcase. Would the best way to list this be as work/activity in "other," an honor/award and describe the capstone experience, a secondary essay, or is there a better way?

Enter it as an activity; Honors/Award or Other will work. Regardless, you'll discuss your contribution to the project and that it was a "team endeavor".

 

[MaxPlancker]

Is this what one would look for in listing of research experience (not most meaningful)

One study I worked on used a PET probe of reactive oxygen species to look at the induction of heart failure caused by Adriamycin (ADR), a cytotoxic chemotherapy drug. We sought to look for predictive markers of cardiotoxicity by looking at left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). My duties included treatment of mice with ADR and analysis of PET images to determine LVEF.
A second study used MRI imaging of glutamate to study the affect of CB-839, a glutaminase inhibitor, on tumor metabolism using mouse models. My duties included treatment of mice and tumor extraction for protein analysis. Miscellaneous duties included culturing human cancer cells and assisting in PET and MRI imaging.

Honestly, adcoms won't really know or care much about what exactly you did in your research. IMO, it's much better to provide a 1-2 sentence very brief, non-technical description of your research (including your role) and then elaborate on your personal growth from the experience which is more important.

 

[Catalystik]

Is this what one would look for in listing of research experience (not most meaningful)

IMO, it's much better to provide a 1-2 sentence very brief, non-technical description of your research (including your role) and then elaborate on your personal growth from the experience which is more important.

With the caveat that if you learned to hate research, you refrain from mentioning it. Avoid negatives.

 

[CHoge25]

With the caveat that if you learned to hate research, you refrain from mentioning it. Avoid negatives.

So do you recommend adding what have you learned from it? To be honest I do not know what I have learned from it, I learned that these PhD's are hardcore and love what they do but I am not the same way. Our studies are cool and interesting, but I don't see myself doing this type of research as a career. Guessing I should refrain from putting something like "learned the nuances of research and scientific publication process"

 

[Catalystik]

1) So do you recommend adding what have you learned from it? To be honest I do not know what I have learned from it, I learned that these PhD's are hardcore and love what they do but I am not the same way.
2) Our studies are cool and interesting, but I don't see myself doing this type of research as a career.
3) Guessing I should refrain from putting something like "learned the nuances of research and scientific publication process"

1) A positive discussion of impact is the sort of commentary that is more likely to be seen in a Most Meaningful entry. As you aren't planning to use that expanded format, and you have plenty of other things to say, it isn't necessary to force it.

What you are expected to "learn" is an appreciation of the scientific process used in your project, but this is better saved for interview discussions, as you don't have the space for it on an application. Just be prepared for it and be sure you have the whole picture even if your role dealt with only one small part.

2) It is better to leave this unsaid.

3) Yes. I can see writing that as leading to detailed interview questions that would just waste time.

 

[RocketSurgeon41]

If a publication is only submitted or needs major revisions, then it is still a future activity which you cannot include.

I just co-wrote a chapter that will be used in an upcoming textbook detailing cerebrovascular diseases. The book was slated to come out by the end of the year but the publication date has been pushed back to early 2017. Is there any way I can include this in my application? As far as I know my chapter needs no revision. Would including the primary authors and the ISBN of the book be sufficient as the citation, since it isn't technically published yet?

 

[brb]

I was part of a club that focused on health community outreach. We partnered with a local organization who sets up what they call a "Mobile Health Van" and does outreach events to bring resources (health, insurance, etc) and info to the underserved community and provides blood pressure screenings. We as volunteers do these screenings and help with canvassing. Can this be considered clinical experience, or is it only considered community service - nonclinical?

 

[Catalystik]

I just co-wrote a chapter that will be used in an upcoming textbook detailing cerebrovascular diseases. The book was slated to come out by the end of the year but the publication date has been pushed back to early 2017. Is there any way I can include this in my application? As far as I know my chapter needs no revision. Would including the primary authors and the ISBN of the book be sufficient as the citation, since it isn't technically published yet?

AMCAS permits that if you have an acceptance letter in hand, you can enter it as a publication [in press]. (confirmed by a phone contact)
-Do you have a copy of the letter from the publisher (or can you get it)? Don't take an author's word for it.
-Will you be submitting an LOR from one of the co-authors that gives you credit for co-writing a chapter? This would likely be your best confirmation that your involvement was "significant" and worth including on your application.
-Including the ISBN is a good idea, too.

 

[Catalystik]

I was part of a club that focused on health community outreach. We partnered with a local organization who sets up what they call a "Mobile Health Van" and does outreach events to bring resources (health, insurance, etc) and info to the underserved community and provides blood pressure screenings. We as volunteers do these screenings and help with canvassing. Can this be considered clinical experience, or is it only considered community service - nonclinical?

Logically, some of the people you screened had hypertension or were under the care of a doc already for this problem. Many, no doubt, were normal healthy people. You would have a better idea or how many of the folks you saw were unwell. You might legitimately list this as an active clinical experience. But I'd look at it as a weak one (unless you convince me otherwise), which I'd hope has been supplemented with other experience with acutely ill, injured, or chronic-management patients. IMO, your best bet could be to list it as nonclinical and let adcomms reading your description of your role and the population served make their own decision as to whether it's clinical or not. If you have an instinct that very little of it was truly clinical, you should not try to "upsell" the activity, since it has value regardless if it was largely nonmedical in nature.

 

[RocketSurgeon41]

AMCAS permits that if you have an acceptance letter in hand, you can enter it as a publication [in press]. (confirmed by a phone contact)
-Do you have a copy of the letter from the publisher (or can you get it)? Don't take an author's word for it.
-Will you be submitting an LOR from one of the co-authors that gives you credit for co-writing a chapter? This would likely be your best confirmation that your involvement was "significant" and worth including on your application.
-Including the ISBN is a good idea, too.

I won't be getting a letter of rec from the co-author because he was a resident/fellow, and I know medical schools don't like that so much. Although the book itself is being authored by 4 MDs, I only had contact with the neurosugery resident, who contacted the primary author(s) on my behalf. Should I contact the resident and ask for his help with this. He could vouch for me, but I'm unsure of the procedure.

 

[Catalystik]

I won't be getting a letter of rec from the co-author because he was a resident/fellow, and I know medical schools don't like that so much. Although the book itself is being authored by 4 MDs, I only had contact with the neurosugery resident, who contacted the primary author(s) on my behalf. Should I contact the resident and ask for his help with this. He could vouch for me, but I'm unsure of the procedure.

If you can't legitimize the activity, it should not be included on the application. So see what you can accomplish with the Fellow's help. At the minimum, you might use him for a Contact and see if he can get you a copy of the acceptance letter with the anticipated date of publication. Do you already have a letter from an author acknowledging your contribution?

If all else fails, and you don't feel you can include this, it will make a nice addition to your Residency application on ERAS. And BTW, I am assuming your contribution will be credited in the book.

 

[jtd2081]

For multiple years of scribing how do I even go about calculating hours? That seems a little difficult.

 

[gonnif]

For multiple years of scribing how do I even go about calculating hours? That seems a little difficult.

reasonale estimate. model in average per week or per average

 

[RocketSurgeon41]

If you can't legitimize the activity, it should not be included on the application. So see what you can accomplish with the Fellow's help. At the minimum, you might use him for a Contact and see if he can get you a copy of the acceptance letter with the anticipated date of publication. Do you already have a letter from an author acknowledging your contribution?

If all else fails, and you don't feel you can include this, it will make a nice addition to your Residency application on ERAS. And BTW, I am assuming your contribution will be credited in the book.

My contribution will certainly be credited, as I contributed more than half of the chapter. The book is available on the publisher's website with the anticipated date of release listed. I don't have a letter acknowledging my contribution but I feel that I could certainly obtain one. Should I contact the Fellow about this or the publishing company directly?

Thanks so much for your help Catalystik.

 

[Catalystik]

My contribution will certainly be credited, as I contributed more than half of the chapter. The book is available on the publisher's website with the anticipated date of release listed. I don't have a letter acknowledging my contribution but I feel that I could certainly obtain one. Should I contact the Fellow about this or the publishing company directly?

Thanks so much for your help Catalystik.

If you could get a letter directly from the publisher, that would be ideal. This would not be a letter for submission, BTW, but rather proof of contribution in case the entry is challenged.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

How much leeway do we get in choosing the title of the experience?

Let's say, my official title was [University] Science Experience Mentor. Could I call the experience "Academic and lab mentor for freshman science students" (to include all the tasks that I did as part of the title) and just call the organization "[University] Science Experience"? Or does my experience title have to reflect my official title?

Thank you!

 

[turtles43]

How do you suggest listing total hours for a publication entry with 3 poster presentations, a research entry, and biology club president entry?

 

[iforget2]

As a Texas resident, if I put in my planned activities that I will be in California during interview season will med schools assume that I would fly back for them or do I need to state that I plan on flying back for interviews? (neurotic question, sorry)

 

[Catalystik]

How much leeway do we get in choosing the title of the experience?

Let's say, my official title was [University] Science Experience Mentor.
1) Could I call the experience "Academic and lab mentor for freshman science students" (to include all the tasks that I did as part of the title) and just call the organization "[University] Science Experience"?
2) Or does my experience title have to reflect my official title?

1) Yes. The Organization should reflect it's real name, if that's not it, though.

2) You have a lot of flexibility in the name you pick, especially if your true title doesn't give much information.

 

[Catalystik]

How do you suggest listing total hours for
1) a publication entry with 3 poster presentations,
2) a research entry, and
3) biology club president entry?

1) Only the time you stood in front of the posters.
2) Time you worked in the lab, wrote the paper, and prepared Posters.
3) Hours you ran meetings, attended meetings to represent your club, prepared for meetings, or directed events at distant sites.

 

[Catalystik]

As a Texas resident, if I put in my planned activities that I will be in California during interview season will med schools assume that I would fly back for them or do I need to state that I plan on flying back for interviews? (neurotic question, sorry)

Even if this is a TMDSAS question, which doesn't belong in an AMCAS activity thread, you do not have to state this, as it will be assumed.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

1) Yes. The Organization should reflect it's real name, if that's not it, though.

2) You have a lot of flexibility in the name you pick, especially if your true title doesn't give much information.

1) Do you mean to say that the Organization should reflect the name of the program or the name of my title?

Thanks again!

 

[Catalystik]

1) Do you mean to say that the Organization should reflect the name of the program or the name of my title?

Thanks again!

Sorry to be confusing. Organization should reflect true name of the program you gave time to. Name of activity is flexible and can be more descriptive of your real role.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

Sorry to be confusing. Organization should reflect true name of the program you gave time to. Name of activity is flexible and can be more descriptive of your real role.

Sorry for the spam but you're seriously the best. If I end up at your school, I definitely owe you a beer. Thank you!

 

[turtles43]

Do you suggest I summarize my research under my research entry or publication/presentation entry? or both?

 

[Catalystik]

Do you suggest I summarize my research under my research entry or publication/presentation entry? or both?

One's research is best discussed under the Research tab, as that's where it will be looked for, but if you had some additional words to say, they might be added after the Publications citation or Posters/Presentations entry.

 

[turtles43]

One's research is best discussed under the Research tab, as that's where it will be looked for, but if you had some additional words to say, they might be added after the Publications citation or Posters/Presentations entry.

Thank you!

 

[theonlytycrane]

I helped a 3rd year medical resident in a research study as a standardized patient where 1st year residents practiced using an ultrasound simulator. I didn't observe the resident treat any patients outside of helping with the research study. I observed her teach, received hospital tours, and talked to her about her work. I don't believe that this is shadowing? I'm not sure where this may fit in.

I have additional shadowing experiences that I'm listing and I initially thought I may group this in with that entry. Advice is appreciated

 

[Catalystik]

I helped a 3rd year medical resident in a research study as a standardized patient where 1st year residents practiced using an ultrasound simulator. I didn't observe the resident treat any patients outside of helping with the research study. I observed her teach, received hospital tours, and talked to her about her work. I don't believe that this is shadowing? I'm not sure where this may fit in.

I have additional shadowing experiences that I'm listing and I initially thought I may group this in with that entry. Advice is appreciated

It doesn't sound like "shadowing" to me, either. Including it anywhere is unlikely to affect your application, but it sounds like it was fun. If it was employment, I doubt you had enough hours to use a space for it.

 

[LostKid20921]

Question about research experience:
1) What should I put for the experience name? Would it just be "research assistant for X lab" , where "X" is the type of lab (i.e. cancer, psychology, etc.) ?
2) For the description, would I describe the role in the experiments performed (i.e. techniques I performed) and also give a brief description of the experiments? Also should this be in first or third-person?

Thank you!

 

[theonlytycrane]

out of curiosity, do you usually see applicants fill out all 15 activity spots? A few of my activities are now grouped together and I don't want to add less strong entries for the sake of filling the spots. I'm probably just looking for some kind of justification

 

[Catalystik]

Question about research experience:
1) What should I put for the experience name? Would it just be "research assistant for X lab" , where "X" is the type of lab (i.e. cancer, psychology, etc.) ?
2) For the description, would I describe the role in the experiments performed (i.e. techniques I performed) and also give a brief description of the experiments? Also should this be in first or third-person?

1) Research Assistant/Tech/Aide/Affiliate for Lopez Lab/Immunology Project/Investigation into HPV Vaccine Effect on Unrelated Forms of Cancer? (Pick one descriptive term from each side of the word "for".)

2) Start with a lay-person friendly summary of the purpose of the research. Get technical after that sentence if you like. Discuss your role/techniques used (which should be in first person). Impact is usually not included in the entry unless you use extra Most Meaningful space, but you can if you have space, as long as the comment is positive.

 

[Catalystik]

out of curiosity, do you usually see applicants fill out all 15 activity spots? A few of my activities are now grouped together and I don't want to add less strong entries for the sake of filling the spots. I'm probably just looking for some kind of justification

Nine to ten activities is the average I see included. Five or less is too sparse.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

Sorry to be a bother for the second time today, but I had another quick question about research activities. Should we mention anything at all about our findings and future plans?

Thank you!

 

[LostKid20921]

1) Research Assistant/Tech/Aide/Affiliate for Lopez Lab/Immunology Project/Investigation into HPV Vaccine Effect on Unrelated Forms of Cancer? (Pick one descriptive term from each side of the word "for".)

2) Start with a lay-person friendly summary of the purpose of the research. Get technical after that sentence if you like. Discuss your role/techniques used (which should be in first person). Impact is usually not included in the entry unless you use extra Most Meaningful space, but you can if you have space, as long as the comment is positive.

Thank you! Also, can I assume that the organization name could just be "(Name of PI) lab"?