Redundancy of Presentations/Poster and Abstracts on AMCAS

[VitaminVater]

So I'm filling out the 2014-2015 AMCAS and I feel I'm already listing too many categories (up to 14 now). I am asking this here because I think many aspiring MD/PhDs are going to have the same obstacles when detailing their scientific activities.

1. Is it really necessary to include abstracts along with poster/presentations?
All of my abstracts have been solely from the oral presentations and posters I've presented, I'll literally be listing the same citation for both. So can I leave abstracts out?

2. Also, what is the best format to cite posters/presentations on AMCAS.
My regular method is:
Name of project. Name of conference/symposium. Date(month, year). Location.

3. I've been to 7+ conferences and presented at each, so I'm running out of room. Should I exclude any local conferences/symposiums (i.e. ones at my home institution)?

Thanks!

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[ValentinNarcisse]

Bump on this. In addition, in the basic science world, would it not be better NOT to pad your CV with poster presentations and abstracts? It seems real publications and talks at national meetings should be the only thing listed.

 

[Reckoner]

So I'm filling out the 2014-2015 AMCAS and I feel I'm already listing too many categories (up to 14 now). I am asking this here because I think many aspiring MD/PhDs are going to have the same obstacles when detailing their scientific activities.

1. Is it really necessary to include abstracts along with poster/presentations?
All of my abstracts have been solely from the oral presentations and posters I've presented, I'll literally be listing the same citation for both. So can I leave abstracts out?

2. Also, what is the best format to cite posters/presentations on AMCAS.
My regular method is:
Name of project. Name of conference/symposium. Date(month, year). Location.

3. I've been to 7+ conferences and presented at each, so I'm running out of room. Should I exclude any local conferences/symposiums (i.e. ones at my home institution)?

Thanks!

1. No, I would not include redundant citations.

2.

3. It sounds like you need to reorganize your activities section. Are you making a new entry for each abstract and conference? I found it helpful to make one entry, titled "conference presentations", and list all presentations there as bullet points. You could do the same with publications, if you have any. Alternatively, you could make a new entry for each lab you worked in and list all presentations associated with that lab in the description. This can be difficult if you had one long term project with several presentations.

Try reading through this thread, which lays out ways to effectively present your activities.

 

[catzzz88]

I had the same problem. Here was my solution ... I included ALL publications (I had 3), abstracts (I had 5), and posters (2) in a single category. I hope this helps you because It took me a long time to figure out how to get this into the specified word count! I will post it in the same format that I used (with all the names changed around obviously).

Experience type: Publication
Experience name: AUTHOR, *insert names of journals here* (eg. NATURE, NEJM, IMMUNOLOGY)
Contact title and name: Francis Crick, Author
Contact email: [email protected]
Total Hours: 1 --> I wrote this because for each paper/poster, I worked in a lab, etc. and included that as a separate activity.
Description:
Hours listed in other activities.

Co-1st author:
Nature (1953) Crick, F., Watson, J. "A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid."

2nd author:
NEJM (2010) Clause, S., Crick, F., et al "Elves native to the Northern Pole display histologic patterns of reduction to salty...."

Co-author:
Immunology (1861), Pasteur, L, et al "The germ theory and its applications to medicine and surgery."

I also have five published abstracts [1st auth. (2), 2nd auth (1), co-auth (2)]; two involved giving a PowerPoint presentation at Oxford University (1861, 1953). I also generated and presented poster presentations twice at Harvard University (2010) & Stanford University (2011).


As you can see, I used abbreviations where possible if they did not detract from the meaning. I separated the publications by authorship since I couldn't list off all authors. I provided just enough info on each full publication so that someone could look it up if they were so inclined. I designated all of the hours into the other categories so as not to double up on hours.

I hope this helps you see what options you have. It was a pain in the tooshie for me to figure out the best way to present all the info, so I totally understand your dilemma! I left out any poster presentations that I did not present myself (there were about 5 that I had been cited as an author, but I had not given the actual poster presentation). Also, I combined them all into one category so that I could highlight my research and clinical work as well. But, don't feel weird with lots of categories. I used the full 15 and was cramped for space!

Let me know if you have questions.

Best,
C

 

[VitaminVater]

Thanks for the help guys, the problem is that even when I exclude all local conferences/presentations, I still run over 700 characters. Is it necessary to list the authors, each presentation had 3+ authors so thats taking up a lot of space.
Could I do something like:

Project X: Title, authors

Oral presentation
Conference 1, date, location
Poster presentation
Conference 2, date, location

Project Y: Title, authors...

 

[catzzz88]

Thanks for the help guys, the problem is that even when I exclude all local conferences/presentations, I still run over 700 characters. Is it necessary to list the authors, each presentation had 3+ authors so thats taking up a lot of space.
Could I do something like:

Project X: Title, authors

Oral presentation
Conference 1, date, location
Poster presentation
Conference 2, date, location

Project Y: Title, authors...

Wow you didn't even look at my examples if you are asking this question...

The answer is no. If there are more than 3 authors, list the first author only then put et al. They already know your name. Plus, that's why I listed it by authorship location... You could use the format I posted then use a modifier like (post. pres.) or (oral pres.). The people reading your app are not stupid, you can use abbreviations. Also, if the title is really long, you can use "..." To cut it off after you include the main story if possible.

All of this was explained in my previous post....

Good luck I guess lol

 

[VitaminVater]

Wow you didn't even look at my examples if you are asking this question...

The answer is no. If there are more than 3 authors, list the first author only then put et al. They already know your name. Plus, that's why I listed it by authorship location... You could use the format I posted then use a modifier like (post. pres.) or (oral pres.). The people reading your app are not stupid, you can use abbreviations. Also, if the title is really long, you can use "..." To cut it off after you include the main story if possible.

All of this was explained in my previous post....

Good luck I guess lol

Whoops, didn't see the bottom part where you described how you said you presented your work, thought you only commented on how to list pubs.
Thanks!

 

[catzzz88]

Whoops, didn't see the bottom part where you described how you said you presented your work, thought you only commented on how to list pubs.
Thanks!

No problem, I really am happy to help. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions!

 

[ratherbefishing]

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