*~*~*~*Tips for Entering your "Work and Activities" in AMCAS*~*~*~*

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sector9 said:
Is your MA job in the same department of the same hospital that you were a volunteer? If so, then I would group them, mark it as medical community service, and note in the description that you recently started getting paid and stopped volunteering.

If the MA job is different, then I would list both separately. The MA job explains why you stopped volunteering (although I'm a little unclear about why you can't keep volunteering) and will be a good conversation for interviews. I would mark the ER volunteer as being the most meaningful and not the MA job, since the MA job is so recent.
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Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I work in the ED as well (same place as volunteering). Yeah, I did want to continue volunteering, but the charge nurse insisted that it's hospital policy to not allow volunteers to the same unit they work.

Hm. I didn't think about this before (sorry), but maybe i might put them separately, just because my ties with the ED aren't severed, and I don't really know how I would distinguish how i used to volunteer before, and now i work there have and have ACTUAL responsibilities :p. (for example, what would be the time frame? I almost feel like i'll be squishing in a bit...)

I think the plan is to put the two activites separately, and then write about the meaningfulness of the whole ER experience in the volunteer box, and put some segway into my reflections as an MA and the increased responsibilities and exposure I have in the ED. That way everything is a lot more discrete in terms of the activities, dates, etc.

Again, thanks for the reply-i think writing it out made me think of it a little differently. :D
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sberndoc07 said:
Hello,

I'm not sure if this has already been addressed... Two of my most significant activities is also included in my personal statement. I have already elaborated and gone into detail in one part of my application, so should I avoid being redundant? Or should I elaborate in a different fashion in work/activities?

Thanks.
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It is best not to repeat information on your application. There are two options:
1. Pick different activities as your "Most Meaningful". You only have to pick one as "Most Meaningful".
2. Rework your personal statement. You can use your Personal Statement to address a specific story, patient, or moment, then use the "Most Meaningful" box to provide a more general, big picture message from the activity.

Alejandro said:
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I work in the ED as well (same place as volunteering). Yeah, I did want to continue volunteering, but the charge nurse insisted that it's hospital policy to not allow volunteers to the same unit they work.

Hm. I didn't think about this before (sorry), but maybe i might put them separately, just because my ties with the ED aren't severed, and I don't really know how I would distinguish how i used to volunteer before, and now i work there have and have ACTUAL responsibilities :p. (for example, what would be the time frame? I almost feel like i'll be squishing in a bit...)

I think the plan is to put the two activites separately, and then write about the meaningfulness of the whole ER experience in the volunteer box, and put some segway into my reflections as an MA and the increased responsibilities and exposure I have in the ED. That way everything is a lot more discrete in terms of the activities, dates, etc.

Again, thanks for the reply-i think writing it out made me think of it a little differently. :D
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OK that sounds fine to me. I agree with your initial assessment that you don't want to mark both the volunteering and your MA job as "most significant"
 
I currently have 11 activities (one being martial arts I practice with a friend) and was wondering:

Should I include TAing for 1 quarter for lower div biology? I thought it was very short compared to most of my activities and may be unnecessary to mention. (others are 1/2 year or longer)
 
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If you have a specific project that is either going to be published or presented in the future, should you list the name of the project in the experience name slot. For instance, if I am researching the effects of heavy metals on frogs should I put "Researching the effects of heavy metals on frogs"? I have a few of these so I was wondering what you guys would suggest be the best way of entering this information in
 
kautionwirez said:
I currently have 11 activities (one being martial arts I practice with a friend) and was wondering:

Should I include TAing for 1 quarter for lower div biology? I thought it was very short compared to most of my activities and may be unnecessary to mention. (others are 1/2 year or longer)
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What was the hours per week and exact length of time for it?

Do you have anything at all you can group this with? Cat previously recommended to me that I group unrelated activities under "Other" and label it as "Short term activities" or something like that
 
Numba1Plumma said:
If you have a specific project that is either going to be published or presented in the future, should you list the name of the project in the experience name slot. For instance, if I am researching the effects of heavy metals on frogs should I put "Researching the effects of heavy metals on frogs"? I have a few of these so I was wondering what you guys would suggest be the best way of entering this information in
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You could list the projects you are involved with under your "research" listing, but until you have a publication or poster/presentation, it isn't "own space" worthy yet.

I'm assuming that the different projects were all in the same research lab. If they were in different labs, you could separate them if they were substantial enough
 
sector9 said:
What was the hours per week and exact length of time for it?

Do you have anything at all you can group this with? Cat previously recommended to me that I group unrelated activities under "Other" and label it as "Short term activities" or something like that
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I would say 10 hours a week (lecture/section/OH/preparing/meetings).
For a total of 110 hours.

Well I did tutoring but it was for middle/high school and that I believe belongs in a different category.
 
kautionwirez said:
I would say 10 hours a week (lecture/section/OH/preparing/meetings).
For a total of 110 hours.

Well I did tutoring but it was for middle/high school and that I believe belongs in a different category.
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Both of these could be grouped under "Teaching/tutoring" it sounds like. Why don't you think they could fit in the same category?
 
sector9 said:
Both of these could be grouped under "Teaching/tutoring" it sounds like. Why don't you think they could fit in the same category?
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I had done middle school and high school tutoring for about half a year.
I took up most of the space for description...
Also there is different contacts for both schools...

If I add TAing, that would be another contact.

I guess I could slim down some of the info for tutoring and stuff TAing in there...

What would your final suggestion be?

Thanks
 
kautionwirez said:
I had done middle school and high school tutoring for about half a year.
I took up most of the space for description...
Also there is different contacts for both schools...

If I add TAing, that would be another contact.

I guess I could slim down some of the info for tutoring and stuff TAing in there...

What would your final suggestion be?

Thanks
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I see what you mean. I thought you were saying that they couldn't work together because they were too different.

I would try to cut down the descriptions so you can add the TAing into the same space as the tutoring. Adcom's know what tutors and TAs do, so you shouldn't need too much space to provide descriptions. Try cutting down the contact info too. For example, for the first activity, you would list the contact info in the provided spaces. Then for the other activities in the same entry, you can start off by saying "Also:" and then hit return and give the title of the activity, then contact info. If you have both phone number and email for the contact, just pick one and leave the other out. You can conserve space that way.

I think that combining them together will be the best use of your space and give you a strong "teaching/tutoring" entry
 
A few questions...

1. Was a member of my university's honor's program... so what should I put for hours per week? You just have to take certain classes to be a part of it so should I just put 1 hour for each of the classes I had to take each semester?

2. For awards, what do you put for hours per week? For start date and end date, would it just be from when you started freshmen year to the present?

3. For a simple hobby like running or weighlifting, is it all right to list a friend as a contact who sometimes does those hobbies with you? I'm sol for who to list as a contact beside myself. Thanks
 
Numba1Plumma said:
A few questions...

1. Was a member of my university's honor's program... so what should I put for hours per week? You just have to take certain classes to be a part of it so should I just put 1 hour for each of the classes I had to take each semester?

2. For awards, what do you put for hours per week? For start date and end date, would it just be from when you started freshmen year to the present?

3. For a simple hobby like running or weighlifting, is it all right to list a friend as a contact who sometimes does those hobbies with you? I'm sol for who to list as a contact beside myself. Thanks
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1. Leave it blank. Explain what is meant by your university's honor program (briefly) in the description
2. Leave hours per week blank. The honors/awards/scholarships section only asks for an award date, not a span. So pick your top award, list that as the award date, and then list the others below it in the description, giving dates for each one as applicable
3. I put weightlifting down and listed my workout partner as my contact. I would put anyone besides yourself (like roommate who knows you run)
 
sector9 said:
For example, for the first activity, you would list the contact info in the provided spaces. Then for the other activities in the same entry, you can start off by saying "Also:" and then hit return and give the title of the activity, then contact info. If you have both phone number and email for the contact, just pick one and leave the other out. You can conserve space that way.
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So, if I group experiences into categories, would you recommend listing contact information for every experience or just the most recent?
 
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Kphrogg said:
So, if I group experiences into categories, would you recommend listing contact information for every experience or just the most recent?
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I decided to include contact info for all of my experiences when they were grouped. However, this post by Cat suggests that you might be able to get away with it if you decide not to
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11078014&postcount=948

I think it would depend on your time investment in the activity. If you grouped an activity that had 300 cumulative hours, it might look weird if you don't list a contact. If it's just a short activity, then it would probably be fine
 
Hey guys, I have a few questions:

1- How would you list learning a new language in your activities? Is it something you would list? I was born and raised here in the US. My family is Arabic. I am learning Bangla. It is something I have invested a lot of time in it so I would like to list it.

2- Do people typically list hobbies such as fitness? I do work out regularly and I have participated in some 5ks.

3- I think I am also going to list blogging as one of my activities. I created an informational/educational blog for my egg donation process because I had a hard time finding first hand experience and information when I was interested in becoming a donor. Do you think this would be frowned upon?

4- For shadowing experiences, I have shadowed several physicians. I was going to list these all in one block. Can somebody show me an example of how they listed theirs? Also, who do you include for contact info if you shadowed multiple physicians who do not know each other?

5- For school related activities, is it okay to list another member as the contact? For example, a member of the e-board?


I have also heard you are required to list contact info for activities now so what would one do in the above circumstances? How can you list contact info for learning a new language or working out?
 
ohshxtsaty said:
Hey guys, I have a few questions:

1- How would you list learning a new language in your activities? Is it something you would list? I was born and raised here in the US. My family is Arabic. I am learning Bangla. It is something I have invested a lot of time in it so I would like to list it.

2- Do people typically list hobbies such as fitness? I do work out regularly and I have participated in some 5ks.

3- I think I am also going to list blogging as one of my activities. I created an informational/educational blog for my egg donation process because I had a hard time finding first hand experience and information when I was interested in becoming a donor. Do you think this would be frowned upon?

4- For shadowing experiences, I have shadowed several physicians. I was going to list these all in one block. Can somebody show me an example of how they listed theirs? Also, who do you include for contact info if you shadowed multiple physicians who do not know each other?

5- For school related activities, is it okay to list another member as the contact? For example, a member of the e-board?


6- I have also heard you are required to list contact info for activities now so what would one do in the above circumstances? How can you list contact info for learning a new language or working out?
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1- Here's an answer from LizzyM that is somewhat related http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=5226602&postcount=133
Here's another somewhat related post, this time from Catalystik
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10957741&postcount=204
Some other ideas
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=284426

2- Yes, definitely list it. Catalystik is a big fan of listing hobbies and extracurricular activities to show that you're well rounded

3- I don't think it would be looked down on, but I don't know for sure. Are you worried about the content? I would list it if you've been consistent at it for a while, possibly grouping it as a hobby along with the fitness and bangla

4- Here's how I did mine. I listed the shadowing with the most total hours into the contact info boxes and time span boxes (leaving hours per week blank) then in the description:
XXXX XXXX, MD, General Surgeon
1 zillion hours shadowed during general and bariatric office hours

Also:
XX XXXXXX, MD, Radiologist
Cool Doctors Office Name
800-800-8000
X hours shadowed in May 2011 during image reading

I have room for all 4 doctors this way. You wouldn't need to say what you watched if it was just normal stuff, but for a doctor like a surgeon or radiologist, you probably want to clarify what type of things you saw. Catalystik mentioned specifically that for a radiologist, you need to say if it was just during image reading or if you saw patient-doctor interaction too

5- Someone more official would look better, but if you don't have an advisor or school office that handles the club, then you could list another participant. I don't know what an e-board is though

6- Catalystik has recommended lots of things- either your roommate, friend, mom, workout partner, coach, etc. Very last resort would be yourself, but surely someone else knows how much you've done a particular activity. It seems like a dumb thing for an adcom to call about anyway
 
is it better to have 3 most significant activities or can i do with just 1?

i have 2 others, both which are research, which i am considering to be the other 2 most significant activities
1. I had a discussion on which career path to take with my PI. should I add this discussion into most significant? (discussed whether or not to do MD/PhD, and alternative paths)
2. I worked 1 on 1 with my PI and learned a great deal about research and developed thinking about being innovative with experiments and design.
 
First off, thanks for all the great advice! Two questions:

I and another volunteer working overseas visited a family with a physically handicapped son and helped perform his physical therapy routine once or twice a week for 8 months.

1) Would this count as clinical experience? We did not interact with any healthcare providers but followed closely the instructions they had left

2) Will it hurt that I don't know the name of the exact condition the young man had? I had just arrived in the country and couldn't speak the language very well...

I'm going to contact a couple people for number 2.
 
For a TAing position I did, it was paid employment, but I listed it under tutoring with this other activity. Should I just indicate my TAing activity as a paid employment in description, and should I be indicating the stipend or pay or that's unnecessary?
 
darkhope said:
For a TAing position I did, it was paid employment, but I listed it under tutoring with this other activity. Should I just indicate my TAing activity as a paid employment in description, and should I be indicating the stipend or pay or that's unnecessary?
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It is unnecessary. Unless you were doing it full time but I doubt you were.
Just list total hours, hours/week
 
kautionwirez said:
is it better to have 3 most significant activities or can i do with just 1?

i have 2 others, both which are research, which i am considering to be the other 2 most significant activities
1. I had a discussion on which career path to take with my PI. should I add this discussion into most significant? (discussed whether or not to do MD/PhD, and alternative paths)
2. I worked 1 on 1 with my PI and learned a great deal about research and developed thinking about being innovative with experiments and design.
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You can do with just one.
#1 sounds like a good paragraph for your PS to me. You could do this as most meaningful if you want, since no one really know how applicants are going to really use this new field yet
#2 probably works well in just the description for the activity

My 2 cents about your situation: I would personally mark one of the research(not both) as most meaningful and try to stick with the AMCAS most meaningful prompt. If you can talk about the conversation with your PI within the context of the prompt, then go for it
Here's a thread about this http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=827725
 
Nucleophobe said:
First off, thanks for all the great advice! Two questions:

I and another volunteer working overseas visited a family with a physically handicapped son and helped perform his physical therapy routine once or twice a week for 8 months.

1) Would this count as clinical experience? We did not interact with any healthcare providers but followed closely the instructions they had left

2) Will it hurt that I don't know the name of the exact condition the young man had? I had just arrived in the country and couldn't speak the language very well...

I'm going to contact a couple people for number 2.
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1) In a thread on "clinical experience ideas", Catalystik said this http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10339621&postcount=7
The LizzyM statement on clinical experience seems to suggest that you could count this. I think this falls into a similar situation as hospice volunteering, which counts too. Hopefully you have experience interacting with other sick people in a hospital or clinic in this country too.
2) I don't think I would mention it, actually. Even though this didn't happen in the US, you probably want to maintain privacy laws like HIPAA anyway. Assuming you would list the family or parents as a contact, then you don't really want to get too specific about his condition. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
 
sector9 said:
You can do with just one.
#1 sounds like a good paragraph for your PS to me. You could do this as most meaningful if you want, since no one really know how applicants are going to really use this new field yet
#2 probably works well in just the description for the activity

My 2 cents about your situation: I would personally mark one of the research(not both) as most meaningful and try to stick with the AMCAS most meaningful prompt. If you can talk about the conversation with your PI within the context of the prompt, then go for it
Here's a thread about this http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=827725
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I totally saw this thread and somehow it did not incorporate in my brain!

I am heavily research oriented so I am sure it's a must for me and I will choose 1, if not 2, as another most significant...

My PS has no mention in research whatsoever (everyone's advice who read my PS).

sector9 you have been so helpful. THANKS! :D
 
sector9 said:
1) ...Hopefully you have experience interacting with other sick people in a hospital or clinic in this country too.
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Unfortunately, not really. We visited people at the hospital every once in a while but it was more to lift their spirits than to really do anything clinical.

sector9 said:
2) I don't think I would mention it, actually. Even though this didn't happen in the US, you probably want to maintain privacy laws like HIPAA anyway.
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Thanks, I was wondering about that actually. That helps a lot.

On another note, I also participated in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (~1,500 participants) about a week before high school graduation and won a couple awards. I know the general opinion is to leave out high school activities if we did not carry them on, but what about something like this? Is it worthy of mention?
 
Nucleophobe said:
On another note, I also participated in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (~1,500 participants) about a week before high school graduation and won a couple awards. I know the general opinion is to leave out high school activities if we did not carry them on, but what about something like this? Is it worthy of mention?
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Here's LizzyM's opinion
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=5336865&postcount=350
She recommends grouping it with another research activity. I think you might also group it with other Awards/Scholarships
 
Hi Catalystic!!

I have yet another question for you. I've spent this whole week trying to get a contact name from the foreign country University that I attended medical school to, and it seems to be impossible. I called, and I had a friend go but they said they couldn't give me the name of anyone there because they are always changing. So, I have the University's phone number and they could confirm I studied there, but that's it. What should I do? Who else could I put down as my contact?. I stated that I attended this school in the previous matriculation section and in my PS and I had credits transfered, but I still wanted to add it to works/activities to describe, mark and explain why it was one of my most meaningul experiences. I wouldn't want to have to erase it because of the contact info.

THanks!!!
 
Is it considered legitimate to list a minor as an activity, assuming one rationalizes it in the context of being a better doctor/opening new horizons (you get the idea)? I ask because although I'm a biology major, I completed a minor in Political Science purely because I find the subject fascinating. Some of the classes I've taken have taught me a lot about policy formulation, voting trends, etc., inspiring me to explore public healthcare policy at some point in the future.
 
Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone else is struggling with coming up titles for their work and activities section. For example for leadership experiences, right now I just title it with the organization name, for example: Facebook Club. Or is it better to put Facebook Club (President)?
 
flakpilot said:
Hi Catalystic!!

I have yet another question for you. I've spent this whole week trying to get a contact name from the foreign country University that I attended medical school to, and it seems to be impossible. I called, and I had a friend go but they said they couldn't give me the name of anyone there because they are always changing. So, I have the University's phone number and they could confirm I studied there, but that's it. What should I do? Who else could I put down as my contact?. I stated that I attended this school in the previous matriculation section and in my PS and I had credits transfered, but I still wanted to add it to works/activities to describe, mark and explain why it was one of my most meaningul experiences. I wouldn't want to have to erase it because of the contact info.

THanks!!!
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Can you find the name of the head registrar at the school? It sounds like you already have the number and everything. Most schools have a registrar listed on their website, although who knows how it is in a foreign country
 
sparta900 said:
Is it considered legitimate to list a minor as an activity, assuming one rationalizes it in the context of being a better doctor/opening new horizons (you get the idea)? I ask because although I'm a biology major, I completed a minor in Political Science purely because I find the subject fascinating. Some of the classes I've taken have taught me a lot about policy formulation, voting trends, etc., inspiring me to explore public healthcare policy at some point in the future.
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I don't think that a minor would be considered an activity. It's already on your application anyway, and it should be obvious from your coursework. If you want to touch on it, I think the most appropriate place would be in a secondary application.

Just for reference, I searched both this thread and the 2005-2010 years thread with over 3500 posts (which is here http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=202513) and I did not see a single person mention listing a minor as one of their activities
 
darkhope said:
Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone else is struggling with coming up titles for their work and activities section. For example for leadership experiences, right now I just title it with the organization name, for example: Facebook Club. Or is it better to put Facebook Club (President)?
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I think you should put "President of the Facebook Club" or similar. I don't really have any great tips for coming up with snappy titles though.

See this post http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11095628&postcount=1032
 
1. For putting research publications, what is the format for making the citation?

2. Do we leave hours blank?

3. Should we include a brief description or a copy of the abstract in addition to the citation in the description field?
 
DunKno said:
1. For putting research publications, what is the format for making the citation?

2. Do we leave hours blank?

3. Should we include a brief description or a copy of the abstract in addition to the citation in the description field?
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1) The last link gives an example from LizzyM
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10946300&postcount=156
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10946952&postcount=159
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11088867&postcount=19

Additional publication guidelines and ideas: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11082762&postcount=968
2) Yes

3) I wouldn't use the abstract. The first paragraph should be written for a non-science person to understand why your publication is important and what your contribution was. The rest of the description should be more technical about your contribution
 
sector9 said:
Can you find the name of the head registrar at the school? It sounds like you already have the number and everything. Most schools have a registrar listed on their website, although who knows how it is in a foreign country
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Nope :( tried everything. Couldn't I write the name of the university under "name" and write the name of the faculty under "last name"? would this be unprofessional? It's the only thing that's withholding me from submiting my application :(
 
flakpilot said:
Nope :( tried everything. Couldn't I write the name of the university under "name" and write the name of the faculty under "last name"? would this be unprofessional? It's the only thing that's withholding me from submiting my application :(
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Well, the point of providing a contact is so that the adcom can confirm your involvement in the activity for the time span you provide. So if you know a faculty member who can vouch for you, then go for it
 
sector9 said:
Well, the point of providing a contact is so that the adcom can confirm your involvement in the activity for the time span you provide. So if you know a faculty member who can vouch for you, then go for it
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Oh sorry I meant putting under first name something like: "University of Alabama" and under last name: "Faculty of Health and Sciences" which is the department's phone number where someone could call to confirm I studied at that university.

I think I also saw a post where catalystic said you could write down your parents info as the contact info as a last resource but I'm not sure.

I was thinking, could I put my advisor's email and name? He has access to my records and could confirm that I attended that school.

Thanks! :)
 
flakpilot said:
Oh sorry I meant putting under first name something like: "University of Alabama" and under last name: "Faculty of Health and Sciences" which is the department's phone number where someone could call to confirm I studied at that university.

I think I also saw a post where catalystic said you could write down your parents info as the contact info as a last resource but I'm not sure.

I was thinking, could I put my advisor's email and name? He has access to my records and could confirm that I attended that school.

Thanks! :)
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Go for the advisor. That sounds like your best option.
Parents and yourself are your very last resort, and are probably only appropriate for things like hobbies
 
should i list that I am employed as a Research Assistant 2 as opposed to just Research Assistant on my application? The only reason I would is because its distinguished from Research Assistant 1 at my university because it requires more experience and is a higher pay grade. Other than that there basically is no difference between being a 1 or 2.
 
I have a question about listing a job/work experience where I was a supervisor.

I worked as a student assistant and held this role for about 8 months. After that I was promoted to student supervisor, so I was in charge of 3-5 other student employees - I basically trained them, gave them tasks, ensured they finished them, (also interviewed and helped make selections about who to hire), etc - I've held this role for about a year now.

What would be the best way to categorize this? Should I just list it all under one activity and choose the Employment category and mention both roles? Or should I list it as two different activities, listing the first 8 months as employment and the 1 year as supervisor as leadership?

Also, if it makes a difference, I'm considering listing this job (specifically the role as a supervisor) as one of my significant activities that you get an extra ~1300 characters for. I learned a lot of valuable skills from the job that I probably would not have gotten elsewhere - would it be a bad idea to list it as one of my significant experiences even if it is unrelated to medicine?
 
I have a question about the formatting of these experiences.
Should I just be listing or should I be giving a thorough description. I find that a thorough description makes it long. Also when grouping together experiences what if there are multiple contacts. like if i did two volunteer experiences and they both were with different organizations.

any help is appreciated!
 
mrdude said:
should i list that I am employed as a Research Assistant 2 as opposed to just Research Assistant on my application? The only reason I would is because its distinguished from Research Assistant 1 at my university because it requires more experience and is a higher pay grade. Other than that there basically is no difference between being a 1 or 2.
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I don't think you should list that. I would list any additional responsibilities (like leadership over other students, if applicable) but your experience will be evident by the length of time you worked there and the pay raise isn't really meaningful for an adcom
 
Antaar said:
I have a question about listing a job/work experience where I was a supervisor.

I worked as a student assistant and held this role for about 8 months. After that I was promoted to student supervisor, so I was in charge of 3-5 other student employees - I basically trained them, gave them tasks, ensured they finished them, (also interviewed and helped make selections about who to hire), etc - I've held this role for about a year now.

What would be the best way to categorize this? Should I just list it all under one activity and choose the Employment category and mention both roles? Or should I list it as two different activities, listing the first 8 months as employment and the 1 year as supervisor as leadership?

Also, if it makes a difference, I'm considering listing this job (specifically the role as a supervisor) as one of my significant activities that you get an extra ~1300 characters for. I learned a lot of valuable skills from the job that I probably would not have gotten elsewhere - would it be a bad idea to list it as one of my significant experiences even if it is unrelated to medicine?
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Here are some comments from Catalystik that you might be interested in
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11047440&postcount=739
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11046870&postcount=726

So if you have other leadership experiences, then it can be useful to create only one entry, labeled as non-military employment, and show how you took on more responsibility. However, if you don't have other leadership, then you could separate the two out as you suggest.

It's fine to list leadership as a most meaningful activity. Leadership is very important for medicine, given that a physician is really the leader of the healthcare team
 
bvand086 said:
I have a question about the formatting of these experiences.
Should I just be listing or should I be giving a thorough description. I find that a thorough description makes it long. Also when grouping together experiences what if there are multiple contacts. like if i did two volunteer experiences and they both were with different organizations.

any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...
You can use either paragraph or bullet form (or a mix of the two).

I'm sure adcom's will thank you if you can give the same information in a shorter form.

When grouping, I feel that it is best to include contact info for both activities. The first contact can go in the boxes, then for the second activitiy, you would say "Also:" and then give the title and contact info for the second, followed by the description.

Catalystik posted this http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11078014&postcount=948 suggesting that it is not always necessary to list the contact info for the second activity. I think it depends on the impact of the activity, so if it is something that took a lot of time and builds your application in an important way, then contact info should be given. If it was short term, you could consider leaving it out
 
Sector 9, thanks for posting all of these. Your referencing other posts has taught me a lot. I have questions of my own but will defer them for now. My first question was going to be, if I tutored people informally throughout the semester, how can I prove it? I think though this page that if you list contacts that can vouch for you, especially a faculty member that knows you did it, you should be OK. So for Organic and Biochemistry, I have at least 2-3 people each, blammo. Two semesters tutoring.
 
pfaction said:
Sector 9, thanks for posting all of these. Your referencing other posts has taught me a lot. I have questions of my own but will defer them for now. My first question was going to be, if I tutored people informally throughout the semester, how can I prove it? I think though this page that if you list contacts that can vouch for you, especially a faculty member that knows you did it, you should be OK. So for Organic and Biochemistry, I have at least 2-3 people each, blammo. Two semesters tutoring.
Click to expand...
Here's a few references for your situation
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11025744&postcount=556
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11025701&postcount=553
One of those posts looks like a response by Catalystik to you previously. It sounds like you could definitely list the biochem professor for the tutoring. For the ochem, maybe you could put down a person you tutored frequently.

The easiest way is if one person knows about all of your tutoring, but that seems unlikely for two subjects like you're talking about.

The adcom calling these contacts won't be asking your contact detailed questions about how good you are or if you'll be a good doctor. Their purpose is just to determine if you did what you said and if the time span matches what you said.
 
Hi all,

I'm really feeling pressure to submit soon. Ah! Sorry this may be a long post.

I'm debating on listing my independent study that I did for my major as an experience. It's a long story, but basically I applied for internship credit for my summer study abroad experience for my major. Either an internship or an independent study are required for my major. About a week before I left for Argentina, my flaky department head (genius sociologist that he is, he's a terrible adviser), sent me an email to say "oh hey, I just actually read your application, turns out your time abroad is too short for internship credit. try doing some research there instead."

I went to ask the folks in Argentina and they said, "let's talk when you get here." And when I got there, they said, "yeah you don't really have the time to set a project up with us." So, under flaky professor's approval I set up my on qualitative study and started recording interviews. But when I got back to the US, flaky professor assigned me to an even flakier professor.

This professor was really into Asian sociocultural health disparities, but apparently could care less about my paper on South American health disparities. We had a couple miscommunications at first. She's fairly important and also a very respected professor, she just didn't have the time of day for me. She didn't care that I didn't have much help in setting it up and didn't have the time to help me salvage it. Long story not short, I ended up writing the damn research paper and she ended up getting a B. I don't know if it's just me, but after all of that, I think getting a B in an independent study is kinda a red flag. Like, what the hell happened there?

Other than this horrid experience, I have no real research experience. It wasn't a real research paper with a publication or anything, but I developed research and I wrote a paper that was reviewed (poorly) by my adviser.

So what do you think, should I list it and just list the title of my project and a brief brief description? Should I list it and say a little about, it was tough, I learned from it? Or just avoid it altogether and pretend it never happened to me?

I really have no other activities that I can list as research. Should I count this?
 
sk8ngli said:
Hi all,

I'm really feeling pressure to submit soon. Ah! Sorry this may be a long post.

I'm debating on listing my independent study that I did for my major as an experience. It's a long story, but basically I applied for internship credit for my summer study abroad experience for my major. Either an internship or an independent study are required for my major. About a week before I left for Argentina, my flaky department head (genius sociologist that he is, he's a terrible adviser), sent me an email to say "oh hey, I just actually read your application, turns out your time abroad is too short for internship credit. try doing some research there instead."

I went to ask the folks in Argentina and they said, "let's talk when you get here." And when I got there, they said, "yeah you don't really have the time to set a project up with us." So, under flaky professor's approval I set up my on qualitative study and started recording interviews. But when I got back to the US, flaky professor assigned me to an even flakier professor.

This professor was really into Asian sociocultural health disparities, but apparently could care less about my paper on South American health disparities. We had a couple miscommunications at first. She's fairly important and also a very respected professor, she just didn't have the time of day for me. She didn't care that I didn't have much help in setting it up and didn't have the time to help me salvage it. Long story not short, I ended up writing the damn research paper and she ended up getting a B. I don't know if it's just me, but after all of that, I think getting a B in an independent study is kinda a red flag. Like, what the hell happened there?

Other than this horrid experience, I have no real research experience. It wasn't a real research paper with a publication or anything, but I developed research and I wrote a paper that was reviewed (poorly) by my adviser.

So what do you think, should I list it and just list the title of my project and a brief brief description? Should I list it and say a little about, it was tough, I learned from it? Or just avoid it altogether and pretend it never happened to me?

I really have no other activities that I can list as research. Should I count this?
Click to expand...
Ok so the short version is: You did a sociology project as part of a class on a study abroad trip, wrote a research paper (unpublished) about it, and now you're curious about whether you should list it as research on AMCAS?

Go for it, assuming you designed the project, had a hypothesis, did the fieldwork, and assimilated the data into a meaningful conclusion in your paper. Sociology research projects are fair game. See the following posts by adcom members
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6874823&postcount=1059
Stuff done as class credit is also fair game
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6687136&postcount=588
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11057217&postcount=819

I wouldn't say "I wrote this paper at the end and my prof didn't like it" though. I don't think the B will raise a huge red flag, but I guess you could prepare a little bit for a possible question prior to an interview. It is more than likely that no one will notice or connect the dots. I mean, look at this post from LizzyM (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6687136&postcount=588) She was on an admissions committee for 6 years before she even realized that people were listing things they did in a class

The only part where this gets a little sticky is that some schools might expect a LOR from the professor you did your project with, and it sounds like that isn't going to happen. However, since this sounds like a shorter term project anyway, it might go unnoticed. I still say go for it since it fills in a gap in your application.
 
So I tried to do a little research before bringing this up, but I'm just a little torn in terms of whether or not I should include shadowing.

Context:
-Volunteered in the ED for 3 years, shadowed various attendings, residents, consulting MDs

-Got hired as a Medical Assistant in April this year

-Shadowed a rural FP 40hrs, cardiothoracic surg 8 hrs, FP 20 hrs.

-I also work at an PCP clinic, recently got coverage for absences-I can finally schedule in more shadowing exp with our MDs in the clinic: FP, IM, and Endo

-I did read this: (suggested from another post)
http://www.studentdoctor.net/2008/0...e-importance-of-physician-shadowing/#more-519

I did read earlier that MilkManAl (hope i'm gettin the handle right) said he didn't include shadowing because it was said in his PS. While my PS doesn't address shadowing explicitly, a lot of my PS and descriptions talk about patient interactions experience as a volunteer. Reading the article above, I feel that my exp as a volunteer and now as an MA have given me enough "clinical exposure" to tell me what i'm about to get myself into...which was kinda what the SDN article above was emphasizing in terms of the value of shadowing.

That being said, would it be bad to leave the volunteer hrs out?
Reasons are:
1) I've been shadowing sporadically, not a consistent amount of hrs over a specific period of time
2) the 40 hr stretch was for a rural clinic that is incredibly hard to contact (so I feel like it'd be a liability to put them on as a "contact")
3) I have shadowing now able to be scheduled (probably complete the hours in July'ish)
4) I have ED shadowing (via volunteering) hrs that would be hard to describe which would result in either buried in the volunteering description, or a "semi-double dipping" between shadowing and volunteering entries. Not to mention it'd be impossible to describe all of the providers, etc
5) If screening isn't done with hrs, then I could easily talk about them in an interview.

Any thoughts? sry for the long post! Thanks!
 
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I've seen questions on this before but not really a clear answer.

I shadowed at the pediatric clinic where my dad works informally during college breaks - mostly him, also people working in their lab. I wasn't even planning on including this in my primary app b/c I got the feeling shadowing a relative doesn't really "count." I have other shadowing and plenty of clinical exposure working w/ physicians.

Should I add it to my app? If so, should I specify that I was shadowing my father? This really showed me a day in the life of a primary care physician and was a great learning experience over time, but if it's going to look bad to include it, I won't.
 
Alejandro said:
So I tried to do a little research before bringing this up, but I'm just a little torn in terms of whether or not I should include shadowing.

Context:
-Volunteered in the ED for 3 years, shadowed various attendings, residents, consulting MDs

-Got hired as a Medical Assistant in April this year

-Shadowed a rural FP 40hrs, cardiothoracic surg 8 hrs, FP 20 hrs.

-I also work at an PCP clinic, recently got coverage for absences-I can finally schedule in more shadowing exp with our MDs in the clinic: FP, IM, and Endo

-I did read this: (suggested from another post)
http://www.studentdoctor.net/2008/0...e-importance-of-physician-shadowing/#more-519

I did read earlier that MilkManAl (hope i'm gettin the handle right) said he didn't include shadowing because it was said in his PS. While my PS doesn't address shadowing explicitly, a lot of my PS and descriptions talk about patient interactions experience as a volunteer. Reading the article above, I feel that my exp as a volunteer and now as an MA have given me enough "clinical exposure" to tell me what i'm about to get myself into...which was kinda what the SDN article above was emphasizing in terms of the value of shadowing.

That being said, would it be bad to leave the volunteer hrs out?
Reasons are:
1) I've been shadowing sporadically, not a consistent amount of hrs over a specific period of time
2) the 40 hr stretch was for a rural clinic that is incredibly hard to contact (so I feel like it'd be a liability to put them on as a "contact")
3) I have shadowing now able to be scheduled (probably complete the hours in July'ish)
4) I have ED shadowing (via volunteering) hrs that would be hard to describe which would result in either buried in the volunteering description, or a "semi-double dipping" between shadowing and volunteering entries. Not to mention it'd be impossible to describe all of the providers, etc
5) If screening isn't done with hrs, then I could easily talk about them in an interview.

Any thoughts? sry for the long post! Thanks!
Click to expand...
I'm going to assume you meant "shadowing" hours in the bolded part above. If that's not correct, then I'm confused.

I would include your shadowing.

Some reasons why:
1) Catalystik has stated that at some schools, a different reviewer would look over your PS and your Work/Activities
2) Shadowing is different from being a medical assistant or being a volunteer. Some schools will say "Ok he has great clinical experience from being an MA and from ER volunteering" but others might want you to have more dedicated time following a single doctor for all aspects of his day, like charting, listening to boring patients, etc. When I shadowed as part of volunteering in the ER, it was only for the cool cases when the ER doc would grab me. My "formalized" shadowing was different, and some schools will want to see them listed separately
3) You have a great shadowing experience with the rural FP. That is kind of unique and might get bonus points, since there's a shortage of rural docs. The contact flakiness isn't a huge deal because it really isn't your fault. I wouldn't let that stop you
4) You've got ~80 hours of formal shadowing. That's really good, so why wouldn't you include it? The only reason I would consider leaving it out is if you are at 15 spaces, but even then some adcom's in these threads say that shadowing is basically required these days.

You could either approximate the hours shadowed in the ER while volunteering and include it with your shadowing space, or you could make it clear in the description of your volunteering that you also shadowed. Definitely don't double list it.

Basically, the point it that the guy who wrote that article provided one view (which was still very pro-shadowing BTW). However, other adcom members on these threads think shadowing should always be part of an app no matter what, so it's best to just list it to have your app appeal to the widest variety of schools.

ETA: See this post by LizzyM talking to a guy who thinks he doesn't need to shadow. So since you've done shadowing, list it
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=11118809#post11118809
 
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