*~*~*~*Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2012-2013*~*~*~*

kestralray said:

I heard/read somewhere that each category title/experience type can only be used once (i.e. I can't have two separate experiences on separate "pages" listed as hobbies). That makes sense. But now I can't find where it says that in the AMCAS instructions.

This is true, right?

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It is NOT true. You can use each category as often as needed, though when there is a choice, you have the option of picking the one that best balances your application.

Arian0Anderson said:

I have carried a job since my 16 birthday working full time during each summer and probably 10 hrs a week during the school year both in HS and College. Is it worth making an activity labeled "Work experience" and listing all of the different jobs I've carried or should I just list the more recent full time jobs?

I am only asking because I know reviewers like it when you've worked during the school year but making a mega conglomerate of all of my work experience might be a bit of overkill. Also if I take this approach I don't know who to put as my contact. Thoughts?

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No one will care about the HS jobs, so don't list one that didn't carry through into the college years. The others could be grouped into one, two, or three, spots, or up to as many jobs as you had, depending on the room you have left. There is no one right way to do this. You could divide them by summer jobs and academic year jobs, or by most recent and long ago, or by full-time and part-time, or by job category.

However you group them, you'd list the most recent in the header (with a contact), and tack the others onto the end in reverse chronological order, with as much similar information as you have space for. If you run out of room you could add in, "In the previous three summers I worked full-time as a busboy, a library aide, and a nail technician."

Hey, I have another quick question. I have been working on my parent's farm basically as long as I have been able to, and I continued doing that when I was home on college breaks. Is this something worth mentioning?

FrontierPsych said:

Hey, I have another quick question. I have been working on my parent's farm basically as long as I have been able to, and I continued doing that when I was home on college breaks. Is this something worth mentioning?

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Yes. Be specific about the responsibilities you took on. Anything unusual gets you double points toward being memorable.

Catalystik said:

You would not include the amount of your pay, but if you were paid (as separate from a stipend) as an employee, and didn't use the Employment category, you should either put something in the title to indicate it was paid, or fit the word "paid" in the description. JMO.

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Thanks make sense. The only hobby I thought about putting it was one of my jobs where I nearly tripled my hourly wage over the 5 year period I was there due to hard word and excellence. Is it more appropriate to just state it like that?^

MiracleforMD said:

Thanks make sense. The only hobby I thought about putting it was one of my jobs where I nearly tripled my hourly wage over the 5 year period I was there due to hard word and excellence. Is it more appropriate to just state it like that?^

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Yes, that would be fine.

Catalystik, just wanted to thank you for your help on this thread. Submitting my AMCAS right now!

AllDay24 said:

Catalystik, just wanted to thank you for your help on this thread. Submitting my AMCAS right now!

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Catalystik said:

1) Sadly, this is not viewed as clinical experience by MD adcomms. You should list it under Community Service/Volunteer-NOT Medical/Clinical.

2) It depends on whether you did this often enough/long enough for it to be a substantial experience, and whether you're sparse in the volunteer arena. Your Spanish language fluency level will already be evident from another part of the application.

3) Look on the very first page of the AMCAS application. On the right upper part of the page, there is a PRINT button. On the next page, only pick PDF format for the Print Preview, as HTML will mess up the formatting and bump up your adrenaline levels.

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Thank you, you've been incredibly helpful.

=

What experience type would u put for a internship in a hospital? It's not exactly a volunteer work.

Catalystik said:

Yes. Be specific about the responsibilities you took on. Anything unusual gets you double points toward being memorable.

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Ok, thank you. I can't really make this one too clear with bullet points, so you do you think it would be fine if I used paragraph form for this one and bullet points for everything else? I don't want it to come across as inconsistent though.

Tanquinho said:

1) How should I list my humanitarian activities if most are done through a pre-med organization?

For example, through this organization, I volunteer work at the soup kitchen, do outdoor clean ups, operation school bell etc. Should I group the activities under my premed club and then list each one with hours? ex.

soup kitchen (20 hours)
helped feed homeless etc..

outdoor clean up (10 hours)
cleaned outdoor areas etc...

operation school bell (10 hours)
helped kids pick clothes etc...

2) Also, what is a good number of non-clinical humanitarian volunteering?

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Since you only need to provide one contact if you list the activity under the umbrella organization, it's a good idea to do this, so as to save space. Listing it as you've demonstrated would be fine, though including the actual name of many of the organizations would be nice to see, along with a related sentence if there might have been particular impact from some.

2) An average of an hour per week is good to see.

smile8888 said:

What experience type would u put for a internship in a hospital? It's not exactly a volunteer work.

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It depends on what you did, if you got paid, etc, but often these experiences are multifaceted and belong best under "Other." If one subcomponent is particularly important or needs to be highlighted, you can split it out with its related hours and list it on its own, like Research if you haven't any other. Or shadowing, if you have other shadowing experiences to list (which also goes under "Other") and you want to keep them together.

Hi everyone,

I organized and held a fundraiser for the Canadian Diabetes Association. In total, I spent roughly 15 hours organizing/planning and holding the fundraiser. Should this be included in my application?

FrontierPsych said:

Ok, thank you. I can't really make this one too clear with bullet points, so you do you think it would be fine if I used paragraph form for this one and bullet points for everything else? I don't want it to come across as inconsistent though.

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It's perfectly fine to mix and match the styles, as seems best suited to getting across what you wish to convey.

I was told by my writing center to list my deans list and award I got for best design project on 2 separate activities... is this true?

Also she said the general format should be me explaing what I did and then go into detail on why its meaningful for med school. Is this true also?

Lafakads said:

1) I was told by my writing center to list my deans list and award I got for best design project on 2 separate activities... is this true?

2) Also she said the general format should be me explaing what I did and then go into detail on why its meaningful for med school. Is this true also?

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1) The design project awards are worth listing. The deans list recognitions are not worth listing on their own (your grades are evident from your transcript, and schools vary too much in their criteria), but you can slip them into the end of discussing the projects if there's space left.

It won't hurt you to list the deans list stuff on their own, but it won't help either, and looks like fluff. JMO.

2) Yes. At least for the design awards. I think everyone knows what you did to get on the deans list.

If I am listing multiple jobs in one EC box, what should I put as the start and end dates? Should the start and end dates only be for 1 job and then I can specify the dates for others? Or should the dates be all encompassing?

Also, do we need to list contacts for each job in the EC box?

Catalystik said:

It is NOT true. You can use each category as often as needed, though when there is a choice, you have the option of picking the one that best balances your application.

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AHHHHHHH thanks! dammit...I'm glad I asked

princesslinda said:

1) If I am listing multiple jobs in one EC box, what should I put as the start and end dates? Should the start and end dates only be for 1 job and then I can specify the dates for others? Or should the dates be all encompassing?

2) Also, do we need to list contacts for each job in the EC box?

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1) It depends on if the jobs were contiguous, spaced out, only in the summer, only in the academic year, etc. See my response from 7:47 pm yesterday and see if it helps: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=12629222&postcount=1360 . This might help, too: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=12621490&postcount=1318

2) As best it's possible, yes.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? AMCAS keeps cutting off the last few characters of my descriptions, even if the character count is only like 694/700. Every time I change it and click 'continue', it reverts back to how it was. Or, if I change something else in the paragraph, it saves that but then chops off the end again. I'm not above 700 characters on any of them! I'm getting extremely frustrated by this because nearly all of them are doing it.

1. I've been using solely paragraph-style to describe my ECs, though some of it comes off as "I did X, Y, Z, and organized A, B, C" - would this be better presented in bullet point, or is it fine the way it is?

2. If I'm listing a leadership scholarship I got for four years, should I include the amount (not too much), or is that unnecessary?

blackcadillacs said:

1. I've been using solely paragraph-style to describe my ECs, though some of it comes off as "I did X, Y, Z, and organized A, B, C" - would this be better presented in bullet point, or is it fine the way it is?

2. If I'm listing a leadership scholarship I got for four years, should I include the amount (not too much), or is that unnecessary?

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1. Try it and see if you like a little variety. Which ever you prefer is equally fine.

2. If the amount is impressive it is fine to include.

Hello everyone, I have a few questions about my work/activities.

1) How does everyone think I should put my research in? I have 3 years of chemistry research with the same PI, no publications but a couple presentations. This research was done through directed research for credit, a UROP fellowship, and a more prestigious Chemistry department fellowship.
I wanted to list it under one activity and describe all of my research, but I don’t think I have enough space. Would it be prudent to list the department fellowship separately and the rest of the research in its own activity? I was also going to mark my research as a “meaningful experience”, in this case would I mark the general research activity as the most meaningful?

2) Are organizations that you did not hold leadership positions in still worthwhile to list? I was part of a few organizations that I was active and invested in but was never able to hold a leadership position because of time/date conflicts.

3) I was going to include a section about scholarships/awards/etc and list the scholarships and whatnot. One of these scholarships was for study abroad and I completed a project for it as well. Would it be more appropriate to describe the project and the requirements of the scholarship in the scholarship section or the study abroad section.

4) What are the things people should consider as “meaningful” experiences? I was going to list a study abroad experience as one because I think it really helped me mature as a person and “break out of my shell”, but it wasn’t a very academic experience.

5) What is the general rule on combining activities? I was planning on combining activities such as mentoring positions, school and departmental tour guides/ambassadors, and “buddy” programs.

Sorry for being a little longwinded and nitpicky but the AMCAS is bringing out my neurotic side.

LotusFX said:

1) How does everyone think I should put my research in? I have 3 years of chemistry research with the same PI, no publications but a couple presentations. This research was done through directed research for credit, a UROP fellowship, and a more prestigious Chemistry department fellowship.
I wanted to list it under one activity and describe all of my research, but I don’t think I have enough space. Would it be prudent to list the department fellowship separately and the rest of the research in its own activity? I was also going to mark my research as a “meaningful experience”, in this case would I mark the general research activity as the most meaningful?

2) Are organizations that you did not hold leadership positions in still worthwhile to list? I was part of a few organizations that I was active and invested in but was never able to hold a leadership position because of time/date conflicts.

3) I was going to include a section about scholarships/awards/etc and list the scholarships and whatnot. One of these scholarships was for study abroad and I completed a project for it as well. Would it be more appropriate to describe the project and the requirements of the scholarship in the scholarship section or the study abroad section.

4) What are the things people should consider as “meaningful” experiences? I was going to list a study abroad experience as one because I think it really helped me mature as a person and “break out of my shell”, but it wasn’t a very academic experience.

5) What is the general rule on combining activities? I was planning on combining activities such as mentoring positions, school and departmental tour guides/ambassadors, and “buddy” programs.

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1) Maybe take out the two fellowships, listing them on their own under Awards/Honors, with the more prestigious one in the header. The Research activity can have its own space also. And the Posters/Presentations (if at leat one was given at an off-campus event) could be grouped in their own space, too.

2) Clubs/organizations can also be useful if they led to community service, if they demonstrate interests you feel would enhance your application, or provide an official contact of an area of interest.

3) Either location is suitable, depending on where you have more room.

4) One can decide based on activies with the most impact, that were most interesting, that you need more space to describe, or that you think adcomms will give you more points for listing. There are strategic considerations vs choosing 'from the heart.' It's up to you. It could come from any category, which includes international experience.

5) There is no rule, but ideally the name you give the activity will apply to everything you list in the space. Maybe all the things you mentioned would fall under "Miscellaneous (or Short-Term) Community Service."
.

I've been doing research since January. From Jan-May I was in the lab about 4 hours a week. End of May-July I'll be in the lab 40 hours a week. Should I sort of average the hours out? In the description I have mentioned my summer project being full time...should I then just say 4 hours?

I'm not a very long-winded person, so I was wondering if it would look bad if I don't use very much of the extra space given for the most meaningful activity descriptions.

Does it matter the order in which I entered the entries? I heard AMCAS will sort them in reverse a chronological order anyway.

Question:

I've got 1500 physician shadowing/extender hours I picked up as a Student Athletic Trainer over three year. I've worked with/shadowed 8 physicians of differing specialties and can't fit anything on the Work/Activities description past their name, credentials, hours I shadowed, and dates. It is totally Busch League to leave off their practice/contact info? Any suggestions for fitting it?

IRASNA said:

I've been doing research since January. From Jan-May I was in the lab about 4 hours a week. End of May-July I'll be in the lab 40 hours a week. Should I sort of average the hours out? In the description I have mentioned my summer project being full time...should I then just say 4 hours?

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I suggest you consider not filling in the hours per week in the header, then giving the two date spans in the narrative with, one being Jan 2012-May 2012 and the other June 2012 to Present (or you can give the definite end date if known), with their varying hours per week.

Black Mamba24 said:

I'm not a very long-winded person, so I was wondering if it would look bad if I don't use very much of the extra space given for the most meaningful activity descriptions.

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Not a problem. Some adcomms don't like the availability of all that extra space, and feel that filling it rarely adds much. Being able to say the important things, but remaining succinct is a gift.

huihui said:

Does it matter the order in which I entered the entries? I heard AMCAS will sort them in reverse a chronological order anyway.

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It doesn't matter how you enter them. Med schools can resort the activities in various ways, and you have no control over that.

Hulk Smash said:

I've got 1500 physician shadowing/extender hours I picked up as a Student Athletic Trainer over three year. I've worked with/shadowed 8 physicians of differing specialties and can't fit anything on the Work/Activities description past their name, credentials, hours I shadowed, and dates. It is totally Busch League to leave off their practice/contact info? Any suggestions for fitting it?

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If you were a student, maybe you could use your program director/coordinator as the contact for all of them. Then it would be fine to omit individual physician locations and contact info. So long as their name, specialty, and general whereabouts are apparent from the application, they could theoretically be tracked down via an internet search anyway.

Thank you very much for the quick answer, Catalystik. This comes as a relief because I struggle to lengthen my writing and feel as if I simply add filler, therefore the quality of my writing quickly diminishes when I do this.

What is the difference in the "conference attended" vs. "presentation/poster" experience type listed within the AMCAs extracurricular tab?

If I have a series of research posters that I personally presented, would I list that under the "presentation/poster" type?

On the flip side, if I also have my name on a lot of research posters, but did not present them firsthand, would I place them under "conference attended"?

How would you guys mark activities that turn into leadership exp?

Hi everyone- sorry, I have three questions.

I am having a little difficulty condensing my activities. Would it be possible to group participation in a very competitive internship program in awards and honors?

Without giving away which one(s) I won so that you could identify me, do awards like the Truman, Marshall, and Rhodes require explanations? I think Rhodes has a lot of name recognition, but Truman and Marshall may not be as well known.... I mean- my parents didn't even know what either of them are.

Is there any way to describe the work that you are currently participating in this summer? I am participating in a very competitive internship that had roughly 5,000 applicants and would love to list it as it directly relates to what I want to do with medicine.

Thanks a ton for any input you can give!

chiapet874 said:

1) What is the difference in the "conference attended" vs. "presentation/poster" experience type listed within the AMCAs extracurricular tab?

2) If I have a series of research posters that I personally presented, would I list that under the "presentation/poster" type?

3) On the flip side, if I also have my name on a lot of research posters, but did not present them firsthand, would I place them under "conference attended"?

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1) You would use Conferences Attended when you were present solely for educational purposes and not presenting anything. Poster/Presentation can be used whether you attend the conference or not, so long as your name is on a poster/abstract as an author, though if you did not attend you should make it clear that someone else did the presentation.

2) Yes, so long as this happened at an off-campus event. Campus research symposiums are generally kept with the Research description.

Also note, if the data presented was the same for each, you would only list the most prestigious venue in the header (Publication or Poster/Presentation) and then list other presentations of the same data in that same space.

If each poster was distinctly different, then each may go in its own space, if you have the room.

3) No. They would still go under Posters/Presentations, but you'd give credit to the actual presenter, and make it clear that you didn't attend.

You might consider alternatively, grouping the personal presentations together (even if not similar), and nonattended presentations together (even if not similar), and making the fact of your presence, or not, apparent from the name you give the activity to cut down on the needed explanations.

Medgen said:

1) I am having a little difficulty condensing my activities. Would it be possible to group participation in a very competitive internship program in awards and honors?

2) Without giving away which one(s) I won so that you could identify me, do awards like the Truman, Marshall, and Rhodes require explanations? I think Rhodes has a lot of name recognition, but Truman and Marshall may not be as well known.... I mean- my parents didn't even know what either of them are.

3) Is there any way to describe the work that you are currently participating in this summer? I am participating in a very competitive internship that had roughly 5,000 applicants and would love to list it as it directly relates to what I want to do with medicine.

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1) You could mention the fact that you were awarded the prestigious internship under Award/Honors, and the criteria for selection, but to discuss what it entailed, what you learned, etc, would be less than ideal.

2) I suggest you explain it, whatever it's called. Don't assume everyone on the adcomm has a broad knowledge of such things.

3) If the experience has begun, there is no reason you can't list it (xx/xx/xx to present) and explain the end date in the description, along with a program description.

sector9 said:

Um you aren't even in college yet.... What sort of an activity are you talking about? Look at the options in the FAQ

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Lets say you start volunteering for a student teaching group (2 years) and work your way up to the leader of the group (5 months). Would you designate where the ec stopped being volunteering and started being leadership?

Catalystik,

Thank you so much for helping me and everyone else on this post! I know you've heard this before, but we're so grateful that you're doing this!

I have a question regarding shadowing experiences. I am a junior, and I have volunteered in an outpatient clinic since senior year of high school, which has given me the chance to shadow a physician and her team of nurses in addition to helping them by taking patients' medications, scheduling labs and scans, etc. I have over 2000 hours shadowing and volunteering for them. My other shadowing experience was in an abroad 1-week brigade, where I was able to shadow and translate for 2 internal medicine physicians. I have written about both of these experiences in my PS/work-activities descriptions.

I'm a little concerned that I have only shadowed one physician (who practices a specific speciality) and her team for a long time. Does this seem concerning? I'm not sure if it looks better when students have shadowed one person for a long period of time (which has given me the chance to follow-up with hundreds of patients throughout their care) or when they have shadowed multiple patients, each for a shorter period of time. I'm worried that in my interviews, someone will tell me that I don't have broad shadowing experiences. Would you suggest that I shadow a different physician, maybe an internal medicine doctor, for some time? Or do my shadowing experiences seem enough?

Catalystik said:

1) You would use Conferences Attended when you were present solely for educational purposes and not presenting anything. Poster/Presentation can be used whether you attend the conference or not, so long as your name is on a poster/abstract as an author, though if you did not attend you should make it clear that someone else did the presentation.

2) Yes, so long as this happened at an off-campus event. Campus research symposiums are generally kept with the Research description.

Also note, if the data presented was the same for each, you would only list the most prestigious venue in the header (Publication or Poster/Presentation) and then list other presentations of the same data in that same space.

If each poster was distinctly different, then each may go in its own space, if you have the room.

3) No. They would still go under Posters/Presentations, but you'd give credit to the actual presenter, and make it clear that you didn't attend.

You might consider alternatively, grouping the personal presentations together (even if not similar), and nonattended presentations together (even if not similar), and making the fact of your presence, or not, apparent from the name you give the activity to cut down on the needed explanations.

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Thank you very much!

I've got two research lab experiences and have some questions about them. Thanks in advance to those willing to help.

1- 1st lab experience: Primarily more of a shadowing role (my title was "intern"). I went into the lab once a week for 2 months (about 25 hours total) and shadowed different post-docs. I observed the different work (e.g. MS analysis; chemical synthesis) that each post-doc was doing to contribute to the development of a new drug. I sat in on meetings and read research papers on the drug and on latest discoveries.
My 2nd lab experience: Is more of a "real" experience, which I am still currently involved in. I've been a member of the lab for more than a year (150+ hours) and do actual lab work.

My question is whether I should include the 1st research experience in my application. Although it is not as significant and involved as the 2nd, it does relate to it in regard to the domain of research. I know that admission members like to see continuity and connection between activities, so I was considering included it. It obviously wasn't anything major, but I did put time towards it, and it relates to a field of interest. So do I include it?

2- A lot of the things I read on SDN about lab experiences include things like "designing the experiment," "formulating a hypothesis," etc. In the lab that I currently work in, I am just a piece of the puzzle in the current projects. I accumulate and analyze data based on micrographs. I've been included as an author in an already-submitted paper that should be published shortly (so I guess the work that I've done was of some value, however I don't have any major role in the experiment).

So, I'm wondering whether my smaller lab role (relative to the lab experiences of others pre-meds) will have any impression on adcoms (or if they're more interested in/impressed with pre-meds who designed experiments/had major roles in the research). In other words, will any of the research experience/publication described above contribute to helping me get into med schools or is it inadequate to have a significant impact?

An MD Hopeful said:

I have a question regarding shadowing experiences. I am a junior, and I have volunteered in an outpatient clinic since senior year of high school, which has given me the chance to shadow a physician and her team of nurses in addition to helping them by taking patients' medications, scheduling labs and scans, etc. I have over 2000 hours shadowing and volunteering for them. My other shadowing experience was in an abroad 1-week brigade, where I was able to shadow and translate for 2 internal medicine physicians. I have written about both of these experiences in my PS/work-activities descriptions.

I'm a little concerned that I have only shadowed one physician (who practices a specific speciality) and her team for a long time. Does this seem concerning? I'm not sure if it looks better when students have shadowed one person for a long period of time (which has given me the chance to follow-up with hundreds of patients throughout their care) or when they have shadowed multiple patients, each for a shorter period of time. I'm worried that in my interviews, someone will tell me that I don't have broad shadowing experiences. Would you suggest that I shadow a different physician, maybe an internal medicine doctor, for some time? Or do my shadowing experiences seem enough?

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What is the specific specialty of the year's-long experience? Were the two Brigade IM docs from the US? How many hours were you in their presence?

Catalystik said:

What is the specific specialty of the year's-long experience? Were the two Brigade IM docs from the US? How many hours were you in their presence?

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The specialty is oncology. The 2 brigade IM doctors are from the US, and I shadowed/volunteered for them for about 25 hours.

Thanks, Catalystik!