Great tips for entering your "Work/Activities" for AMCAS

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After highschool and before college I spent a year living independently in Ireland to pursue my love of competitive Irish dancing. While I was there I supported myself through a job as an au pair and then as restaurant worker. I have absolutely no idea where or how to include this (or if I even should) in my work/activities section. suggestions???
 
hi!

so i have a question about research and work. I'm in a lab where i'm working on two projects. i'm getting research credit for one project and getting paid for other project. The times i spend on both projects don't necessarily overlap. Also for work, i was promoted from normal lab duties like autoclaving and dish washing to actually doing a research project for pay. Should I separate the two areas as research and work experience, or should i just put everything under research?

thanks a bunch!
 
Should I separate the two areas as research and work experience, or should i just put everything under research?
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Any type of research is listed under Research, including a volunteer position. You can list the projects as separate entries, or you can group them, making clear in the description which is also Employment and how it evolved.
 
Hi
I have a question about the primary application. I am planning on sending my primary application on June 1, 2010. Will AMCAS let me add an extra EC activity after I submitted my primary application?
 
Zebadiahh said:
Hello everyone ...

I know that AMCAS calculates an A+ as a 4.0, but do they still report that you got an A+ to the schools, or do they just change it to an A? Will medical schools see that you got an A+? Can any one reply me the answer in regard to this??

Just wondering whether it is worth it to work for an A+ if possible, if the schools won't even see it.
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i don't know what the schools see, but i assume it is similar to the pdf you can print out of your amcas application at the end (according to my interviewers), in which your a+ does show up as an a+. by all means do your best, but whether that extra + is worth more work is probably debatable.
 
LizzyM said:
Big change! in the 2009/2010 cycle, the experience type is shown alphabetically (at least at my school) rather than in reverse chronological (most recent actvitity first). Nothing you can do anything about or change but it is an interesting twist.
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LizzyM, thanks for posting this information. Can you clarify which field the alphabetical sorting is keyed to? I would imagine the Experience Name field, but wanted to double check.

Which segues into my next question... How good/bad/devious would it look to intentionally manipulate the sorting order? For example, naming experiences like "1. My Most Important Experience" "2. My Next Most Important"...
 
Im sure this has been asked somewhere, but its hard to figure out which words to use to search for it.

I go to school out of state and last summer I started volunteering at a hospital near my hometown, volunteered a lot over winter break and will continue this summer.

For the average hours/week question, will I average the hours over the time when I was actually volunteering or the total time span since I started volunteering?
 
surftheiop said:
Im sure this has been asked somewhere, but its hard to figure out which words to use to search for it.

I go to school out of state and last summer I started volunteering at a hospital near my hometown, volunteered a lot over winter break and will continue this summer.

For the average hours/week question, will I average the hours over the time when I was actually volunteering or the total time span since I started volunteering?
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The easiest way is to put the start date, "to present" and average the number of hours per week during this period. It might look like very few hours per week and you might want to explain in the free text section that you worked from date to date, date to date and date to date averaging x hours per week during those periods.
 
Dianyla said:
LizzyM, thanks for posting this information. Can you clarify which field the alphabetical sorting is keyed to? I would imagine the Experience Name field, but wanted to double check.

Which segues into my next question... How good/bad/devious would it look to intentionally manipulate the sorting order? For example, naming experiences like "1. My Most Important Experience" "2. My Next Most Important"...
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I think that it is alphabetical on type of activity which comes from a pull-down menu so it is uniform for all applicants. Some that I recall from last season:

Artistic Endeavors
Employment, military
Employment, non-military
Meeting attended (this is for conferences & annual meetings)
Presentation
Publication
Research
Tutoring or teaching
Volunteer, clinical
Volunteer, non-clinical
 
Would volunteering this summer at a camp for chronically ill and disabled kids such as cancer and neurologic disorders, be volunteering, clinical? I will be a camp counselor living with a group of kids and during this time helping in whatever way I can to make it a fun and safe week for these kids with doctors and nurses on site. I thought it may be volunteering, non-clinical.
Thanks!
 
Sunny Side Up said:
Would volunteering this summer at a camp for chronically ill and disabled kids such as cancer and neurologic disorders, be volunteering, clinical? I will be a camp counselor living with a group of kids and during this time helping in whatever way I can to make it a fun and safe week for these kids with doctors and nurses on site. I thought it may be volunteering, non-clinical.
Thanks!
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Unless you are working with camp nurses and docs to assist with therapeutic interventions, the experience would most likely be volunteering/nonclinical. That doesn't take away from the fact that it is clinically relevant, as you are gaining a level of increased comfort in working with and talking to kids having medical issues.
 
RB93 said:
Hi Cat (or others), If I have been working in public health research (not in a lab) full-time for the past two years, would I list that under Research/Lab or Paid employment/non-military? I'm a nontrad and want to make it clear what I have been doing since I graduated, but also I have heard (like you say above) that any type of research should go under research?

Also, if I have had leadership positions in community service activities (volunteer consulting for community organizations), would it be best to list that under leadership or community service-non-medical? Should I do whatever makes my application the most well-rounded?

And if a publication has been accepted for submission but we have not been given the exact citation, I assume it's ok to just include the date of future publication and journal/title/author information?

Thank you for your help!
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Even if you are paid to do the research, you would still list it under Research, rather than under Employment.

You get your choice of how to list the community service/leadership, so as to have the most balanced application. If you already have a strong leadership listing, put it under community service. Or the converse.

An accepted, not-yet-printed publication is still a Publication, even if you don't yet know what page it will be on. Just put down what you do know.
 
I'm doing a retail job right now for money. I'm leaving for vacation in June so I can't get a serious job that'll let me take time off so soon, but with retail I can just quit since they expect it and have high turnover. My adviser is telling me to include it on my application? That doesn't make sense to me since it is not at all medically related. Do I include it anyway to account for my time or will adcoms think it's strange?
 
StarryNights said:
I'm doing a retail job right now for money. I'm leaving for vacation in June so I can't get a serious job that'll let me take time off so soon, but with retail I can just quit since they expect it and have high turnover. My adviser is telling me to include it on my application? That doesn't make sense to me since it is not at all medically related. Do I include it anyway to account for my time or will adcoms think it's strange?
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If you have a retail job that requires you to work with customers, those skills are directly transferable to a career in medicine. I agree with your advisor that such a job has value in the med school application process.

And even if you're in the stock room, it helps you that you were busy with work and ECs, and still managed to be academically successful.
 
Catalystik said:
Even if you are paid to do the research, you would still list it under Research, rather than under Employment.

You get your choice of how to list the community service/leadership, so as to have the most balanced application. If you already have a strong leadership listing, put it under community service. Or the converse.

An accepted, not-yet-printed publication is still a Publication, even if you don't yet know what page it will be on. Just put down what you do know.
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Thanks for the help Cat! That's what I thought, but just wanted to confirm.
 
Since I'm about to apply for this cycle I have a few questions about the ECs.
I own a Real Estate Company that partners with the government to provide housing for low-income families. Would this be something I put in the ECs or employment? Sounds like an easy question, but I own another company that makes most of my income. This one was created b/c I saw a need in our community for this type of housing development.

Also, where would I put the following?
1.Created a Scholarship Fund for a local college
2.A voting member of the scholarship selection board.
3.Preceptor for a reseach program (Research? Teaching/tutoring?)

Of course, I have the other ECs (research, shadowing, 4 publications, clinical volunteering, founder and President of 2 organizations on campus, guest lecturer at top tier college)
 
Most of the drop down menus for in the AMCAS experience section are self-explanatory. Employment, non-military is one category. Volunteer, non-clinical is another. Teaching/tutoring is another. Try it out. You'll figure it out. If you get stuck, come back.

exodallas said:
Since I'm about to apply for this cycle I have a few questions about the ECs.
I own a Real Estate Company that partners with the government to provide housing for low-income families. Would this be something I put in the ECs or employment? Sounds like an easy question, but I own another company that makes most of my income. This one was created b/c I saw a need in our community for this type of housing development.

Also, where would I put the following?
1.Created a Scholarship Fund for a local college
2.A voting member of the scholarship selection board.
3.Preceptor for a reseach program (Research? Teaching/tutoring?)

Of course, I have the other ECs (research, shadowing, 4 publications, clinical volunteering, founder and President of 2 organizations on campus, guest lecturer at top tier college)
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I have a couple questions:

1) I went to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 1996 before college. I won medals and broke world records (1 of which held for over a decade and was just broken in Beijing). I know you aren't supposed to list pre-college EC on AMCAS, but would this be an exception? I think it's a big boost to my app as far as EC is concerned.

2) I have been doing motivational speaking on a volunteer basis for over a decade. I have done several speeches/visits at rehab centers and hospitals as well as schools, rotary clubs etc.

Do I list the hospital/rehab center hours as clinical volunteer work? I was definitely "smell the patients" close, as one of the things I often did was 1 on 1 talks with newly injured patients.
 
eablackwell said:
I have a couple questions:

1) I went to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 1996 before college. I won medals and broke world records (1 of which held for over a decade and was just broken in Beijing). I know you aren't supposed to list pre-college EC on AMCAS, but would this be an exception? I think it's a big boost to my app as far as EC is concerned.

2) I have been doing motivational speaking on a volunteer basis for over a decade. I have done several speeches/visits at rehab centers and hospitals as well as schools, rotary clubs etc.

Do I list the hospital/rehab center hours as clinical volunteer work? I was definitely "smell the patients" close, as one of the things I often did was 1 on 1 talks with newly injured patients.
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There is no law against listing HS experiences and winning a gold medal (or was it more than one -- very impressive!) in international competition demands a slot in your experience section.

I'd call the motivational speaking, "volunteer, non-clinical".

Visits to rehab hospitals etc could go either way. If you were doing health promotion/disease prevention to newly injured patients, I'd call it clinical. If you were just giving a pep talk and showing your medals, I'd say "non-clinical". If what you said/did would have been appropriate to people of the same age in a school assembly, I'd say "non-clinical".
 
ohhh that's just great... OF COURSE SDN has flipping medal winning olympic athletes. OF COURSE!.
 
bleargh said:
ohhh that's just great... OF COURSE SDN has flipping medal winning olympic athletes. OF COURSE!.
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If it makes you feel any better I'm under qualified GPA wise due to being very ill my freshman year at Duke and ending up having 2 surgeries followed by 9 months of bed rest.

Even with a strong upward trend and great pre-req grades my cgpa is only 3.28 and my sgpa is only 3.11.

So there you go, I might be an olympic medalist, but I'm likely to have adcoms set fire to my application anyway 😉
 
haha no that doesn't make me feel better at all! that's seriously awesome for you though, major 👍
 
While working as an EMT I was trained to teach Basic Life Support. After doing this for a year I bought my own equipment and purchased insurance to be able to set up my own classes. I schedule, teach, and bull for my own classes. I teach ~200 people a year (RN's, EMT's, church groups, non-profit company, emergency rescue teams, and lay people) and have done so for the last 4 years. I am paid for all of these classes. This totals to 8-16 hours per month.

2 years ago I was approached by a Residential drug & alcohol program and asked if I would teach classes to their counselors and volunteers. Apparently they have a lot of turn over with the volunteers and constantly need to train them in CPR/First aid in order to keep their rehab accreditation from the state. I agreed to do 2 classes every other month for free (they just pay for the AHA card). This is about 80 hours a year for 2 years.

I would like to list these things separately b/c one is paid and 1 is volunteer, but I don't want it to look like I'm padding my app. What is the best way to list these?
 
rHinO1 said:
While working as an EMT I was trained to teach Basic Life Support. After doing this for a year I bought my own equipment and purchased insurance to be able to set up my own classes. I schedule, teach, and bull for my own classes. I teach ~200 people a year (RN's, EMT's, church groups, non-profit company, emergency rescue teams, and lay people) and have done so for the last 4 years. I am paid for all of these classes. This totals to 8-16 hours per month.

2 years ago I was approached by a Residential drug & alcohol program and asked if I would teach classes to their counselors and volunteers. Apparently they have a lot of turn over with the volunteers and constantly need to train them in CPR/First aid in order to keep their rehab accreditation from the state. I agreed to do 2 classes every other month for free (they just pay for the AHA card). This is about 80 hours a year for 2 years.

I would like to list these things separately b/c one is paid and 1 is volunteer, but I don't want it to look like I'm padding my app. What is the best way to list these?
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employment, non-military, 3 hours per week(split 8 to 16 to get 12 hr/month, then divide by 4) from 4/2006-present (or whatever the dates are). Blah, blah, blah about who you train & what you do....

volunteer, clinical: 2 hrs wk (rounding up) 4/08-present. Conduct day-long classes once every other month, to train new counselors and volunteers at a rehabilitation center on CPR/First Aid protocols.
 
LizzyM said:
employment, non-military, 3 hours per week(split 8 to 16 to get 12 hr/month, then divide by 4) from 4/2006-present (or whatever the dates are). Blah, blah, blah about who you train & what you do....

volunteer, clinical: 2 hrs wk (rounding up) 4/08-present. Conduct day-long classes once every other month, to train new counselors and volunteers at a rehabilitation center on CPR/First Aid protocols.
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Thank you 🙂. That is exactly what I needed to know. I was thinking I couldn't list it under clinical volunteering b/c it takes place outside of a clinical setting. If you think I should that is awesome b/c all of my other clinical experience it paid and I have some other non-clinical volunteering to list.
 
Hi all, a question on the AMCAS hours/week field (I looked at AMCAS 2010 but the answer wasn't clear). Can we enter something like 3-4 hours a week (or 1-2 hours a week)?

Or is it better to pick one number and just round up? Or round down? Thank you!
 
This is a great thread and does answer a lot of common questions.
 
Last edited:
RB93 said:
Hi all, a question on the AMCAS hours/week field (I looked at AMCAS 2010 but the answer wasn't clear). Can we enter something like 3-4 hours a week (or 1-2 hours a week)?

Or is it better to pick one number and just round up? Or round down? Thank you!
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See post #2378 above. Pick one number. It's OK to round up. Give it your best estimate.
 
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Catalystik said:
Pick one number. It's OK to round up. Give it your best estimate.
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Thanks so much Cat! I'll definitely put my best estimate.

Also, if we are grouping similar activities together and they were performed in different states, I assume it's ok to leave that drop-down field blank and just put it in the description? Thanks so much!
 
RB93 said:
Hi all, a question on the AMCAS hours/week field (I looked at AMCAS 2010 but the answer wasn't clear). Can we enter something like 3-4 hours a week (or 1-2 hours a week)?

Or is it better to pick one number and just round up? Or round down? Thank you!
Click to expand...

Average it. So if it is 3-4 just average it to the best approximation. I don't remember if you can say 3.5 but you could just say 3 or just say 4 since the average would be 3.5. Or if it was say 2-6 hours a week you would say 4 hours a week.

see my point? I believe LizzyM has also advised to average it out. She's an adcom member who posts on here.
 
eablackwell said:
I have a couple questions:

1) I went to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 1996 before college. I won medals and broke world records (1 of which held for over a decade and was just broken in Beijing). I know you aren't supposed to list pre-college EC on AMCAS, but would this be an exception? I think it's a big boost to my app as far as EC is concerned.

2) I have been doing motivational speaking on a volunteer basis for over a decade. I have done several speeches/visits at rehab centers and hospitals as well as schools, rotary clubs etc.

Do I list the hospital/rehab center hours as clinical volunteer work? I was definitely "smell the patients" close, as one of the things I often did was 1 on 1 talks with newly injured patients.
Click to expand...

You know the EC category has many categories including artistic endeavors, other, athletics though I believe that was intercollegiate athletics, extracurriculars/leadership not listed elsewhere, etc. So you see my point is you could use one of those miscellaneous categories to which this would fit. Probably the category called "Other" would be your best bet.

And then list it as competitive blah blah whatever the sport was. And describe it.
 
i studied abroad with a program through my university.
that is, all courses with their grades are on my uni transcript, the courses are called the exact same thing as they would have if i had taken them at home, professors from home went abroad and taught us there, etc.

so to the question "Have you ever taken any foreign coursework, including study abroad etc.?" what do I put?

to clarify, I was also not in any courses with foreigners. my university has a center there, and all of the students were kids from my university. basically, there is absolutely record on my transcript of studying abroad. i talk about it in my PS a bit, but thats all.
 
Dr Gerrard said:
i studied abroad with a program through my university.
that is, all courses with their grades are on my uni transcript, the courses are called the exact same thing as they would have if i had taken them at home, professors from home went abroad and taught us there, etc.

so to the question "Have you ever taken any foreign coursework, including study abroad etc.?" what do I put?

to clarify, I was also not in any courses with foreigners. my university has a center there, and all of the students were kids from my university. basically, there is absolutely record on my transcript of studying abroad. i talk about it in my PS a bit, but thats all.
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From your description, it sounds to me like it isn't "foreign coursework." (More of a prolonged field trip with teachers and curriculum from home.)
 
Wondering if I should list these two activities. I think they are interesting by adcoms might find them as fluff.

Competitive cycling: I've competed in a 24 hour mountain bike race, various XC mountain bike races, and a couple of local century road rides.

Photography: I've won back to back awards at a local outdoor photo contest. Just recently had a photograph on the cover of a campus magazine. and will have a photo in an internationally read fly fishing magazine in July.
 
So I'm filling out the basic information on AMCAS.

I'm curious how to list my major

Its written as "Biological Engineering" on my Transcript

So it seems I could select "Engineering" and then type "Biological Engineering" into the correction box.

Or I could select "other" and then type "Biological Engineering" into the correction box.

Or I could even select "Biomedical Engineering" and type "Biological Engineering" into the correction box
 
surftheiop said:
So I'm filling out the basic information on AMCAS.

I'm curious how to list my major

Its written as "Biological Engineering" on my Transcript

So it seems I could select "Engineering" and then type "Biological Engineering" into the correction box.

Or I could select "other" and then type "Biological Engineering" into the correction box.

Or I could even select "Biomedical Engineering" and type "Biological Engineering" into the correction box
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nevermind, it doesn't seem to matter. I just typed Biological Engineering" into the box and thats all its displaying
 
FearAndInsomnia said:
Wondering if I should list these two activities. I think they are interesting by adcoms might find them as fluff.

Competitive cycling: I've competed in a 24 hour mountain bike race, various XC mountain bike races, and a couple of local century road rides.

Photography: I've won back to back awards at a local outdoor photo contest. Just recently had a photograph on the cover of a campus magazine. and will have a photo in an internationally read fly fishing magazine in July.
Click to expand...

Definitely include these. They add depth to your application.
 
is it okay to include things that i have yet to complete? for example, i will be shadowing a physician for a month this summer. and i will be doing research for 8-10 weeks. is it okay to include these even though i have not technically completed them yet?
 
SNS said:
is it okay to include things that i have yet to complete? for example, i will be shadowing a physician for a month this summer. and i will be doing research for 8-10 weeks. is it okay to include these even though i have not technically completed them yet?
Click to expand...

If it hasn't happened yet don't make it look as if it has. It looks as silly as a Kleenex padded training bra on an eleven year old.


AMCAS won't let you list start dates in the future. Either delay your application until after the activity start date or drop it and send it as an update to the schools later in the season as a way to show your continued interest.
 
SNS said:
is it okay to include things that i have yet to complete? for example, i will be shadowing a physician for a month this summer. and i will be doing research for 8-10 weeks. is it okay to include these even though i have not technically completed them yet?
Click to expand...
No, it's not all right to include them, unless you've already begun the activity, in which case you can enter a start date to "present". The only future, not-yet-started activity you can list would be planned coursework mentioned in the transcript section.
 
FearAndInsomnia said:
Wondering if I should list these two activities. I think they are interesting by adcoms might find them as fluff.

Competitive cycling: I've competed in a 24 hour mountain bike race, various XC mountain bike races, and a couple of local century road rides.

Photography: I've won back to back awards at a local outdoor photo contest. Just recently had a photograph on the cover of a campus magazine. and will have a photo in an internationally read fly fishing magazine in July.
Click to expand...
They are not fluff. They are interesting. List them. You might put photography under Artistic Endeavors.
 
LizzyM said:
If it hasn't happened yet don't make it look as if it has. It looks as silly as a Kleenex padded training bra on an eleven year old.


AMCAS won't let you list start dates in the future. Either delay your application until after the activity start date or drop it and send it as an update to the schools later in the season as a way to show your continued interest.
Click to expand...

Catalystik said:
No, it's not all right to include them, unless you've already begun the activity, in which case you can enter a start date to "present". The only future, not-yet-started activity you can list would be planned coursework mentioned in the transcript section.
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Thank you! I didn't know that you couldn't enter future dates.
 
This is a bit of a variation of a point made in the OP.

My alma mater had both a Distinguished Dean's List and Dean's List, Distinguished requiring higher grades than regular Dean's List. I made each at least twice (and the other school where I took some of my pre-reqs had just a Dean's List that I was on as well). Should I list them separately, or just put Distinguished Dean's List and in the description put the semester I made the Distinguished List and note that I made the regular Dean's List in others, or just put them all as Dean's List?
 
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