Application EC's for AMCAS

shkaun said:

Does anyone know how we are suppose to fill in the "description" part of the EC on the AMCAS application? Do we just write I did this and this and my role was this or do we need to write a more elagant formal paragraph? Do we include what we pearned and experienced in this section? Thanks

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I used the descriptions to give a short explanation of my roles in my various activities, descriptions of certain scholarships (including selection process), and for my hobbies I mentioned what the hobby meant to me I why I included it. I also used the space to explain why I was including a high school activity (contributed to my decision to pursue medicine in a 6 year BS/MD program which I subsequently turned down).

I would use this space mainly for descriptive purposes, and not for what you learned and/or gained from the experience (this can be left for the personal statement, secondary essays, and interview). Keep it short, but definitely give a good description because 'Hospital Volunteer' and 'Undergraduate research' can mean lots of things.

I just wanted to give a counter-example in favor of more exposition in the EC section. I decided to write my personal statement about one major EC without even addressing the other things that I did in UG that were still important to me and my application. Therefore, I took a little more time and a few more sentences to write about these ECs in the description area and to give a bit more of context to them and their impact on me.

Of course, your descriptions for making the Dean's List or working at the coffee shop need not rival the works of Tolstoy in length, but for the big ones that are important to you, I think a little exposition is OK, if not preferable.

jojo_1981 said:

I just wanted to give a counter-example in favor of more exposition in the EC section. I decided to write my personal statement about one major EC without even addressing the other things that I did in UG that were still important to me and my application. Therefore, I took a little more time and a few more sentences to write about these ECs in the description area and to give a bit more of context to them and their impact on me.

Of course, your descriptions for making the Dean's List or working at the coffee shop need not rival the works of Tolstoy in length, but for the big ones that are important to you, I think a little exposition is OK, if not preferable.

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I'd agree with that. I think that if, at the end of the day, you feel like you have something to say, you should say it.

Faculty on the adcom at my school complained bitterly about overly long descriptions. Stick to the facts. Consider using phrases rather than complete sentences.

You should describe your experience, but as always, the AdComs will want to know, "what did you learn from the experience". That is the point of ECs. It's not just the attendance that matters, but rather, the lessons/enlightments that one receives from volunteering/research/shadowing/etc.

Short & sweet.

Kiss.

shkaun said:

Does anyone know how we are suppose to fill in the "description" part of the EC on the AMCAS application? Do we just write I did this and this and my role was this or do we need to write a more elagant formal paragraph? Do we include what we pearned and experienced in this section? Thanks

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Simply use this to give a better indication of exactly what YOUR role in the activity/lab/whatever was. I gave like a sentence to explain the organization (if it wasn't something obvious) then gave at most 4 sentences about exactly what my role in it was.

note . . . this is NOT the place to talk about how this activity changed your life/made you want to be a doctor. Save that conversation for the personal statement.

I used it to talk about my role, what i learned, and WHY this will make me a better doctor than every other applicant who put down a similar activity.

LizzyM said:

Faculty on the adcom at my school complained bitterly about overly long descriptions. Stick to the facts. Consider using phrases rather than complete sentences.

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When you say use phases, could you give an example?

bump

zippa said:

When you say use phases, could you give an example?

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I was thinking about something like:

--Organized events such as panels in which medical students spoke to undergraduates about their experiences while applying to medical school
--Maintained website with information about curriculum, volunteer and research opportunities for undergraduates intending to go to medical school

Awful example, but I just pulled one out of the air. I'm not sure if that's what LizzyM had in mind, but that's the impression I got.

Question - I am having trouble remembering some of the exact dates that I started and stopped particular activities, these things tend to be in flux! Is this a huge problem for the AMCAS application? I was looking at the worksheet on the AMCAS website and noticed they ask for month/day/year. I know the month and year, obviously, as I have always kept this information up to date for my resume, but I do not have exact dates...any thoughts?

I had this same problem and I usually could remember the time of the month.. so I generalized.. if it was close to the beginning I put the 1st.. if the middle I put the 15th and end I put the 30th.. Dunno if it's right.. just what I did..

zippa said:

When you say use phases, could you give an example?

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silverlining1 said:

I was thinking about something like:

--Organized events such as panels in which medical students spoke to undergraduates about their experiences while applying to medical school
--Maintained website with information about curriculum, volunteer and research opportunities for undergraduates intending to go to medical school

Awful example, but I just pulled one out of the air. I'm not sure if that's what LizzyM had in mind, but that's the impression I got.

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P H R A S E S not P H A S E S

Silverlining's got it right. Don't tell us what you learned or why you'll be better than everyone else becasue you did this. That's blather. Short and to the point about the experience, not the warm fuzzy feeling of empowerment and enlightenment that you acheived.