15 activities on AMCAS?!

[ishabooboo]

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Ok, so who here actually has 15 things to put on this section of the AMCAS? I feel like that's excessive and that they really want to see you do one thing consistently rather than have this whole thing filled up, am I right?

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

Haha, I was nowehre close.

 

[SuzieQ3417]

It's more than just extracurricular activities. Any awards or honors you've won should be listed there (well, not any award, but definitely the good ones)....if you ever presented a poster or had something published it goes there, so you'd be surprised how quickly they fill up. For instance, I've worked in a biochem lab for almost 3 years. That goes down as one, but I also won a research fellowship for one semester, and presented that research at a poster-forum. That's 3 different things that I listed for one job.

 

[noonday]

last year, i had to cut down my 28 possible "things" to the 15 "best."

but then, i'm a 30 year old career changing non-trad...

 

[PittMedicine]

I have exactly 15 activities listed, although 11 of them are distinguished awards/recognitions. These awards are very prestigious and were only offered to one person at my college.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I have exactly 15 activities listed, although 11 of them are distinguished awards/recognitions. These awards are very prestigious and were only offered to one person at my college.

11 awards? nice...

 

[FDoRoML]

last year, i had to cut down my 28 possible "things" to the 15 "best."

but then, i'm a 30 year old career changing non-trad...

Hey, yeah, same here. I crammed some of my "things" into one thing (like scientific posters and presentations) but left the research, shadowing, publications, and volunteer stuff to its own EC. Literally... same here... 30, non-trad. Good to know misery has company. 😀

Nice HR Avatar, btw (hey, that rhymed!! "HR-avatar")

 

[Law2Doc]

Ok, so who here actually has 15 things to put on this section of the AMCAS? I feel like that's excessive and that they really want to see you do one thing consistently rather than have this whole thing filled up, am I right?

A significant percentage of older nontrads actually had to cut their list to get down to 15. 🙄

 

[Packamylase]

I had a strong 13 EC/awards/employments. I think I ended up with 15 activities, though.

 

[Rafa]

I just won my first real award since entering college. You betcha it's going on that AMCAS.

 

[berrypie]

Ok, so who here actually has 15 things to put on this section of the AMCAS? I feel like that's excessive and that they really want to see you do one thing consistently rather than have this whole thing filled up, am I right?

In Ontario they give us 48 spaces...that's right...48 spaces to fill for our ECs! Now THAT is excessive!

 

[Thundrstorm]

If you worked through school, you could easily have a few activities right there. I looked at my old AMCAS out of curiosity to see what I had put, and I had 14: 4 awards, 3 jobs, 2 ECs, 4 research, 1 community service. I left one blank in case I started my new volunteer activity in time; I didn't actually finalize it before submitting, but I had already organized the 14, so I just stuck with that. Some were condensed, like one research activity included the research, a thesis, and 2 presentations It's not as difficult as you think to fill up 15. And it's not "excessive" if you actually put the effort into doing all of those things. 🙄

 

[45408]

I had 9 activities, and I put all of the honors in one blank and all of the scholarships in another. If you really think you should have 1-3 activities, then you're not doing much at all in college. You can have a substantial commitment to a lot of things. I had two jobs, worked in two labs, was an officer in a student org, volunteered at several places, shadowed several doctors, and I won a few awards. Voila. You have several years to do this, you know.

 

[HemaOncoDoc]

Ok, so who here actually has 15 things to put on this section of the AMCAS? I feel like that's excessive and that they really want to see you do one thing consistently rather than have this whole thing filled up, am I right?

There have been so many of these posted already. Do a search. There's even a poll up as to how many ECs applicants have listed on the AMCAS.

I cannot stress enough: quality over quantity, consolidate if you need to. Make sure every one of them are significant because you may be asked about each one of them thoroughly during an interview. Make sure you elaborate on the highlights of each of your ECs while keeping it concise. Show the depth and breadth of your ECs. If they want to know more, they'll have you in for an interview.

 

[DoctaJay]

I had like 12. Any more and it would have been BS. Only like 2 were awards.