2014 Work/Activities Changes

[eleveneleven]

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For those of you getting started on your work/activity descriptions, according to the 2014 AMCAS Adivsor Webinar, there have been some changes!

The experience types available will now be:

Artistic Endeavors
Community Service/Volunteer - Medical/Clinical
Community Service/Volunteer - Non Medical/Clinical
Conferences Attended
Extracurricular Activities
Hobbies
Honors/Award/Recognition
Intercollegiate Athletics
Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere
Military Service
Other
Paid Employment - Medical/Clinical
Paid Employment - Non Medical/Clinical
Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation
Presentations/Posters
Publications
Research/Lab
Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant

Extracurriculars/Hobbies was split up. Contact information removed from hobbies section. Military service was given its own section. Physician shadowing section was added.

Other big changes:

• Applicants can enter up to four separate date ranges.
• Applicants can enter future end dates up to the start of the matriculation year (up to August 2014).
• Applicants will specify the total hours spent on this activity for each date range.

 

[jeghaber]

For those of you getting started on your work/activity descriptions, according to the 2014 AMCAS Adivsor Webinar, there have been some changes!

The experience types available will now be:

Artistic Endeavors
Community Service/Volunteer - Medical/Clinical
Community Service/Volunteer - Non Medical/Clinical
Conferences Attended
Extracurricular Activities
Hobbies
Honors/Award/Recognition
Intercollegiate Athletics
Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere
Military Service
Other
Paid Employment - Medical/Clinical
Paid Employment - Non Medical/Clinical
Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation
Presentations/Posters
Publications
Research/Lab
Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant

Extracurriculars/Hobbies was split up. Contact information removed from hobbies section. Military service was given its own section. Physician shadowing section was added.

Other big changes:

• Applicants can enter up to four separate date ranges.
• Applicants can enter future end dates up to the start of the matriculation year (up to August 2014).
• Applicants will specify the total hours spent on this activity for each date range.

👍👍

 

[eleveneleven]

👍👍

I'm a big fan of these changes! The multiple date ranges and total hours rather than hours/week makes my life so much simpler!

 

[occams_razor]

Applicants will specify the total hours spent on this activity for each date range.

This could be annoying for non-trads. What if you worked full-time for years? Would someone list total hours as say, 20,800?
*The standard working year in the US is 2080 hours, so if you worked 10 years...

 

[Planes2Doc]

I'm a big fan of these changes! The multiple date ranges and total hours rather than hours/week makes my life so much simpler!

It looks like they might be closing a big loophole for embellishment. That's a great step forward! 👍

 

[smarts1]

Wait, so can we choose to put total hours or hours/week? Or is the only option now to put total hours for each activity?

 

[eleveneleven]

Wait, so can we choose to put total hours or hours/week? Or is the only option now to put total hours for each activity?

I believe that now the only option is total hours but am not 100% certain on that.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I believe that now the only option is total hours but am not 100% certain on that.

Yeah before total hours were optional, and there was a start and end date. I am sure people abused this a bit.

It's still kinda tough to find the exact hours in some cases. Plus I wish someone would draw a line for acceptable embellishment versus lying. I think this would help the process quite a bit.

 

[AdrianVeidt]

Yeah before total hours were optional, and there was a start and end date. I am sure people abused this a bit.

It's still kinda tough to find the exact hours in some cases. Plus I wish someone would draw a line for acceptable embellishment versus lying. I think this would help the process quite a bit.

Yeah my issue is this. I don't know exact hours for most of the ish I've done

edit: and we can still only include 15 right?

 

[StudyShy]

Applicants will specify the total hours spent on this activity for each date range.

This could be annoying for non-trads. What if you worked full-time for years? Would someone list total hours as say, 20,800?
*The standard working year in the US is 2080 hours, so if you worked 10 years...

This is what my app will look like.

 

[SilentSoldier]

Seems like in the process of making things easier, theyve added more stuff for us to write. I somehow seem to apply when that happens 🙄

 

[Planes2Doc]

Yeah my issue is this. I don't know exact hours for most of the ish I've done

edit: and we can still only include 15 right?

If I remember correctly, I think a lot of things were compounded into those 15 slots. So that might change. Seriously, they need a button where you press it and it adds a space for new activities. These arbitrary 15 spots probably drive pre-meds insane.

When I did full-time work, I worked 45 hours per week at one company, and worked 40 at the other. That's what I put. How the hell was I going to calculate the hours I worked, plus vacation time, plus short days??? 😕

Volunteering was easier though since a two minute phone call gave me the exact number of hours I volunteered.

I haven't seen the application, but hopefully the number of hours will still be optional. It's a huge pain for people who don't log in electronically or especially for non-traditional students.

Wait, so can we choose to put total hours or hours/week? Or is the only option now to put total hours for each activity?

If someone is honest to a fault, this should make no difference. Contrary to what people might think, I believe that putting in the total number of hours for consistent shift activities is probably worse than just putting hours per week. Unless you always stayed long after your shift or came in on extra days (which you would of course count as a medical school applicant), you can assume that the typical pre-med that is so absolutely enthusiastic about their activities will watch the clock, and dart out right on the dot. If this is the case, then the imaginative numbers that ADCOMs will see based on hours per week alongside the total commitment will always be higher than the hours you actually worked. I think pre-meds will probably take days off, try to leave early if possible, and squeeze in vacations here or there. If the pre-med spent more time than the 3 or 4 hour standard shift, oh trust me they would let the ADCOMs know...

So in other words, unless you never missed a shift, took a vacation, or left early on occasion, you will have worked less hours than the number of hours per week technically implies. Now I'm not telling anyone to lie on their apps, but I'm just saying that the extreme drive to put down the exact number of hours will downplay the majority of pre-meds' commitments, not make them look better like you would think.

I hope this makes sense, and therefore the typical pre-med will hope that total hours are still optional. In the end though, if everyone is required to put down the exact hours, I think people will stop embellishing which will start to drive the number of hours down. 😍

 

[aspiring20]

For those of you getting started on your work/activity descriptions, according to the 2014 AMCAS Adivsor Webinar, there have been some changes!

The experience types available will now be:

Artistic Endeavors
Community Service/Volunteer - Medical/Clinical
Community Service/Volunteer - Non Medical/Clinical
Conferences Attended
Extracurricular Activities
Hobbies
Honors/Award/Recognition
Intercollegiate Athletics
Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere
Military Service
Other
Paid Employment - Medical/Clinical
Paid Employment - Non Medical/Clinical
Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation
Presentations/Posters
Publications
Research/Lab
Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant

Extracurriculars/Hobbies was split up. Contact information removed from hobbies section. Military service was given its own section. Physician shadowing section was added.

Other big changes:

• Applicants can enter up to four separate date ranges.
• Applicants can enter future end dates up to the start of the matriculation year (up to August 2014).
• Applicants will specify the total hours spent on this activity for each date range.

a quick question for contact information

does the new primary still allow you to put yourself down for contact when it is impossible/impractical to put someone else down as the contact person?

 

[Planes2Doc]

a quick question for contact information

does the new primary still allow you to put yourself down for contact when it is impossible/impractical to put someone else down as the contact person?

I'm guessing that stays the same. I don't see how you would be prevented from listing your name and your phone number. You bolded the hobbies section. I don't think anyone, except for you, can verify something you do outside of an organization, hopefully for fun.

 

[aspiring20]

I'm guessing that stays the same. I don't see how you would be prevented from listing your name and your phone number. You bolded the hobbies section. I don't think anyone, except for you, can verify something you do outside of an organization, hopefully for fun.

i am nottalking just about hobbies. i am talking about in general.

currently, you are allowed to put yourself as the contact person for any activity if it's impossible/impractical to put someone else.

 

[Aerus]

What are "extracurricular activities" exactly? Any activity I can think of seems to be covered by the other categories. Or maybe I'm so trapped in the cookie cutter mindset that I can't think of anything unique that does not fit in the other categories. 😀

 

[Planes2Doc]

i am nottalking just about hobbies. i am talking about in general.

currently, you are allowed to put yourself as the contact person for any activity if it's impossible/impractical to put someone else.

I don't see why that would change. In fact, there's no way they can technically change it, considering that you simply write a name and number. So that's good. 👍

What are "extracurricular activities" exactly? Any activity I can think of seems to be covered by the other categories. Or maybe I'm so trapped in the cookie cutter mindset that I can't think of anything unique that does not fit in the other categories. 😀

HOW DARE YOU USE THAT WORD?! We do not use that word on SDN! I will set you straight with the appropriate terminology. We use this word around here:

PASSIONATE

 

[aspiring20]

I don't see why that would change. In fact, there's no way they can technically change it, considering that you simply write a name and number. So that's good. 👍



HOW DARE YOU USE THAT WORD?! We do not use that word on SDN! I will set you straight with the appropriate terminology. We use this word around here:

PASSIONATE

👍

 

[eleveneleven]

From the 2014 Instructions Manual:

Experience Dates
Include the start and end dates for each experience. Some Experience Types, such as
Awards, Presentations/Posters and Publications, require only one date. Your start date
must be no later than the current month and your latest end date must be no later than the
August of the current application cycle.

If you participated in an experience more than once, check Yes next to the "Repeated?"
field for that particular entry. You may enter up to three additional date ranges.

Total Hours:

Enter the total number of hours that you completed (or expect to complete) related to this
experience during the date range that you indicated. If this is a repeated experience,
include only the number of hours completed for that specific date range. If you have a
non-traditional schedule, you may explain in the Experience Description field.

Nothing at all written about Hours per Week. Seems like that option is going to be gone. I really like this as I did not necessarily participate in all my activities every single week and was going to have to explain all that in the descriptions. Now it seems with total hours you don't necessarily have to account for gaps as explicitly and you can still give a realistic portrayal of how much you participated.

 

[eleveneleven]

What are "extracurricular activities" exactly? Any activity I can think of seems to be covered by the other categories. Or maybe I'm so trapped in the cookie cutter mindset that I can't think of anything unique that does not fit in the other categories. 😀

Things like special interest groups/clubs/organizations without a service component would fit well here. I, for example, will be using the "Extracurricular Activities" section as a spot to discuss my involvement with our student radio station.