activity/work descriptions for AMCAS- 1300 characters!?

[nightowl]

---

Members don't see this ad.

For all of you filling out your AMCAS activities/work stuff, are you actually writing a ton in the description box??? Should I do this for every single activity? Another thing... does order really matter? Because mine are in order of the first to come to my mind, not order of importance. Should I edit and start over? DAMN, this thing sucks SO MUCH and I don't even mind if I'm whining....

 

[AxlxA]

Order will be decided by the date you started it. I wrote 4 short sentences at most.

 

[RAD11]

For all of you filling out your AMCAS activities/work stuff, are you actually writing a ton in the description box??? Should I do this for every single activity? Another thing... does order really matter? Because mine are in order of the first to come to my mind, not order of importance. Should I edit and start over? DAMN, this thing sucks SO MUCH and I don't even mind if I'm whining....

I actually needed the 1300 characters for most of the activities that I listed, but you don't need to fill it all in unless you feel like what you're writing is really relevant information rather than just filling up space.

 

[ambaduchi]

my understanding is that schools can sort your activities by date, by type of activity and by other things and they print the data however they want it. so the order you put stuff in doesn't matter so much.

 

[etudiante04]

For all of you filling out your AMCAS activities/work stuff, are you actually writing a ton in the description box??? Should I do this for every single activity? Another thing... does order really matter? Because mine are in order of the first to come to my mind, not order of importance. Should I edit and start over? DAMN, this thing sucks SO MUCH and I don't even mind if I'm whining....

If you are planning to submit it soon (and I assume you are) then try to be as detailed as possible. Submitting it early means that the Adcoms give your file a fair review. With detaiiled descriptions, this could work in your favor.

If you plan to submit it later (I hope not), or if you are taking the August MCAT (which delays review of your file), then you need to be as concise as possible.

But send your AMCAS in early - with detailed descriptions

 

[nicholonious]

Like anything that you have someone read, remember not to bog them down in details, but also don't be too brief. Have a general description of what you did and note anything in particular that stood out (acomplishments, individual contributions to a given work/experience) and think brevity.

A group of friends and I all applying this year went over our applications. We omitted generic information and focused on including pertinent information, stuff that really summed up our experience. See if you have a pre-med/med student friend that can critique and comment on your descriptions.

G'luck.

 

[Sophie]

There were only two activities for which I actually used all 1325 characters, and the only reason I typed so much was that they were multiple-year-long research projects and couldn't be explained in less words. The rest of my activities' descriptions ranged from a single sentence to roughly 1000 characters, with the average length being around 600 characters.

 

[MochaMD]

For all of you filling out your AMCAS activities/work stuff, are you actually writing a ton in the description box??? Should I do this for every single activity? Another thing... does order really matter? Because mine are in order of the first to come to my mind, not order of importance. Should I edit and start over? DAMN, this thing sucks SO MUCH and I don't even mind if I'm whining....

I used up all the space for the activities that meant more to me like researching, shadowing, and any exec positions in club. For all the other activities/honors, wrote as little as a couple of sentences just to explain what the activity/honor is and the requirements in order to be selected for it.

 

[unfrozencaveman]

I didnt even come close to using all of that space. I kept descriptions to a resume-esque minimum, elaborating on a few experience, but nothing past 800 characters- just because in my case I didn't feel more was necessary or helpful.
Get what needs to go on there, but don't try and fill up the space if there is nothing to be said.

 

[Medikit]

nicholonious's advice is good. His avatar may make him look like an uber gunner but he pretty much said what I was going to say

 

[nicholonious]

nicholonious's advice is good. His avatar may make him look like an uber gunner but he pretty much said what I was going to say

Man, I am regretting putting up my pic as an avatar.

 

[45408]

out of ~9-10 activities I listed, I used over 1000 characters on two of them, I believe. One of those was because I combined several similar things into one category.

 

[TheMightyAngus]

I'd change that fast if I were you. Keep a low-profile man.

 

[slb830]

i think student doctor is wonderful - I just recently discovered it.
Anyways, I too am having difficulties with this section. I feel like I am repeating my resume, but, then again, they won't have a copy of our CV, will they? I began by putting every entry on my resume into this section, is this what you are doing?

Thanks.

For all of you filling out your AMCAS activities/work stuff, are you actually writing a ton in the description box??? Should I do this for every single activity? Another thing... does order really matter? Because mine are in order of the first to come to my mind, not order of importance. Should I edit and start over? DAMN, this thing sucks SO MUCH and I don't even mind if I'm whining....

 

[dream1070]

Okay, I have several questions about this section.

1. I have gone to AMSA conferences, 2 regionals and 1 national. Should I combine them and put them as one activity? Each conference had different aspects to offer and locations were all different. If I combine them how am I going to do about date/location?

2. Do you include activities that were mentioned in your personal statement?

3. Do you need to list that you were on Dean's list? And there's really nothing much to explain about this part, do I leave it blank? Or do I just list when I was on Dean's list? Or.. do I just not include it on the activity part?

4. I really have a hard time writing this description section. As reading responses, I figured no one really fills up the space.. Do you write it like an essay as if you are writing a short personal statement? Or is it better to LIST important things?
(I am planning to turn in my application next week, but my MCAT date is 25th of Aug. So, the score release date is quite late.. Will it matter much?)

This application process is too mcuh!🙁