AMCAS Activities- Final word adcoms!!

[Jack-Kennedy35]

Hi

AMCAS suggests putting the end date for an activity as the month of matriculation to medical school (so July) if it is to be continued. Now obviously there will be people who pad their hours and include 1000 hours when they started an activity a month before applying.

1. The activities that I am continuing into the future are ones that I have been taking part in since 2016 at the earliest and 2018 at the latest. I unfortunately don't have room in my description to write anymore words. With how long I have been doing my activities, will my total hours (which include the projected ones until next year) be viewed appropriately ?

2. Would you recommend keeping my end date as April 2021 rather than July 2021 and adjusting my total hours (w/ projected added in) accordingly? This is probably more reasonable for most students anyway and might place more emphasis on the hours I already completed.

I ask because the method of splitting the hours via #1) Date started - May 2020 and another section from #2) May 2020 until July 2021 seems to be putting people at a disadvantage because there will be another person who will just be writing the hours down in a continuous manner until July 2021 and I am guessing adcoms don't have the time to try and predict how many hours a person has by the time of application. Especially because the description should be used to show what you did.
- This leads me to the conclusion that after a point, hours just don't matter much anymore and it's just your quality of description.

The only manner by which projected hours look suspicious is if the activity was started very close to the time of submitting your application.

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[Listle]

Not an adcom but you are overthinking.

Don't separate activities you've been doing for years by hours till current then hours till matriculation. Just think about an honest average per week and multiply it out about a years worth and add it in, unless you know you'll be ending an activity early (you graduate next December and move home to a different town) then put that as the end date.

The essay portion isn't to talk about why you did as many hours as you did. It's used to explain what the activity is if it isn't self explanatory, what you learned from it, and how you think that will either make you a better doctor or person.

IMO, provided you have other ECs that are sufficient, just don't include it (if the current hour total is like 5 or something tiny) and send an update in Aug/Sept that says you've done 100 hours in "x" new activity. Then you can "provide a meaningful update" while showing schools you are still interested if you haven't heard back. Otherwise it might just look like you are trying to check the "x activity" box.

 

[Jack-Kennedy35]

Not an adcom but you are overthinking.

Don't separate activities you've been doing for years by hours till current then hours till matriculation. Just think about an honest average per week and multiply it out about a years worth and add it in, unless you know you'll be ending an activity early (you graduate next December and move home to a different town) then put that as the end date.

The essay portion isn't to talk about why you did as many hours as you did. It's used to explain what the activity is if it isn't self explanatory, what you learned from it, and how you think that will either make you a better doctor or person.

IMO, provided you have other ECs that are sufficient, just don't include it (if the current hour total is like 5 or something tiny) and send an update in Aug/Sept that says you've done 100 hours in "x" new activity. Then you can "provide a meaningful update" while showing schools you are still interested if you haven't heard back. Otherwise it might just look like you are trying to check the "x activity" box.

So basically I have founded a community service project 4 years ago( 01/16) and have amassed around 230 hours from that up till now. Now if I keep the end date as next July, then I'm projected another 60 hours.

So are you saying just go from 01/16 to 07/21 with 290 hours?

Or should I do the following using the repeated feature: 01/16- 05/20 with 230 hours. 05/20-07/21 with 60 hours.

This is basically the predicament I am in with 3 of my positions! I have started them almost 3 or 4 years ago and have been continuing them today and will continue until next year. There is no activity on my list that I started in 2019! They are all earlier than that.

 

[Listle]

Do the former.


The latter is intended for situations such as the following:
Category: Shadowing
Dates: 07/04/16-09/18/16 - 40 hours, and 07/07/18-08/30/18 - 25 hours
This essentially indicates it was an activity you did that occurred repeatedly but in separate time windows, such as repeated internships or repeated volunteering/shadowing/job dates when students return to their hometown or are not in school over the summertime and pursue these types of activities.

 

[Jack-Kennedy35]

Do the former.


The latter is intended for situations such as the following:
Category: Shadowing
Dates: 07/04/16-09/18/16 - 40 hours, and 07/07/18-08/30/18 - 25 hours
This essentially indicates it was an activity you did that occurred repeatedly but in separate time windows, such as repeated internships or repeated volunteering/shadowing/job dates when students return to their hometown or are not in school over the summertime and pursue these types of activities.

Thank you so much! This was driving me crazy. I think the continuous method only look suspicious if you started an activity a month ro a couple months even before your application date and you're putting 1000 hours haha.

 

[Listle]

Thank you so much! This was driving me crazy. I think the continuous method only look suspicious if you started an activity a month ro a couple months even before your application date and you're putting 1000 hours haha.

If someone just graduated as a 2020 grad, and managed to find a job amid this pandemic that started this month or next and put that down as >1000 hours over a year an adcom wouldn't bat an eye. A 40 hour workweek over a year is 2,000 hours.

 

[Hzreio]

Thank you so much! This was driving me crazy. I think the continuous method only look suspicious if you started an activity a month ro a couple months even before your application date and you're putting 1000 hours haha.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe @Catalystik would recommend you do the latter. Personally, I think the belief that not separating the planned/completed hours in an effort to gain an advantage with adcoms is foolish because they will look to try to distinguish them regardless. I would value others' opinion on this though.

 

[Listle]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe @Catalystik would recommend you do the latter. Personally, I think the belief that not separating the planned/completed hours in an effort to gain an advantage with adcoms is foolish because they will look to try to distinguish them regardless. I would value others' opinion on this though.

If it is something they have been doing for 4 years, and the total hours is 300 ish, there's likely no attempt to over-inflate. I was always told to project out so long as it was an honest representation. I personally projected out, but they were all long-standing activities/hobbies/jobs. If I am in the habit of spending 2 hours every other week at "x" volunteer org for the past 2 years, I'll probably do the same for the next year unless something significant occurs (i.e. current world situation).

Interested in hearing if adcoms disagree, but either way I think whichever way you do it, it doesn't really matter. Almost everyone I know that applied this current ending cycle projected out.

 

[Jack-Kennedy35]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe @Catalystik would recommend you do the latter. Personally, I think the belief that not separating the planned/completed hours in an effort to gain an advantage with adcoms is foolish because they will look to try to distinguish them regardless. I would value others' opinion on this though.

Exactly, I am just getting conflicting info from everywhere.

My assumption is that @Catalystik and other adcoms would want you to separate hours for activities that maybe you started more recently as a means to basically not try and get away with winging your hours.

However, for those of us who have been doing activities since 3 or potentially 4 years, then maybe its less of an impetus? I mean AMCAS suggests projecting into the future and grouping them until the matriculation date if you're sure that you will continue..... @gonnif @LizzyM
- Now I think this should only be done if you have been doing the activity for a while now and not one you started just a couple months ago?

 

[Listle]

Adcoms understand your life isn't in some perfect state of continuation. You may change jobs, making your projected hours with your current job "incorrect". But they merely shifted somewhere else. There is moreso an attempt to understand how you allocate your time, and if you over-inflate it can be obvious.

Consider someone working full time (40 hours/wk). They also state they volunteer with 2 different orgs 2hours each week. (~44 hours/wk). They shadow a physician once a month for 4 hours (45 hours/wk). They volunteer at a hospital 4 hours each week (49 hours/wk). They pursue a hobby that they think an adcom will say "wow thats neat" at (or they actually like) for 6 hours a week (55 hours/wk). This does not include time needed for you to take care of yourself, go to the gym, see friends, pursue other lesser hobbies, etc.

After and maybe before this it starts entering an unrealistic zone for non-automatons. After working a full day, I might get to pursue my larger hobby for an hour if i'm not too tired, otherwise its cooking, cleaning the house, shower, and maybe some reading before bed. (if i'm lucky i'll remember the gym!) Which leaves the weekend for just about everything else listed. At some point it becomes obvious that it is either unrealistic or the student does not do anything other than EC's and work and that is just sad.

Edit: That said, more power to the automatons that are able to do all that and more and keep up with other aspects of your life, no hate there. It is just a difficult balance to strike for many.

 

[Doctor-S]

Hi

AMCAS suggests putting the end date for an activity as the month of matriculation to medical school (so July) if it is to be continued. Now obviously there will be people who pad their hours and include 1000 hours when they started an activity a month before applying.

1. The activities that I am continuing into the future are ones that I have been taking part in since 2016 at the earliest and 2018 at the latest. I unfortunately don't have room in my description to write anymore words. With how long I have been doing my activities, will my total hours (which include the projected ones until next year) be viewed appropriately ?

2. Would you recommend keeping my end date as April 2021 rather than July 2021 and adjusting my total hours (w/ projected added in) accordingly? This is probably more reasonable for most students anyway and might place more emphasis on the hours I already completed.

I ask because the method of splitting the hours via #1) Date started - May 2020 and another section from #2) May 2020 until July 2021 seems to be putting people at a disadvantage because there will be another person who will just be writing the hours down in a continuous manner until July 2021 and I am guessing adcoms don't have the time to try and predict how many hours a person has by the time of application. Especially because the description should be used to show what you did.
- This leads me to the conclusion that after a point, hours just don't matter much anymore and it's just your quality of description.

The only manner by which projected hours look suspicious is if the activity was started very close to the time of submitting your application.

Agree with @Catalystik (see post below).

You should not list unknown future dates and projected hours. Instead enter what dates and hours you've completed. At the end of the narrative state, "Plan to return when COVID restrictions are lifted for x hrs/wk through [probable end date]." Or somesuch.