AMCAS activities

[OSUbee355]

Hello fellow pre-meds,

I'm working on my AMCAS activities and stumbled upon an age-old dilemma. Should I use bullet point style or narratives?

After organizing all my activities and combining all my shadowing experiences, I still end up with 15 entries. Any help on how to group or re-organize them?

1.

Community service/volunteer: medical/clinical

- Medical scribe: 120 h

- volunteer at a hospital: 40 h

- Volunteer at a private clinic: 800 h Repeated (summer of 13, 15, 16)

Community service/volunteer: not medical/clinical

- Volunteer at homeless youth shelter: 30 h

- Prepare and serve food to homeless: 40 h

- Red Cross: 180 h

Physician shadowing: (combined into one entry)

- Family medicine :10 h


- Internist: 100 h Repeated over 3 years


- Anesthesiologist: 7 h


Leadership:

- Coordinator for a club 150 (repeated)

- Founder a tutor group 50

2.

Research: 550 h


3.

Teaching/tutoring:

- TA: 500 h

- Tutor: 450 h


Honors, awards, recognition:

- Tutor of the year

- 9 times dean’s list

- Black belt Aikido


Presentation:

- research presentation at school

Other activities:

- Certified PACS (Picture Archiving Communication System) technician

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[Zharp]

I chose narrative... I felt like I could give meaning to my experiences. But I'm a more is more kind of person, I'm sure people have success either way.

 

[OSUbee355]

I'm considering both. For exp like TA or Shadowing, I may use bullet points. But for a more engaging exp, I may use narrative. Not sure if bullet point style will hurt my app or not

 

[Catalystik]

I'm working on my AMCAS activities and stumbled upon an age-old dilemma. Should I use bullet point style or narratives?

After organizing all my activities and combining all my shadowing experiences, I still end up with 15 entries. Any help on how to group or re-organize them?

1.

Community service/volunteer: medical/clinical

- Medical scribe: 120 h

- volunteer at a hospital: 40 h

- Volunteer at a private clinic: 800 h Repeated (summer of 13, 15, 16)

Community service/volunteer: not medical/clinical

- Volunteer at homeless youth shelter: 30 h

- Prepare and serve food to homeless: 40 h

- Red Cross: 180 h

Physician shadowing: (combined into one entry)

- Family medicine :10 h


- Internist: 100 h Repeated over 3 years


- Anesthesiologist: 7 h


Leadership:

- Coordinator for a club 150 (repeated)

- Founder a tutor group 50

2.

Research: 550 h


3.

Teaching/tutoring:

- TA: 500 h

- Tutor: 450 h


Honors, awards, recognition:

- Tutor of the year

- 9 times dean’s list

- Black belt Aikido


Presentation:

- research presentation at school

Other activities:

- Certified PACS (Picture Archiving Communication System) technician

It's fine to mix and match styles, narrative or bullet points, depending on what seems to convey the information best.

You might consider 1) including the campus presentation in the same space as the research, 2) mentioning the PACS tech certification in the same space with whatever position required its use, and 3) group the nonmedical volunteerism of 30+40 hours into one space.

 

[OSUbee355]

Thank you for the advice. For narrative, would you recommend pouring my heart out in the AMCAS activities or same them for secondary application? I'm always running short on characters

 

[Catalystik]

For narrative, would you recommend pouring my heart out in the AMCAS activities or same them for secondary application? I'm always running short on characters

Succinctness is always best, but recall that for those 1-3 activities you designate Most Meaningful, you'll get an additional 1325 characters for greater detail, reflection, impact, etc.

 

[RedPanda55]

Maybe add Aikido as a hobby as well. It'll add a little variation to your application (I wrote about running a marathon as one of my meaningful experiences!)

 

[OSUbee355]

@RedPanda55 Thanks for the advice. I have a question. Since it's a hobby, do I have to fill in contact and phone#?

 

[Catalystik]

I have a question. Since it's a hobby, do I have to fill in contact and phone#?

Hobbies don't require contact information on AMCAS.

 

[OSUbee355]

Hobbies don't require contact information on AMCAS.

Thanks! Should I list my black belt Aikido in Hobby or Recognition?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks! Should I list my black belt Aikido in Hobby or Recognition?

Do you have a contact who can attest to your timeframe and hours of involvement? If not, pick Hobbies.

 

[OSUbee355]

Thanks. Should I include future hours or just stick with my current hours?

 

[Catalystik]

Should I include future hours or just stick with my current hours?

There will be so many, I'd stick with current hours and then say the activity is ongoing in the narrative.

 

[OSUbee355]

awesome. Thanks

 

[OSUbee355]

I have a question. So I'm a volunteer and coordinator for a tutoring group. Can I count this activity twice for community service - non clinical and leadership? or should I just stick with one category?

 

[Catalystik]

I have a question. So I'm a volunteer and coordinator for a tutoring group. Can I count this activity twice for community service - non clinical and leadership? or should I just stick with one category?

It depends on if you have enough hours for each separate component, without double counting the hours, to make two activities that can stand on their own. And if you have no other Leadership space. And if you need the extra space for two good descriptions.

 

[OSUbee355]

Thanks. I have 30 hours for each. I'm planning on combining them into one entry under community service - non clinical. what do you think?

I have another question, does peer tutoring count towards leadership? I ask an adcom member and she said yes, but on the AMCAS website, they list teaching/tutoring under one category

 

[Catalystik]

1) I have 30 hours for each. I'm planning on combining them into one entry under community service - non clinical. what do you think?

2) I have another question, does peer tutoring count towards leadership? I ask an adcom member and she said yes, but on the AMCAS website, they list teaching/tutoring under one category

I think that's a good idea. The total of 60 hours will make more of an impact.

2) Tutoring would not be looked at as leadership by most adcomms unless you are recruiting, training, scheduling, monitoring, taking responsibility for outcomes, etc, other tutors.

 

[OSUbee355]

Thanks. Tough call for me since I helped recruiting, training, and monitoring new tutors. Do you think this would qualify tutoring as leadership?

 

[Catalystik]

I helped recruiting, training, and monitoring new tutors. Do you think this would qualify tutoring as leadership?

The actual tutoring part would still be teaching. The organizational aspect would be the leadership. You could split out the two components into two spaces, each with their own dates and total hours, if they are strong enough to stand on their own. Or you could list both under teaching or community service, but make the leadership component clear in the name you give the space and in your description.