😕 I looked for anyplace this might have been posted but didn't find anything so I had to start a new thread...sorry. Amcas asks for Post secondary experiences. Does this mean only things done during college? My problem is that I had phenomenal research extracurriculars during high school (intel international finalist for 2 years, westinghouse finalist with a different project) but I didn't do anything too great when it comes to volunteering during college and have done no research either until now, my senior year, so I can't enter that. Can I enter something that I did in junior and senior years of high school if that really was important for me? Thanks.
Amcas Application Question
- Thread starter superso
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Dude, you are in trouble possibly. You need some sort of clinical experience, if you don't have at least volunteering, you are going to need to start now, and get a letter or proof, or something you can bring to the interview. As far as national awards, and awesome stuff like that, I would put it on there, it can't hurt...it may not help much though. You might want to shadow someone as well...you need some quality college EC's.
I am rereading your post, and it sounds like you did do some volunteering. Even if it wasn't traveling to afghanistan or africa...put it on there for above mentioned reasons
I am rereading your post, and it sounds like you did do some volunteering. Even if it wasn't traveling to afghanistan or africa...put it on there for above mentioned reasons
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Yeah, it refers to during college. I struggled with this, too, because I was involved in a really great EC in high school, but I couldn't put it down. I chose to write about it in my personal statement, instead. Maybe you could do the same? At least it would alert adcoms to your experiences.
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technically no... unless you can refer to it through publications.
thanks for the info so far. My situation is that I did do summer volunteering at the ER in NYC and at the cardiology department the next summer, and at a different hosptials ER another summer but it was only maybe 3-6 hours per week for 3 months each for each summer. I was mainly able to speak to patients and such but I didn't have much oversight in 1 of them. In terms of proof, I have one on my transcript and the other 2 are maybe inside the log books somewhere at the volunteering office, but those were all paper copies. I have id tags though.
The thing is, thats all the clinical experience I have - no research at all until next year. That's why I was trying to find out if I could put my hs research in since it was so good.
Other than health related experience, I have TA'd twice, was president of the premed honor society (which was not very active at my school), secretary of the public speaking forum, writer for 2 school papers, active in University political clubs.
I also participated in many intramural sports and was a member of several honor societies but I didn't do much for them. Would I be able to mention any of these? I will also be helping people at the writing center at my school this fall and starting my honors thesis' in history and another in biology but not until fall. my adivisor said I could mention my writing center work on the application but what do you think?
Also, I worked a great deal during school to help the family out with money but its owned by my family so it was just work off the books since i didnt earn it for me, and since it would have messed with fin aid for college. the amount of money earned was very small but it had to be done to avoid paying someone else to man the business for us since it was the only income source and small enough as it was. can i mention that i worked if it was off the books? Thanks for your feedback.
The thing is, thats all the clinical experience I have - no research at all until next year. That's why I was trying to find out if I could put my hs research in since it was so good.
Other than health related experience, I have TA'd twice, was president of the premed honor society (which was not very active at my school), secretary of the public speaking forum, writer for 2 school papers, active in University political clubs.
I also participated in many intramural sports and was a member of several honor societies but I didn't do much for them. Would I be able to mention any of these? I will also be helping people at the writing center at my school this fall and starting my honors thesis' in history and another in biology but not until fall. my adivisor said I could mention my writing center work on the application but what do you think?
Also, I worked a great deal during school to help the family out with money but its owned by my family so it was just work off the books since i didnt earn it for me, and since it would have messed with fin aid for college. the amount of money earned was very small but it had to be done to avoid paying someone else to man the business for us since it was the only income source and small enough as it was. can i mention that i worked if it was off the books? Thanks for your feedback.
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I don't know what you are so freaked out about. Your ECs seem pretty good, even without the HS research stuff. Med schools won't necessarily care if you haven't done research, it is not at all a requirement. With all the honor society/volunteering/IM sports stuff, I would leave of the scince awards, I think it may seem like you are reaching. If you want to mention them, do so in your personal statement. Also, if you had ~40hrs of clinical experience for 3 summers, I think thats pretty good. Its not about whether you have done 900 hours of work, its about what you have learned in the experience.
As for the work experience, if it was a good amount of hours per week, I would go ahead and mention it. It will show that you weren't just sitting on your a$$ in college, that you were actually busy with things (although it sounds like you had quite a bit anyway). The fact that its off the books, the only person you would have to worry about is if the IRS got a look at your app, which I think is pretty impossible.
As for the work experience, if it was a good amount of hours per week, I would go ahead and mention it. It will show that you weren't just sitting on your a$$ in college, that you were actually busy with things (although it sounds like you had quite a bit anyway). The fact that its off the books, the only person you would have to worry about is if the IRS got a look at your app, which I think is pretty impossible.
thanks. haha i hope the irs doesnt come after me. the only reason i mentioned some of the actitivities though was that on the amcas application it asks for presentations/posters/research and i could put all three down on one page if i put in my research. but i dont think i can put down that i was part of these honor societies b/c it asks only for significant experiences and I didn't really take part in some of the honor societies. And im not going to start working at the writing center or er being my honors thesis' until september so ill be down to just maybe 3 or 4 things. im not sure what to do.
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From what I remember, if you know you will be starting an EC later on, then you can list it, just put the dates that you expect it to take place. As for the the honor society, many people put those down even if their chapter is not active. Its just an academic recognition thing, I think. You may not want to put, however, that you were an officer if the chapter wasn't active.superso said:
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My rule of thumb for things like that is that if it is relevant to medicine or science research than you can list it. I spend over 1500 hours volunteering at a hospital during high school so I listed that in my application because it is a big part of why I decided to become a doctor even though it was in high school. Otherwise I would probably leave it of.
