AMCAS Extra-curricular Questions

[stiffany]

Hi all. Two quick questions:

1) Is it worth listing a volunteer experience if it's only been like 3 hrs once a month or is it better to just leave this experience out of the AMCAS top 15 list?

2) Is anyone putting down any hobbies as part of their list? I've already got a full list but I'm starting to think that maybe I should put down some of my interests outside of medicine to not look so 1 dimensional.

Thanks!

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[biowiz15]

I'd say, even if the experience is for 3 months, if you really got something out of it (i.e. learned a lesson or it broadened your view on things), put it down and emphasize that in the space to talk about it. But if the experience was kind of lame, you didn't do much or didn't see the significance in why you did it, maybe it would be better to leave it out as they might bring it up in the interview and you'd be in deep crap then.

yeah, in terms of hobbies, again, only if you've done them for awhile or they mean something to you. Like Intramural soccer for example would be a great one. But taking a watercolor class that you fell in love with for one summer and then stopped after that might not be appropriate. Hope this helps!

 

[bioboy2007]

Hi all. Two quick questions:

1) Is it worth listing a volunteer experience if it's only been like 3 hrs once a month or is it better to just leave this experience out of the AMCAS top 15 list?

2) Is anyone putting down any hobbies as part of their list? I've already got a full list but I'm starting to think that maybe I should put down some of my interests outside of medicine to not look so 1 dimensional.

Thanks!

1) This really depends on the number of available EC's that you have which are listable. If you have many other activities that you have done, which seem more suitable to your application, use those instead. But, if you don't, go ahead and list it.

2) This depends on what your hobbies are. I noticed one of the posters on SDN listed 'video games' on their AMCAS. I'm not sure that this would be the right type of hobby to list. Again, list hobbies if you do not have many activities to list.

Finally, remember there is no requirement to fill in all 15 slots of AMCAS, don't fill in boxes with activities that do not mean a lot to you and wouldn't mean much to the Adcom.