AMCAS Work/Activities - Caring for special needs family member?

[Lake_Front]

Hello! Before I go further, I just wanted to clarify that I was thinking of listing this as "other" and not "volunteering/clinical experience/etc" so it is not something I intend to use to make up for other categories.

For the last few years, my Aunt who is a single mother immigrated to the country with my 11 year old cousin who has Down's Syndrome. To help out while she was working, I would spend ~15-20 hours per week taking care of him. This included bathing, administering medications, etc. Would it be appropriate to list this as an activity under 'Other' given that it was a family member? I unfortunately wasn't able to well incorporate it into my PS. It truly did have a meaningful impact on me (but I realize it probably isn't wise to use as a most meaning activity), but I was wondering what the opinion was of having something like this listed as one of the other activities.

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[LizzyM]

You have been spending a solid amount of time on this -- time you could have spent in non-clinical employment or some other activity. It is legit to account for that much time spent in a daily activity and it would not be inappropriate to list it as "other".

 

[LunaOri]

I agree with LizzyM. It was a significant activity for you, and I’d bet that you can find a place to discuss it in one of your secondaries.