AMCAS work and activities section -- mixed advice about Meaningful Experiences?

[yepanotherpmed]

Working as an EMT is one of my most meaningful experiences. I also used an EMT patient care story in my personal statement.

I have read suggestions online to tell yet ANOTHER story in the Most Meaningful Experience Summary box. Do you agree with this advice?

I also read that for the Experience Description "no one cares about the duties you performed" but isn't that the point of that box? It seems like there are 100 different opinions on how to tackle the Work/Activities section, just like everything else in life. 🙄

Advice???

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[BeMoConsulting]

Hi there,

Great question. Applicants can get really confused with the 'most meaningful' and trying to include different experiences than those shared in the personal statement. To clarify your first question, you should not write about the exact SAME experience in your most meaningful because it does you a disservice. If you think about it, you are reducing the amount of information that you give about yourself if you use the same experience. However, as you may have had multiple different experiences with this EMT position, you could talk about a different example from the same job.

Now on to your next question. It is likely that you did not mention all of your roles and responsibilities of this EMT position in your personal statement as you were hopefully recounting a narrative that showcases you in action, gaining and exhibiting certain skills. That means that the reader doesn't know exactly what you did in that role on a day to day basis. Therefore, you can include this in your sketch. You have 700 characters AND an additional 1325. We suggest using the 700 characters to describe the activity, its impact on you, and your impact on others through this activity, and then the 1325 to delve deeper into a specific experience.

For the 700 characters you can use the first 1/3 to describe the setting and activity, highlighting your role, responsibilities, and result. and then use the remaining 2/3 to tel the reader what you learned and how the experience helped you develop the qualities that medical schools seek (hint: looking at the AAMC Core Competencies here can help). The additional 1325 should be used to showcase a narrative that focuses on how this role has transformed you and helped you to become a strong applicant. Important here is that you don't list off actives you did, but rather craft a compelling, interesting, and persuasive narrative that leaves the reader wanting to learn more about you so they invite you for an interview.

I hope this helps.

Best of luck writing!

 

[yepanotherpmed]

Hi there,

Great question. Applicants can get really confused with the 'most meaningful' and trying to include different experiences than those shared in the personal statement. To clarify your first question, you should not write about the exact SAME experience in your most meaningful because it does you a disservice. If you think about it, you are reducing the amount of information that you give about yourself if you use the same experience. However, as you may have had multiple different experiences with this EMT position, you could talk about a different example from the same job.

Now on to your next question. It is likely that you did not mention all of your roles and responsibilities of this EMT position in your personal statement as you were hopefully recounting a narrative that showcases you in action, gaining and exhibiting certain skills. That means that the reader doesn't know exactly what you did in that role on a day to day basis. Therefore, you can include this in your sketch. You have 700 characters AND an additional 1325. We suggest using the 700 characters to describe the activity, its impact on you, and your impact on others through this activity, and then the 1325 to delve deeper into a specific experience.

For the 700 characters you can use the first 1/3 to describe the setting and activity, highlighting your role, responsibilities, and result. and then use the remaining 2/3 to tel the reader what you learned and how the experience helped you develop the qualities that medical schools seek (hint: looking at the AAMC Core Competencies here can help). The additional 1325 should be used to showcase a narrative that focuses on how this role has transformed you and helped you to become a strong applicant. Important here is that you don't list off actives you did, but rather craft a compelling, interesting, and persuasive narrative that leaves the reader wanting to learn more about you so they invite you for an interview.

I hope this helps.

Best of luck writing!

Then how come the examples on your website don't follow the narrative advice you just gave me?

AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences: The 15 Best Examples

Check out these 15 samples to learn how to craft AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experiences to make your medical school application stand out.

bemoacademicconsulting.com

 

[yepanotherpmed]

Then how come the examples on your website don't follow the narrative advice you just gave me?

AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences: The 15 Best Examples

Check out these 15 samples to learn how to craft AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experiences to make your medical school application stand out.

bemoacademicconsulting.com

There is no anecdote narrative here!

Experience Description: The aim of the project was to develop a new drug to treat viral infections by introducing chemical enzymes. I was involved in different stages of the project from in-vitro experimentation to clinical trials. We tested the efficacy of the treatment on human tissue cells as well as mice tissue cells. I developed a solution that enabled the enzyme to dissolve and be carried to target receptor cells. Additionally, I was in charge of maintaining project results and protocols and training new staff members. (506 characters, with spaces)

Most Meaningful Experience Remarks: This project was crucial to helping me identify my career goal of pursuing an MD/PhD. Working on the initial in-vitro experimentation stage, I had to analyze, synthesize, and communicate my findings. I was quickly recognized as the most skilled sub-investigator from the team; I also discovered that I derived great satisfaction from medical research. As the project progressed, more challenges came my way, and the pressure also increased. When given the charge of testing different enzyme carrier solutions, I eagerly took up the task as I wanted to try out my new skills in a leadership role. What followed was a period of immense challenges and daily struggles as our team faced failures more often than success. Looking back, I consider this a formative period of my life as I gained a true understanding of the medical research process. Though faced with doubts and confusion, I eventually realized that in medical research, both positive and negative results are inevitable and equally important sources of information. I then decided to diversify my diagnostic methods and applied new glucose synthesis techniques I had read about in the New England Journal of Medicine. By the end of the 5th semester, we gained the meaningful results we sought. I consider this one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. (1320 characters, with spaces)

 

[yepanotherpmed]

Then how come the examples on your website don't follow the narrative advice you just gave me?

AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences: The 15 Best Examples

Check out these 15 samples to learn how to craft AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experiences to make your medical school application stand out.

bemoacademicconsulting.com

Okay, my apologies. I just saw the part of your website page where you suggest "For any clinical experience, if possible, you can include a small vignette that portrays your interaction with a patient. Of course, please remove all identifying details and be careful with this. Well thought out and strategically employed vignettes help to paint a vivid picture of you as a provider of care. These pictures leave impressions and this is what you need, so just ensure that the impression you leave is one of a mature professional who embodies the key qualities and core competencies desires in aspiring future physicians."

It would be useful though if you guys included an example. 😜 Thanks for the help anyway

 

[deleted1017120]

I'm both a paramedic and a Hospital Corpsman.

For those entries, I just said a small amount about what it is that I do in the first sentence (particularly as an HM, since people almost never understand what a particular military job actually entails). After that, I tossed out a blurb about particular skills I used/improved on due to the position. For both of those experiences I marked them as "most meaningful" and I used that section to tell short stories.

can't guarantee you that it will be amazing, but I'm a reapplicant that got interviews last year and my feedback was always that the written part of my applications were good.

 

[yepanotherpmed]

I'm both a paramedic and a Hospital Corpsman.

For those entries, I just said a small amount about what it is that I do in the first sentence (particularly as an HM, since people almost never understand what a particular military job actually entails). After that, I tossed out a blurb about particular skills I used/improved on due to the position. For both of those experiences I marked them as "most meaningful" and I used that section to tell short stories.

can't guarantee you that it will be amazing, but I'm a reapplicant that got interviews last year and my feedback was always that the written part of my applications were good.

Thank you for your input! Appreciate it!