Are my W/A hours a red flag?

[johnrawls]

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I wrote out my W/A activities and my time commitment by semester, and I've found that I have ~62 hours/week across 5 activities for 3 semesters. I also have another 40 and 50 hours/week across 2 other semesters.

I made realistic estimates of each activity. For context, the 62 hour/week semesters include policy internship 16hr, lab 24hr, EMT 9hr (3x12hr shifts/mo), lab TA 8-10 hr, clinical research program (4 hr). I have recs from all mentioned except EMT. My recs/contacts can also attest to the accuracy, and I can speak at length about the activities.

I'm wondering if I should shave hours from everything to make it seem more plausible. Because I didn't show up to classes, I probably spent about 1-2 hr/wk on classes during this time. I'm afraid of admitting this fact during interviews. I'm also afraid of being seen as a robot (probably an accurate characterization). I worked every weekend and every evening + EMT overnight shifts.

 

[Hollow Knight]

I would just be honest, about everything. Maybe a more experienced person will correct me here.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Yes, be honest with your descriptions. Are you sure you calculated the hours correctly? Working 40 hours a week is a full-time job of 8 hours x 5 days. You only have 168 hours per week, and hopefully you use some of those hours to eat and sleep.

 

[johnrawls]

Welcome to the forums.

Yes, be honest with your descriptions. Are you sure you calculated the hours correctly? Working 40 hours a week is a full-time job of 8 hours x 5 days. You only have 168 hours per week, and hopefully you use some of those hours to eat and sleep.

Very long and overly detailed, so BLUF: I feel good about my hour estimates and my support/details are below.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm confident about my hours. **anonymity edit - looked up schedules and time sheets, all pretty accurate. lab times not rigid + didn’t have commute + virtual internship + poor lifestyle habits all helped make it possible.**

 

[LizzyM]

Were you permitted to sleep during your EMT/FF overnights? Those are always hard to count because you're there but you aren't (you are in dreamland - haha). At least you aren't working at a summer camp and claiming 168 /week which always generates eyerolls from the adcom.