Dilemma about experience listing

[Haybrant]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi,
I volunteered in an ER but only for like 25 hours all summer so it was not a significant experience and I didnt like it much. However, i did have an interesting experience which I listed, only in passing, on my personal statement, although I dont explicitly say the experience was in the ER. I didnt expect to list it on my experiences since it might look like im not very dedicated but im curious if that might be bad since it may come up in an interview and make me look bad for not listing it. Any ideas what to do about this?

 

[Haybrant]

 

[MabdulD]

Don't sweat it so much; it really doesn't matter. Most interviewers are not terribly familiar with the ins and outs of the AMCAS application, and won't really think twice about it. I don't know why they would care anyway. Don't list it if you're worried it will take attention away from the ECs you really care about.

Best of luck.

 

[Realest]

I don't necessarily think a significant experience has to be a long one. If you shadowed a doctor for only 2 hours one one day, you still might have seen some things that influenced your decision to continue pursuing medicine. Even the fact that you did not enjoy working in the ER is significant by eliminating a specialty in which you may have otherwise wasted time. I would put it down and just think about a few things you did gain from the experience, even if it was simple as "I don't think I want to work in the ER because... I think [insert specialty of interest] may be better for me because..." It would be a shame to have wasted those 25 hours for nothing, so make it count in your application.