Disadvantaged status and other AMCAS questions

[SquigglyQ]

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Hello,

1) If my disadvantaged status was due to one of my guardians being a drug addict, is it still worth mentioning? With both of their salaries combined, we were easily middle class, but then ended up on Medicaid, having our home foreclosed, and moving 6 times. I mentioned my mom's $40,000 income growing up and that we did have government assistance, but do not know if that is worthy of an essay. It's all super depressing and I'm afraid it will come off as a sob story. If you do suggest I write it, please let me know if you would be willing to read it.

2) For shadowing, I have about 40 hours of shadowing physicians in America, 20 from a physician overseas, and I spent 45 hours in a primary care clinic. The problem with the last one was that it was 30 hours shadowing nurses, 10 hours shadowing nurse practitioners, and only 5 shadowing physicians. For customer satisfaction purposes, this private clinic limited how much time I spent "watching over the doctor's shoulder". I was persistent, but could only manage 5 hours throughout the 7 days. Can I group this all together somehow, or what possible sub-categories? I heard shadowing a PCP is very important, so I kept showing up, but I do realize that 40/45 hours may not belong on AMCAS. Let me know if this is the case. It answers, "why not NP or RN" if that comes up during an interview. I don't know.

3) With having lack of non-clinical volunteering in America, can I list very brief experiences I had as one experience? Dental clinics are clinical, correct?

4) I spent less time in a lab that had more to do with medicine than the one I spent years in. Do I merge them for a holistic research experience, or still separate them?

5) In order to appear less bottom heavy, should I leave out some experiences I started just a few months ago (for however brief a time) while deciding on the 3 things I would be doing until matriculation? If all 3 of these things are clinical, should I add a 4th "non-clinical" or is that just "box-checking"?

Thank you!

P.S. I apologize for the length.

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

1) a drug addicted parent is a disadvantage regardless of income, IMO. But 40k isn't that high of an income so seems even more appropriate to say so

2) shadowing np/nurses is a good response for why not np/rn. I'd list it as one thing and detail you shadowed a variety of health professionals etc. 40 hours is significant

3) you can list brief volunteering experiences such as a cancer walk volunteer etc, sure. Depends on what you're doing at the clinic, perhaps if it's more admin in nature (eg filing) you can put down as non clinical.

4) I'd separate

5) depends on significance of activities

 

[SquigglyQ]

2) shadowing np/nurses is a good response for why not np/rn. I'd list it as one thing and detail you shadowed a variety of health professionals etc. 40 hours is significant

Just to clarify this one, I add all 105 hours of shadowing together and just mention that 40 of those were other health professions?

 

[Firehosewarrior]

Just to clarify this one, I add all 105 hours of shadowing together and just mention that 40 of those were other health professions?

It seems like there are a few ways to list shadowing, but I'm listing all of mine under one entry, and am including the doctor's name, contact, hours, and a brief description for each shadowing experience. So for shadowing NP/RNs, that could be its own paragraph/bullet point.

 

[SquigglyQ]

It seems like there are a few ways to list shadowing, but I'm listing all of mine under one entry, and am including the doctor's name, contact, hours, and a brief description for each shadowing experience. So for shadowing NP/RNs, that could be its own paragraph/bullet point.

I really wanted to do this. But I have 5 different doctors, with different speciality and hospital (kind of a mess), 6 if I separate the 5 hours from the 40 at the primary care. With the repeat function, I can only list 4 dates, so I don't know whether the overseas shadowing or the primary care center should have it's own listing.

 

[Firehosewarrior]

I really wanted to do this. But I have 5 different doctors, with different speciality and hospital (kind of a mess), 6 if I separate the 5 hours from the 40 at the primary care. With the repeat function, I can only list 4 dates, so I don't know whether the overseas shadowing or the primary care center should have it's own listing.

Ahh I see. I ended up excluding a few that were just for a few hours, in favor of the more meaningful shadowing experiences. But if you can fit another entry, maybe you can combine the rest of them into another shadowing entry, or write about the most impactful shadowing experience as its own entry as you're thinking.