experience section of amcas

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meanderson

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When describing the experience/activity, what kind of writing style should we use? Essay-like style or short and choppy?

"I am currently employed at company XYZ. My responsibilities include working in customer relations and serving as a conduit for management. This experience has allowed me to......

Or

"Currently employed by XYZ. Responsibilities include......

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This was the part limited to 400 characters or something? I used complete sentences but minimized style and tried to cram in as much detail as I could.
 
I also prefer tight, concise essay style. Don't waste words, but don't neglect to talk about the skills/qualities that the experience provided -- emphasizing those that prepare you for medical school. For instance,

"As [Company XYZ]'s [job title], my work in customer relations honed my interpersonal skills as I negotiated contracts with diverse clientele from broad industry backgrounds. At the same time, as a conduit for management, I learned to distill [Company XYZ]'s overarching objectives and communicate these in clear terms to our customers."

Good luck!
 
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another question on this thread..

anyone doing less than 15 or is that just unheard of? I'm a really active guy do a lot of extracirricular stuff outside of school, but even then I could only get 16 quality things to put there, so I'm curious if others who do a little more studying than me and fewer activities are having trouble getting 15?

also, two more things.. some person mentioned to put the skills you learned that will help you in med school in describing the activities but with 510 characters, I can barely put in 3 sentences about what the activity is about.. any idea what is most important to emphasize in your 3 sentences?

and finally is it ok to put paid work experience unrelated to medical school here?

-Cantal
 
i only put 12 or 13 -- left of certain things like dorm officer, study abroad in mexico for a month, spring formal committee. i dunno, in retrospect maybe i should have included them b/c i realized how competitve it is after applying & that people do activities just to put them down on med school apps.
i don't really think it hurt me too much b/c the things i put down were quality experiences that were very time consuming.
 
I agree with Lola, I think that they look at the quality of the activity. If you put down something silly they will know that you are just trying to fill up space. I put down activities that I had been very involved in and that I had spent a good amount of time doing.
 
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