so i wanna proofread my app, but when i get to the work/activities section, i don't like scrolling ALL the way through the descriptions to see if the formatting and everything is correct. is there a way that I can get to a page taht just has all my work/activities and then their descriptions? kinda like the personal statemtn shows up on a separate page so you can proofread it...
Great tips for entering your "Work/Activities" for AMCAS
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on the main page, click on "print application" - it creates a PDF, or a thing that can be opened like a PDF with Adobe Reader...
I posted this is another thread, but I feel this thread is more specific. I have a quick question. Though I have not shadowed other doctors, I have shadowed my parents throughout high school and college, both in the hospital and at their offices. Generally, I would file at their offices, but they would let me watch procedures and stuff. And I followed them on rounds at the hospital. I would estimate I shadowed them for like 200-300 hours over the last few years alone. Would this go on the application? I have a good idea of the day-to-day life of a doctor thanks to this experience, so I feel like I should put it on. They are both primary care.
In addition to that, if I take summer classes at a local school, do I add it as another institution? I haven't taken the classes yet, so its prospective. Thanks.
In addition to that, if I take summer classes at a local school, do I add it as another institution? I haven't taken the classes yet, so its prospective. Thanks.
Hello again,
TooMuchResearch a few posts above could be right, that the Thesis itself is NOT a publication in the scientific/AMCAS sense. However, I have seen many, many resumes with MS Thesis listed under the 'publications' section.
In my case, I listed my grad work/publications as follows:
- one entry as 'research/lab'' where I described the research project itself, what I did, etc..
- another entry as 'publications" where I just bullet-pointed all that came out of it: posters, papers, AND the MS Thesis.
Keep in mind that's just how I did it, by no means it means that is correct. But it made sense to me to enter it like that. 😀
cheers!
Thanks for the input. Good point about the secondaries, I hadn't thought about the space I will have there to explain academic 'fluctuations'. That is IF I get a secondary...
However, I wanted to ask you: how sure of this are you? In other words, is this your opinion? (ie. just coming from another one of 'us'?) or do you personally know an adcom that tells you these things?
(I don't want to sound like an a*hole or anything, but nobody else has responded, so I only have 2 point of views to far: yours and mine
)thanks!
coolio, thanks!
Thanks for the input. Good point about the secondaries, I hadn't thought about the space I will have there to explain academic 'fluctuations'. That is IF I get a secondary...
However, I wanted to ask you: how sure of this are you? In other words, is this your opinion? (ie. just coming from another one of 'us'?) or do you personally know an adcom that tells you these things?
(I don't want to sound like an a*hole or anything, but nobody else has responded, so I only have 2 point of views to far: yours and mine
thanks!
I've been working with students on here and in real life for years. I have had a lot of experience conversing on issues of admissions with the former director of admissions at USF now UCF director of admissions with 17+ years of MD admissions experience. he himself posts on here. His username is REL. I've also read the posts of LizzyM who was the one answering questions in this thread for a long time. She is an admissions officer herself. I've spoken with the current head of admissions committee at USF quite a few times recently as well as the current associate director of admissions at USF. In the past, I've attended medical school forums where other admissions members in Fl. have presented about their schools and talked with them on admissions issues, of which included Miami's former dean of admissions. Also, i've spoken with those in the OSDE office who've also served in admissions.
So I've spoken with several admissions officers over the years and also having applied once and reapplying in this cycle, I applied to approximately 25 schools and every single one of them had a place to explain away grade fluctuations or extraneous info you'd like to explain that is not elsewhere on amcas.
In the Fl. schools cases, there were whole sections devoted to talking about adversity you've faced as well as separate sections for grade fluctuation essays in at least 2 schools.
The activity section, from everything LizzyM and others have shown has been for talking about your actual resume activities worth noting and not grade fluctuations. As someone who has reviewed more then a hundred personal statements I'd also say you should not dwell on grades even in the essay. I know I made it a 1-2 sentence thing. because you do not want to
A. Make excuses
B. Make so much attention to it that red flags show. You want to show your strengths and positives in your personal statement.
someone I know got in with a 3.2 37 but had a 2.23 originally. Had 8 F's on his transcript and failed gchm 3 times. The way he wrote his personal statement was to say that despite the 2.23 from before, his 2 years in the navy helped him to learn discipline etc. He worded it in a story format that flowed well but didn't spend a whole paragraph just for grades. This pointed out that he was acknowledging his mistakes but then quickly went back into what he did to change and his positives. That's what you need to do.
Thanks for the input. Good point about the secondaries, I hadn't thought about the space I will have there to explain academic 'fluctuations'. That is IF I get a secondary...
However, I wanted to ask you: how sure of this are you? In other words, is this your opinion? (ie. just coming from another one of 'us'?) or do you personally know an adcom that tells you these things?
(I don't want to sound like an a*hole or anything, but nobody else has responded, so I only have 2 point of views to far: yours and mine
thanks!
Also, my advice is to take advantage of the fact that we have SDN which former grads didn't have. Therefore, we are able to figure out how to do things based on knowledge of what we can expect on secondaries. secondaries don't change from year to year. the few I've seen with some change only happened so little that their basic prompt was the same with some slight rewording of the same basic question. that was with my school in Fl. USF. Otherwise, it was essentially the same.
I've compared based on SDN former secondary threads from different years and from this past year when I made my first attempt at applying to med school and nothing was really different. This is an advantage to seeing which schools will allow for extraneous information or a place to explain things.
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If I participated in a leadership certificate program (i..e, women in leadership)-do I list that under "Leadership-not listed Elsewhere" or under "Extracurriculars/Hobbies/Avocations" since it wasn't a leadership position, but more like a workshops and seminars program? Thanks.
Either Extracurriculars/hobbies/avocations or Other. At least that's what I'd do.
I apologize if my question is redundant,
During my research I founded a clinical research group for students, as the result I presented presentation at major conferences and abstract was published (just the abstract not an article) in peer review journals...
I was wondering if I should list this under research, leadership, presentation, or publication, or if I should list each item separately?
Thanks😕
During my research I founded a clinical research group for students, as the result I presented presentation at major conferences and abstract was published (just the abstract not an article) in peer review journals...
I was wondering if I should list this under research, leadership, presentation, or publication, or if I should list each item separately?
Thanks😕
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This may be a dumb question-do honor societies go under Honors/Awards/Recognitions, even if I attend meetings and participate in community service activities sponsored by the honor society? Wouldn't this count as an EC?
Suggestions? How should I list my Infectious disease rotation internship or Critical care rotation experiences?
--> As brief description (like what was that specific rotation about?_
---> Or as short paragraph explaining specifically what I did or what were my duties during that experience?
--> As brief description (like what was that specific rotation about?_
---> Or as short paragraph explaining specifically what I did or what were my duties during that experience?
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I have shadowed 4 different doctors. 2 were in India (2 weeks), and 2 were in the US (1 day each). SHould I lump them together?
I had the same issue and I wasn't sure where to put it. I ended up putting it as an EC because there was more involvement than just an honor/award. But I'm sure they will see that it is also an honor as you describe it.
No problema. Just trying to do the best by people here. I know how frustrating it is.
I have a research position at the moment in a new lab that I've been in since late May. I plan on submitting my application before I actually know what my project in the lab is. How should I go about this in the description section?
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Sorry if this has been answered before, but I work at a research job and I have received a publication with my name. When writing about the job in the EC section, could I just include the reference/publication thereor do I have to create a separate EC (under pubilcation) and write it there.
I just assume putting all my stuff I've done in one job is better than separating it into multilpe activities..... is that ok?
I just assume putting all my stuff I've done in one job is better than separating it into multilpe activities..... is that ok?
I am concerned about my descriptions for the activities/work section.
The reason I am concerned about this is because I have written much less about my actual duties, but rather, what I learned from them and how I think they make me better prepared for medical school and beyond. essentially, i've written 30% description and 70% what it means to me.
My concern is that I do not explain enough about the activities and that when the initial screeners go through my application, they will skim through and miss a lot of important things. but i didn't want it to be like a bullet point of things i did.
any suggestions? advice? comments? THANKS!!!!!!!
The reason I am concerned about this is because I have written much less about my actual duties, but rather, what I learned from them and how I think they make me better prepared for medical school and beyond. essentially, i've written 30% description and 70% what it means to me.
My concern is that I do not explain enough about the activities and that when the initial screeners go through my application, they will skim through and miss a lot of important things. but i didn't want it to be like a bullet point of things i did.
any suggestions? advice? comments? THANKS!!!!!!!
I have given bunch of presentations to medical residents.....how should those be described? Under 1 bullet point? Or under specific subject........Do I just list those presentations....or HOW to use them as advantage???????????
I believe there is a tab for presentations which is grouped with one of theo ther categories people use to label research aspects. So you could list presentation and just group them altogether and explain how many they were and time spent etc. in the description area.
Out of curiousity, were you some sort of other medical professional or a researcher that you gave presentations to residents?? Just curious.
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Research is one of the few areas where I think separating publications, poster presentations, conferences attended, research lab work is better.
I believe they must feel this way to for them to make so many tabs dedicated to different aspects of research. Now if you are crunched for space and trying to put a lot more then the 15 allotted spaces then you can group if need be. But if you have room, it will draw more attention to the fact that you have a publication if you list it separately.
That is my personal feeling on things. I only start suggesting grouping where you are crunched for space or where it makes absolutely no sense at all to list separately i.e. listing 10 doctor shadowing things separately is stupid and an idea of where grouping is better unless 5 were under part of an internship for instance and another 5 were just individual things.
But in this case I'd separate it out unless you are crunched for space.
I agree with Wedge that I'd list it as EC/hobbies/avocation. That's how I listed student organizations in general.
Do you have room to separate it out??? Or are you out of space?
If you have space to separate it out, do the following:
1. Abstract = publication; description = citation of publication
2. research = research lab/work
3. Categorize presentations under the presentations; alternatively you could technically use the conferences attended tab and list conferences which you attended but I'd just put that under the presentations category.
4. List the leadership separately to show that you founded the organization and talk about what you did for other students so that they could also participate in such. Focus on those aspects rather then your research aspects when you use the leadership category.
Are you crunched for room or do you have room to separate it out like this???
Suggestions? How should I list my Infectious disease rotation internship or Critical care rotation experiences?
--> As brief description (like what was that specific rotation about?_
---> Or as short paragraph explaining specifically what I did or what were my duties during that experience?
--> As brief description (like what was that specific rotation about?_
---> Or as short paragraph explaining specifically what I did or what were my duties during that experience?
I think what you did and what your duties were. If you want to add anything extra you can tell them what you larned from your experiences.
Are you a nurse or something? you didn't answer my previous question.
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hello, i just have a quick question about what should be capitalized in the descriptions:
-should treasurer, vice president, etc of a club be capitalized?
-should year in school be capitalized-junior, senior, etc?
thanks!
-should treasurer, vice president, etc of a club be capitalized?
-should year in school be capitalized-junior, senior, etc?
thanks!
I have a quick question. I spent a couple months at a small medical facility. While i did observe and learn, I also helped out with basic administrative stuff things, as well as helped patients in and out etc. How would I name that? Would be it be "Dr. John Doe's Medical Facility"? thanks for the help!
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Ok I just don't want it to seem like I am filling out spaces for the same thing, b/c I described the research in the job EC. But I guess I will make a separate EC for the publication....
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Should I group all my honor societies together? The reason I don't want to do that is because I have been on the executive board on one of the honor societies and have a lot to say...should I give them separate slots, or group them together in one slot in which I talk mostly about the one where I hold an executive position, and talk a tiny bit about the other one? Thanks.
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I am also curious about this, as a large number of my leadership experiences are religious in nature...
Ok, sorry, I don't want to read all 36 pages of this mega post. I get the advice on the first page: brevity and depth. So are most people formatting these as a resume? Bullet points? Or paragraph style with complete sentences and blah blah?
Also, what do you all think about the publication suggestions? I am more tempted to list submitted papers in publications. I'm certainly going to include accepted but not published articles as "in press."
Also, what do you all think about the publication suggestions? I am more tempted to list submitted papers in publications. I'm certainly going to include accepted but not published articles as "in press."
That's what I did. Does UM in your username stand for UMiami or UMich?
I'd list accepted and if the submitted ones get accepted post amcas then send update letters to schools. Most will allow such.
Also use whichever method allows you to market yourself to the best of your capabilities or a combo of both. Some things like receptionist like jobs I didn't go in depth. Research and volunteering I went in depth. Other things like shadowing I just listed the types and where and when. Nothing more nothing less.
Some people are good by using bullet points to address what they did and that is enough and others like to tell what they learned from different things.
Like I said research is one of the few places or also when you are part of an organization and need to list a leadership position separately of being in the club as a member unless crunched for space. otherwise yah for some other things it would look like just filling spaces. But I'd want to draw attn to pubs because not everyone gets them though a lot of people do lab work.
You could still list it. just don't come off like you are trying to preach to the world that your religion is all that matters. People I have seen on here have listed bible study groups and playing musical instruments at such. People have listed church volunteerism and church music directing and what not.
Show the aspects like service projects, being part of your religious service's music director, being something like bible study.
What is the nature of the organization? I am a bit confused. Please elaborate more.
You can group the others if they are not as significant but for the one you've actually done anything good in I'd say list that one specifically separately.
explain the kinda nature of them. i.e. were you a bible study group leader, music director of a church? Leader in community service? or was it leader of a mission trip trying to convert people?
if it is the last option that's probably not going to go well in a profession where our goal is not to change other's personal cultural and religious beliefs.
If it is something like the former that is different. More details please.
Yes that's how you'd name it and categorize it as employment if you were paid or otherwise volunteer if you were doing those things for free.
You mean in a sentence? probably not important to capitalize it. if it is a title of an activity then capitalize the officer position type but not junior/senior. If it is in the middle of a sentence don't capitalize it.
awesome thanks!
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