Grouping activities for AMCAS

[ltrain]

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Has anyone grouped similar activities together for AMCAS? I have two examples of where I want to do this. I'm switching from engineering to medicine, so I have a bunch of stuff post-college to include and don't want to use too many spaces on engineering stuff. So:

1. Can I say something like "Engineering Internships (3)" and then describe all three experiences?

2. And "Undergraduate Research Opportunities (2)" and describe them both?

Did anyone do something like this? I'm hesitant because it makes the descriptor fields (hrs/week, contact, etc) basically useless.

Also, as a sidenote, do you have to fill out a contact for every activity? Do they actually contact these people or are they just looking for big names?

 

[C.P. Jones]

If you have so many important activities that you really need way more than 15, then I would definitely do it. Or even when things are very closely related that it would be repetitive/pointless to have different experiences for it. I grouped 2 research presentations and a thesis under the experience for the lab itself.

but for you, w/ something like 3 diff. internships, i would have them separate, unless...again...you have more than 15

I did not put a contact for everything since you really can't (things like intramurals, club sports) but for things like jobs i would if i were you (then it just seems like you're trying to hide something if you don't put a contact down, although i doubt they ever do contact them) but i also wouldn't go crazy if you can't find all the contact info like a phone number for a job you worked 4 years ago

Has anyone grouped similar activities together for AMCAS? I have two examples of where I want to do this. I'm switching from engineering to medicine, so I have a bunch of stuff post-college to include and don't want to use too many spaces on engineering stuff. So:

1. Can I say something like "Engineering Internships (3)" and then describe all three experiences?

2. And "Undergraduate Research Opportunities (2)" and describe them both?

Did anyone do something like this? I'm hesitant because it makes the descriptor fields (hrs/week, contact, etc) basically useless.

Also, as a sidenote, do you have to fill out a contact for every activity? Do they actually contact these people or are they just looking for big names?

 

[ltrain]

Hey, thanks.

I know it's obnoxious, but I really do have more than 15 things that I think are worth putting down. If it's not a good idea to group, maybe I'll just go with the most recent experiences and forget about that internship from freshman year...

 

[Hassler]

Hey, thanks.

I know it's obnoxious, but I really do have more than 15 things that I think are worth putting down. If it's not a good idea to group, maybe I'll just go with the most recent experiences and forget about that internship from freshman year...

Pick the most important 15 things. Don't put everything. Grouping several completely different experiences together is a bad idea in my opinion because your experiences don't stand out as much.

 

[FDoRoML]

As a non-trad, I had WAY more than 15 really good (and really important) things... so I had no choice but to combine some logically, and drop some.

Without seeing the details of your list, all I can say is do not combine things that are very important. If you spent a lot of time doing one thing that's relevant, or if it is espcially desirable (in terms of AdComs, I mean), make sure it stands on its own. The best example I can give is this:
For my research job (one lasting 8+ years), I had all the regular research duties PLUS conference posters and talks of my independent research PLUS publications from some of my projects. I separated things I wanted to catch their attention:
1. Research job itself (to include everything I do, not just my own projects)
2. Publications (3) listed separately (these are pretty important)
3. All conference posters and presentations lumped into one (it shows you can bring the research to a certain level, and it's good for the collegiality, etc, but it's not as important as a peer-reviewed publication)
4. Journal covers (artwork) were also listed separately b/c they are more "artsy" than science... so counted towards my "I have a life outside of my data" argument. 😀

So you can see how just that would take up quite a few slots... of course, if I had listed all my posters and talks separately, I'd have run out of room. It's important to make the point that you HAD that experience, but it's not that important that each has a large bit of merit on its own.

For you, if your undergrad research was your only research AND if each one was a substantial project (more than just a month or two!), I'd list them separately... unless they were in the same lab or something. Research is pretty important for med school apps... and deserves to be highlighted.