How do I record discontinuous volunteering on AMCAS?

[Gladiolus23]

---

Members don't see this ad.

How does AMCAS record hours for an activity? When they ask for time period, do they just ask for the month/year of duration?

I have a hospice activity I'd like to put on my app…however, I started this in early 2014 (got about ~40 hrs.), then had to quit for a while. I'm restarting hospice volunteering at a different organization this January and will expect to accumulate ~60 hours more before application time.

So on AMCAS, do I just note that I volunteered for ~100 hrs. from Jan-2014 to June 2015 and present (as I plan to continue)? Is this okay even though I have a big gap in the middle? Or do I need to address this gap?

 

[futuremdforme]

How does AMCAS record hours for an activity? When they ask for time period, do they just ask for the month/year of duration?

I have a hospice activity I'd like to put on my app…however, I started this in early 2014 (got about ~40 hrs.), then had to quit for a while. I'm restarting hospice volunteering at a different organization this January and will expect to accumulate ~60 hours more before application time.

So on AMCAS, do I just note that I volunteered for ~100 hrs. from Jan-2014 to June 2015 and present (as I plan to continue)? Is this okay even though I have a big gap in the middle? Or do I need to address this gap?

I think there is an option to show that you did the activity multiple times showing the different time periods.

 

[LizzyM]

While things may change for applicants in 2016-2017, currently applicants may list discontinuous activities (e.g. several summers) as a single entry with more than one set of start and end dates. Also, the rules have changed such that you may now list an "end date" in the future for activities that are ongoing.

Given that you will be with a different organization, you may need to be a bit creative if you want to include both volunteer activities in the same "box" but have two different organization names and contacts.

 

[Planes2Doc]

If you put it down as "hospice," you don't need to mention the gap. You don't have too many hours though, so it will be obvious. If you want to make it look better, try "binge volunteering" by racking up as many hours in the shortest time possible to make it look better. If you put down the activities based on the name of the organization, then you need to list them separately.

The first thing I mentioned though is a good way to take discontinuous commitments and make them look "better." This is good for those who find it too difficult to volunteer continuously throughout the year and need to get more hours during the summer or easier time.

 

[robin911]

I had a similar situation volunteering with two different Special Olympics chapters. You are allowed to input multiple dates under the same experience heading.
Here is the link for the AMCAS handbook: https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/68/35/68356c03-a7da-48dc-96a2-49cefdb39bc9/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf (see page 56 for specifics about work/activities).

According to the 2016 AMCAS Guidelines in the link above under the heading titled "experience date" on page 56: "If you participated in an experience more than once, check Yes next to the “Repeated?” field for that particular entry. You may enter up to three additional date ranges."

This means you can have a total of 4 different date ranges to fulfill one experience heading. In your case, since hospice is the same "organization" I would use just 1 heading name as "volunteering at hospice", enter the two date ranges, then briefly explain what you did at each location. Unless you believe that the experiences are diverse enough to count them as two separate experiences.

 

[Gladiolus23]

If you put it down as "hospice," you don't need to mention the gap. You don't have too many hours though, so it will be obvious. If you want to make it look better, try "binge volunteering" by racking up as many hours in the shortest time possible to make it look better. If you put down the activities based on the name of the organization, then you need to list them separately.

The first thing I mentioned though is a good way to take discontinuous commitments and make them look "better." This is good for those who find it too difficult to volunteer continuously throughout the year and need to get more hours during the summer or easier time.

I would prefer doing something like this, since I don't want my application to look too sporadic. I can work hard to get maybe ~80-90 hours this spring. But will this strategy get me in trouble with medical schools? Will they know I was deliberately trying to get a lot of hours in a short time and disqualify my application under the notion that I was bring untruthful with my volunteering time or something?

 

[Gladiolus23]

While things may change for applicants in 2016-2017, currently applicants may list discontinuous activities (e.g. several summers) as a single entry with more than one set of start and end dates. Also, the rules have changed such that you may now list an "end date" in the future for activities that are ongoing.

Given that you will be with a different organization, you may need to be a bit creative if you want to include both volunteer activities in the same "box" but have two different organization names and contacts.

I see…do you know if there is an option to include both contact names for one activity? Like how there is for the dates?

 

[Gladiolus23]

I had a similar situation volunteering with two different Special Olympics chapters. You are allowed to input multiple dates under the same experience heading.
Here is the link for the AMCAS handbook: https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/68/35/68356c03-a7da-48dc-96a2-49cefdb39bc9/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf (see page 56 for specifics about work/activities).

According to the 2016 AMCAS Guidelines in the link above under the heading titled "experience date" on page 56: "If you participated in an experience more than once, check Yes next to the “Repeated?” field for that particular entry. You may enter up to three additional date ranges."

This means you can have a total of 4 different date ranges to fulfill one experience heading. In your case, since hospice is the same "organization" I would use just 1 heading name as "volunteering at hospice", enter the two date ranges, then briefly explain what you did at each location. Unless you believe that the experiences are diverse enough to count them as two separate experiences.

Okay, so in this case, if I'm using hospice as a general category, can I just include one organization's contact info instead of disclosing both?

 

[robin911]

Okay, so in this case, if I'm using hospice as a general category, can I just include one organization's contact info instead of disclosing both?

Yeah, exactly. I would just put the contact information down for whichever location you had the most hours for.

 

[Gladiolus23]

Yeah, exactly. I would just put the contact information down for whichever location you had the most hours for.

Alright…and this wouldn't be violating anything right? I don't want to be considered withholding information of some kind

 

[robin911]

Alright…and this wouldn't be violating anything right? I don't want to be considered withholding information of some kind

No, you will be just fine. Like I said, I did this on three experiences and was accepted into medical school and many people in my pre-med student group filled theirs out the same way. I mean n=8 so take this info as you wish.

Previous threads on SDN have addressed the issue of "contact information" portion of the experiences. Those threads seem to sum up that contact info is very RARELY even looked at by adcoms and is more of a formality. If you took the time to put down a person of reference and they are willing to confirm that, you probably actually did the experience. But to my knowledge they will no way discredit you for not putting contact info for the two different experiences. Like I said, my sister, myself, and most of my student group filled theirs out this way and have not had any problems.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I would prefer doing something like this, since I don't want my application to look too sporadic. I can work hard to get maybe ~80-90 hours this spring. But will this strategy get me in trouble with medical schools? Will they know I was deliberately trying to get a lot of hours in a short time and disqualify my application under the notion that I was bring untruthful with my volunteering time or something?

If you legitimately worked these hours, then it's okay. When I was applying to medical school, it asked for hours per week. This made it difficult to do things like this. When the application changed, you just put total hours. This is better for people who do some sporadic activities. The only way I can see you being dishonest is if you blatantly lie about the hours, which you aren't doing. "Binge volunteering" when it's most convenient for you is just startegically working your ECs to your advantage. I wouldn't feel dishonest because the majority of pre-meds that are doing activities they otherwise would NOT have done are also strategically planning their ECs to give them the best edge possible. Do what you have to do to help yourself. As long as you aren't lying it's all Kosher. 🙂

 

[Planes2Doc]

Plus there is absolutely no reason for anyone to volunteer additional information that would put them at a disadvantage. I don't know why so many pre-meds on this board have the urge to do so! Do you think anyone will tell an ADCOM that they spent their shifts studying for class or the MCAT, or that they never saw patients? Or that they only volunteered to get into medical school? Don't disclose that you volunteered for an excessive amount of hours in a short period of time, it's no one's business except yours.

 

[LizzyM]

You could put the contact information for one of the two experiences in the narrative such as, In addition to serving at Eden Hospice in 2015-2016, I volunteered at Sunrise Hospice in 2014. The contact there is Susan Smyth 203 555 6667.

That way, in the highly unlikely event that someone calls to confirm your experience, they aren't told that you never volunteered there before 2015 making it look like you lied about the earlier volunteering.