How far back in experiences section should I go- career changer

[tmarie18]

I am working on the Experiences section in PTCAS, and I have obviously put all of my work experience in as someone who is changing careers. But, since I have been out of school for more than 10 years, my volunteer experience is varied. As an adult with a family, I have moved and this has also changed the length of time I volunteered in certain activities. My extracurriculars are pretty non-existent. Should I be including things from college to show my involvement in extracurriculars and length of time in volunteer positions, even though these things were so long ago? Thanks in advance for any advice!

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[AristotleDPT]

I certainly don't think it would hurt your application to include things from so long ago. PTCAS allows anything that occurred after high school to be entered into those sections. If you had any really amazing extracurriculars, it could give a slight boost to your application. If your extracurriculars were more generic, than I don't think it will help or hurt - probably will be glanced over. My understanding is that compared to GPA/GRE/Essays/Rec letters/Shadowing/Work Experience, the extracurriculars aren't considered important unless they are truly remarkable.

 

[tmarie18]

I certainly don't think it would hurt your application to include things from so long ago. PTCAS allows anything that occurred after high school to be entered into those sections. If you had any really amazing extracurriculars, it could give a slight boost to your application. If your extracurriculars were more generic, than I don't think it will help or hurt - probably will be glanced over. My understanding is that compared to GPA/GRE/Essays/Rec letters/Shadowing/Work Experience, the extracurriculars aren't considered important unless they are truly remarkable.

Thanks so much!