How many entries do you have for AMCAS activities?

[UMICHPremed]

How many you got!

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[UMICHPremed]

vote! vote! vote! its your right!

 

[SoulinNeed]

15???? WTF are people putting down??? Unless I put down the shadowing experiences as separate ones, I'll have like 6 or 7. Did people volunteer at like 5 different hospitals, 20 hours at a time? lol

 

[Total180]

15???? WTF are people putting down??? Unless I put down the shadowing experiences as separate ones, I'll have like 6 or 7. Did people volunteer at like 5 different hospitals, 20 hours at a time? lol

It probably has a lot to do with how many years of post-high school years people have. I went to school for theatre for 2 years before I decided I want to be a doctor...and then spent 4 more years in school before this summer when I am applying. I have 14 activities, and that is with a lot of grouping. I grouped all my shadowing, Spanish interpreting, theatre teaching, and other theatre activities. I also have volunteer work at the local children's hospital, tutoring, volunteer as a Basic-EMT, RA, research, and 2 part time jobs over 3 years.

 

[OGMD]

my job
club member w/ medical mission
2x clubs with extensive leadership/service
clinical volunteering
2 distinct shadowing experiences
non-medical community service position
2 distinct tutoring/mentorship positions
research organization
publication/study
grant/presentation/poster conference
1 year program of research focus and presentation/posters/etc
hobbies
TOTAL: 15

15 isn't too crazy when you think about it. I only had 9 when I applied last year though.

 

[metalgirl14]

Mine are:

CNA (job after college)
Administrative asst (job in college)
Research asst (job in college)
Independent study research
Hospital volunteering #1
Hospital volunteering #2
Clinic volunteering
Crisis center volunteering
Children's advocacy volunteering
Shadowing
Honors/Fellowships
Chemistry demo asst
ASB
Marching Band
Calculus tutor/facilitator

I had multiple jobs throughout college so I think that's the only reason I have 15. 🙂

 

[garyinthehouse]

I've got 8

1) Parking Attendant to pay for tuition... 3.5 Years
2) Research (Paid and Unpaid)... 3 years
3) 2 Posters for Research
4) Musician... 14 years (since childhood; I compose classical music)
5) Volunteering at ER... 1.5 years
6) Club Membership... 4 years
7) Dean's List (Last Quarter of college)
8) Hobbie: political junkie... 5 years

That's all folks

Hope this works...

 

[ownage]

wow I feel bad about only having 5. Why the hek is volunteering like insane amount so important to committee. I mean like can I just b a doctor without having to go thru all this crap. Its not like volunteering or shadowing is going to change my decision.

 

[anbuitachi]

#s aren't exactly everything

I worked at the same lab throughout college so I dont have too many...

 

[MiniMoo]

I had 15 and had to combine activities into single entries to make sure my main experiences were all included. One advantage to being old I guess. You have a lot of years to experience things.

 

[Prism328]

13

 

[SoulinNeed]

Wait, we're counting hobbies and things like "Dean's List" on here? Should I also include things like work done with honor societies on there? Cause I did some volunteer work with a couple blood drives at my school that were done through the honor society. Although, I hope I still have some contact info for it.

 

[garyinthehouse]

Wait, we're counting hobbies and things like "Dean's List" on here? Should I also include things like work done with honor societies on there? Cause I did some volunteer work with a couple blood drives at my school that were done through the honor society. Although, I hope I still have some contact info for it.

Well, I put the things on the list that I can readily talk about in an interview. The application said put hobbies/avocations and being a political junkie about national/international politics, I put it on the list. I actually have a lot more other stuff I can put, but it might look like I'm filing in boxes just for that sake :/ OR if it does come up in an interview, I don't want to be caught flat-footed.

 

[eablackwell]

1) chem teacher at medical prep school (2 years)
2) volunteer personal care assistant (2+ years)
3) volunteer @ regional & national wheelchair games & summer camps for students with disabilities (2 years, 200+ hours)
4) protein crystal research w/ NASA
5) Olympic & Paralympic athlete/medalist/world record holder
6) MENSA member ( and volunteer scholarship essay judge)
7) volunteering in hospital ER (60+ hours)
8) volunteer elementary school teaching assistant (200+ hours)
9) author of 2 novels
10) volunteer motivational speaker (500+ hours)

at that point in time I stopped writing them out, I didn't list deans list or anything like that, even though I received it several times

 

[SoulinNeed]

1) chem teacher at medical prep school (2 years)
2) volunteer personal care assistant (2+ years)
3) volunteer @ regional & national wheelchair games & summer camps for students with disabilities (2 years, 200+ hours)
4) protein crystal research w/ NASA
5) Olympic & Paralympic athlete/medalist/world record holder
6) MENSA member ( and volunteer scholarship essay judge)
7) volunteering in hospital ER (60+ hours)
8) volunteer elementary school teaching assistant (200+ hours)
9) author of 2 novels
10) volunteer motivational speaker (500+ hours)

at that point in time I stopped writing them out, I didn't list deans list or anything like that, even though I received it several times

OK, this made me

 

[eablackwell]

OK, this made me

All I have are my ECs and a prayer, heh 😉 I'm actually really concerned about my lack of shadowing

 

[UMICHPremed]

Knowing SDN premeds, if the limit were 30 instead of 15, then ~30% would have all 30 slots filled. ; ) AMCAS really shouldn't cap the number the of entries. Then there would be such large discrepancies among applicants from those with 0 entries to those with 134 entries.

 

[Insulinshock]

I have 13 legitimate experiences (i clumped youth coaching, hospital volunteering, etc. together) and I have one for "other volunteering and hobbies"

I've always been very active since I was a freshman so it's really not that hard to accumulate 15 different experiences.

 

[azrael87]

I don't understand why some of you guys are clumping separate experiences into one slot i.e. putting 3 different shadowing experiences under 1 slot. If you already have 15+ activities and NEED to condense to fit it all in there, then it makes sense. Otherwise, not so much. I mean, if you have less than 10, why not add to your numbers? I think it'd be more to your advantage to list them separately if possible. That way you can give great detail on each individual experience. This shows that you really got something out of every individual experience, legitimizing each one further. If you did research on 2 completely different topics, list them separately. This way you explain all the details in the limited description space they give.

On the topic of the honors stuff, "Honors/Awards" is listed as an option for a reason. If you've got honors or received an award once (post-high school) and have the extra spaces, put it down. If you can think of something that fits in a topic they list at all, put it in. When you get to more than 15, THEN start cutting out the fat. You gain NOTHING by being humble on your app. Application = time to show off every fraction of an ounce of what you've got.

That's how I did things anyway. Barely scraped by 15 with some honors and a one time service award in there. It's worked out well so far.

 

[SoulinNeed]

I don't understand why some of you guys are clumping separate experiences into one slot i.e. putting 3 different shadowing experiences under 1 slot. If you already have 15+ activities and NEED to condense to fit it all in there, then it makes sense. Otherwise, not so much. I mean, if you have less than 10, why not add to your numbers? I think it'd be more to your advantage to list them separately if possible. That way you can give great detail on each individual experience. This shows that you really got something out of every individual experience, legitimizing each one further. If you did research on 2 completely different topics, list them separately. This way you explain all the details in the limited description space they give.

On the topic of the honors stuff, "Honors/Awards" is listed as an option for a reason. If you've got honors or received an award once (post-high school) and have the extra spaces, put it down. If you can think of something that fits in a topic they list at all, put it in. When you get to more than 15, THEN start cutting out the fat. You gain NOTHING by being humble on your app. Application = time to show off every fraction of an ounce of what you've got.

That's how I did things anyway. Barely scraped by 15 with some honors and a one time service award in there. It's worked out well so far.

It actually says you can put "Honors/Awards" under the activities section of AMCAS? (I haven't seen the actual application yet).

 

[Tesseract]

1. Research group 1
2. Research group 2
3. Research group 3
4. Ambulance agency 1
5. Ambulance agency 2
6. Non-clinical volunteering
7. Previous summer research programs
8. Future summer research programs
9. Academic honors
10. Research presentations/posters
11. Study abroad
12. Resident advisor
13. Physician shadowing
14. College academic programs
15. College clubs

#15 is somewhat fluffy, but I have my German club in that group. Gotta represent the culture!

 

[tlaloc87]

Not to be a dick, but what are people with 7 or 9 entries supposed to mark as their vote? ha.

 

[Squarely]

Don't think it matters how many entries people are using. Just remember, quality > quantity.

 

[TFS]

.

 

[obgyny]

I have 12. Is it really worth putting Dean's Honors list? I was also hesitant putting Phi Beta Kappa... I feel like these are fluff. What do you guys think?

1. Volunteer Hospital- 1 year
2. Research Lab 1 (unpaid) - 1.5 years
3. Research Lab 2 (paid) - 1.5 years almost
4. Leadership position in club - 2 years
5. Publication (ugrad journal)
6. Poster/Presentation
7. Tutor (combined both tutoring experiences... should I make them separate since I didn't fill out all 15 slots?) - 1 year
8. Night job - 1 year
9. Volunteer at Clinic - 1 quarter
10. Cofounder/board position in another club - 1 year
11. Big scholarship
12. Phi Beta Kappa

Also, is it necessary to put the number of hours somewhere in the description? I work full-time at a lab now... I feel silly listing 2,000+ hours in there.

I got a few smaller scholarships ($500 each), are these worth mentioning too?

 

[harvman11]

I think I had 12 when I applied last year, and 7 of them were related to research (either working in different labs or different posters/etc I had presented). Having a laundry list of 15 things isn't necessary at all, and I think a large portion of people who put 15 things have lots of fluff. I had fluff too, I mean I listed winning some competitive video game tournaments as an activity but that was more just to show I have a personality and give them something rather unique to remember me by... it was actually brought up in my interviews at every school. Each of your activities should either be 1) relevant to medical school, or 2) relevant to you as a person. Really, you could have a very strong application with 6 ECs listed. An example:

1) 100 hours shadowing various doctors (idk how realistic this is, I had no shadowing)
2) volunteer coordinator at local hospital for 2 years (let's say 5 hours a week... that comes out to 500 hours total)
3) research in lab x: 3 semesters
4) volunteer on Sundays at homeless shelter for 1 hr/week for 3 years
5) part-time job, let's say 15 hours per week
6) something interesting you do for fun... competitive paintball, writing poetry, backpacking, whatever.

Add onto this an average GPA/MCAT for school x and I think they'd be fairly competitive.

Now this isn't meant to be the best application in the world, it's just to show that with just 6 ECs you could still have a great application. Things like academic honors (of dean's list/honor society caliber, not "smartest kid in the department" caliber), most clubs/IM sports, etc are usually fluff... that's not to say you shouldn't list them (I listed IM bball and some academic honors), but you should consider why you're listing them... the adcoms probably have a pretty good sense for what ECs are BS and which are legit, and probably don't appreciate being forced to read our lists of "Dean's list every semester" when they could tell we did well by looking at our transcripts. Each activity should fulfill a purpose on your application in building you as an applicant, and if it doesn't, don't include it.

 

[minervamoon]

I currently have 13, and am probably just going to cap it there.

 

[knightstale4]

1. Multicultural camp coordinator
2. Literary Magazine editor
3. Patient Companion
4. Shadowing
5. Residence Life (professional)
6. Residence Life (paraprofessional)
7. Research 1
8. Research 2
9. Research 3
10. Writing Consultant
11. Tutor
12. Blogger
13. Dean's and President's List since my GPA is on the lower side

Didn't include activities I was not meaningfully involved in (Asian Student Association, DESI, helping parents at their store as a cashier intermittently throughout college, etc.) or future employment (hired for Kaplan Teaching Program and re-started patient companion position), though I regret the latter because I need everything possible to beef up my application.

 

[gravitywave]

what'll really bake your noodle is when you learn that, up until pretty recently, the description section for each activity in AMCAS had a much smaller character limit. People used to have to really bare-bone it.