How thorough should the work/activities section be on your AMCAS app?

[exhausted99]

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Hey I am wondering if I should write a lot about each of my activities or volunteer experiences? For instance if I volunteered and wrote about that, should I include my feelings that I felt or got out of it?

 

[151333]

my response was brief and did not include my feelings...

 

[Mobius1985]

When describing your experiences, stick to brief narrative or a bulleted description of your duties and responsibilities, and maybe anything special above and beyond the call of duty that you did. Your feelings and insights, as related to a future medical career, belong in the PS. If your description is brief, the adcomm reviewer might actually read the entire thing. Don't bore someone who has to read hundreds of these descriptions and has power over what pile your application goes into next.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

An adcomm told me that one difference between nontrads & trads is that nontrads often can put things in a broader perspective; I was encouraged to explain what I learned through a volunteer clinical experience rather than simply list the things that I did.

Another school seemed to skim over my bullet-point factual list last year; commented on my limited experience in one area that I'd actually (I thought) clearly labeled and explained. The area was leadership, I explained how I'd started a company, hired all staff, set the strategy for a number of years until I sold it. As a result, this year I will be 1) more explicit. Like really, really explicit. 2) be certain to list how each experience relates to medicine/medical abilities/medical future.

 

[gman33]

The descriptions in my app were pretty lengthy. I felt like it might be the only chance to explain my experience (like if they didn't interview me).
Some people will say to keep it brief or else it won't be read. I figured if they didn't want to read it; they wouldn't. Not much I could do about that.

Put in what you think is important. If you can say what you want and still keep it brief, that is probably ideal.

 

[RxnMan]

Hey I am wondering if I should write a lot about each of my activities or volunteer experiences? For instance if I volunteered and wrote about that, should I include my feelings that I felt or got out of it?

I generally tried to use the most space I could. I started out with what my position and duties were using resume-style phrases. Then I gave it a medically relevant twist, or detailed a specific project I did:

Water Rights Engineer for the City of Cripple Creek, CO. Maintained safe water standards for a city of 3000 inhabitants. Designed and implemented a pilot project to enhance microorganism removal and reduce end-user infection rates from treated water.

Feelings usually weren't included unless it was a touchy-feely volunteering project.