How to count hours for ec’s

[grace_0092]

Hi!
I’m a Canadian pre med, but I’d really hope anyone (us or can) could help me out with this question!
On med school applications, do I have to write down the hours for every ec? From volunteering to research to starting clubs? How do you even do that? For things like starting initiatives or programs, or even pen palling, can I just write down for how long I did it in months/years?

thank you!

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[JimKimSlim]

On AMCAS, you report the date and how many hours you spent on them. For starting a program, I’d add how many hours you spent starting it and overseeing it afterwards or something like that.

For example, if you volunteered twice a week for 4 hours each this summer, I’d put down the start and end dates with estimates hours in.

 

[Catalystik]

I’m a Canadian pre med, but I’d really hope anyone (us or can) could help me out with this question!
On med school applications, do I have to write down the hours for every ec? From volunteering to research to starting clubs? 1) How do you even do that? For things like starting initiatives or programs, or even pen palling, 2) can I just write down for how long I did it in months/years?

1) Keep a log of your hours of involvement so you don't forget, even for volunteer gigs that keep track of time on site. For some activities, like Hobbies, Publications, Presentations, Awards it doesn't matter. For Artistic Endeavors, a good faith estimate is adequate.

2) Unless the hours of involvement vary widely, like from summer to the academic year, there is no reason to include hours/week in the narrative. For AMCAS, you are only obliged to fill in the Start Date, End Date, and Total Hours space.

 

[chzsux]

I would also say that for AMCAS, make sure to differentiate between current and projected hours. For example, if you volunteered between 05/2019 to 05/2020 and planned to continue it till 05/2021, then put a date range for 05/2019-05/2020 with the hours you've done and then the estimated hours (based on hours/week or month) for 05/2020 - 05/2021. I guess it technically doesn't make a huge difference, but for adcoms it makes their lives easier because they don't have to guess how many hours you've actually completed.