If you don't include totaled hours for your ECs on your AMCAS...

[yellowcocopuffs]

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Members don't see this ad.

Is that really bad?

I am starting to get a bit paranoid...

 

[flatearth22]

I thought AMCAS only has start date, end date, and hrs per week.

Only AACOMAS actually has total hours, right?

 

[IHOPness]

I thought AMCAS only has start date, end date, and hrs per week.

Only AACOMAS actually has total hours, right?

You can give the total number of hours in the description.

 

[Whatyousay]

Unless there's a reason why your total hours wouldn't match up with the # hours per week that you provided in the timeline, I don't really see a purpose in wasting characters talking about your total number of hours.

 

[flatearth22]

You give the total number of hours in the description.

I only gave it for intermittent activities like shadowing. For most stuff it was painfully obvious as they were weekly activities and I already said how many hrs/wk.

 

[IHOPness]

I only gave it for intermittent activities like shadowing. For most stuff it was painfully obvious as they were weekly activities and I already said how many hrs/wk.

Yeah, I know. I forgot the word, "can." For the most part there is no need to give a total number of hours, but sometimes people like to do so for clarity or emphasis. 🙂

 

[cgMCAT2011]

I might be crazy - but I have a really hard time believing that admissions committees read every word on an application thoroughly.

There simply isn't enough time in the day to process the volume of applications they get.

But who knows...

 

[flatearth22]

I might be crazy - but I have a really hard time believing that admissions committees read every word on an application thoroughly.

There simply isn't enough time in the day to process the volume of applications they get.

But who knows...

I remember one adcom (maybe LizzyM) saying that each adcom member gave ~15 minutes to an application and then put it into a "definitely interview" "maybe interview" or "do not interview" pile. Not to mention after they interview they probably look at the apps even closer to whittle down the final cut.

 

[LizzyM]

I remember one adcom (maybe LizzyM) saying that each adcom member gave ~15 minutes to an application and then put it into a "definitely interview" "maybe interview" or "do not interview" pile. Not to mention after they interview they probably look at the apps even closer to whittle down the final cut.

It takes a new adcom member about 30 minutes to read an entire application, the seasoned members can do it in 20 minutes. For the most part, no one cares about total hours... mostly how many hours per week you were engaged in activities.

 

[dmplz707]

Sorry if this question has already been asked numerous times, but how would I go about inputting an activity I did for about 2.5 years for about 4 hours/week where I didn't necessarily volunteer every single week since there were times where I had take a month off etc.? For example, I've accumulated 240 hours for this one activity that I've done for about 2.5 years, that wouldn't match up to 4 hours/week since in year I should have been able to accumulate 4 x 52 = 208 hours. How would I go about explaining this? Thanks everyone.

 

[pfaction]

It takes a new adcom member about 30 minutes to read an entire application, the seasoned members can do it in 20 minutes. For the most part, no one cares about total hours... mostly how many hours per week you were engaged in activities.

Yikes. I do things over the summer and if they look at it yearly, I would have like half an hour a week!

 

[postbacpremed87]

I am sure LizzyM means hrs/wk involved in the activity over the month. She doesn't mean dilute your hours involved over the course of a year. That would be insane.

Yikes. I do things over the summer and if they look at it yearly, I would have like half an hour a week!

 

[LizzyM]

Sorry if this question has already been asked numerous times, but how would I go about inputting an activity I did for about 2.5 years for about 4 hours/week where I didn't necessarily volunteer every single week since there were times where I had take a month off etc.? For example, I've accumulated 240 hours for this one activity that I've done for about 2.5 years, that wouldn't match up to 4 hours/week since in year I should have been able to accumulate 4 x 52 = 208 hours. How would I go about explaining this? Thanks everyone.

If you give the dates as 1/2008-6/2010 and over that time you did 240 hours then yes, it does work out to 240 hrs/130 weeks or about 2 hours/wk over the time period shown. You could put in the description that you generally volunteered in four hour blocks of time with weeks off for vacation and the like. The duration of the activity (130 weeks is significant) is more important than the total hours. Hours per week gets factored in to how much you spent in outside activities. For example, someone with a 20 hr/wk job plus a 15 hr/wk lab project is doing almost a full time job in addition to school.

 

[KLycos]

^You are the best Lizzy