Importance of describing activities on AMCAS

[rimanek]

How important is it to desribe extracurriculars on the AMCAS? I obviously spent a LOT of time on the personal statement and I'm trying to figure out how much time I should spend on the "experience description" field in the work/activities section. Are a few sentences describing the activity enough or do I need to go in depth into what the activity meant to me? Thanks for any insights!

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[MrTee]

How important is it to desribe extracurriculars on the AMCAS? I obviously spent a LOT of time on the personal statement and I'm trying to figure out how much time I should spend on the "experience description" field in the work/activities section. Are a few sentences describing the activity enough or do I need to go in depth into what the activity meant to me? Thanks for any insights!

I wouldn't stress over them--just make sure they make sense and don't have any glaring errors.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

The activities section is a place for description, not reflection. Just state what you did. As far as the amount of time you should spend, you need to spend as long as it takes to get it right. You only want to do this whole process once, so don't sell yourself short.

 

[jammin06]

The activities section is a place for description, not reflection. Just state what you did. As far as the amount of time you should spend, you need to spend as long as it takes to get it right. You only want to do this whole process once, so don't sell yourself short.

that being said, i think it's still ok to talk briefly about how something affected you. Say for instance, it's a simple volunteering job, but made a deep impact on you. The downside to this is that schools might wonder why you didn't put it in your personal statement. But, just have a solid PS and you'll be fine.

 

[frostynorthwind]

I was also under the impression that the activities descriptions were intended to be objective... perhaps I was misinformed, though (???) I think a lot of the secondaries ask for more introspective responses regarding the activities and the insights/value they imparted to you. I also agree with the previous posters that as long as you discuss the most important activities in your PS and don't have any errors in your application, this section shouldn't be the primary focus.

 

[TheMightyAngus]

Compared to past years, the 2006 AMCAS gives you significantly more space to describe your experiences. This could be because med schools weren't happy with superficial summaries and basic job descriptions. Considering space is a premium on the application, use it to your advantage. Include anything that is helpful, but adding unnecessary information will probably weaken your application.

 

[IAMS]

I spent just as much effort on my EC descriptions as I did on my personal statement - which was quite a lot. My understanding is that many of the schools look at the application as a whole package. So try to present a unified picture between your EC's, PS, and LOR's.

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