Is participating in forums such as SDN reportable as an AMCAS activity?

[r2med]

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Just curious to know whether participating in SDN or other forums and helping (or not) other participants count as an activity reportable on AMCAS? Even to the extent of meaningful?

 

[Catalystik]

Just curious to know whether participating in SDN or other forums and helping (or not) other participants count as an activity reportable on AMCAS? Even to the extent of meaningful?

Participating as a general member: No.
Moderating: Depending on your role, you might be able to make a case for Leadership or Mentoring.
Should you: Probably not.

 

[r2med]

Participating as a general member: No.
Moderating: Depending on your role, you might be able to make a case for Leadership or Mentoring.
Should you: Probably not.

Even if I have thousands of posts and people have told me that my posts/replies have been very helpful etc?
FYI - this is a hypothetical question. I am not planning on using it for myself. My application is done and cycle is going well for me.

 

[Catalystik]

Even if I have thousands of posts and people have told me that my posts/replies have been very helpful etc?
FYI - this is a hypothetical question. I am not planning on using it for myself. My application is done and cycle is going well for me.

Who would be used as the Contact aka How would the experience be validated? Do you think all that time spent on a forum NOT interacting with folks in person would be viewed positively?

 

[r2med]

Who would be used as the Contact aka How would the experience be validated? Do you think all that time spent on a forum NOT interacting with folks in person would be viewed positively?

Contact? Good point, but say I am able to get some moderator or admin to say yes.
Interacting with folks: is posting and replying not interaction? Especially in this COVID world, e-interaction is the new norm. No?

 

[PapaGuava]

In my opinion, I would keep SDN separate from your personal career as well as for the sake of anonymity. However we thank you for taking the time to help others on the forum. It is because of members like yourself that we continue to build and maintain this community.

 

[Catalystik]

Contact? Good point, but say I am able to get some moderator or admin to say yes.
Interacting with folks: is posting and replying not interaction? Especially in this COVID world, e-interaction is the new norm. No?

It's against the terms of service to ask another member to share their identity.

You can interact with folks in the e-verse playing video games, too. You could even demonstrate leadership by becoming a squad leader, or somesuch. Would you list that?

 

[r2med]

In my opinion, I would keep SDN separate from your personal career as well as for the sake of anonymity. However we thank you for taking the time to help others on the forum. It is because of members like yourself that we continue to build and maintain this community.

But if I am pouring my heart into this< I should be able to claim some credit? Anonymity will not be affected because I am not stating my details on the forum, only on my applications, right?

 

[r2med]

It's against the terms of service to ask another member to share their identity.

You can interact with folks in the e-verse playing video games, too. You could even demonstrate leadership by becoming a squad leader, or somesuch. Would you list that?

Agreed on the terms.

Video games have nothing related to my profession. SDN and AMCAS are related. Right?

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

I was Leader of my GameBattles team for Call of Duty Black Ops 2 back in day. I think that qualifies as leadership experience

 

[Moko]

Personally, I claim national and international recognition (thank you Canadian viewers!) on SDN to support my promotions to full professorship.

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

Personally, I claim national and international recognition (thank you Canadian viewers!) on SDN to support my promotions to full professorship.

There's some Eurpoean users on here to support this claim further!

 

[r2med]

Come on guys. Participating in SDN is more than just the jokes you guys are cracking

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

Come on guys. Participating in SDN is more than just the jokes you guys are cracking

If that were the case then I could fill out an AMCAS activity for:
-having a Facebook account
-having a Reddit account and going on r/Premed or r/MCAT
-having a Twitter
-binge watching all of Daniel Craig's James Bond movies every week
-watching premed videos on Youtube
-quite literally anthing

And that would be dumb.

 

[r2med]

Guys please read my post. You don't help other premeds on Facebook or Twitter or any of the other things you jokingly listed

 

[r2med]

Let's say you participated in an online community for suicide prevention, would that not count?
Edit - anonymous participation

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

Guys please read my post. You don't help other premeds on Facebook or Twitter or any of the other things you jokingly listed

Personally I find the way James Bond shoots bad guys to be quite educational on how the anatomy and physiology of the human body works.

 

[r2med]

Personally I find the way James Bond shoots bad guys to be quite educational on how the anatomy and physiology of the human body works.

Love the joke but sdn is not a joke, or is it?

 

[r2med]

I still think SDN participation (or reddit - I have never participated there, so I don't know), is worth, if you have contributed significantly. The legal obligations of contact info etc not withstanding.

 

[brockhamptonfanacct]

Let's say you participated in an online community for suicide prevention, would that not count?
Edit - anonymous participation

I do actually speak to people on 7Cups sometimes. I won't be putting it down as an activity, though -- it's just too informal (and doesn't require enough training/clearly laid out obligations) for it to warrant an entry on my app.

 

[r2med]

I do actually speak to people on 7Cups sometimes. I won't be putting it down as an activity, though -- it's just too informal (and doesn't require enough training/clearly laid out obligations) for it to warrant an entry on my app.

Your point on training/obligation is valid. Keeping that aside, if it was more than just occasional, would you not cite it in your app?

 

[r2med]

Your point on training/obligation is valid. Keeping that aside, if it was more than just occasional, would you not cite it in your app?

Btw - several volunteering options have no or low obligation and low or no training.

 

[brockhamptonfanacct]

Your point on training/obligation is valid. Keeping that aside, if it was more than just occasional, would you not cite it in your app?

Yeah, I wouldn't. Even if it can be verified that I spent time on there, it's not an activity in which I could a) present any sort of tangible evidence of my progress or b) have a supervisor to vouch for the work I did. My main thing is just that it's not an official commitment which I signed up to participate in, and even though it may be useful to others, it doesn't fit in the standard idea of volunteering adcoms have expressed interest in. Of course, not all other volunteering activities are similarly verifiable; I draw the (perhaps arbitrary) line here, but I respect that everyone has a different line.

 

[r2med]

Yeah, I wouldn't. Even if it can be verified that I spent time on there, it's not an activity in which I could a) present any sort of tangible evidence of my progress or b) have a supervisor to vouch for the work I did. My main thing is just that it's not an official commitment which I signed up to participate in, and even though it may be useful to others, it doesn't fit in the standard idea of volunteering adcoms have expressed interest in. Of course, not all other volunteering activities are similarly verifiable; I draw the (perhaps arbitrary) line here, but I respect that everyone has a different line.

Thanks.

 

[r2med]

Interested to know why the people who usually opine in many threads have not opined on this. Is this a questions previously asked and answered and hence the silence?

 

[Goro]

I'm startin to worry about you, rice.

Trying to take credit for social media activity is like trying to take credit breathing.

There are Admissions deans who take a dim view of SDN, BTW. My wily old Admissions Dean is one of them.

 

[r2med]

I'm startin to worry about you, rice.

Trying to take credit for social media activity is like trying to take credit breathing.

There are Admissions deans who take a dim view of SDN, BTW. My wily old Admissions Dean is one of them.

This is hypothetical. I said that already. My application is all done and cycle is well underway as you know.
Do we think about what each dean or adcom would like our dislike before determining our activities?

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

This is hypothetical. I said that already. My application is all done and cycle is well underway as you know.
Do we think about what each dean or adcom would like our dislike before determining our activities?

If you already have acceptances to med school, what the h*ll is the purpose of this post??????????

 

[r2med]

If you already have acceptances to med school, what the h*ll is the purpose of this post??????????

I said hypothetical. Sorry if i wasted your time. No need to get rude here.

 

[PapaGuava]

OP has received enough answers about their inquiry, so before we go beating the heck out of this topic (or getting off-topic) I'm going to close this thread. Thank you all for your input.