Number of Hours of Activities per week?

[stressedout0982]

I just watched a video where Dr. Gray mentions how beyond a certain number of hours/week doing activities is suspicious if it doesn't add up/make sense. I just calculated mine, and there were semesters of college where I was a full time student and my outside commitments (research, clinical, volunteering, student orgs, and hobbies) came out to 36-40 hours a week. Does this seem suspicious/too much to where it's a red flag?

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[Mr.Smile12]

I just watched a video where Dr. Gray mentions how beyond a certain number of hours/week doing activities is suspicious if it doesn't add up/make sense. I just calculated mine, and there were semesters of college where I was a full time student and my outside commitments (research, clinical, volunteering, student orgs, and hobbies) came out to 36-40 hours a week. Does this seem suspicious/too much to where it's a red flag?

I have no clue about your specific situation or what Ryan is talking about when it comes to application review. None of my committees focused on hours per week because many people don't have consistency if you are in class. We do pay attention to total hours over months or years, so we don't get that granular.

The problem is that many applicants just plain mistype their cumulative hours by accident. Accidentally add a zero, for example. Does this trigger an immediate investigation or raise an automatic red flag in screening? You would be surprised that the answer is (thankfully) no in a lot of cases. That would be the equivalent of throwing out an application because they misspelled a word. Maybe if you did that consistently and throughout your application, sure it will give us a reason to throw you out, but that's due to lack of detail (spelling or numbers) more than raising suspicion. Usually.

I emphasize this: quality is just as important as quantity. Hours per week is different for research as opposed to clinical experience versus volunteering. You cannot just generalize. Focus on what you did and what you learned, and hopefully the number of hours that correspond to your answer will make sense.

 

[chilly_md]

It is odd if you are claiming you are doing nearly full-time hours for your activities while being a student (ie 2000 hours).

 

[stressedout0982]

It is odd if you are claiming you are doing nearly full-time hours for your activities while being a student (ie 2000 hours).

you mean like full time hours for multiple activities while being a student?

 

[chilly_md]

you mean like full time hours for multiple activities while being a student?

If you say you did a total of 1500-2000 hours of research, clinical experience and volunteering in say the 2021-2022 academic year while being a college student, that does not make logical sense.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

If you say you did a total of 1500-2000 hours of research, clinical experience and volunteering in say the 2021-2022 academic year while being a college student, that does not make logical sense.

I work full time, do 2ish classes a semester, and volunteer/ECs account for another 15-20h/wk and have for about three years. As long as everything is certifiable, it's fine, right? I'm obviously not making hours up, I just work like a dog since I've got a family to feed.

 

[chilly_md]

I work full time, do 2ish classes a semester, and volunteer/ECs account for another 15-20h/wk and have for about three years. As long as everything is certifiable, it's fine, right? I'm obviously not making hours up, I just work like a dog since I've got a family to feed.

For a non-trad, it makes more sense since they are likely doing an online or night class and getting volunteering done on the weekends. 15-20hr/wk is a bit high though depending on if they are all in-person activities.

 

[LizzyM]

What I think of is someone who claims that they are engaged in an activity 168 hrs/wk. Do that math.