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1. That's still considered employment in my mind
I agree. You may not have gotten a paycheck, but you were probably compensated with a place to live, meals, possibly tuition assistance, and assurance of your family's well-being. I would not list the activity as "Volunteer."
Yes, in my opinion that is the correct designation to give this job.
Use the first and last dates that you did any Teaching/Tutoring (a category which includes mentoring). Name the activity something that is inclusive of all the activities and suggests that they weren't continuous during the time span given (if this was the case), like, "Various Tutoring and Mentoring Involvement." Don't fill in the hours per week in the header. Then in the description put beginning and end dates for each, with either total hours or hours per week, a contact, then describe/add commentary.
No, it won't look weird if you have interesting reflections to share.. I've seen much briefer activities chosen to be so designated.
I've never seen the TMDSAS application or read its directions, so my comments will apply to AMCAS only:
Why not list the person at work who referred you and can attest to your involvement? Include the names of the docs, specialties, and hospital where you shadowed, if you can, to lend as much legitimacy as is possible.
1) it depends on the spaces you have left and how much you have to say about each. Separating out the longer-term activity seems like a good idea, if you can manage it.
It's pretty old to list in the activities section on its own. But you might tack it onto the end of your other formal shadowing entry. I think it would be great as part of the PS, including why it was meaningful to you and how it set you off to explore medicine as a career further. Much as I am predisposed to hearing anyone say that only Pediatrics could make them happy (and it is a specialty with the most-satisfied docs, according to a published study), it's far better to appear open-minded and welcoming of experiences with other specialties (since you'll be obliged to try out many of them in med school). And adcomms also know about the study showing that 80% change their minds before the residency match.
If your interaction with the kids is therapeutically beneficial, then it is clinical. If, OTOH, you have tons of experience with sick people, but no nonmedical community service, you could probably spin it in that direction instead, if you prefer.
It's fine to mix and match styles as seems most suitable to what you need to communicate.
1a) You could list it in either Research or Awards, depending on where you have the room.
Some strategies to consider:
Yes, this would be leadership. One year of involvement is a decent amount of time, so you don't necessarily have to explain why you dropped your involvement. OTOH, it might be an interesting topic to discuss in a pertinent Secondary essay. That you had to cope with failure/stress/a particular challenge and your reflection on what you learned from it could be positives for your application.
While you could list paid research under Employment, you don't want it to be missed. Generally research is listed under Research whether paid, curriculum requirement like an internship, volunteer, or for class credit. It would be a good idea to give an indication that it was paid, perhaps via titling the experience something like, "Employment as a Research Associate in the Smith Lab."
Yes. If it had come out to less than an hour per week, you'd have just listed the total hours in the narrative and skipped filling in the header hours per week.
Depending on the activity, one or the other approach can be used. Some activities really don't lend themselves to reflection. And if you find it hard to fill the 700 character space, don't fluff it up. Be succinct and quit when you've said the important things.
Hi, thanks for your response catalystik, but would schools wonder about that 1 hours per week and consider it meagerly? should I drop the activity all together? i loved tutoring but couldn't put in the hours due to time constraints.
Not at all. Don't drop it. It's common to see an hour per week listed since applicants have to average the hours out over the entire timespan indicated.
1) I'd try to get them all in one space if possible (since they are variations on a theme), which should be doable with the "Most Meaningful" designation. This should save on explanations.
Enter the true hours per week that you worked (which is four) and not what you were given credit for.
I would use two spaces, dividing them by hospital, including both locations within that hospital. For hospital 2, title the activity Summer Hospital Volunteeering (or something else that includes "Summer" so that you can use the full date span and enter the hours per week without diluting them by dividing them out over a year's time. In the narrative, give the actual dates of involvement for each summer.
It depends on your age and the use to which you put your crop. If you are a microbrewer, for example, don't enter a date of onset when you were 17.
I think it is better addressed elsewhere, the question being outside the scope of this thread.
List it as a hobby unless you have previously entered a competition or sold your pix.
I suggest you have both a Research and a Publications entry with the conference presentation mentioned in the latter space, unless the pub was in a campus journal, in which case I'd make a different suggestion.
