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*~*~*~*Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2012-2013*~*~*~*
Started by sector9
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I completed 2 summer research rotations at the same institution. When most are in this situation do they list each as 1 activity or clump them together. I can not expand significantly on either study by pairing them up. Maybe that's not required though? Thoughts? As is, the two are paired under 1 and I have that as one of my 3 most meaningful activities. If for some reason it is better to split, I'd more than likely only be able to chose one as most meaningful. How would I decide?
I had a similar question: my abstract was presented at the American College of Cardiology and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). This publication is google scholar/JACC online searchable and I was planning on including it as a "Publication." For the Experience Description, I understand that we include only the citation.
However, since a poster on the same abstract was presented at the conference, how would we specifically include that after the citation in the Description section?
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I have a somewhat complicated question, so I will clarify if something is unclear 🙂
I am getting paid 40 hours a week to work in a research lab this summer. This is a really great experience, and I get to do a lot of hands on things and run my own experiment and such. However, there is a lot of down time -- waiting for cell culture media to warm up, waiting for assays to be done incubating, waiting for animals to wake up from anesthesia, etc. There is a lot for me to do, but it doesn't always fill the 40 hours start to finish. So, a department related to my lab caught wind of me searching for tasks to do in my spare work time, and gave me a bunch of things to do with them. My research comes first, but when I am not doing that or doing another task for my lab, I head over to the other department and help them out. I am designing their posters and pamphlets, helping write grant proposals, and writing outreach materials. I will also extend this involvement to volunteering at some outside-of-work-hours programs in the community.
I want to list these as two separate experiences on my work/activities section because I have a lot to say about both of them and they really are vastly different; they are only loosely connected by subject matter. Is this a good idea? And, if so, what category should I list the second activity in: volunteering, nonclinical; employment; or artistic endeavour? And how should I list the hours?
Technically, I am getting paid for the time that I am spending in that department, but they are not the ones paying me -- my lab is. I would get paid for that time whether I was sitting around and twiddling my thumbs or doing something productive. But it seems fishy to call it volunteering when I do get paid for those hours in some way or another... But it's not employment, because that department didn't hire me. I suppose I could say, like, "Research -- 32 hours a week" and "Design/Marketing Internship -- 8 hours a week" or something, and have the second be listed as employment... Ack! Any insight would be awesome. Thanks so much!
I am getting paid 40 hours a week to work in a research lab this summer. This is a really great experience, and I get to do a lot of hands on things and run my own experiment and such. However, there is a lot of down time -- waiting for cell culture media to warm up, waiting for assays to be done incubating, waiting for animals to wake up from anesthesia, etc. There is a lot for me to do, but it doesn't always fill the 40 hours start to finish. So, a department related to my lab caught wind of me searching for tasks to do in my spare work time, and gave me a bunch of things to do with them. My research comes first, but when I am not doing that or doing another task for my lab, I head over to the other department and help them out. I am designing their posters and pamphlets, helping write grant proposals, and writing outreach materials. I will also extend this involvement to volunteering at some outside-of-work-hours programs in the community.
I want to list these as two separate experiences on my work/activities section because I have a lot to say about both of them and they really are vastly different; they are only loosely connected by subject matter. Is this a good idea? And, if so, what category should I list the second activity in: volunteering, nonclinical; employment; or artistic endeavour? And how should I list the hours?
Technically, I am getting paid for the time that I am spending in that department, but they are not the ones paying me -- my lab is. I would get paid for that time whether I was sitting around and twiddling my thumbs or doing something productive. But it seems fishy to call it volunteering when I do get paid for those hours in some way or another... But it's not employment, because that department didn't hire me. I suppose I could say, like, "Research -- 32 hours a week" and "Design/Marketing Internship -- 8 hours a week" or something, and have the second be listed as employment... Ack! Any insight would be awesome. Thanks so much!
a) You can do it either way, depending on the space you have left and how much you want to say. If the projects are completely different, different labs, different contacts then 2 spaces makes the most sense.
b) How much to expand on each project could depend on whether you are aiming for research-oriented schools. If you prefer one more oriented toward primary care or humanistic service it might be less important to give a lot of detail.
c) Based on which one had more impact on you/caused a greater transformation in the way you think. If they were equal in that respect, then perhaps the more recent is a better choice as you would have more mature insights to take away from the experience.
You might add something like, "Also, I presented a poster with the same title, authored by XXX XXXX, et al (I was the third author), at XXXX Conference in San Francisco, Oct 11, 2011." Adding a contact would not be necessary.
I think that listing them in two spaces is a good idea. I agree that listing the second as "Volunteer" doesn't seem appropriate. Since it has a variety of activities intertwined, why not use Other as the designation, where you can list out the components, including the after-hours volunteer aspect, the artistic part, the marketing part, etc. And split out the hours as you described, so they aren't counted double.
I was a victim of sexual assault my freshman year and as a result, my grades were relatively lower than in subsequent years of college. I worked hard enough to end up getting latin and departmental honors. Would it be frowned upon if I labelled one of these honors as my most meaningful experience and explain what happened to me and why this was a big deal to pull myself out of that ditch? I didn't include this in my PS but I just wanted to make sure that it wouldnt seem too cheesy or like i was yearning for sympathy by including it as my "most meaningful"
You can label the Award "Most Meaningful," and explain why it meant so much, but I would skirt mentioning too much detail about the events that led to the "ditch," perhaps referring to "an act of violence" against you, instead.
The same would go for choosing it for a Secondary essay, where many of the topics would be a good prompt to get in your explanation for the lower GPA.
Personally, I think the latter choice a better one, as that's where adcomms will look if they are wondering what happened to your GPA trend. JMO.
For other pertinent comments, read this entire thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=847083
Hi,
I have looked at artistic endeavor threads on SDN but not able to find an answer for my situation.
At my college, I was member of an art club for 2 years. I took painting classes via extension courses and painting/drawing are hobbies of mine, which I engage in when time allots. So would this be counted as hobbies or artistic endeavors or extracurricular?
I also modeled while at college. One year for my college's fashion magazine and participated in three fashion shows. Two fashion shows were aimed at raising money for non-profit organizations and had fairly large audience (150-200 people each). Modeling for the shows did take practice and time. Also, for one of the shows, I helped organize. Do the shows count as artistic endeavors or extracurriculars?
Thank you!
I have looked at artistic endeavor threads on SDN but not able to find an answer for my situation.
At my college, I was member of an art club for 2 years. I took painting classes via extension courses and painting/drawing are hobbies of mine, which I engage in when time allots. So would this be counted as hobbies or artistic endeavors or extracurricular?
I also modeled while at college. One year for my college's fashion magazine and participated in three fashion shows. Two fashion shows were aimed at raising money for non-profit organizations and had fairly large audience (150-200 people each). Modeling for the shows did take practice and time. Also, for one of the shows, I helped organize. Do the shows count as artistic endeavors or extracurriculars?
Thank you!
I noticed that the MSAR has stats on how many admitted people have medical volunteering, non-medical volunteering, and research for each school. Do schools care about these numbers? Obviously you want to have well-rounded experiences but if one is missing one of the above, would the school not admit you because they want to keep their percentages high?
I made a mistake on my application and listed something that should be non-medical volunteering as teaching/tutoring, even though it would qualify as non-medical volunteering. Thus, I technically won't have any non-medical volunteering on my application, since I didn't list the activity as such. How would this affect my application?
I made a mistake on my application and listed something that should be non-medical volunteering as teaching/tutoring, even though it would qualify as non-medical volunteering. Thus, I technically won't have any non-medical volunteering on my application, since I didn't list the activity as such. How would this affect my application?
1) If you shared your Art with the world via exhibitions or contests, or through sales, then it's an Artistic Endeavor. If it was an activity for your own enjoyment, then use Hobbies.
2) This qualifies as an Artistic Endeavor, with qualities of Leadership and Volunteerism embedded. I would make all three aspects clear from your title and/or description given. You might just as easily use Other, if you don't want to highlight one component over another. I really like how you springboarded your interest in fashion into other areas like that.
These numbers are generated by the AAMC, not by the school. No, the schools don't care, because they know how misleading these stats can be, and that some activities qualify for 2 or even 3 designations. But they do help applicants to get an idea of what might be important to the school if the percent is particularly high.
For example, the MSAR may suggest that 76% of acceptees have Research. The MSAR numbers don't tell you that another 15% listed their research under Employment.
.
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My question is related: If I volunteered in a veteran's home through my honor society. Should I list it is clinical volunteer and say it in the descriptions that I volunteered through my honor society and list the president as my contact?
I am currently dealing with a similar situation, but I would like to add a follow-up question. Is it necessary to *accurately* indicate when I was paid with grant-funding?
I was paid between 10/2007 and either 4/2008 or 5/2008. My memory is a bit fuzzy on that one, and silly me didn't think to actually write it down (honestly, it didn't seem to matter at the time). I've called the school/department to verify, but they won't give me that information unless I go personally and there's no online record either.
It's about an 1hr 35 min drive one-way...I can go just to be safe, but do I need to?
I think that's a fine idea. It's OK to split out individual components of a larger experience like that, so long as the hours are not counted twice.
Yes. That works well.
I don't think that meticulous accuracy is necessary in this case. Record the date to your best recollection. Alternatively, if it's listed under Awards, I believe you only need to enter one date, which could be ~ when you were notified of the grant. You could enter a total amount received and say it was dispersed from Fall 2007 through Spring 2008.
Since FA11 is not a universally used abbreviation, I'd prefer Fall 11.
I was wondering what I can put fundraising for Make A Wish, Heart Walk, March of Dimes, and Better World Book Drive as? I also did the walk and volunteered at some of them. Should I even bother putting them on the application?
Philanthropy-oriented pursuits can be listed under Community Service/Volunteer where you worked to help organiize events or staffed them to inspire others to give. You would not discuss personal donations, however, or use of personal funds for, say, decorations, supplies, etc.
Listing your own fee-required participation in events that others organized is more iffy, though often done. To me it comes too close to reporting what one puts in the collection basket at one's place of worship or that one donated blood to the Red Cross, so you have to be careful how you come across with your description if you mention this. This is just my opinion.
YES!!! YES!! Yes!! Can't stress that enough. As wrong as it sounds, most schools tend to blow off update letters. Speaking from personal experience here, I received rejections from numerous schools and when I called to see why they rejected me they often said I didn't have enough shadowing. This was surprising because after amcas I submitted 2 or 3 letters updating all the schools about over 120 hours of shadowing experience in multiple fields. Long story short these schools didn't even look at my update letters and based my pre-interview rejection solely off of AMCAS.
Im not saying every school does this but there were at least 5 that I applied to that did, so try to get everything you can on your primary app.
***Clarified a few posts down***
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The AMCAS actually does not allow future dates for activities, in that it spits back an error if you try to. At least it did last year.
No it is not.
Merging with Work/Activities thread
See FAQ #13 in post 2 of this thread
So I have listed on my app that I have shadowed a physician for X amount of hours. However, in May I was accepted into a pretty competitive program at my school that will allow me to shadow physicians in several different fields at the local teaching hospital, and eventually choose one for the second semester as a mentor to possibly do research with, etc.
I haven't listed this anywhere on my app. Should I add or mention it into the same slot as the other shadowing? Always thought future activities were a "no no".
I haven't listed this anywhere on my app. Should I add or mention it into the same slot as the other shadowing? Always thought future activities were a "no no".
OK let me clarify myself since apparently everyone disagrees with me adamantly. You want to get as much as possible on AMCAS so I would put a starting date of today on your amcas app for that shadowing program and not list an ending date since it is ongoing. You've been accepted to the program so your not lying or making anything up and thats something that schools are really going to want to see.
If you were just now applying for the shaddowing program and hadn't been accepted I would say leave it off but in your current situation, throw it on. Med schools aren't trying to police your application and call you out on throwing something on your application that the internet said you shouldn't. They just want to know about what you have done and you're by no means falsifying your app by adding the shaddowing program now. I would be willing to bet that if you presented your situation to a few people on admissions boards they would tell you to put it on your app as well (**Im obviously not on an admissions board but this is the vibe I got after going through the interview process at multiple schools***)
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Well you would be kind of lying if you're not actually starting today. I'm going to start volunteering at a hospital in July but I don't want to wait till then to submit my application. I'm volunteering at the hospital affiliated with the school for which I'm doing early decision for. And I've kept in touch with the Dean of Admissions and he's actually the one that suggested I volunteer so that I can get more clinical experience. So I'm hoping an update letter telling them I've started volunteering would suffice.
EDIT: I just tried it. The application doesn't let you add a starting date that's later than today's date. I guess I'll just send an update letter then.
Follow this thread for a cycle and see the "Oh crap I put this on my app but my grandma died and I missed the first day of orientation and they wouldn't let me do it anymore even though I was SURE I was going to be able to participate but now I have to explain in my interview about not participating in this awesome program that I put down on my PRIMARY APPLICATION. WHAT DO I DO???"
Once you see a few of those per cycle you realize that you shouldn't try to beat the system and you should only put down real stuff that you've done.
Good call sector9, I didn't consider the chance of unexpected events leading to someone not being able to follow through with an experience. I agree, sorry for blowing this thread up with posts that are way too long hah.
So, I had a question on entering in activities. I'm running into this dilemma on a number of entries.
If I had done, for example, clinical volunteering for 4 years, but served as a staff leader for 2 of those years, how would I mark this in the activities section?
For example, would I put the 4 years of sole volunteering as one activity, and then put in a separate activity that states that I served as a staff leader of this same organization?
I was going to lump them together as one activity, but this didnt make much sense to me as the actual activities done as either are completely different.
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks so much! 😍
If I had done, for example, clinical volunteering for 4 years, but served as a staff leader for 2 of those years, how would I mark this in the activities section?
For example, would I put the 4 years of sole volunteering as one activity, and then put in a separate activity that states that I served as a staff leader of this same organization?
I was going to lump them together as one activity, but this didnt make much sense to me as the actual activities done as either are completely different.
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks so much! 😍
Merging
I was just wondering how everyone was organizing their combined awards/honors entry. What details besides the actual award name and year accepted should be included? (brief description, how much money received, etc.)
In addition, I have started this June as a volunteer getting familiar with research projects that I will take over when I return in September as a full-time, paid research assistant (I have already co-authored a poster presentation). I know people have said not to include future activities, but should I include this as a separate entry? Or should I allude to this position through explanations in other sections, such as "poster presentation/abstract", and write more about it in an update letter when I actually start as a research assistant? I could also see myself writing at the end of the description of a past research experience (one that led my interests towards this future position) something like, "I am excited to continue my work in cardiology as a research assistant this upcoming year at ___..."
I don't want to describe this future activity in too much depth, but I do want to give the ADCOM a hint of what I will be doing, so they may take this experience into account before the interview process (where I will then be able to expand).
What do you guys think? Thanks in advance for your help!
In addition, I have started this June as a volunteer getting familiar with research projects that I will take over when I return in September as a full-time, paid research assistant (I have already co-authored a poster presentation). I know people have said not to include future activities, but should I include this as a separate entry? Or should I allude to this position through explanations in other sections, such as "poster presentation/abstract", and write more about it in an update letter when I actually start as a research assistant? I could also see myself writing at the end of the description of a past research experience (one that led my interests towards this future position) something like, "I am excited to continue my work in cardiology as a research assistant this upcoming year at ___..."
I don't want to describe this future activity in too much depth, but I do want to give the ADCOM a hint of what I will be doing, so they may take this experience into account before the interview process (where I will then be able to expand).
What do you guys think? Thanks in advance for your help!
How many hours of shadowing do you already have? When would the new shadowing opportunity begin?
What might be done, since it is already true, is state in the description part of your existing shadowing entry that you were accepted on XX/XX/XX date for YYY program, to do ZZZ, (describe competitive process), and expected dates of involvement are . . .. I would not try to enter the (anticipated) activity in its own space.
1) If you wanted to keep them together, due to lack of space, you might designate the the activity as Community Service, title it, "XXX Clinic Volunteer and Staff Leadership Role." You'd enter the full date span and then in the narrative give the separate leadership role dates, and separate descriptions.
2) But this option makes more sense, if you have the room to split them up with their own separate hours, since you'd have more room for a detailed explanation, hours of involvement per week, and individual date spans. Then you'd use Community Service and Leadership-not Listed Elsewhere.
1) Also include the criteria for the award, giving some idea of how competitive it was. Scholarship amounts are gnerally listed only if substantial. Research grants can be specified, regardless. Use the college registrar or your advisor as a contact.
2) No.
3) The update letter is the way to go. Or maybe you;'ll have a chance to discuss it in a Secondary essay after you start.
4) I wouldn't state that either, but you could tell about what is already actually true, ie, familiarizing yourself with various research projects since you've been hired for a fall onset Research Assistant gig.
Instead of, "I am excited to continue my work in cardiology as a research assistant this upcoming year at ___..."
I'd say something more like, ""I have been hired to continue my work in cardiology as a research assistant for fall 2012, in anticipation of which I have begun . . . ." (keeping it brief).
This is what I was considering. The acceptance email was sent May 25. The opportunity starts this coming semester and will run through the spring, possibly next summer pending if I am off to medical school at that point or not. It is completed through the chemistry department at my school and gives one credit hour per semester titled "Pre-Med Elective". It was open to any pre-med at my school, requiring a submitted essay on why I would like to participate and how I feel it would benefit me. Transcripts and essays were reviewed and it was then narrowed down to 12 students who received an interview with the associate dean of the medical school and 6 were chosen from that. Needless to say, I am very excited.
Thanks everyone for the input. 👍
1) Would you consider 1/3 tuition (~$20,000 per year) substantial? In addition, would nationally recognized awards (Goldwater Scholarship) necessarily need these criteria?
One more question in these regards: if I received a fellowship for a grant I wrote to build upon a previous research project, but in the end decided to accept another more prestigious Amgen Scholarship, could I list the former award as (declined in favor of ___)? I took a lot of time writing that grant and it was pretty competitive (American Physiological Society awards only 12-20). Also, I feel that it further demonstrates my experience in the scientific process.
3) Should I still include the poster citation (it has been already been presented, I am third author participating in concluding experiments) in my "abstracts/poster" entry, or leave it out completely?
4) Thanks a bunch, that helps a lot!
One more question in these regards: if I received a fellowship for a grant I wrote to build upon a previous research project, but in the end decided to accept another more prestigious Amgen Scholarship, could I list the former award as (declined in favor of ___)? I took a lot of time writing that grant and it was pretty competitive (American Physiological Society awards only 12-20). Also, I feel that it further demonstrates my experience in the scientific process.
3) Should I still include the poster citation (it has been already been presented, I am third author participating in concluding experiments) in my "abstracts/poster" entry, or leave it out completely?
4) Thanks a bunch, that helps a lot!
1) a. Yes, but whether you should list it depends on other factors. Was it need-based? Then no, as you discuss how you financed your college education elsewhere on the application. Was it merit-based with criteria based on college work or endeavors: then yes. Ask if you're not sure.
b. You should not assume all adcomms are seasoned and equally knowledgeable.
2) I wouldn't have a problem with you mentioning that, but I can't give you a more universal perspective.
3) If you presented the poster at a campus event, I suggest you mention it in the same space as the Research. If you presented at a regional or national conference, then ideally, you'd put it in its own space under Posters/Presentations. If you published the same data in a noncampus jouirnal, then you'd list it under the more prestigious mode of sharing the information with the world, namely Publications, but you could tell about the poster in that same space.
I've done very little shadowing (10 hours), but I have worked at a dermatologist's office for a summer (about 350 hours) and was present in the examination room with the doctor and patient for a lot of it. Would this be recognized as having clinical experience, or would my low shadowing hours hurt me a lot?
Thank you so much for your input! One more thing. If I was awarded a scholarship in March, and will not be technically starting the research related to it till August but have started my own research on it now, should I put this in the activities section? It's a little confusing since the award date is not the same as the start date. Wasn't sure how this worked... Thank you!!
Presumably, you listed your work in the derm office under Employment, but named it something that suggested contact with patients and/or made patient contact clear in the description. If so, it will be recognized that you have active clinical experience.
Shadowing, being (usually) a passive observership, is looked at differently. Some jobs have shadowing embedded, which it sounds like is true for this job. But adcomms won't appreciate that fact if you don't make it clear. To make sure this isn't missed, you could title the activity something like, "Dermatology Office Assistant and Shadowing." And/or, you could mention in the description that 25% of your work required you to be in the presence of the doc assisting with patient care in some way.
Another option might be to list your 10 hours of shadowing under Other, then to make a note at the end referring to the Employment entry, along the lines of, "Also see Dermatology Employment entry which included additional shadowing time" or somesuch.
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It's iffy, but you can state under Awards that you received notification xx/xx/xx of the scholarship as this is already true, along with the criteria and its purpose, like anticipated start date. Doing background study to prepare to do the research (I assume this is what you meant) is not worth mentioning.
Hi everyone! I have a very specific activity that I'm having trouble figuring out how to divvy up to enter into the Work/Activities section:
For the past two years, I have been very involved in a small theatre group founded by a friend from college. I am not paid for the work I do, but I devote anywhere from 5-20 hours per week to this activity. As the group's Production Manager, I am one of seven staff members who work together to plan every event or show, which includes finding locations, managing our budget, finding actors and technicians, fundraising, marketing, and running the event itself.
I'm also the stage manager for our large productions, including this year's big summer production, which is currently in rehearsals. I attend all rehearsals, create rehearsal calendars based on the actors schedules, and I communicate any new props, sets, or costumes to the appropriate technical department head. I generally act as the director's assistant and second set of eyes and ears, and I have a large degree of creative input. Once the rehearsals end and the production begins, it is my job to run the entire show from start to finish.
I wear a lot of different hats in this particular activity, so I was thinking of breaking it up into my role as Production Manager (Leadership) and Stage Manager (Artistic Endeavour). Does this sound like a reasonable way to split up my activities? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
For the past two years, I have been very involved in a small theatre group founded by a friend from college. I am not paid for the work I do, but I devote anywhere from 5-20 hours per week to this activity. As the group's Production Manager, I am one of seven staff members who work together to plan every event or show, which includes finding locations, managing our budget, finding actors and technicians, fundraising, marketing, and running the event itself.
I'm also the stage manager for our large productions, including this year's big summer production, which is currently in rehearsals. I attend all rehearsals, create rehearsal calendars based on the actors schedules, and I communicate any new props, sets, or costumes to the appropriate technical department head. I generally act as the director's assistant and second set of eyes and ears, and I have a large degree of creative input. Once the rehearsals end and the production begins, it is my job to run the entire show from start to finish.
I wear a lot of different hats in this particular activity, so I was thinking of breaking it up into my role as Production Manager (Leadership) and Stage Manager (Artistic Endeavour). Does this sound like a reasonable way to split up my activities? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
To me that division sounds perfect. Alternatively (if you're short on space), if the activity might be a candidate for the "Most Meaningful" designation, you could keep them together under either label (depending on what balances your application best), using the title you give it to name both components, which the description in the larger provided space would also support.
Thanks for your help! I definitely needed a second opinion to make sure I wasn't doing anything horribly wrong!
Great. Thank you again SO much. I really didnt want to put an activity that I technically hadnt already started, but also felt weird about leaving it out. Will definitely go with your advice. I'm assuming I can send an update in August once I actually arrive at my destination country and start my research to say I've started it.
Thanks again!
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