*~*~*~*Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2012-2013*~*~*~*

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Forgive me if this has already been answered, but does AMCAS automatically order these by date or are they ordered based on how we enter them?

Thanks!


Never mind, I found the answer. They are ordered chronologically.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
All shadowing is generally listed together.

There is no one right way to list your activities. Whatever gets the information across that you aim to communicate is fine.

If I shadowed 4 different physicians, out of which, 3 were different specialist and 4 different hospitals, who would I put as my contact?


THANK YOU!!!:love:

EDIT: Can I put my self as the contact and in the descriptions put every shadowing experience as a bullet-point and put the doctor's emails in the description?
 
Last edited:
This may be a completely ridiculous question but does the order of entered activities matter? In the summary page AMCAS lists them in the order that they were put into the system. Is that how schools see it? In that case should more important activities be listed towards one side of the list? (I dont remember if an activity entered later is put at the top or bottom). I know it seems silly but if thats how its presented to the schools it would seem beneficial to have your most important things at the top, right?

Prolly being way too anal...
 
Members don't see this ad :)
This may be a completely ridiculous question but does the order of entered activities matter? In the summary page AMCAS lists them in the order that they were put into the system. Is that how schools see it? In that case should more important activities be listed towards one side of the list? (I dont remember if an activity entered later is put at the top or bottom). I know it seems silly but if thats how its presented to the schools it would seem beneficial to have your most important things at the top, right?

Prolly being way too anal...

Schools see them chronologically... And can rearrange them as they wish.
 
1) If I shadowed 4 different physicians, out of which, 3 were different specialist and 4 different hospitals, who would I put as my contact?
2) EDIT: Can I put my self as the contact and
3) in the descriptions put every shadowing experience as a bullet-point and put the doctor's emails in the description?
1) If any of the opportunities were part of an official program and someone kept track of your involvement, that would be a good first choce. Or, you could use the office manager of the doc you spent the most hours with, or the head nurse/nurse coordinator who was aware of you being there, or an ER clerk you were friendly with, or one of the docs, or whatever.

2) You could, but save that option in case you are desperate.

3) That works fine, whomever you use as the contact.
 
I am a Bio major taking an upper level criminal justice course to help me graduate on time, but was chosen along with two other students to work on a research paper dealing with a highly debated topic in criminal justice. The professor is overseeing our work and guiding us wanting to get a publication out of it and having us present at a national criminal justice conference in November.

I am wondering what heading and under what category I should put this under. It is research, but not in the conventional science based sense of the word. Kind of confused since it is a unique situation. I tried to search the forum but wasn't able to find anything. I appreciate any advice ya'll can give me.
 
If I've accrued about 120 hours of hospital volunteering at a facility at home, left to go to school during the academic season but come back regularly to volunteer during breaks, how should this be listed on my application?

Thanks.
 
I am a Bio major taking an upper level criminal justice course to help me graduate on time, but was chosen along with two other students to work on a research paper dealing with a highly debated topic in criminal justice. The professor is overseeing our work and guiding us wanting to get a publication out of it and having us present at a national criminal justice conference in November.

I am wondering what heading and under what category I should put this under. It is research, but not in the conventional science based sense of the word. Kind of confused since it is a unique situation. I tried to search the forum but wasn't able to find anything. I appreciate any advice ya'll can give me.
It's research related to a non-basic science discipline. You can still use the Research heading IMO
 
Alright, so can I put the contact as the doc I spent most time with and everyone else in description?
 
If I've accrued about 120 hours of hospital volunteering at a facility at home, left to go to school during the academic season but come back regularly to volunteer during breaks, how should this be listed on my application?

Thanks.
Name the activity something that suggests the intermittency of the activity, like "School Break Hospital Volunteering." Put in the first and last date, but don't fill in hours per week. In the narrative explain as you did above, and give total hours volunteered, with description.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Hi All,

I've been doing research with my professor for two years now. And throughout these two years I've done a variety of study projects and community service events like health fairs. Can I break these events down into like say

1. ADHD pilot study
2. Community service.
3. Health and wellness.
etc...

But it was all under my research. How would I designate this? I spent a lot of time with each group during my two years there and I feel like its important....

Thank you!
 
Hi All,

I've been doing research with my professor for two years now. And throughout these two years I've done a variety of study projects and community service events like health fairs. Can I break these events down into like say

1. ADHD pilot study
2. Community service.
3. Health and wellness.
etc...

But it was all under my research. How would I designate this? I spent a lot of time with each group during my two years there and I feel like its important....

Thank you!
Why not carve out the community service and list it on its own, even though the contact and sponsoring organization might be the same? No one looking for your altruistic activities is going to look for them under Research.
 
Would my community service events be medical/clinical? A lot of my events pertain to improving health of children in underserved communities. That's not really clinical...We basically do construct physical/active activities for children and educate them on ways to improve their health.

Thank you!
 
Would my community service events be medical/clinical? A lot of my events pertain to improving health of children in underserved communities. That's not really clinical...We basically do construct physical/active activities for children and educate them on ways to improve their health.

Thank you!
I think that if you are educating/screening healthy people for the most part, outside of a medical facility, that this would be viewed as nonmedical community service by most adcomms. If you desperately needed more clinical experience, you could maybe spin it that way if you needed to (as some adults getting their blood pressure screened might find that it's high, for example, and some children who are obese might be inspired to exercise more or eat better).

If you are presenting this material to study the rate of change in behaviors (as an example), you would have a good argument for keeping it under Research. But if it's being done for altruistic reasons, as a project by the lab people, then call it what it is.
 
I think that if you are educating/screening healthy people for the most part, outside of a medical facility, that this would be viewed as nonmedical community service by most adcomms. If you desperately needed more clinical experience, you could maybe spin it that way if you needed to (as some adults getting their blood pressure screened might find that it's high, for example, and some children who are obese might be inspired to exercise more or eat better).

Thank you! I have a little more than 400 hours of interning at a medical clinic. I don't think I need anymore...I think I need more non-medical community service! Haha. My interning was non-paid..that's volunteering right?!
 
I'm on 13 out of 15 activities. 14, if I separate two of the labs I worked at.


  1. Medical work (Most Signif)
  2. Non-medical work
  3. Clinical volunteering
  4. Nonclinical Volunteering
  5. Nonclinical Volunteering (Most Signif)
  6. Hobby
  7. Shadowing
  8. Leadership
  9. Awards Recipient/Membership to Clubs
  10. Lab #1 (Most signif)
  11. Lab #2 (I have a poster here)
  12. Lab #3+4 (Not sure if I should split the labs up - these were for my own curiosity and will not result in any sort of paper whatsoever)
  13. (Lab 4, if I should split it up for MD/PhD)

I presented a poster for one of the labs I discussed in activity #11. I may be applying MD/PhD. Should I put the poster with that lab, or should I make it activity #14?

Additionally, I have presentations to medical students, P&T committees, and articles that are put into the hospital's P&T committees that effected their formulary and management of treatment, and a paper in submission. Should I include all of this a #15?
 
Name the activity something that suggests the intermittency of the activity, like "School Break Hospital Volunteering." Put in the first and last date, but don't fill in hours per week. In the narrative explain as you did above, and give total hours volunteered, with description.

Thanks Catalysik!

Sorry for yet another silly question, but how do I put down a community service organization that I joined freshman year and eventually became a member of the board in? Do I put community service - non medical or as leadership?
 
1) I presented a poster for one of the labs I discussed in activity #11. I may be applying MD/PhD. Should I put the poster with that lab, or should I make it activity #14?

2) Additionally, I have presentations to medical students, P&T committees, and articles that are put into the hospital's P&T committees that effected their formulary and management of treatment, and a paper in submission. Should I include all of this a #15?
1) If you need the space, or if the poster was presented at a campus event, then just mention it with the Research activity. If it was presented at a national meeting after competitive selection, try to give it it's own space.

2) You might put all that under Teaching, except the submitted paper, which should not be mentioned if it is not yet accepted.
 
how do I put down a community service organization that I joined freshman year and eventually became a member of the board in? Do I put community service - non medical or as leadership?
Split it out if you have the space (and if the leadership is substantive), otherwise, use Community Service, but name the activity something that makes the leadership component evident, like "Kiwanis General Member and Board Involvement." The header date span should include everything, but then in the narrrative give the dates of leadership portion when describing your duties.
 
Split it out if you have the space (and if the leadership is substantive), otherwise, use Community Service, but name the activity something that makes the leadership component evident, like "Kiwanis General Member and Board Involvement." The header date span should include everything, but then in the narrrative give the dates of leadership portion when describing your duties.

Awesome! Thanks so much. As you mentioned earlier, I should lump all of my physician shadowing together, and granted I have ample space, provide a succinct narrative of perhaps the most meaningful observation.

I'm just being neurotic but is healthgrades.com reliable? I don't want them to think I'm a liar if the phone number is incorrect.
 
In TMDSAS, the application "strongly recommends" for us to list activities in EACH category if they fit multiple categories. This seems extremely odd to me. For example:

1) If I was the vice president for Chess Club, do I enter it in "College Leadership" AND "Extracurricular and Leisure"?

2) If I was a professional recording artist for 3 years, do I enter this in "Employment" AND "Extracurricular and Leisure"?

3) If I worked at a retail pharmacy, do I enter this in "Employment" AND "Healthcare Activities"?

As you can see, this sounds extremely repetitive. Since I am a non-trad, I have many of these activies where I can enter it in multiple sections. By the end of my application, my work and activities section will look like multiple double posts on SDN haha. Is this a problem? I need some advice. Thank you.
 
1) If you need the space, or if the poster was presented at a campus event, then just mention it with the Research activity. If it was presented at a national meeting after competitive selection, try to give it it's own space.

2) You might put all that under Teaching, except the submitted paper, which should not be mentioned if it is not yet accepted.

1) :thumbup: It was presented at a campus event.
2) :thumbup::thumbup: Double thanks!

EDIT:

My most significant includes a non-clinical volunteerism. I should keep it separate, right, not lump it together with the other non-clinicals? I only ask because I'm listing both my community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy under medical work and listing it most significant...not sure if I should also separate that because really only the community has the patient interactions that I would consider most significant.
 
Last edited:
If I'm re-applying and I'm now out of college, should I change the wording/description of activities I did in college from my previous application? (clubs, organizations, etc)
 
Can a "Most Meaningful Activity" be something I will have been doing for only a week or so prior to submitting my application? Or does that look sketchy?

I'm starting this thing that I've been dreaming about for years and the chance to do it has finally come up, except it starts at the beginning of June. So in effect, I won't have much experience in it on paper but it means a lot to me and is something I would like to continue doing for years to come.

Is it ok to include it as "Most Meaningful"? Or should I not waste that designation on something of such short duration?
 
Can a "Most Meaningful Activity" be something I will have been doing for only a week or so prior to submitting my application? Or does that look sketchy?

I'm starting this thing that I've been dreaming about for years and the chance to do it has finally come up, except it starts at the beginning of June. So in effect, I won't have much experience in it on paper but it means a lot to me and is something I would like to continue doing for years to come.

Is it ok to include it as "Most Meaningful"? Or should I not waste that designation on something of such short duration?

What would you say about it in the extra provided space?
 
If I'm re-applying and I'm now out of college, should I change the wording/description of activities I did in college from my previous application? (clubs, organizations, etc)
Anything ongoing might need some date changes and updated description/duties, a contact might have changed, and possibly you have more to say in reflecting on what you learned from a given activity, but otherwise no, if you were happy with it the first time.
 
Hey Cat, one more quick question, as now I'm solidly at 14 with the addition of Teaching:

My most significant includes a non-clinical volunteerism. I should keep it separate, right, not lump it together with the other non-clinical volunteer activities? I only ask because I'm listing both my community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy under medical work and listing it most significant...not sure if I should also separate that because really only the community has the patient interactions that I would consider most significant.
 
Hey Cat, one more quick question, as now I'm solidly at 14 with the addition of Teaching:

My most significant includes a non-clinical volunteerism. I should keep it separate, right, not lump it together with the other non-clinical volunteer activities? I only ask because I'm listing both my community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy under medical work and listing it most significant...not sure if I should also separate that because really only the community has the patient interactions that I would consider most significant.

Separate slots would be good unless the activities have enough similarity that the insights you gained and transformative nature of the activities might reasonably be assumed to be similar as two pharmacy gigs could be.
 
Alright, thanks. I'll work everything out, because this 700 character limit is really screwing with my descriptions. :thumbup:
 
Anything ongoing might need some date changes and updated description/duties, a contact might have changed, and possibly you have more to say in reflecting on what you learned from a given activity, but otherwise no, if you were happy with it the first time.

Great thanks!
 
For Awards/Honors/Recognitions, I would like to put three awards, and a few dean's list quarters.
What do I put for the main "Experience Name", and "Award Date"?
All of the awards, and especially the dean's list have different months and years (which I will enter in the description), but I am not sure what to put as the main entry.

Thank you
 
In TMDSAS, the application "strongly recommends" for us to list activities in EACH category if they fit multiple categories. This seems extremely odd to me. For example:

1) If I was the vice president for Chess Club, do I enter it in "College Leadership" AND "Extracurricular and Leisure"?

2) If I was a professional recording artist for 3 years, do I enter this in "Employment" AND "Extracurricular and Leisure"?

3) If I worked at a retail pharmacy, do I enter this in "Employment" AND "Healthcare Activities"?

As you can see, this sounds extremely repetitive. Since I am a non-trad, I have many of these activies where I can enter it in multiple sections. By the end of my application, my work and activities section will look like multiple double posts on SDN haha. Is this a problem? I need some advice. Thank you.
You may have a little better results posting your question in the TMDSAS questions thread http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=896976

I filled out TMDSAS last year and I listed everything in all of the applicable slots. For example, a research lab position where I was a leader over the lab and had 3 posters and 2 publications was listed once under leadership and 6 times under Research Activities. None of my interviewers had any comments about listing my activities. It does seem silly but it's what they want you to do :shrug:
 
What would you say about it in the extra provided space?

Good point. I know I'll have something to say, but I suppose one week of experience wouldn't necessitate the extra space.
 
For Awards/Honors/Recognitions, I would like to put three awards, and a few dean's list quarters.
What do I put for the main "Experience Name", and "Award Date"?
All of the awards, and especially the dean's list have different months and years (which I will enter in the description), but I am not sure what to put as the main entry.
Title should be something that covers it all, like "Academic Recognitions," or "Undergraduate Recognitions."

For Award date, pick the first one you list, which should be the most prestigious/add the most luster to your application. In the narrative you'll add a time frame for the others, as you suggested.
 
1. I'm making one activity to include all my hobbies/ECs: backpacking, guitar, homebrewing beer, intramural sports sports pre-health club (won't get its own spot b/c didn't really do a lot w/ it). What should I write for experience name since this one activity will include hobbies, artistic endeavors (played a few gigs in college) and an official EC. Hobbies? Extracurriculars/Artistic Endeavors? Hobbies/Extracurriculars/Artistic Endeavors?

2. I presented an abstract as a poster and talk at a national conference (1st author) run by a high impact journal. The abstract is actually published in the conference's journal (I can properly cite it) but its in the supplementary material (ie pages are S61-S65). Can I put this in my Publications activity (I have one other) or should I just keep it under Presentations/Posters. I would note that it was only a published abstract and not a manuscript if I kept it in the "Pubs" category.

3. I presented my thesis at a conference on campus in college and am wondering if this is okay to list under Presentations/Posters. I know it was only for a campus conference but not anyone could present as there were certain qualifications (had to be an honors-worthy thesis).

3.
 
Last edited:
Title should be something that covers it all, like "Academic Recognitions," or "Undergraduate Recognitions."

For Award date, pick the first one you list, which should be the most prestigious/add the most luster to your application. In the narrative you'll add a time frame for the others, as you suggested.

Thank you, I really appreciate it!
 
1. I'm making one activity to include all my hobbies/ECs: backpacking, guitar, homebrewing beer, intramural sports sports pre-health club (won't get its own spot b/c didn't really do a lot w/ it). What should I write for experience name since this one activity will include hobbies, artistic endeavors (played a few gigs in college) and an official EC. Hobbies? Extracurriculars/Artistic Endeavors? Hobbies/Extracurriculars/Artistic Endeavors?

2. I presented an abstract as a poster and talk at a national conference (1st author) run by a high impact journal. The abstract is actually published in the conference's journal (I can properly cite it) but its in the supplementary material (ie pages are S61-S65). Can I put this in my Publications activity (I have one other) or should I just keep it under Presentations/Posters. I would note that it was only a published abstract and not a manuscript if I kept it in the "Pubs" category.

3. I presented my thesis at a conference on campus in college and am wondering if this is okay to list under Presentations/Posters. I know it was only for a campus conference but not anyone could present as there were certain qualifications (had to be an honors-worthy thesis).
1) Leisuretime Activities?

2) This should be listed under Publications. That you presented the same material as a poster can be stated later in the narrative after the the citation, with appropriate info about where and when.

3) Presumably the same information was not presented via any other format. I generally suggest that a campus presentation is most appropriately mentioned in the same space discussing the project, but I have seen it done as you suggest.
 
i am an EMT on campus and my squad this year won a few awards at the university and state level. Are these awards, although awarded to my squad as a whole, fair game for me to list under 'awards?'
 
Hey guys,

So i searched around and the consensus about trying to fill all 15 EC spots seems to be that it is not crucial to make sure and fill 1ll 15. If i have only 12 or so thats ok according to posts i've seen.
Agree or disagree?

Also if an EC falls under 2 categories, for example volunteering with a group that goes and visits and serves at the senior center (but i also am the one that founded this small orginization of people to go visit and serve at the senior center). Our group has a name, meets, etc.
Would it be best to list that under non-clinical volunteering, and describe there that i founded the group and display leadership.
Or should i list that under "Leadership". and explain what we do in the org.
Thanks!
 
1) So i searched around and the consensus about trying to fill all 15 EC spots seems to be that it is not crucial to make sure and fill 1ll 15. If i have only 12 or so thats ok according to posts i've seen.
Agree or disagree?

2) Also if an EC falls under 2 categories, for example volunteering with a group that goes and visits and serves at the senior center (but i also am the one that founded this small orginization of people to go visit and serve at the senior center). Our group has a name, meets, etc.
Would it be best to list that under non-clinical volunteering, and describe there that i founded the group and display leadership.
Or should i list that under "Leadership". and explain what we do in the org.
Thanks!
1) The average applicant fills in 9-ish spots. So 12 is fine.

2) In general, you can pick the designation that best balances your application. Since the dates for being a leader and for the service are the same, personally I'd pick Leadership, making the community service component also evident in the title you give the activity, for example, "Founder and Programming Director of Wii Are Seniors Community Service Organization" or somesuch. :)
 
If I make one general category and list several activities within the category, how should the activities be spaced? Should they have two spaces in between to indicate paragraphs? Also, kind of random, but I take pole fitness classes for fun and I'm really good at it. I'm not sure if I should even mention that because adcoms might think I do stripping. -__-
 
1) If I make one general category and list several activities within the category, how should the activities be spaced? Should they have two spaces in between to indicate paragraphs?

2) Also, kind of random, but I take pole fitness classes for fun and I'm really good at it. I'm not sure if I should even mention that because adcoms might think I do stripping. -__-
1) If you're going to list several activites, you could also choose to use bullets or numbers to differentiate them. If you need bullets and numbers to organize information within each entry, then two hard returns will create a space between them, and would be fine to use instead. Decide based on what makes it look nice and easy to read.

2) You could call it something else, or just be vague and generic.
 
If I worked at a free clinic greeting patients, taking a chief complaint, brief history and vital signs, how would you name this under title?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top