*~*~*~*Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2013-2014*~*~*~*

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I think that if you have the extra lots, by all means create separate entries for each pub and the award. I certainly would list each pub separately.

Out of curiosity what journal gave the award?

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I think that if you have the extra lots, by all means create separate entries for each pub and the award. I certainly would list each pub separately.

Out of curiosity what journal gave the award?
 
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I tried to search it in most threads but I can't quite figure it out:


My main question: I have two first author publications, and one of them received an award from the journal. Should I list this in the description of the publication or put it in a separate AWARDS/HONORS slot?

Another question: I also have 10 slots total filled, and therefore have some more room; should I list each first author publication under a separate heading or both in the description of one slot titled PUBLICATIONS?

Thanks for the help guys!

I would make a group-thing titled "Publications". That way you only use up one slot and I imagine you will have enough characters to fit everything in.

You can also make another group titled "Honors/Awards/Scholarships" if you have stuff to fit there too - I think your question might be served there.

Be economical with your space! Use up the character counts as best you can.
 
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I tried to search it in most threads but I can't quite figure it out:


My main question: I have two first author publications, and one of them received an award from the journal. Should I list this in the description of the publication or put it in a separate AWARDS/HONORS slot?

Another question: I also have 10 slots total filled, and therefore have some more room; should I list each first author publication under a separate heading or both in the description of one slot titled PUBLICATIONS?

Thanks for the help guys!

I think that if you have the extra lots, by all means create separate entries for each pub and the award. I certainly would list each pub separately.

Out of curiosity what journal gave the award?

Journal of Virology. They award an Editorial Feature and Spotlight. The journal "highlights research articles of significant interest from the current issue. This section follows the table of contents and includes short descriptions of five especially meritorious articles."

Edit: Thanks for the advice! I would love some other people to chime in too :)

I would make a group-thing titled "Publications". That way you only use up one slot and I imagine you will have enough characters to fit everything in.

You can also make another group titled "Honors/Awards/Scholarships" if you have stuff to fit there too - I think your question might be served there.

Be economical with your space! Use up the character counts as best you can.
Merging with the Work/Activities thread.

You can either group this with the "publication" entry or you can group it with other awards. If you don't have other awards to list, then I'd definitely group it with a publication. This isn't really something that should take up a whole separate entry but can be relevant to include grouped with other items if you would like
 
Looking for advice here. After beginning a 1-year gap year research position with a successful project and poster presentation of the results, I decided to switch labs, as I was not fitting in well with the PI's style of management/culture of the lab and knew I'd have a better experience and better research in a different lab. As it turns out, I actually switched into a lab run by the department chief (my old PI's boss), who offered to write me a recommendation for the duration of my post-bacc. Seeing as how I don't plan to include a rec.letter from the previous PI (it would not be good/strong), should I still list this poster presentation on my work/activities section - I presented it at a national conference - and, if so, could I list the section chief as one of the author's? If not, any suggestions as to how to avoid/explain potential red flags in that I'm not including a letter from this prev.research supervisor? Thanks.
 
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Should independent travel be listed? For example, if one were to backpack alone across Europe for a month between semesters. And, where to put it under? Hobbies?
 
Hi Guys,

I am applying in the upcoming cycle and am worried about EC's. I'm the President of a club and have spent ime volunteering etc, but I don't have 15 good EC's to list for AMCAS. Is it critical that I list 15? Or should I just list the ones that are strong.

Thanks for the advice!!
 
Merged the following posts:

Hi Guys,

I am applying in the upcoming cycle and am worried about EC's. I'm the President of a club and have spent ime volunteering etc, but I don't have 15 good EC's to list for AMCAS. Is it critical that I list 15? Or should I just list the ones that are strong.

Thanks for the advice!!
 
Looking for advice here. After beginning a 1-year gap year research position with a successful project and poster presentation of the results, I decided to switch labs, as I was not fitting in well with the PI's style of management/culture of the lab and knew I'd have a better experience and better research in a different lab. As it turns out, I actually switched into a lab run by the department chief (my old PI's boss), who offered to write me a recommendation for the duration of my post-bacc. Seeing as how I don't plan to include a rec.letter from the previous PI (it would not be good/strong), should I still list this poster presentation on my work/activities section - I presented it at a national conference - and, if so, could I list the section chief as one of the author's? If not, any suggestions as to how to avoid/explain potential red flags in that I'm not including a letter from this prev.research supervisor? Thanks.

I think only Harvard requires a letter from every PI, otherwise I doubt you will raise red flags by not having a letter from every supervisor. You should include the previous research activity to account for your time and definitely include the poster presentation. 1 year is not an insignificant amount of time to spend in a lab for a pre-med(especially when you have something to show for it). If they ask why you switched labs, just tell the truth but I would avoid saying you just didn't get a long.

I am not sure I understand the bolded part. You do not need a letter for every activity on your application. You do need a contact person but not a letter, that contact person does not have to be the PI as long as they can verify the accuracy of your activity description. Maybe I have misunderstood what you are asking?

Should independent travel be listed? For example, if one were to backpack alone across Europe for a month between semesters. And, where to put it under? Hobbies?

I probably wouldn't but I guess its a judgement call. Why do you want to include it? I wouldn't put it for the same reason I wouldn't include a vacation I went on. Does it really tell them anything other than you had money and time to spend, and does one trip really constitute a hobby? This is just my perspective though, I imagine you could portray it in a positive way.

Hi Guys,

I am applying in the upcoming cycle and am worried about EC's. I'm the President of a club and have spent ime volunteering etc, but I don't have 15 good EC's to list for AMCAS. Is it critical that I list 15? Or should I just list the ones that are strong.

Thanks for the advice!!

You do not need to fill every spot or even close to every spot.
 
The only non-clinical volunteering I have was done as a requirement for when I was on a sports team for my school. Should I list it as its own entry or just mention it in passing under the main entry for my sport?

Thanks! :)
 
When I am listing one of my clubs should I include that I was elected President for the upcoming year or just mention it in interviews ?
 
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Should we not put 'present' down as the 'to' date if we are continuing an activity after we submit? Yale explicitly says not to and to enter an actual date, but if other schools don't care, it seems easier than projecting into the future.
 
Sdn fam,
I have a question about the entry for he "most meaningful" activities.
When an experience is selected as most meaningful, are we then able to enter a 2025 character description?
Or is the description 700 characters, and then we have a seperate 1325 character entry to explain why it's most meaningful.?
 
I have a quick question about the 3 most significant experiences. Is this meant to highlight a specific event or memorable part of the experience?
 
My 2 cents:

The only non-clinical volunteering I have was done as a requirement for when I was on a sports team for my school. Should I list it as its own entry or just mention it in passing under the main entry for my sport?

Thanks! :)

Either. If it was just one time or not a ton of hours I would probably include in the main entry for the sport. On the other hand, if you want to "showcase" it then separate it(ie want it classified as non-clinical volunteering). I would probably mention that it was in association with the team.

When I am listing one of my clubs should I include that I was elected President for the upcoming year or just mention it in interviews ?

From what I remember, I didn't include any projections of what I would be doing in the year after my application, but I don't see anything wrong with it. A lot of secondaries will have spaces asking you to explain what you have done since your application(though some of these sections were specifically for people who were taking gap years).

Should we not put 'present' down as the 'to' date if we are continuing an activity after we submit? Yale explicitly says not to and to enter an actual date, but if other schools don't care, it seems easier than projecting into the future.

There is a "Until Present" option on AMCAS. I would use it unless you want to make it look like you ended all your events when you applied, I don't think you can put future dates on AMCAS. :p Also Yale's secondary will require you to list activities including actual end dates(if I am not mistaken), so whatever you read that explicitly says to enter an actual date is probably from their secondary and not AMCAS application?

1) One of my hobbies turned into a major volunteering (400 hours) EC. Basically, most of the time, the hobby is a relaxed intellectual contest, people getting together and hanging out, solving puzzles. That is, until your team wins.

At that point, your team gets to plan and execute the next event. This means creating a 2-4 day event for 1K+ people from all over the world. 300 hours is my conservative estimate. The weekend of, I worked 40 hours, almost 100 hours in the two weeks before, and then the other 250 hours spread over a period of six months. Do I divide this into "hobby" and "volunteer"? I want to acknowledge that I had to teach myself video editing in the space of a week. -_-

2) My fish keeping is a hobby, but now I'm breeding an endangered species. Seriously. Does it get its own listing? (Do I get to attach pictures? :D )

3) Do I list all my individual teaching jobs or just say that I've been teaching since (year X) in the following disciplines? That includes a stint as a teacher for underprivileged youth in which I set a table on fire.

4) How do I list the number of hours of research for my PhD? I was in grad school for :thumbdown: years, but (n-2) of those were doing research rotations or mostly writing my thesis.

1) I would probably just include it under a hobby in one section. You can talk about the video editing in that context. Doesn't really sound like volunteering but maybe I am misreading it.

2) It doesn't need its own listing, you can group hobbies together. Pictures(which you would have to link, you can't include pictures in the application) are probably unnecessary.

3) You can do either depending on how much space you have and how much of each activity you want to highlight.

4) If you got any publications I would include the publications as a second activity(there is a category for that). Otherwise you can group the years of research together or break them apart. Honestly however you want to present the time is probably ok. Including every rotation may be relatively unimportant, on the other hand you may want to mention them in a description of your larger project or have a separate activity for them.

Sdn fam,
I have a question about the entry for he "most meaningful" activities.
When an experience is selected as most meaningful, are we then able to enter a 2025 character description?
Or is the description 700 characters, and then we have a seperate 1325 character entry to explain why it's most meaningful.?

You have the 700 character description and then when you select most meaningful you get an extra box for the 1325 characters to explain why it's most meaningful.

I have a quick question about the 3 most significant experiences. Is this meant to highlight a specific event or memorable part of the experience?

:shrug: I think its meant to highlight why you thought that experience was meaningful or important. If that was because of a specific event, then write about that.
 
Hey y'all! I have some questions about my activities. The questions are in bold:

1) Peace Corps

2) Ballroom dancing club

3) Pre-med shadowing org

4) University peer sex educator

5) EMT-B certified- 40+ hours shadowing that was part of the training, 40 hours volunteering as EMT should I split the training/shadowing/certification and volunteering into 2 activities?

6) Statistical analysis and literature review for a professor I thought that I was going to get published in a paper for doing some statistical analysis, but I didn't :( I am going to include the fact that I did the statistical analysis and lit review, but should I also include the paper that it was for, even if my name wasn't published in the paper? (I will pretty much say that same thing in the description for the activity)

7) Habitat for Humanity

8) Project for my biostats class on interracial dating the project wasn't anything major, but it was interesting and I had fun doing it, so want to add it. Should I keep it?

9) Condom couture fashion show-with a group of people we designed and constructed a costume made of condoms for fashion show promoting AIDS awareness. I modeled the costume and our design won 3rd place.I wanted to add a "fun" activity, so I added a condom couture. Should I keep it?


Other questions:
1) I have activities that I did during university, but weren't really meaningful to me and so I won't be able to include a good description (they would look like they are padding my resume). I didn't include them, but do you think that I should? They are student government and student senate (both minor positions), biological honors society member, freshman leadership organization, semester-long leadership seminar my freshman year.

Thanks for any help!!
 
If we have attended and presented at national and international conferences that have nothing to do with science should we still list them on our applications?
 
Hey Guys,

Quick question, I enrolled in a course at my university called Introduction to Pre-Professional Studies. The class talked about what the medical profession was like, gave great advice about doctoring, had Doctors come in and give presentations and spoke to us, and allowed me to shadow multiple doctors in various fields as part of the class grade.

I wanted to put this in the Work/Activities as separate because it was a great class, it was unique, and I shadowed many doctors.

What heading should I give it? What section would it go under? Any thoughts?


Thank You for your help.
 
Another Question, I read on another thread about work and activities that you should put what you learned from the experience and why it makes you choose medicine.

Is that true?
 
Another question about coursework versus work/activities: I had another internship (not the one I mentioned) for my allied health program. I work in the same field currently, but if I learned or experienced things that I don't do in my current job, or if this is what shaped my desire to go into medicine, can I list it under work/activities? Or is that stretching it a little bit?
 
Hi guys,

I am taking a course at the NIH-- this course is a 5 day course to teach me a method. It's very intense, but does not have any credits associated with it. However, I also took another course through the FAES NIH grad school that has received a grade. Both appear on my transcript. Should I list this method course on my classwork on the AMCAS? (It's known as a BIO-TRAC course. For example: http://www.biotrac.com/pages/Tracs/Trac48.html)

Thanks!
 
I'm trying to enter "total hours" in the AMCAS application, and I can't type higher than 999. There's only room for 3 digits. I have thousands of hours associated with my sport, should I indicate that I have that many in my description or contact AMCAS or what?

I can't imagine I'm unique in having more than a thousand hours in any particular activity.
 
I'm trying to enter "total hours" in the AMCAS application, and I can't type higher than 999. There's only room for 3 digits. I have thousands of hours associated with my sport, should I indicate that I have that many in my description or contact AMCAS or what?

I can't imagine I'm unique in having more than a thousand hours in any particular activity.


I would just put 999 hrs, and then state "Total hrs: *enter hrs here* " in the description.
 
I'm curious about the same thing. I have multiple activities with over 1000 hours.
 
Under publications why does it ask for hrs? What am i suppose to put there?
 
A few questions regarding the logistics of lumping multiple things under a single category:

- I have several posters and publications from different labs. How do I list the contact info for these? Should I put it in the description as a header before I list off the pubs/posters from each lab? Should I make separate poster and publication listings for each lab?

- Same goes for shadowing. I've shadowed multiple docs, albeit in the same clinic (volunteer clinic), but the clinic doesn't keep track of shadowing so I'd imagine it would be better to list the info for each physician.

- Same goes for honors/awards. Actually, now that I think about it, this issue exists for every category.

- I have an odd situation where I'm working as a lab tech in two labs simultaneously (each pays half my salary, I'm shared between them). Would these count as two separate experiences, or one? And would this go under "research/ab" or "paid employment - not medical/clinical"?
 
I have a work experience that I'm not sure where to include. I was a supervisor for a retail company when I was in undergrad and working full time. Should I put this in work or leadership?

Also it asks for total hours for the activity. What if it's a job that I've worked for many years? I don't know the hours, and I can't put more than 3 characters in either, wtf!

What do we do if a position is current and we don't have an end date?
 
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What's with the weird work/activities list for the 2014 application?? It doesn't let you designate that you are continuing an activity. (ie. September 2011-Present) And also the total hours has a numerical limitation... Anyone else having issues?
 
What's with the weird work/activities list for the 2014 application?? It doesn't let you designate that you are continuing an activity. (ie. September 2011-Present) And also the total hours has a numerical limitation... Anyone else having issues?

Same. Does someone wanna fall on this grenade and call AMCAS to get a straight answer out of them? I'd do it, but I'm at work.
 
I have the same issues as the guys above. I'm setting my dates for August 2014 for stuff I'm currently participating in. Anyone have a better idea? That assumes I'll continue to work there until med school starts, which is true in my case.
 
Lets all call. This is so stupid. I've been flaming on a few posts about this. Then report back tomorrow.
 
Don't know why they changed how you report hours and dates. The old version was much better. This year they added an option for multiple start/end dates for activities which is pretty useless.
 
The AAMC actually recommended that you indicate future end date up to August 2014 (anticipated time for medical school) where appropriate. I saw this and other changes to the application (like the new activities categories) in a presentation compiled by the AAMC. So putting 2014 is not completely insane. My $0.02.
 
Don't know why they changed how you report hours and dates. The old version was much better. This year they added an option for multiple start/end dates for activities which is pretty useless.

This way is more accurate. For example, if you had a volunteer gig where you put in a lot of hours, but the work was intermittent, then when you report average hours your hours get diluted thanks to all those weeks where you weren't volunteering, while simultaneously giving a false impression of how long the experience was (or alternatively you could give the average hours only for weeks in which you were working, but with only one date range you can give it then looks like you worked way more than you actually did). With total hours and multiple date ranges everything can be reported more accurately.

Or at least they could be if AAMC didn't inexplicably decide that no one ever does something for more than 999 hours.

The AAMC actually recommended that you indicate future end date up to August 2014 (anticipated time for medical school) where appropriate. I saw this and other changes to the application (like the new activities categories) in a presentation compiled by the AAMC. So putting 2014 is not completely insane. My $0.02.

Is this presentation on the web, or was it at a college information session?
 
Well this is hilarious. The activity slot titled "Conferences Attended" (note the plural) only lets you enter one conference. Unlike all the others, there's no started and ended boxes, just "date attended". And unlike the others, there's no "this is a repeated activity" box either. It DOES have a total hours box though, so at least I get to agonize over whether to put down the hours I was presenting, the hours I was in the conference hall proper, or all 96 hours I was at the conference.

It's as if AAMC is going out of their way to screw up the work/activities section.
 
This way is more accurate. For example, if you had a volunteer gig where you put in a lot of hours, but the work was intermittent, then when you report average hours your hours get diluted thanks to all those weeks where you weren't volunteering, while simultaneously giving a false impression of how long the experience was (or alternatively you could give the average hours only for weeks in which you were working, but with only one date range you can give it then looks like you worked way more than you actually did). With total hours and multiple date ranges everything can be reported more accurately.

Or at least they could be if AAMC didn't inexplicably decide that no one ever does something for more than 999 hours.

Yea but what about activities that are done only during the school year (not summer)? Do they expect you to use the multiple dates feature? Also, the multiple dates future doesn't allow you to list future dates.

For example, say you are part of a school club that operates only during the academic year and you plan on continuing it during your senior year (after you applied). If you use the multiple dates feature, you can't list that you are still continuing it.
 
Having some trouble - i've worked at a research lab for 3 years now and will also be working there the 4th year. I'd have a very hard time trying to figure out an exact number of hours, and it only offers me an option of "Total Hours" rather than "Average hours/week".

What should I do? We don't really track hours but I just don't want to overestimate.

--

One more question - I was "in charge" of one of the experiments we run for this past year. As in, I was the main point of contact w/ participants (psych research), I set up a lot of the experimental stuff (but I didn't create the materials), and everyone else in the lab contacted me if there were any issues, etc. Could this be counted under leadership, or should I just mention it briefly in the meaningful experiences section?
 
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Having some trouble - i've worked at a research lab for 3 years now and will also be working there the 4th year. I'd have a very hard time trying to figure out an exact number of hours, and it only offers me an option of "Total Hours" rather than "Average hours/week".

What should I do? We don't really track hours but I just don't want to overestimate.

I seriously doubt anyone is going to care if you overestimate with that much time under your belt. Hours only matter up to a certain point after which what you actually did becomes the only detail of interest. For example, the difference between 10 hours and 100 hours is very big, but the difference between 500 hours and 1000 hours is likely trivial.

Med schools won't even investigate it unless it sounds hard to believe. They're not going to call up your PI and ask if you really worked 600 hours in the lab over 3 years, and even if they did your PI's answer is going to be more "uh, yeah, sure, whatever, that sounds right I guess" and less "Hold on, let me open up my spreadsheet here. By my calculations he's only worked 582 hours 22 minutes and 9 seconds. I'll be sure to reprimand him for his dishonesty when he comes in tomorrow".
 
I seriously doubt anyone is going to care if you overestimate with that much time under your belt. Hours only matter up to a certain point after which what you actually did becomes the only detail of interest. For example, the difference between 10 hours and 100 hours is very big, but the difference between 500 hours and 1000 hours is likely trivial.

Med schools won't even investigate it unless it sounds hard to believe. They're not going to call up your PI and ask if you really worked 600 hours in the lab over 3 years, and even if they did your PI's answer is going to be more "uh, yeah, sure, whatever, that sounds right I guess" and less "Hold on, let me open up my spreadsheet here. By my calculations he's only worked 582 hours 22 minutes and 9 seconds. I'll be sure to reprimand him for his dishonesty when he comes in tomorrow".

Thanks, that's what I figured but I didn't know if throwing some random number up there would mean anything. I doubt if 0.001% of work/activities are ever fact-checked.
 
Hi guys,

So I am trying to submit my primary application the first day that it is open to submit. However, I am not sure if the papers that I will be getting published on will be submitted my then. I have been told by my lab group that I will be an author on four papers, and I have helped write and seen fairly complete drafts of 3 of them already. My question is, how can I put this down on my application? Can I put papers in progress as one of my 15 activities?
 
List them in your activities section when you describe your research. Be sure to keep med schools updated if any of them get published. That makes a nice update letter.
 
Just list them as already published. If they ask, then explain.
 
Hi guys,

So I am trying to submit my primary application the first day that it is open to submit. However, I am not sure if the papers that I will be getting published on will be submitted my then. I have been told by my lab group that I will be an author on four papers, and I have helped write and seen fairly complete drafts of 3 of them already. My question is, how can I put this down on my application? Can I put papers in progress as one of my 15 activities?
Better to call them "manuscripts in preparation" and mention them in the same space as the related Research. They don't deserve their own space until they are accepted.
 
Hi guys,

So I am trying to submit my primary application the first day that it is open to submit. However, I am not sure if the papers that I will be getting published on will be submitted my then. I have been told by my lab group that I will be an author on four papers, and I have helped write and seen fairly complete drafts of 3 of them already. My question is, how can I put this down on my application? Can I put papers in progress as one of my 15 activities?

I would put the lab as your activity and then list the "pending publication" papers in the comments section.

List them in your activities section when you describe your research. Be sure to keep med schools updated if any of them get published. That makes a nice update letter.

Just list them as already published. If they ask, then explain.

Merging.

They are not really worth listing IMO until they're actually published, but if you insist on listing them, then they would go in your research entry. I wouldn't even list them out, but just say ".. and we've prepared 2 manuscripts for publication" or similar.

Definitely do not list them as if they are published.
 
As a medical technologist of two years now I tried putting my work experience into the application under paid clinical work but it didn't allow me to specify that I still work or the total hours I have worked.

How should I go about entering this?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
You can just put any end date and note in the box you are still currently working and include the number of hours worked.
 
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