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Is this something that I can ask my professor to do? It kind of seems like I am influencing my LOR
*~*~*~*Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2014-2015*~*~*~*
Started by Ismet
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Is this something that I can ask my professor to do? It kind of seems like I am influencing my LOR
It's OK to ask if he'd consider referring to it. It's OK to ask if he feels he could write a strong letter of support. It's not OK to ask how he'll describe your personal characteristics, or if you can read the letter.
Is it okay to put certain academic honors as 1 of the 15 slots? My gpa is good, but I want to put it since I only have 8 activities right now. thanks
Edit: the honor has cumulative distinctions, but you can only "move up" if you take a 15 credits or more each term. Since I have some semesters where I took a 12 or 13 credits, will putting this draw attention to those lighter course load terms? I don't have the highest distinction possible for ppl in my graduating year bc of those terms when I took <15 credits.
Edit: the honor has cumulative distinctions, but you can only "move up" if you take a 15 credits or more each term. Since I have some semesters where I took a 12 or 13 credits, will putting this draw attention to those lighter course load terms? I don't have the highest distinction possible for ppl in my graduating year bc of those terms when I took <15 credits.
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Yes, you can use an Honors/Awards spot to list your Academic Recognitions. In your case, it's probably best not to provide a description of the distinctions, as I'd generally suggest seeing as no system is universal.
I'm so sorry if this question has been asked before, my apologies!
I am confused when it comes to indicating most meaningful experiences and the things mentioned in my personal statement.... like the way I see is that I am including my most meaningful experiences (major ones) in my PS to help back up my interest in medicine, yet I don't want to bore them and select most meaningful on my app too and describe the same thing..... so I really do want to choose other ones as most meaningful but my question is, wouldn't they be surprised to see that something I explained in my PS (in details and obviously had a huge impact) was not one of the 3 most meaningful ones? For example if in my PS I am using shadowing to back up something, wouldn't they be surprised to see that I am not indicating shadowing as one of the most meaningful ones?? Or do they naturally know that I am not selecting them as one of the top3 simply because I explained it in my PS?
This is driving me nutzzzzz
I am confused when it comes to indicating most meaningful experiences and the things mentioned in my personal statement.... like the way I see is that I am including my most meaningful experiences (major ones) in my PS to help back up my interest in medicine, yet I don't want to bore them and select most meaningful on my app too and describe the same thing..... so I really do want to choose other ones as most meaningful but my question is, wouldn't they be surprised to see that something I explained in my PS (in details and obviously had a huge impact) was not one of the 3 most meaningful ones? For example if in my PS I am using shadowing to back up something, wouldn't they be surprised to see that I am not indicating shadowing as one of the most meaningful ones?? Or do they naturally know that I am not selecting them as one of the top3 simply because I explained it in my PS?
This is driving me nutzzzzz
Hi, I had a question: one of my activities was interning under hospital administration, but I also did consistent physician shadowing concurrently during the same time frame and at the same location.
Do I list these as separate activities? If not, how should I list them under the same activity (in terms of category, phrasing)?
Thanks
Do I list these as separate activities? If not, how should I list them under the same activity (in terms of category, phrasing)?
Thanks
You can pick a MM designation for a number of reasons: Because an experience led to a lot of insights that take more characters to discuss, because you think adcomms will expect a certain mix of activities as MM, or because you need more space. I doubt anything will be read into an experience being in both the PS and MM or not being in both places. If you do decide to mention an activity in both locations, try to keep repetition to a minimum, eg., using different vocabulary words, perhaps putting anecdotes + impact in the PS and saving description, role, and insights gained in the Work/Activities narrative. Or whatever. Also, don't assume that the same person will be evaluating both parts of the application (though I expect usually that will be the case). And if you think what you have so say is edging on "boring" don't feel compelled to fill the entire space. Succinctness gets appreciation points. 🙂
I suggest splitting them out if you have the space, taking care not to double count the hours. If you decide to keep them together, since the activity was an Internship with a mixture of activity types, I'd suggest using the "Other" category, and including the words 'Physicians Shadowing' in the title of the activity, as well as giving total shadowing hours or a % of time spent doing so in the narrative in addition to the types of physicians shadowed (and any names you recall).
1. Should I list my current career as a teacher as Paid Employment- Non Medical/Clinical, or the very specific "Teaching" category? I don't have enough space to list under both. I'd still have other items under Teaching/Tutoring/TA if I move it to Paid Employment, if that makes a difference.
2. Is it worth trying to make space to mention my hobbies? My hobbies are not significant--different physical activities as least once per week. It seems SDN opinions differ on the importance of listing hobbies. I'd have to basically cut one of my EC's to list it, as I've combined as much as I can already.
Thanks!
2. Is it worth trying to make space to mention my hobbies? My hobbies are not significant--different physical activities as least once per week. It seems SDN opinions differ on the importance of listing hobbies. I'd have to basically cut one of my EC's to list it, as I've combined as much as I can already.
Thanks!
1) I'd use Employment, but make sure that the name you give the activity says, "High School Chemistry Teacher," or whatever, so it's clear it falls into two categories.
2) Nontraditional applicants often have hard choices to make among too many meaty activities. I'm on the pro side of whether to include Hobbies, but you'll have to judge which adds more to your candidacy. If you decide to leave out the Hobbies, Secondary essays may give you the opportunity to mention leisuretime activities: What you have to share with your med school class, Planned activities over the next 9 months, How you manage stress, and such.
I was in a fraternity and held several leadership positions. How should I title this activity? "Sigma Chi"? Or "Sigma Chi Leadership"? Or "Fraternity Leadership"?
How about, " Fraternity Leadership Positions". You could then use Sigma Chi as the Organization Name. Depending on how succinctly you can state it, you might add the core purpose of the frat to the title (you get 60 characters). Otherwise, mention the goals in the narrative.
Apologies if any of these questions have already been asked!
1) (Trivial question) - Is it standard practice to capitalize all the words in the experience name? Or does it really not matter?
2) Is it okay if none of my MM activities are clinical? I mainly talked about how my clinical activities have led me towards medicine in my PS, so I was hoping to use the MM for adcoms to get a sense of the other parts of my app.
3) For physician shadowing, should I list the names (or even the specialties) of the physicians I shadowed in the descriptions? Right now I just said I "shadowed 3 different physicians," and I was wondering if I needed more than that.
1) (Trivial question) - Is it standard practice to capitalize all the words in the experience name? Or does it really not matter?
2) Is it okay if none of my MM activities are clinical? I mainly talked about how my clinical activities have led me towards medicine in my PS, so I was hoping to use the MM for adcoms to get a sense of the other parts of my app.
3) For physician shadowing, should I list the names (or even the specialties) of the physicians I shadowed in the descriptions? Right now I just said I "shadowed 3 different physicians," and I was wondering if I needed more than that.
Regarding question #3: you should include the name, specialty, hospital/clinic, hours, and phone number. For example:
Dr. Alison Ninetytwo - Family Medicine
Bridgewater Hospital
(555) 555-5555
40 hours, January 5th-10th, 2014
I believe that's kind of the standard. Catalystik can correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I was told last year.
Hope that helps.
-Bill
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Great advice, many thanks!!!
I was going to ask you that actually, so there is no "expectations" for us to fill the entire space? Like for "posters" or "conferences attended" or even "publications" what are we supposed to write except maybe 4-5 sentences?
Also I'm sure this has been addressed before (apologies!), is it ok to use point form for some of the activities? or are they all supposed to be in paragraph structure?
1) Sometimes there is only the citation with no commentary, which I think is sufficient.
2) You can use bullets or narrative, or mix and match, as seems best to express what you want to say.
For a briefer experience, it's probably best to enter exact dates in the narrative, but it isn't required. Including the year and the month is typical.
Thanks, you are a life saver!
I got one more question: I was accepted into a full-time research summer program (I have been in the program for 3 summers so far) - so I was being paid full-time, but also between summers I also worked (like 20 hours/week) as a volunteer. How should I put this? Should I even mention that it was a summer full-time research program or just say I did research for X hours over the past 3 years? I would appreciate if you can guide me through this cause it is research, employment, and volunteering. Also it will be one of my MMs so I have room to explain...
Thanks
1) It is most common to capitalize most of the first letters in the title (and it looks better on the printout), but it doesn't matter.
2) Yes.
3) I agree with BilrothI, if you have three docs. Some of that information is already in the header for the first listed person, and doesn't need to be repeated. When space is getting short and there are many physicians one has shadowed, shortcuts can be made to fit them all into 1 space.
List it under Research, put Start date when you first began and End Date for this month. If you are doing the activity now, check the Repeated box and enter this month for the Start Date and your anticipated End Date date with predicted hours (as it's always a good idea to make clear what hasn't happened yet). At the top of the narrative box say, "Academic year volunteer for 20 hours/week. Summer employment for 40 hours/week.
Alternatively, if the hours weren't consistent over the entire timeframe and would be hard to explain, you can just say that the experience was a mix of volunteer and employment, giving as much detail as would apply to the entire time span.
Alternatively, you can use the Repeated box for each year's hours and time span.
Thanks, I see what you mean there... Should I say that it was a research program that I got accepted into and then I continued working afterwards (like mention the program name, etc) or just say I did research in a lab at X
If the job was obtained competitively, it's a good idea to get that in, including the program name.
Thanksss !!
If I recently found out that I've been selected to be on a student life advisory board for next year, can I put this as one of my activities? Our first meeting isn't until September, so I don't know if I should leave this out since it hasn't technically started yet.
You can't enter a future start date and have it Saved. If you have any other activity related to Student Life, you could mention the board appointment there, at the end of the narrative. Otherwise, it would be better to save it for Secondaries or update letters.
Including hours/week isn't required, but adcomms are used to seeing it when it was asked for during recent past application years. If you have the space, try to fit it in.
I have a few questions about shadowing experiences and any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have three full summers of shadowing. My first summer I spent shadowing a variety of physicians for 1-2 week intervals in a hospital. This experience was organized by the executive director of administration of the hospital. During my second summer of shadowing, I was also doing clinical research; I was researching compliance with surgical safety procedures. So basically I was observing several different surgeons for my research as well as shadowing the surgeon conducting the research in his office as well as in the OR (not to observe his compliance, but just to shadow him). For my third summer, I shadowed a surgeon with whom I was concurrently doing clinical research (neuromodulation/pain management) when I was not working on the research project.
Should I list these shadowing experiences under one heading? Or should I list them all separately? I think my clinical research on surgical safety compliance speaks for itself in that I was observing surgery, but what about observing the physician who was conducting the research? Same question applies for the third summer. I think I will definitely make separate activities for the research projects but I just don't know how to best represent everything if I was also shadowing these physicians.
Also, I do not have contact information/names of the physicians from my first summer, just the contact information of the director who set it up for me. This is one of the reasons I'm reluctant to group shadowing under one header; my first experiences will read: shadowed a variety of physicians including a neurologist, cardiothoracic surgeon, otolaryngologist etc. while my second and third will be more specific with the names of the MDs included and therefore, it will not be a consistent format.
If anybody could give me some insight I would appreciate it!
I have three full summers of shadowing. My first summer I spent shadowing a variety of physicians for 1-2 week intervals in a hospital. This experience was organized by the executive director of administration of the hospital. During my second summer of shadowing, I was also doing clinical research; I was researching compliance with surgical safety procedures. So basically I was observing several different surgeons for my research as well as shadowing the surgeon conducting the research in his office as well as in the OR (not to observe his compliance, but just to shadow him). For my third summer, I shadowed a surgeon with whom I was concurrently doing clinical research (neuromodulation/pain management) when I was not working on the research project.
Should I list these shadowing experiences under one heading? Or should I list them all separately? I think my clinical research on surgical safety compliance speaks for itself in that I was observing surgery, but what about observing the physician who was conducting the research? Same question applies for the third summer. I think I will definitely make separate activities for the research projects but I just don't know how to best represent everything if I was also shadowing these physicians.
Also, I do not have contact information/names of the physicians from my first summer, just the contact information of the director who set it up for me. This is one of the reasons I'm reluctant to group shadowing under one header; my first experiences will read: shadowed a variety of physicians including a neurologist, cardiothoracic surgeon, otolaryngologist etc. while my second and third will be more specific with the names of the MDs included and therefore, it will not be a consistent format.
If anybody could give me some insight I would appreciate it!
Hi!
I had a quick question about an undergraduate work experience. I worked in a dental clinic for a summer, and I guess it would be clinical since I had direct contact with patients. But since it is more geared for dental than medical school, should I just put under "paid not medical/clinical"?
Also, if I am a contributor for two (accepted) publications, do I list them under research or publications--since I wasn't a main author? And do I still need to cite them or just describe how I contributed (e.g. editing, background research).
Thanks 🙂
I had a quick question about an undergraduate work experience. I worked in a dental clinic for a summer, and I guess it would be clinical since I had direct contact with patients. But since it is more geared for dental than medical school, should I just put under "paid not medical/clinical"?
Also, if I am a contributor for two (accepted) publications, do I list them under research or publications--since I wasn't a main author? And do I still need to cite them or just describe how I contributed (e.g. editing, background research).
Thanks 🙂
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1) You have the option of splitting out all the shadowing and listing it together in one entry (which would be hard to fit in), splitting out some but not others, or leaving all the shadowing from the most recent two years in the space with the affiliated activity and adding the words "Physician Shadowing" to the activity name. With the last option, you'd either estimate hours or give a percentage of the time you were in the presence of a physician & patient interacting. I'd lean toward the 2nd or 3rd option, depending on what fits into the provided space best. Alternatively, you could also use two spaces for shadowing from #1 and #3, if you have slots to spare.
2) It's fine to use the Director as the contact for experience #1 and vaguely refer to staff physicians of XXX hospital or clinic, rather than providing names, so long as the specialty and number of hours for each is mentioned.
1) Yes. If some adcomms choose to consider the experience clinical from your description, they can do so. It's better to downsell than to upsell one's self.
2) If you are a listed author and the publication occurred in a non-campus journal, you can use the Publications designation, where you'll give the citation. Whether you are an author or not, you should mention your contributions in the affiliated Research space. If you are not an author, you would not give the citation, just mention that your work was included in an accepted publication.
I'm sorry if this question has been answered already, but is it preferred to have 3 MM experiences? And a follow up question: will it affect the strength of my application if I don't have 3 MM? (This is under the assumption that I am talking about one of the activities in my PS and don't want to repeat.)
Thanks again
Thanks again
1) No. Adcomms won't look through all the pages to count them up, so probably they won't consciously notice exactly how many you designate.
2) No. But if you're worried about it, keep in mind that if you designate an activity as MM, you are not obliged to use all the additional characters offered. The application won't appear to adcomms as a having a giant unfilled space, rather, it will transition to the next activity after a line below your last sentence.
1) I did a short study abroad program through my university (wasn't actually enrolled at a university abroad so the only credit I received was through my US university) and I'm listing it as one of my activities. Is "other" the best designation for this activity? And for country/city should I put the country that I traveled to, or just list the United States?
2) In the first post it gives an example about how to list physician shadowing experience. I didn't list the specific number of hours I shadowed with each physician (or their name, title, contact info, etc..) but rather I focused on what I got out of the experience. Would it benefit me to list my shadowing experience as give in the example?
3) Minor detail, but it seems like this year they're allowing us to use more than three digits in the Total Hours box. Are we still supposed to go by the '999' rule?
2) In the first post it gives an example about how to list physician shadowing experience. I didn't list the specific number of hours I shadowed with each physician (or their name, title, contact info, etc..) but rather I focused on what I got out of the experience. Would it benefit me to list my shadowing experience as give in the example?
3) Minor detail, but it seems like this year they're allowing us to use more than three digits in the Total Hours box. Are we still supposed to go by the '999' rule?
1) Not sure on this one. Other seems appropriate, but I'd defer to Catalystik for confirmation.
2) Yes - list the shadowing experiences, including the physicians' names, phone numbers, specialties, and hours. Adcoms know what shadowing entails, so you don't need to describe your experience in detail (unless it was particularly unique or meaningful).
3) No - enter the correct number of hours, even if it exceeds 999. Some folks on here have hobbies that span thousands of hours.
Hope that helps.
-Bill
1) Use Other.
3) You can enter up to 99,999 hours this year. They haven't updated their FAQ last I looked.
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Thanks for the response Catalystik!
I had one more question: If I have lived in 4 different countries prior to college (not through study abroad), can I list them as a separate EC category of sorts? I do feel like moving helped expose me to different socioeconomic areas and broaden my perspective--but I am not sure if this is the area to mention this.
I had one more question: If I have lived in 4 different countries prior to college (not through study abroad), can I list them as a separate EC category of sorts? I do feel like moving helped expose me to different socioeconomic areas and broaden my perspective--but I am not sure if this is the area to mention this.
any advice on my last entry? I'm deciding between Dean's List (last 2 years at my undergraduate and 1st year at my post-baccalaureate) vs. a "weaker" volunteer experience: 2 consecutive years volunteering overnight at Relay for Life, or some Chiropractic shadowing (on a side note, do you think adcoms might look down on the chiropractic thing?). I'm kind of leaning towards the Dean's List, because I don't really have any other academic awards, but I feel like it's pretty easy to tell I was on Dean's List from looking at my transcript. I know there's been discussion on whether or not to include Dean's List earlier in the thread, just curious what you think of my situation! 🙂
It's fine to include this as an Experience. Consider an entry under Other, named International Travels or Domiciles (or somesuch).
None of them will wow the adcomm, but if you have interesting insights gained from the chiropractic shadowing, it may be worth including, so long as you don't mind fielding questions like, "So why not Chiropractic?" which you can preempt by answering that question in your narrative.
Hi, I know some opinions were given about high school activities already, but I'm just wondering if it would be ok to mention my dancing experiences in high school (competitive dancing + teaching assistant for 4 years) grouped together with the current dancing that I do (more casual non-competitive dancing) in the activities section? Also, this is one of my most meaningful activities- is it fine for about half of it to discuss why being a teaching assistant was meaningful even though it was only in high school? Thanks!
1) Yes. When a HS activity continues into the college years, there are no issues with including it in your Activities section.
2) Yes.
Question how to handle my current job situation. I began nursing full time Feb 2011 and dropped down to part-time to work as clinical data coordinator at a pharmaceutical company for a clinical trial this past November. Still employed on my unit PT but plan to go FT again when the trial is over. Also, unsure how to describe my data coordinator position. I analyze patient medical hx, medications, adverse events, study protocol deviations, etc. I do not personally interact with the patients but I interact with the nurses, physician investigators, etc. Also, is this research, paid employment- medical/clinical, paid employment- non medical/clinical?
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1) For the Nursing position: You could use the Repeated option to get more timeframes, using the first for the FT hours and the second for the PT hours, with the total for each completed to date in the Total Hours slot. Then at the end of the narrative state that your (I presume, indefinite) plan to return to full time work in X-Y months.
2) For the Data Coordinator position: Give a brief overview of the study. State your role. Discuss impact, if any. If you are aware of the hypothesis and study design, you could reasonably list this under Research, especially if you could hold up to intensive grilling on the methods (which happens at interviews sometimes). If you don't have an idea of the broader picture, you should probably list it as Employment-Not Medical/Clinical.
Enter your Start Date and the current date (or the earliest date you think the study would be complete) for End Date. In the narrative mention that the exact end date is not yet known.
3) Hopefully, you have more recent Shadowing than that to list, in which case, I'd summarize the long-ago hours briefly ("In addition, I shadowed for 200 more hours in 2004-2006, in a wide variety of medical and surgical specialties"), at the end of the narrative box.
First name is "(name of group)". Second name is "Committee". Title is "Members". It will appear on the application as "Contact Name and Title: (Group) Committee, Members"
Thank you! I have a thorough understanding of the entire protocol and research methods often advising the study coordinators on how to handle adverse events, etc. Also, your explanations make sense on how to handle those situations.
- Would you lump multiple teaching experiences (high school science, SI for Organic Chem, swim coach, etc.)? If these are lumped, what would the best "Experience Name" be?
-I couldn't agree more with struggling to make choices among too many activities. Trying to search previous posts for advice with little success.
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