Shadowing, as I understand it, should be reserved for time spent observing doctors/physicians performing their clinical duties (hence the designation "Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation." If the doc/prof was just going about their admin business at the med, I'd say no. Definitely leave the med student out.
I'm a musician as well and I am providing as good an estimate as I possibly can for the hours I spent in rehearsal, practice, and performance in orchestra throughout college. It's a scary number, yes, but that's kinda the point to prove that it's a serious activity (at least for me I want to show that it's something I'm serious about).
So to distill this question a bit, I can probably fit the description and citation in one activity especially if I designate it most meaningful. Would you choose the category of research or publication to describe the activity (of course in the title I input myself I would say both)? This would be my only pub so I was leaning toward the publication heading but not sure what's more appropriate.
I don't think it'd matter. We have no idea how schools sort the ECs in their viewing software anyway
That you can cite a publication may not tell us what your role in the project was or skills utilized. If you are first author, your contributions can be inferred, but for many others, not so much. Maybe you could highly condense your most recent work and get away with not mentioning the rest, but I think you need at least one Research entry. Rather than specifics, your point might be to show how you've matured in research responsibility/contribution over time. You might strategically select this as a "Most Meaningful" to get more space (1325 extra characters above the usual 700), particularly if you are aiming for research-oriented institutions.
You may list Start date sometime in your childhood and select multiple date ranges (maybe childhood, HS, and college years) to specify Total Hours for each, or you could enter just the college years (which we're more interested in) and describe the back story of earlier involvement in the narrative. Honestly, the hours will be so high as to be meaningless. You might enter a 999 to show you understand this, while describing an overview of past and recent involvement narratively.
What was the doctor/professor doing during that time? What did the med student do? How many hours are we talking about?
See the question and response in post #107. Does that help? How many spaces you dedicate to research activities might strategically be determined by the type of schools you're targeting. If you are a good candidate for the most-selective, research-oriented schools, then more is better (including the use of a "Most Meaningful" space. If not, then condensing all your research activities into one-two Research spaces is a more reasonable choice.
If one has only one space left to use, then Research is the better choice IMO, an heading that most med schools will specifically be scanning for, since publications are rare among applicants. And Publications, though not meant for it, is occasionally used by applicants for short stories, poetry, and other less-relevant content.
A day/5 hours. Doc/prof was teaching a hands-on OMM lab (I'm applying both MD and DO.) I got to participate and ask the doc questions. Med student was in neuro lab. I got to watch.
I agree that including the med student shadowing isn't useful. The doc/prof experience will shine out on an AACOMAS application, but I'd leave it off the AMCAS application.
Thanks very much for the detailed response!
It's fine for you to spread it out, so long as you don't double count the hours.
There is no rule that you can't enter HS activities, however, it is generally felt they won't be much regarded if they didn't continue after HS graduation (and thus considered to be "in the college years").
I can't think of a graceful way to work that in, other than personal anecdotes of how you (not the pharmacist) worked to get a patient less-expensive medication when they couldn't afford the original prescription.
Depending on whether you have enough hours for each, either of your suggestions works, as would entering each activity separately. A single entry could be named something like Teaching/Mentoring Experiences during the College Years, with individual dates&hours of involvement included, along with a contact (leaving little room for description or impact).
Thank you, Catalystik.
Thanks so much.
1) That would be the most efficient. But if any of them turned into a publication, you'd cite the pub under Publications, mention "Data also presented by me at Annual Bee Keepers Society Meeting 4/14, El Paso, Tx, as a poster which won a 2nd place award." Or somesuch.
1) If you have the space, they can certainly stand alone.
If you aren't applying to research-oriented med schools, I doubt it will be held against you to have no research-specific LOR, unless it's asked for. What could work against you if you cite publications is a lack of understanding of background materials, process, outcome, implications, etc. Sometimes one's interviewers are selected on the basis of background in the same field.
I see, thanks for the intel. I am applying to a couple of research-oriented schools, but maybe my non-science research background/LORs are strong enough that the science stuff wouldn't be held against me?
1, 2, 4) Differing opinions on whether just a submission is worth of mention. I'd say go for it and write about at the end of the accompanying Research slot, but be honest if it's to be done in the future. It won't hold much weight, though, from what I've seen on SDN. 10/10 no one ever says to put this in a Publications slot.
1) Sorry, but no. If it were accepted prior to AMCAS application submission, or accepted with minor revisions, then it would be worthy of a Publications space. Meanwhile, in the affiliated entry about the project and your work on it, you might add at the end that a manuscript is in preparation (or submitted, if true).
1) The PDF version is the one that we see. And the skipped lines used as paragraph indicators do show up.
IMO, yes. Technically, one is paid a salary and receives federal benefits. But regardless, it would also universally be considered a community service by adcomms despite that designation.
Thank you thank you!
1) As the Leadership sounds fairly substantial, I'd split them up. But don't double count the hours.
I don't care for Think Tank as a stand alone Name. Maybe you could add your personal title/role/purpose to it so it's more descriptive, like Resident Bee Keeper and Wax Sampler for Colony Collapse Disorder Think Tank.
You might even consider including it in the PS alone if it had any impact on your thinking regarding medicine as a career.
Okay, how's this then? "Drug Policy Intern at NY Think Tank"
1) Yes.
Better.
Thanks! So I actually did a mix of things at said think tank. I'm hesitant to write "Research" in the title, though, because it's very different from what most adcoms would think of when they see "research." Should I leave the title as is and just describe the work in the box? Or would it help to see "Drug Policy Research Intern at NY Think Tank."
