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If it's your published research, you can include it--regardless of your age.
*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Work/Activities Tips Thread 2016-2017*~*~*~*
Started by WedgeDawg
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If it's your published research, you can include it--regardless of your age.
Would "machine building" be a good title for one of my lifetime hobbies? I've rebuilt cars, computers, fixed motherboards, created custom bicycles, and recently an electric scooter from the ground up. Basically, I DIY anything before I have to pay a professional.
You may include other professional shadowing in a Shadowing space, but I suggest that the hours of Athletic Trainer observation should not exceed that for physicians.
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1) I suggest that listing this hobby would work against you.
2) Yes, but unless these were personal interest clubs, consider adding at least one objective contact in the narrative space, in addition. If they are all service clubs, try to add a contact for the last two with the description of your involvement (with that of the first in the header).
3) Ditto. Add additional contacts in the narrative where possible.
Better to list yourself, as you'll get the details straight.
I feel you can legitimately list a HS research experience when you have a strong record of research in college as it shows building interest and momentum, without it being looked down on. You can just as easily leave it as you've already presented it, unless more space for details is desirable to give a fuller picture.
AMCAS will not make a judgement on this issue. They don't review the descriptions. It is the individual screeners and adcomms who will make up their own minds, depending on your description of the activity.
Sounds fine to me, as it got my interest. I like your description, too. You could consider adding and Repair to your proposed title, if you like.
Thanks, this comment is about the only thing positive so far during this app cycle. I didn't mean that part to be a description, just something I put down for this post! Quite happy you thought so!
And the cycle has just begun. I hope it improves for you.
This description makes me want to add my "hobby" of homeowner, lol. Is there a legitimate way to add this in somewhere? Under one of my most meaningful experiences I have that I ran a business out of my home and built up some facilities for it, but I also spent countless hours essentially gutting a house and prepping it for resale, buying another house, along with basic maintenance like lawn care, replacing water heater coils, etc. I mean, a lot of that is normal adult responsibility, but most applicants don't have that, and most physicians probably hire out the majority of the work.
I probably wouldn't name the space Homeowner, but rather something more targeted to the skill set you want to highlight, like maybe Handyman with maybe a few more descriptors to evoke interest.
Also what do people put down for the total hours for something like a group of various hobbies, should this be estimated to the best of our ability? I've been playing piano daily since I was in 6th grade. If I were to tally the hours spent playing piano, it will be well over a few thousand. Isn't this a red flag for adcoms reviewing my ECs?
Thanks, as always, @Catalystik
Thanks, as always, @Catalystik
You can list the true beginning date in childhood, perhaps using Repeated to break dates down into pre-Hs, HS, and college years, +/- postbac. Or you could focus only on dates from the college years and after, which adcomms would focus on more anyway. End date can be no later than Aug 2017.
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Enter a 999 for Total Hours and say in the narrative that true hours are unknowable, or make a best-faith estimate.
Thanks for the feedback, Cat.
I had a similar conundrum with an EC that I've been involved with for 25 years, including some time doing it professionally. I broke my participation up into chunks of my life, averaged weekly hours and multiplied that by 45 wks/yr (gotta account for breaks), x number years in chunk, added it all together, then subtracted an arbitrary few hundred hours in order to account for any inconsistency. It was still a very large number, but not unreasonable for the number of years they are spread out over.
Where the time limit is 99,999 hours now, I don't know that putting 999 would be a good policy anymore.
I had a similar conundrum with an EC that I've been involved with for 25 years, including some time doing it professionally. I broke my participation up into chunks of my life, averaged weekly hours and multiplied that by 45 wks/yr (gotta account for breaks), x number years in chunk, added it all together, then subtracted an arbitrary few hundred hours in order to account for any inconsistency. It was still a very large number, but not unreasonable for the number of years they are spread out over.
If we have more than one entry per activity, should we list them in chronological order starting with the oldest? Or start with the one that is most significant?
Actually. I think starting with most recent or longest involvement might be reasonable, if it's desirable that one's Contact would be more likely to recall who one is.
Thank you!
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I don't think this experience adds value to your application. I suggest leaving it off.
Hello again @Catalystik and @gonnif or anyone that has had experience with this in the past lol
I have read mixed answers on this so I am hoping someone can cite their experience with this. Sometimes psych classes can be classified as "bio-intensive" and put under the Bio Category and sometimes not. If I classify a class like "Physiological Psychology" under Bio category and if AMCAS decides that it shouldn't be 🙁 , will they send the app back to me to correct it? and consequently, does that cause delay in my application verification? or will they simply switch the category to Social Sciences themselves and move my application along
I have read mixed answers on this so I am hoping someone can cite their experience with this. Sometimes psych classes can be classified as "bio-intensive" and put under the Bio Category and sometimes not. If I classify a class like "Physiological Psychology" under Bio category and if AMCAS decides that it shouldn't be 🙁 , will they send the app back to me to correct it? and consequently, does that cause delay in my application verification? or will they simply switch the category to Social Sciences themselves and move my application along
For a summer program where I took classes in the day and shadowed in the evening, how should I classify it? I wrote "other" and in the description, should i explain the hours in the class setting and shadowing?
ex.
other
250 hrs
descrip
i spent 200 hrs in class and 50 hr shadowing
ex.
other
250 hrs
descrip
i spent 200 hrs in class and 50 hr shadowing
t
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they will simply reclassify; it will not cause app to be returned
Okay so I should list all of the conferences in the experiences section? What date should I put for that?
Additionally, my abstract has been accepted has at two conferences for this year. Should I list those as well?
Yes, or just carve out the Shadowing to list separately. Consider leaving the classes off unless they add to your application in some way.
I suggest not this article and not this video. Feel free to get other input. That's just my opinion. A written entry about being in the Honors program giving similar info would be fine.
I've had many teaching experiences throughout college and as a post-bac student. What is the most appropriate way to list the start and end dates? Would something like my sophomore year -> senior year and then my post-bac year be appropriate? (I was working as a tutor or TA during these times)
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Thank you! so as a general rule of thumb, don't include links or articles in the work/activities description that can simply be written about giving the same information?
Either specific dates or description of college year or term are fine to use for time of involvement.
A succinct description is preferred. Exceptions might be artistic forms that might otherwise be hard to visualize.
Another NCAA athlete here, and I was in a sport that by no means followed the mandated 20 hours per week. That may have been what they listed on our hour reports every week, but I averaged 36 hours a week in season with rehab, video, and "optional but required" on field time without the coaching staff present. So I would caution other athletes at limiting their hours to NCAA numbers if their actual experiences vastly exceeded that. My calculation ended up being ~3000 hours for 3 years, for example.
I do have a question about whether or not you need to elaborate on experiences with really high hour totals- if space allows, should I provide a brief explanation of how I calculated this?
i.e. 14 hours a week out of season, 36 in, etc.
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I was involved in an on-campus organization that trained us to be peer health educators. Some of my duties were facilitating workshops, planning and executing health campaigns and outreaches, helping out at vaccine clinics, and performing fitness assessments for students. Would that count as a clinical volunteering activity?
I have been volunteering with two organizations that specify in specific diseases (like the National Hemophilia Foundation) where I helped to plan and execute educational events, be a day camp counselor for children with hemophilia, and advocate for awareness. I have also helped serve as an expert on certain topics for another similar foundation (let's say Sickle Cell Disease Association for example)'s national magazine. For both organizations, I have helped fund-raise, mentor newly diagnosed patients, and be the "poster-child" (for lack of a better word) in their campaigns. Would I put these under medical community service (since they target a population with a certain disease) or non-medical community service? Thanks.
Yes. If space allows.
1) You'd only need to list one past student or their parent. If that's not going to work, consider using an advisor who knew of the activity. Last resort is using yourself.
2) Yes.
That would be a stretch, considering most of those students you came in contact with were likely healthy.
Nonmedical community service.
It would depend on your role. If you assisted them in ways a nurse aide might, then maybe. If you played with them, then no.
A question regarding how adcoms see the output of the work and activities. I know the advice has been to spell out all abbreviations at least once, but due to the limit of 700 for most activities, I feel it's a waste of space to spell out the super long conference or program names. Instead, I want to spell out the abbreviation in the Experience Name or Organization Name.
For example, in the Organization Name: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). Then in the description I only use FASEB instead of spelling the full title out. Will adcoms be able to see the the spelled out full organization name in the same format and same order we input the information (for instance if I use FASEB in the description of a later activity)? Or would you prefer we just spell out everything again in the description regardless?
Additionally, should we spell out common acronyms like DUS, STEM, or MIT?
For example, in the Organization Name: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). Then in the description I only use FASEB instead of spelling the full title out. Will adcoms be able to see the the spelled out full organization name in the same format and same order we input the information (for instance if I use FASEB in the description of a later activity)? Or would you prefer we just spell out everything again in the description regardless?
Additionally, should we spell out common acronyms like DUS, STEM, or MIT?
Schools will reorder activities into their preferred format, so an organization's abbreviation will need to be provided somewhere in each entry, whether in the Organization space or in the narrative.
There are some abbreviations that are universally known, and don't need to be spelled out, but those three aren't among them. Test each one on a parent and see if they know what you mean.
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What's the general consensus on having only 2 most meaningful experiences? I have my graduate research and a clinical volunteering. I talk about shadowing and undergraduate research in my personal statement (in addition to my graduate research since it's a major life event haha) so I don't want to repeat anything. My shadowing was really meaningful, so I'm tempted to include it but then it feels overly repetitive. Should I just stick with the two? I don't have any other major activities that were really that meaningful.
If you've said all you want to say, and have no further comments to make about impact or insights gained, or further anecdotes, it's best not to fluff up your application just to fill space. It's fine to have two MM entries, or even just one.
Okay great, thanks for the reassurance!
I noticed there's a "conferences attended" tab. I was planning on just mentioning the two conferences I attended to present my research under just the research tab. Should I make an additional entry just for the two conferences attended? Thanks.
As you mentioned the name +/- location of the conferences elsewhere, there is no reason to repeat the information again.
If the conferences were off campus, the presentations you have made could be moved to their own Posters/Presentations space.
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