*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Work/Activities Tips Thread 2016-2017*~*~*~*

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hey guys so I kinda talked about this earlier, but I basically discussed 3 EC's that pushed me towards medicine in my PS. Mainly how they affected my decision to become a physician, not technical details or whatnot. Now i'm trying to decide which EC's to make my meaningful ones. WOuld it be strange to not list those 3 as my meaningful ones? Or can I exchange one out? Thanks in advance!
 
hey guys so I kinda talked about this earlier, but I basically discussed 3 EC's that pushed me towards medicine in my PS. Mainly how they affected my decision to become a physician, not technical details or whatnot. Now i'm trying to decide which EC's to make my meaningful ones. WOuld it be strange to not list those 3 as my meaningful ones? Or can I exchange one out? Thanks in advance!
It's fine to change one or more out. It won't seem strange.
 
Sorry if this has already been asked. I have a question about work/activities formatting - I've been using bullet points for some of my activities but I just realized that when I click "See Details" or "Print" the formatting completely disappears. Is anyone else having this problem? Should I just write everything out in paragraph form?
 
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Sorry if this has already been asked. I have a question about work/activities formatting - I've been using bullet points for some of my activities but I just realized that when I click "See Details" or "Print" the formatting completely disappears. Is anyone else having this problem? Should I just write everything out in paragraph form?
Are you using the Print command from the Main Menu page, and then selecting PDF view? It should look the way you intend, unless maybe you are using a copied and pasted "bullet", in which case try typing another symbol directly into the narrative box instead, like a dash or star maybe.
 
No, so long as you revealed different aspects of the activities in each location to a great extent and used different vocabulary where overlap was necessary.

On my personal statement, I talked specific examples that inspired me to pursue a career in medicine, and on my MM description, I talked about general things about the field of medicine I learned from these experiences. Is that ideal?
 
On my personal statement, I talked specific examples that inspired me to pursue a career in medicine, and on my MM description, I talked about general things about the field of medicine I learned from these experiences. Is that ideal?
I can't say what is ideal with so little information. Hopefully your Activities narrative also covered description, and role, if they weren't obvious. Anecdotes can be worked in at either location, if desirable.
 
I was wondering how descriptive I should be with Experience Name since Organization Name is its own category. For example, for Experience Name would it be better to say I'm a "Staff Volunteer at XYZ Conference" or just put "Staff Voluinter" and place "XYZ Conference" in Organization Name? Same thing goes for whether I should choose "Undergraduate Volunteer at XYZ Clinic" or "Underdraduate Volunteer".
 
I was wondering how descriptive I should be with Experience Name since Organization Name is its own category. For example, for Experience Name would it be better to say I'm a "Staff Volunteer at XYZ Conference" or just put "Staff Voluinter" and place "XYZ Conference" in Organization Name? Same thing goes for whether I should choose "Undergraduate Volunteer at XYZ Clinic" or "Underdraduate Volunteer".
I agree with not repeating the Organization name (or, optimally, the space designation, either), but trying to add more information that might pique interest. Maybe you could put more about your actual role in the each title, or the type of conference.

For example: Undergraduate Patient Escort/Translator/Multipurpose Aide/Greeter/ at XYZ Free/Low-Income/Migrant Workers Clinic
 
I agree with not repeating the Organization name (or, optimally, the space designation, either), but trying to add more information that might pique interest. Maybe you could put more about your actual role in the each title, or the type of conference.

For example: Undergraduate Patient Escort/Translator/Multipurpose Aide/Greeter/ at XYZ Free/Low-Income/Migrant Workers Clinic

Sweet thanks! I was also wondering if being part of the leadership team at my church (being treasurer as well as an event organizer and Sunday School teacher) would be considered Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere or Community Service/Volunteering - Not Medical/Clinical?
 
Sweet thanks! I was also wondering if being part of the leadership team at my church (being treasurer as well as an event organizer and Sunday School teacher) would be considered Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere or Community Service/Volunteering - Not Medical/Clinical?
Treasurer and event organizer would be Leadership. Teacher would go under Teaching.
 
Treasurer and event organizer would be Leadership. Teacher would go under Teaching.

Should I really separate them since it's all under church? Would it be OK to put it all under leadership? And would teaching Sunday School really count as teaching? I thought that would be more science based.

I also don't have much more space for other activities.
 
Should I really separate them since it's all under church? Would it be OK to put it all under leadership? And would teaching Sunday School really count as teaching? I thought that would be more science based.

I also don't have much more space for other activities.
You might consider tagging the church-related activities as Other. Then name the activity Church Leadership Team Roles and Sunday School Teacher, or some such.

Leadership for AMCAS purposes implies peer leadership, where you deligate responsibility, coordinate others' efforts, and take responsibility for overall results.

Teaching covers mentoring, coaching, TA, tutor, and any form of relaying information to others in an understandable way, science or not.
 
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Hi again! Still editing AMCAS even thought I'm technically done with every section and just triple checking before submitting it. I did research for 3 yrs. No actual "publication" but I do have a thesis published on my school's website. Could I list it like this in the description box with the url:

- Thesis published on http://soandsocollege.edu/this-is-rolliespring-thesis-title
That would be fine, but you might look into some form of a tiny URL link to decrease the number of characters used.
 
@Catalystik Just wanted to thank you for being so helpful. Reading through all of the responses, not just to my own question has been enlightening. Really appreciate it!
 
1) I was wondering if it would be okay to include my current summer internship as its own activity. Being that it starts in June, I would technically be able to submit it with the proper dates and it's definitely relevant because the program is geared specifically for pre-med students. I have the room, as I only have 11 other activities listed, but I wasn't sure if it would even make sense to write about an experience that is just beginning.

2) Also, I wanted to ask if anyone know's how specific I should be with naming an experience. Most of mine are fairly straightforward, I just can't think of how to sum up volunteer work with children who have special needs (not in a clinical setting). Any suggestions?
1) Does this activity fill a big hole in your application, ie are you missing this category?

2) It's nice if the name you pick gives enough information to pique interest. What is your role with the kids and what is the setting? Some of this detail might fit in your title.
 
I am having a hard time squeezing all of my activities and have a few questions to help condense:
1) For publications I would like to just list the DOIs and include multiple in one activity entry. Has anyone done this? Also, if so, do you think it's ok to just use the latest date as the official date entry (even though they all have mostly different dates) as long as we include the DOI?
2) For awards and poster/oral presentations, would it be OK to also use the same latest date to fit them into the same entry box as long as we list references appropriately and include appropriate dates as they are listed in the text box?
3) Do we have to personally know each contact provided or can they be administrators who could look our name up in a system to verify our work?
-carswarrior
1) Using the latest date works fine. Here is an example of a super-condensed Publication entry using PMID# (instead of DOI), thanks to tmax, which you could adapt for your own purposes. (Though I generally disagree with including submitted manuscripts, there might be a place for it when one can demonstrate super-productive involvement and has a proven pattern of acceptance):

Abridged bibliography in the following format:
Shortened Title; Shortened Journal/Book; Pubmed ID/Location/Status.

1st Author:
TSUP; BBA; PMID 22192777
Rhodopsin Superfamily; Nature; Submitted
Efflux Proteins: Microbial Efflux Pumps; Horizon Scientific Press; Accepted
Lead and Mercury Transporters (2 articles); Encycl. of Metalloproteins; ISBN 978-1-4614-1532-9 Jan. '13
MFS; FEBS J; PMID 22458847

2nd Author:
PTS; ELS; Search PTS on www.els.net
Transp. Protein Evol.; Protein Families; Accepted
4-JC; BBA; Submitted
ABC; JMB; Submitted

Co-author:
Phylogenetic char.; JMMB; PMID 22286036
APC; JMMB; PMID 22627175
Transposons; Mutagenesis; Accepted
Mer; WASP; Accepted


In case you have related Abstracts, Podium Presentations, Posters, they could be included in the same space with the pubs. The highest form of sharing a set of data with the world should be the primary listing (Publications, Abstracts, Posters/Presentations), but other venues can still be mentioned in the same space or in the affiliated Research space in precise or vague detail depending on space restraints (And I'd think this particularly important where a manuscript was submitted, but not yet accepted, if you use the format provided above). If you don't keep them hooked together like that, and use a different space instead, it would be far to difficult for a reader to keep them all straight for a highly-productive researcher.

Keep in mind that there's no one right way to do this. You might come up with a more efficient format than the one provided (in which case, I'd love your permission to use it as another example, if you'd be so kind as to post an anonymized version).

2) Yes.

3) The Contact need not know you personally, so long as they have access to your work record. They will not be asked for a reference, just a confirmation of involvement along the lines that you have entered into the application.
 
1) I'm not quite sure as to what would qualify as "lacking" in this category. The only other clinical related work I have is (a lot of) EMS work & about 60 hours of shadowing.

2) The organization I work with provides kids who have special needs therapeutic yet fun activities: music, karate, cooking camps, swimming lessons, etc. My role is to volunteer by working directly with them, but I also aid in the planning of future programs, publicity, fundraising etc.
1) Since the experience yet to come is not an element critical to the success of your application, I suggest you save it for Secondary prompts (where appropriate) and update letters (where allowed), so as to have something fresh to relate.

2) Instead of Volunteer Work with Children who have Special Needs, an alternate naming example might be Recreational Aide & Event Planner for Children with Special Needs? Or somesuch. You have 63 characters to play with.
 
I asked a similar question before, but do you think that it is worth writing that I will have future shadowing opportunities through the internship within my existing shadow activity? Or should I just leave it out all together and wait for secondaries.
You could do so, but your shadowing hours are already stronger than average. If you don't yet have any primary care shadowing, and this would be part of the internship, that might be worth bringing up.
 
If I did an activity for a number of years but the hours/week varied (was more active sophomore but dropped off junior/senior) do I have to say that or can I just list total hours?
 
May I ask what the total was for each of the years, and in what category is the activity?

And these were academic years, right? Not calendar years?
It was about 100 hours for sophomore, 50 hours for junior and about 25 for senior. It's non-clinical volunteering, academic years yes. I will also be continuing to do the activity over the summer and possibly into the next year.
 
It was about 100 hours for sophomore, 50 hours for junior and about 25 for senior. It's non-clinical volunteering, academic years yes. I will also be continuing to do the activity over the summer and possibly into the next year.
You could enter the Total Hours as 175 over three academic years. Or you could use the Repeated button and break it down into totals for each of the three years, by datespan. I recommend the latter approach.

If a call was made by a med school to the organization to confirm your participation over the date span given, would you rather have given an accurate representation of your pattern of involvement or would you prefer the med school to learn of it during that phone call? Are you going to fret over the possibility? Personally, I would recommend that you be as above board as possible.
 
You could enter the Total Hours as 175 over three academic years. Or you could use the Repeated button and break it down into totals for each of the three years, by datespan. I recommend the latter approach.

If a call was made by a med school to the organization to confirm your participation over the date span given, would you rather have given an accurate representation of your pattern of involvement or would you prefer the med school to learn of it during that phone call? Are you going to fret over the possibility? Personally, I would recommend that you be as above board as possible.
Also, I'm a little worried because I asked the president of the club and he said they don't keep track of hours. What is going to happen if med schools call? He's also a new president and he's only known me for a short while. He said he could vouch for my involvement but wasn't sure of my exact hours...
 
1) If you prefer to have a Leadership listing, you could either split out the leadership component and its separate hours and list it on its own (with the tutoring maybe under the Teaching tag in another space, or grouped with another teaching activity), or you could include everything under the Leadership tag, but have the dates be for the leadership only, the Total Hours box be for the leadership only, and then mention the tutoring with its own hours and date span, as part of the back story in the narrative. One would want to make clear that the tutoring hours were in addition to those listed in the box, if the latter strategy is used.

A follow-up question to the Leadership-not listed elsewhere vs. Extracurricular (EC) category: Let's say I have 4 EC activities and I have served as President/Director/Editor for three of them for the entire time period listed for the activities, should I list those three under Leadership and not EC? I explain in the description if I changed leadership roles (which I normally did before becoming President). Also, what does "not listed elsewhere" even mean?

Does it look better to have activities under Leadership? Or does it not really matter? The title of my experience says: President of X, Editor-in-Chief of X, etc. Just wondering if activities get sorted by category with the Leadership activities being looked at more than EC activities...
 
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Also, I'm a little worried because I asked the president of the club and he said they don't keep track of hours. What is going to happen if med schools call? He's also a new president and he's only known me for a short while. He said he could vouch for my involvement but wasn't sure of my exact hours...
You might consider using a past officer/event organizer/team leader of the club.
 
A follow-up question to the Leadership-not listed elsewhere vs. Extracurricular (EC) category:
1) Let's say I have 4 EC activities and I have served as President/Director/Editor for three of them for the entire time period listed for the activities, should I list those three under Leadership and not EC? I explain in the description if I changed leadership roles (which I normally did before becoming President).
2) Also, what does "not listed elsewhere" even mean?

3) Does it look better to have activities under Leadership? Or does it not really matter? The title of my experience says: President of X, Editor-in-Chief of X, etc. Just wondering if activities get sorted by category with the Leadership activities being looked at more than EC activities...
1) "Leadership" isn't always the best choice. One may prefer to highlight one's Teaching, Artistic Endeavor, Research, Volunteerism, Employment, etc, so as to have a balanced application, and would thus pick one of those tags instead. If the choice were between Leadership and Extracurricular, I'd tend to lean in the direction of picking Leadership, but that choice might force one to minimize one's earlier involvement and that isn't always the best choice, as demonstrating one's growth is good, too.

2) Many leadership roles grow from general membership or another activity and it's easier to keep the two together in one entry so the context is clear, but the dates of the space include all levels of involvement. The leadership in that case is made clear by what one includes in the title and by one's description. OTOH, if the activity/dates included in a space is solely Leadership, then "Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere" can be the most appropriate tag to use.

3) Each school can sort the activities in any manner they choose, including by dates. Some schools value evidence of leadership more than others. Some like to see how you have grown in responsibility over time. I feel it's desirable to use as many of the provided tags from the drop-down menu as possible, since one generally wants to have broad appeal to many schools. So I recommend at least one dedicated Leadership listing, if one has that experience.
 
Hi Catalystik, these questions are for future reference.

1. Just wondering I was a camp counselor at 2 separate camps during the summer of my freshman year. Each camp was only a week long but I spent about 50-60 hours actively engaged in volunteering with the kids during these camps. Would it be okay to list these activities individually, or are they too "weak" because they were only for a week? Also I am not including sleep time or break time during my estimation hours.

2. Also for one of the camps besides being a counselor I was also a leader of other camp counselors too. I am assuming that I would list both under the same entry?

3. Finally I will have been a member of an organization on campus for 3 years by the time I apply. I was just a general member during my first year. But will have have held 2 separate leadership positions by the time I apply, with the 2nd leadership position being quite influential within the club. Is the optimal way to describe this experience to break up my involvement into separate entries?

Thank you very much for your time!
 
Hi Catalystik, these questions are for future reference.

1. Just wondering I was a camp counselor at 2 separate camps during the summer of my freshman year. Each camp was only a week long but I spent about 50-60 hours actively engaged in volunteering with the kids during these camps. Would it be okay to list these activities individually, or are they too "weak" because they were only for a week? Also I am not including sleep time or break time during my estimation hours.

2. Also for one of the camps besides being a counselor I was also a leader of other camp counselors too. I am assuming that I would list both under the same entry?

3. Finally I will have been a member of an organization on campus for 3 years by the time I apply. I was just a general member during my first year. But will have have held 2 separate leadership positions by the time I apply, with the 2nd leadership position being quite influential within the club. Is the optimal way to describe this experience to break up my involvement into separate entries?
1) Yes, as the number of hours is adequate for each.

2) Considering the number of hours, I think keeping them together is a good idea, but use your title as a leader in the name of the activity, to highlight that role.

3) Either break it into two spaces if each alone is strong enough and you want more space for discussion, or use one space for Leadership without including the hours of general membership in Total Hours (but note the hours of general membership in the narrative).
 
1) Yes, as the number of hours is adequate for each.

2) Considering the number of hours, I think keeping them together is a good idea, but use your title as a leader in the name of the activity, to highlight that role.

3) Either break it into two spaces if each alone is strong enough and you want more space for discussion, or use one space for Leadership without including the hours of general membership in Total Hours (but note the hours of general membership in the narrative).

Thank you for your reply.

So I guess if I had one entry where I described my time as a general member and my first leadership role in the club, and then one entry where I described my second role in the club with significant leadership and responsibility that would be suitable?

In regards to the first entry, it is possible to break up hours in time frames by month and year, with an accompanying description for each time frame right?
 
1) So I guess if I had one entry where I described my time as a general member and my first leadership role in the club, and then one entry where I described my second role in the club with significant leadership and responsibility that would be suitable?

2) In regards to the first entry, it is possible to break up hours in time frames by month and year, with an accompanying description for each time frame right?
1) Yes.

2) Yes. Within the narrative box.
 
Do I need to list hours from highschool time period? I am listing running down as a non-competitive hobby with hours for my college years, but I am also stating that this began in highschool where I ran a marathon. I did stop running after the marathon for 1-1.5 years until college began.
 
Do I need to list hours from highschool time period? I am listing running down as a non-competitive hobby with hours for my college years, but I am also stating that this began in highschool where I ran a marathon. I did stop running after the marathon for 1-1.5 years until college began.
Adcomms won't be as interested pre-college involvement anyway, so there is no need to list those hours, especially when involvement wasn't continuous. I think a brief narrative summary of the earlier years, as you've described, will cover the territory nicely.
 
If I was involved in a completely student-run activity who do I put as a contact? Current student president? The Administration-office in charge of student run clubs?

What do we do if we worked in a lab during the school year and also during the summers as "sort of" part of our schools SURP for that? We received a stipend and had to present research but like 75-90% of other students in the "program" were from our school.
 
1) If I was involved in a completely student-run activity who do I put as a contact? Current student president? The Administration-office in charge of student run clubs?

2) What do we do if we worked in a lab during the school year and also during the summers as "sort of" part of our schools SURP for that? We received a stipend and had to present research but like 75-90% of other students in the "program" were from our school.
1) Any club officer will do.

2) List it as Research. If acceptance was competitive, you can mention that, plus the stipend, if you like.
 
So if I have been involved in a club the last three years of college, and I am going into my senior year and plan on remaining a part of that club, do I list future hours? Should I do this for every activity I am going to stay involved with until graduation and just estimate the hours? Thanks!
 
So if I have been involved in a club the last three years of college, and I am going into my senior year and plan on remaining a part of that club, do I list future hours? Should I do this for every activity I am going to stay involved with until graduation and just estimate the hours? Thanks!
If you are sure you'll stay involved, you can enter planned hours, but I suggest you make clear which hours are completed and which are future projections. If you don't engage in club activities during the summer months, put future dates and hours in the narrative. Or, if you have year-round involvement, you separate them with the Repeated button. Details for including future plans are on page 3, post #137. Feel free to ask more questions, depending on your circumstances.
 
What are your thoughts on this:

I had bad grades my sophomore fall semester, but I have received Dean's List all semesters after this. Therefore, since it is not possible for me to address this bad semester and upward trend in my personal statement, I wanted to include it in the description of the Dean's List Award description in my work/activities. I would write about the changes I made after that semester and how those changes allowed me to receive the Dean's List awards.
 
What are your thoughts on this:

I had bad grades my sophomore fall semester, but I have received Dean's List all semesters after this. Therefore, since it is not possible for me to address this bad semester and upward trend in my personal statement, I wanted to include it in the description of the Dean's List Award description in my work/activities. I would write about the changes I made after that semester and how those changes allowed me to receive the Dean's List awards.
I like it.
 
I looked through the FAQ and could not find an answer to this, so sorry if it's already been discussed!

For activities that span into the future such as research or scribing, should I list the total amount of hours I will have completed by the end date that I list? For example for one of my research activites I currently have 40 hours, but my end date is listed Jan 2017, by then I will have around 80 hours. Should I put 80 hours in the total amount of hours?

Thanks!
 
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I looked through the FAQ and could not find an answer to this, so sorry if it's already been discussed!

For activities that span into the future such as research or scribing, should I list the total amount of hours I will have completed by the end date that I list? For example for one of my research activites I currently have 40 hours, but my end date is listed Jan 2017, by then I will have around 80 hours. Should I put 80 hours in the total amount of hours?

Thanks!
It's best to keep the completed vs future hours separated. See options for including future hours on page 3, post #137.
 
Hmm, as I was looking through AMCAS and clicked the question mark next to the total hours here what it says "Indicate the total number of hours that you spent completing (or expect to complete) this work experience or activity during the date range that you indicate." This sounds similar to TMDSAS where they want us to list all of hours, including future, in that total hour box.
 
Hmm, as I was looking through AMCAS and clicked the question mark next to the total hours here what it says "Indicate the total number of hours that you spent completing (or expect to complete) this work experience or activity during the date range that you indicate." This sounds similar to TMDSAS where they want us to list all of hours, including future, in that total hour box.
The Repeated button allows you to enter more than one date range and the Total Hours for each date range appears at the top of the same entry, in sequence.
 
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