*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Work/Activities Tips Thread 2017-2018*~*~*~*

[Catalystik]

1) I have a non-clinical volunteering activity where I had a leadership position. Since I don't have any other "leadership" designated ECs but I also don't want to seem light on non-clinical volunteering hours, and because I'd like enough space to describe both elements, I was planning on doing this: one "non-clinical volunteering" entry with the full hours (~150) describing the general elements of the activity, and a second "leadership" entry describing those elements, with 0 hours. Would this be acceptable?

2) For publications/posters/thesis projects, is it alright to list them all as 0 hours, and keep the hours contained in the main "research" entries?

1) I haven't seen that done, so I can't say how it will be perceived by adcomms, in general. You might consider an idea to take about 40 hours out of that activity for the Leadership space, which still leaves 110, a decent number, for the volunteer component. If there is more leadership than that, you could make reference to it in the volunteer space, dividing it out so that meeting prep time, etc is not included with running meetings, overseeing operations, and other components where you were actively managing people. Or something like that.

2) Usually one just lists the number of hours of actually presenting or standing by a poster in the Posters/Presentations space. Prep time stays with the entry describing the project. A zero is fine if you weren't the one who presented among the coauthors.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Catalystik]

So I was an officer of a pre-med org. I also did extensive community service (non-health related) through the org. Should I include this all under 1 (assuming leadership)? Or split this into two activities? I only have 1 other entry for community service, so I do need to mention that I did a lot of my community service through this org, just don't know whether to split or not.

See my response #1 to a similar question in post #505, directly above this one. If you have no other dedicated Leadership space, and especially if you are aiming for highly-selective schools, you probably should divide the activity into the two separate components, each with their own, unduplicated hours.

A dedicated Leadership space would only include the dates and hours of leadership with a description of that role. You would not discuss the earlier time of belonging to that organization, except as a brief back story. So if you have only one space to spare, it should have a community service tag, so you can include all the dates and hours of participation in the group, regardless of role.

 

[yuw057]

If I'm putting 2 experiences under one medical/clinical activity, do I enter total hours as a sum of the two or just the first activity? Been hearing different opinions... I do mention in the description the time frame and hours per week.

 

[PNWExplorer]

Hi,

I have a quick question about a publication my previous lab recently submitted. Basically, I made a major contribution to writing the paper, and so of course I was listed as an author. I checked the publication status recently, and it's listed as "major revision required with resubmission encouraged," so obviously it was not accepted on the first pass. I'd really like to include this paper in my activities section, since I wrote and edited a lot of it, even though it wasn't accepted. Would it be appropriate to list it bibliographically with "(submitted; major revision required with resubmission encouraged)" at the end of the citation? Or would that not be Ok since the edits we will be making are ongoing/future activities (and future dates can't be put in for publications)? I'd really like to mention the paper in some way in my app given how much work I've invested in it - I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to do that.

Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

If I'm putting 2 experiences under one medical/clinical activity, do I enter total hours as a sum of the two or just the first activity? Been hearing different opinions... I do mention in the description the time frame and hours per week.

It depends, but if the timeframes are close enough to use one datespan, I suggest putting the grand total in the header and subtotals in the narrative with each subcomponent.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi,

I have a quick question about a publication my previous lab recently submitted. Basically, I made a major contribution to writing the paper, and so of course I was listed as an author. I checked the publication status recently, and it's listed as "major revision required with resubmission encouraged," so obviously it was not accepted on the first pass. I'd really like to include this paper in my activities section, since I wrote and edited a lot of it, even though it wasn't accepted. Would it be appropriate to list it bibliographically with "(submitted; major revision required with resubmission encouraged)" at the end of the citation? Or would that not be Ok since the edits we will be making are ongoing/future activities (and future dates can't be put in for publications)? I'd really like to mention the paper in some way in my app given how much work I've invested in it - I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to do that.

Thanks!

I suggest mentioning it at the end of the affiliated Research space. It's up to you whether you choose to mention the status as you did above or just [submission pending].

 

[Gauss44]

I'm wondering how to decide which activities to choose as most meaningful experiences? And what aspects are optimal to focus on?

"Most meaningful" to me or to someone else such as having a great impact on an underserved community?

A couple internet resources argue that picking them based on how connected they are to medicine is the wrong method. Would picking these based exclusively on which were the most profound to you be missing the point in any way?

 

[Neglektor]

I just got hired as a medical assistant in April 2017. I plan on working with this job fulltime during my gap year, but have only completed 40 hours of work so far. Is it okay to put this activity for around the 1500 hours I will complete over the gap year, as opposed to just putting 40 when I submit AMCAS on June 1st? @Catalystik @gonnif

 

[Catalystik]

I'm wondering how to decide which activities to choose as most meaningful experiences? And what aspects are optimal to focus on?

A couple internet resources argue that picking them based on how connected they are to medicine is the wrong method. Would picking these based exclusively on which were the most profound to you be missing the point in any way?

I don't think it's necessary for a MM to be connected to medicine. I prefer someone to select MM status due to the activity's exceptional impact, but understand that sometimes one must be strategic and pick that designation just to have more space for adequate discussion. The worst reason to pick is thinking adcomms want to see a certain mix selected.

 

[Catalystik]

I just got hired as a medical assistant in April 2017. I plan on working with this job fulltime during my gap year, but have only completed 40 hours of work so far. Is it okay to put this activity for around the 1500 hours I will complete over the gap year, as opposed to just putting 40 when I submit AMCAS on June 1st? @Catalystik @gonnif

I strongly suggest you separate out the completed vs future hours. You can do this by a) using the Repeated feature and choosing the current month for both the end of datespan #1 and the beginning of datespan #2 (both of which will then appear in the header), or by b) putting only the completed hours in the header and adding the future predicted total hours to the narrative.

 

[lorian99]

For contact information, should we indicate the title of the contact at the time of the activity or their current title?

I also have 2 activities that I'm not sure whether to designate as Leadership or Extracurricular Activities. For the first, I was a board member of a humanities club, where I organized club meetings, lead board meetings, etc. For the second, I did some editing for a journal, where I managed a team of reviewers, enforced deadlines, etc. What do you guys think? Other than these two, I have 2 other activities I designated as Extracurricular, with one of them involving significant leadership.

 

[Pizza4Life_1]

.

 

[lickerwhicker]

Hi! So I am not sure what to category to designate for two of my activities:

1) (MM) Experience Type: Leadership not listed elsewhere or Extracurricular?
Experience Name: Cellist and President of University Orchestra
I was in my university's orchestra since I was a freshman, and I had a leadership position since my sophomore year. In my description, I talked mostly about my leadership duties, but I also talked briefly about my duties/what I learned as a cellist (e.g. I performed in X number of concerts, learned to overcome my stage fright and perform well under pressure, etc.) I don't know if I should make the category Leadership or Extracurricular.

2) Experience Type: Leadership not listed elsewhere or Clinical Community Service?
Experience Name: Co-founder and General Member of Music Therapy Organization
In my description, I talked about my leadership duties as well as the impact I made as a general member. I'm not sure if I should list this activity as Leadership or Clinical Community Service.

Excluding the above two activities, here are the categories for my other activities:

1 Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant
2 Research/Lab
3 Leadership
1 Clinical Community Service
3 Nonclinical Community Service
1 Shadowing
1 Nonclinical Paid Employment
1 Honors/Awards/Recognitions
Total: 15

Does Leadership hold more weight than the other categories?

Thank you!

 

[lickerwhicker]

Also, is it okay to approximate the hours you did an activity? For example, my orchestra rehearsals are usually 2 hours a week and we have 2 concerts per year, but there are a lot of other things that happen outside of rehearsals and concerts, such as officer meetings, recruitment fairs, social events for the organization, sectionals, dress rehearsals etc. Is it okay to calculate the hours that I can, and then estimate the rest of the hours from those outside events? Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

1) For contact information, should we indicate the title of the contact at the time of the activity or their current title?

2) I also have 2 activities that I'm not sure whether to designate as Leadership or Extracurricular Activities. For the first, I was a board member of a humanities club, where I organized club meetings, lead board meetings, etc. For the second, I did some editing for a journal, where I managed a team of reviewers, enforced deadlines, etc. What do you guys think? Other than these two, I have 2 other activities I designated as Extracurricular, with one of them involving significant leadership.

1) Use the current title unless they wrote a LOR with a different title, then use what will match your letter. If they retired, you might add that after a comma, like "PhD, Director of Neurosciences, Retired."

2) The thing about using Leadership as a tag is that you'd only enter the dates where you held the leadership position and those specific hours. If you were a general member first, and want to include that, you'd do so in the narrative, briefly, as the back story (After two years as a member, I felt the organization could be stronger if . . . , so I took on . . ."). I think it's a good idea to use as many tags as you can, since you don't know exactly what individual schools are looking for. I suggest you pick the activity where you did the most management of other people to use for the Leadership tag. If you have one where you had a few years as a general member first, you might not want to decrease the hours of involvement that you list by restricting yourself to only, say, the last year when you held office.

Another strategy to consider is to split the activity into two components, if each can stand on its own, and have both an Extracurricular and a Leadership entry about the same organization.

 

[Catalystik]

Hey all! I'd love some help and feedback on my list.

1. Research project, MM. Mentioned that a publication is being “prepared for submission.” Is this okay to mention? I’m considering adding a separate entry under “Teaching” category discussing how I trained new members in this lab. Is this okay to be separated, or should I combine it into this category?
2. Undergrad Awards. Since I’m including more than one, should the “Award Date” be the earliest or latest one? Included the fellowships from the above projects. I only mentioned the award name and the dates, should I add anything else? I’ve seen it suggested to add how competitive it was, but what if we don’t know that much detail? I’ve also added dean’s list/academic honor societies because I have the space - should I remove it? Fluff?
3. Posters/Awards. From above project. First gave the award title, date, and conference. Then listed each poster title and the date/conferences they were presented at. Do I need to give more detail?
4. Hospital volunteer (med/clinical). Considering MM but mentioned significance in PS? I have the name of the hospital under “org name”, so I didn’t want to be redundant by mentioning it in the title, but I also feel like it should still be in the title?
5. Abroad volunteer trip. Should I describe my duties, or are all trips like this self-explanatory? I discuss in my PS what I gained from it, so I don’t know how much detail to give here?
6. “(position) and General Member of (org name)” listed under Leadership. Going to explain as “after being a general member, i was elected to…” For total hours, should it just be the time I spent in the position (if its under the Leadership category), but then mention in the narrative the total hours I spent as a general member too?
7. Scribe. Because this is such an obvious task, what do you suggest to add in the description?
8. Artistic stuff, MM. If I received a scholarship, should I put it here or add it to undergrad awards?
9. Shadowing
10. Non-medical job
11. Non-medical volunteering entry

12. I just began a job (3 weeks ago) as a Research Associate at a hospital. I was going to add it as another entry (either Research or Medical/Clinical employment - thoughts since I have both already?) and possibly MM because I’m well into my work and understand the project. But now I am considering saving it for secondaries/updates. Thoughts?

1) -I wouldn't mention a manuscript that has not yet been submitted. If you do so anyway, please don't call it a publication, as that's presumptuous.
-Training others falls under Leadership or Teaching. Don't list it on its own if the hours are sparse.

2) -The latest, by which time you had all of those before it.
-You can keep it in, but I'd rather you used the space to say how competitive the fellowships were; perhaps you could call someone in the department?

3) You might give your authorship position, or if you were first author of all of them, say that in the title.

4)- Don't assume the same reader will see both the PS and the Activities section. Significance can be reworded and new anecdotes provided.
-The title should be the title you were given and maybe the department you worked in. Hospital name is just for Organization.

5) Describe your duties using different words.

6) That's fine, but numbers don't mater much unless they relate to volunteerism.

7) Whether it was in-person or distance scribing. And duties vary, so make yours clear. Some are never allowed to speak to the patient, so if you did so routinely, you can say you took initial history or answered general questions, or made the patient comfortable by explaining what would happen, or whatever.

8) If you have space, leave it there to keep the context.

12) If you are aiming for research-oriented schools, call it Research. If you are aiming for primary care-oriented or less-selective schools, call it clinical employment (so long as you'd be dealing with current patients with whom your interaction would somehow be helpful to their medical situation). Saying its MM might be a stretch after just three weeks, unless it is truly impactful to you for reasons you can articulate.

 

[Overthink]

I have been an afterschool academic tutor in both undegrad and in graduate school. Would it be kosher to combine both of those experiences under 1 activity, even though they were through different organizations and in different times of my life? I wanted to get 1 extra activity space to describe a leadership experience.

 

[salamander343]

Hi, I'd really appreciate feedback about my activities section.

1. Shadowing
2. Presentation (at regional conference)
3. TA (100 hours)
4. Tutoring (one student; 100 hours)
5. Mentoring (two students; 100 hours)
6. Research Lab (around 500 hours and ongoing; lead a research project group within the lab; most meaningful)
7. Clinical Volunteering (1-on-1 interaction with patients; 200 hours and ongoing; most meaningful)
8. Clinical Volunteering (OR Family Room Liaison; 50 hours and ongoing)
9. Hobbies (guitar, recreational basketball, traveling, beach volleyball)
10. Non-Clinical Volunteering (Temple/Cultural Center - 50 hours and ongoing)
11. Non-Clinical Volunteering (Food Bank - 12 hours and ongoing)
12. Honors/Award/Recognition (lots of academic awards)
13. Clinical Employment (kennel assistant at vet clinic; 160 hours and ongoing)
14. Leadership (founder/coordinator of a beach volleyball club with around 30 members; like 30 hours of admin stuff and 170 hours of participating)
15. Organ donation awareness campaigning (~50 hours; most meaningful)

I'm not really sure what category "organ donation awareness campaigning" fits under. Other?
Working with animals counts as clinical, right? I can smell the patients, but they just happen to be dogs and cats rather than humans.

Also, is there any way for me to condense this? Thanks in advance.

 

[tbonez71]

I am 3rd author on an abstract. It was reviewed and accepted by a panel to be presented by the 1st author at a national conference. The abstract is going to be published in one of the organization's journals. With all the review and publication in a journal, I'm unsure if this is a publication or a poster/presentation? I did not know if an abstract can count as a publication. If so, how do I site something that is yet to be published (coming out next month)?

 

[Lawpy]

I am 3rd author on an abstract. It was reviewed and accepted by a panel to be presented by the 1st author at a national conference. The abstract is going to be published in one of the organization's journals. With all the review and publication in a journal, I'm unsure if this is a publication or a poster/presentation? I did not know if an abstract can count as a publication. If so, how do I site something that is yet to be published (coming out next month)?

It's not a publication in the same way a peer-reviewed paper in that journal is, but it's def worth listing, as an entry under Presentations. You can cite it as something like:

Author Name(s). Name of Presentation. Presented at: Name of Conference; Date of Conference; Location of Conference.

Abstracts = posters/presentations. Publications refer to journal articles that are peer reviewed in entirety. Definitely list all abstracts following the above citation.

 

[lorian99]

1) Use the current title unless they wrote a LOR with a different title, then use what will match your letter. If they retired, you might add that after a comma, like "PhD, Director of Neurosciences, Retired."

2) The thing about using Leadership as a tag is that you'd only enter the dates where you held the leadership position and those specific hours. If you were a general member first, and want to include that, you'd do so in the narrative, briefly, as the back story (After two years as a member, I felt the organization could be stronger if . . . , so I took on . . ."). I think it's a good idea to use as many tags as you can, since you don't know exactly what individual schools are looking for. I suggest you pick the activity where you did the most management of other people to use for the Leadership tag. If you have one where you had a few years as a general member first, you might not want to decrease the hours of involvement that you list by restricting yourself to only, say, the last year when you held office.

Another strategy to consider is to split the activity into two components, if each can stand on its own, and have both an Extracurricular and a Leadership entry about the same organization.

Thanks!

Also, I plan to list myself as a contact for a few of my activities, but I currently don't have a title as I just finished undergrad and am searching for employment. What do you think I should put for this?

 

[frostycoalition]

I was supposed to have a shadowing gig in May but there was an issue with paperwork and now the doc is out of town. We have re-scheduled definitively to 6/9 and 6/21-22. Should I include this in my shadowing entry as a prospective event because it's for sure happening? Or should I just hold off? Thank you for your help!

 

[Catalystik]

Hi! So I am not sure what to category to designate for two of my activities:

1) (MM) Experience Type: Leadership not listed elsewhere or Extracurricular?
Experience Name: Cellist and President of University Orchestra
I was in my university's orchestra since I was a freshman, and I had a leadership position since my sophomore year. In my description, I talked mostly about my leadership duties, but I also talked briefly about my duties/what I learned as a cellist (e.g. I performed in X number of concerts, learned to overcome my stage fright and perform well under pressure, etc.) I don't know if I should make the category Leadership or Extracurricular.

2) Experience Type: Leadership not listed elsewhere or Clinical Community Service?
Experience Name: Co-founder and General Member of Music Therapy Organization
In my description, I talked about my leadership duties as well as the impact I made as a general member. I'm not sure if I should list this activity as Leadership or Clinical Community Service.

Excluding the above two activities, here are the categories for my other activities:

1 Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant
2 Research/Lab
3 Leadership
1 Clinical Community Service
3 Nonclinical Community Service
1 Shadowing
1 Nonclinical Paid Employment
1 Honors/Awards/Recognitions
Total: 15

3) Does Leadership hold more weight than the other categories?

1) As you have a leadership space used already, I think you're fine to keep it as Extracurricular or Artistic Endeavor and include the leadership role in the name of the activity. A dedicated Leadership space would only include the dates and hours of leadership with a description of that role. You would not discuss the earlier time of belonging to that organization, except as a brief back story. If you use a tag other than Leadership, you can include all the dates and hours of participation in the group, regardless of role.

2) Clinical is a stretch unless you personally interacted one-on-one with folks who are current patients, in the context of their medical situation. Artistic Endeavor is another possible tag to use. Leadership would work if you take into account my comments on item 1), which apply here, too.

3) Not unless you are aiming for the most-selective research-oriented schools, then you'd want to be sure to have at least one space dedicated to leadership only.

 

[Catalystik]

Also, is it okay to approximate the hours you did an activity? For example, my orchestra rehearsals are usually 2 hours a week and we have 2 concerts per year, but there are a lot of other things that happen outside of rehearsals and concerts, such as officer meetings, recruitment fairs, social events for the organization, sectionals, dress rehearsals etc. Is it okay to calculate the hours that I can, and then estimate the rest of the hours from those outside events? Thank you!

Yes. Yes.

 

[UnassumingToad]

Hey everyone! I have a question about how the "most important" activities actually show up. Do the two separate text boxes show up next to each other as continuous text or are they separated? The way I wrote them, the first text box definitely flows into the second (though they are clearly separate paragraphs). Can anyone shed light on this?

 

[Catalystik]

I have been an afterschool academic tutor in both undegrad and in graduate school. Would it be kosher to combine both of those experiences under 1 activity, even though they were through different organizations and in different times of my life? I wanted to get 1 extra activity space to describe a leadership experience.

Yes, just be sure to include similar information for both experiences (dates subtotal hours, contact, location), with the second being in the narrative and the first in the header.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi, I'd really appreciate feedback about my activities section.

1. Shadowing
2. Presentation (at regional conference)
3. TA (100 hours)
4. Tutoring (one student; 100 hours)
5. Mentoring (two students; 100 hours)
6. Research Lab (around 500 hours and ongoing; lead a research project group within the lab; most meaningful)
7. Clinical Volunteering (1-on-1 interaction with patients; 200 hours and ongoing; most meaningful)
8. Clinical Volunteering (OR Family Room Liaison; 50 hours and ongoing)
9. Hobbies (guitar, recreational basketball, traveling, beach volleyball)
10. Non-Clinical Volunteering (Temple/Cultural Center - 50 hours and ongoing)
11. Non-Clinical Volunteering (Food Bank - 12 hours and ongoing)
12. Honors/Award/Recognition (lots of academic awards)
13. Clinical Employment (kennel assistant at vet clinic; 160 hours and ongoing)
14. Leadership (founder/coordinator of a beach volleyball club with around 30 members; like 30 hours of admin stuff and 170 hours of participating)
15. Organ donation awareness campaigning (~50 hours; most meaningful)

I'm not really sure what category "organ donation awareness campaigning" fits under. Other?
Working with animals counts as clinical, right? I can smell the patients, but they just happen to be dogs and cats rather than humans.

Also, is there any way for me to condense this? Thanks in advance.

You might combine some or all of 11, 12, and 15 under non-clinical community service.

Sorry, working with animals is not clinical in the context of an AMCAS application (not even drawing blood, putting in IVs, or operating on them), so call it nonclinical and make clear what your role was.

 

[Catalystik]

I am 3rd author on an abstract. It was reviewed and accepted by a panel to be presented by the 1st author at a national conference. The abstract is going to be published in one of the organization's journals. With all the review and publication in a journal, I'm unsure if this is a publication or a poster/presentation? I did not know if an abstract can count as a publication. If so, how do I site something that is yet to be published (coming out next month)?

If it will appear in the organization's paper journal and be pubmed searchable, it's a publication. Cite it like a publication. You know the month, can figure out the issue, and just don't know the page numbers yet, so for that put [in press]. After that, put an addendum that this paper was presented by the first author at XXX conference, on yyyy date. When the same data set is presented in multiple venues, you list it under the most prestigious and summarize the other ways you shared the data in the same space.

This is a bit different than Lawper's comments above so pay attention to the distinctions I've made as to what would qualify it as a Publication. You might want to add the word Abstract to your citation or to the title of the space, to make its status clear.

 

[Catalystik]

Also, I plan to list myself as a contact for a few of my activities, but I currently don't have a title as I just finished undergrad and am searching for employment. What do you think I should put for this?

Participant, Exercise Enthusiast, Video Game Player Extraordinaire? Depends on the activity.

 

[Catalystik]

I was supposed to have a shadowing gig in May but there was an issue with paperwork and now the doc is out of town. We have re-scheduled definitively to 6/9 and 6/21-22. Should I include this in my shadowing entry as a prospective event because it's for sure happening? Or should I just hold off? Thank you for your help!

Assuming you have shadowing already completed to add it to, you can add it as a note at the end of the narrative space as a plan, with the number of total Hours you'd anticipate having, and the usual dates, contact, description, doc, etc..

 

[efle]

If it will appear in the organization's paper journal and be pubmed searchable, it's a publication. Cite it like a publication. You know the month, can figure out the issue, and just don't know the page numbers yet, so for that put [in press]. After that, put an addendum that this paper was presented by the first author at XXX conference, on yyyy date.

Interesting differences above. Strikes me as odd to cite something identically to a paper, when it is not a paper and hasn't gone through the peer review process.

 

[Catalystik]

Interesting differences above. Strikes me as odd to cite something identically to a paper, when it is not a paper and hasn't gone through the peer review process.

It wouldn't have been accepted for the conference proceedings if it didn't go through a review process. Also note I had additional qualifiers: "If it will appear in the organization's paper journal and be pubmed searchable, it's a publication." JMO. If it only appeared in the conference proceedings, I would not call it a publication.

 

[boogiecousins94]

I have question about my full time research job. I'm officially titled "research technician I" and will probably be "research technician II" very soon as I'm almost here for a whole year. Despite this title, I am also the lab manager. There's no "official" position in terms of employment meaning I cant get my title changed to "Laboratory Manager" as that position doesn't exist where I am.

I get referenced as lab manager in my rec letter from my PI as well, so I was wondering am I allowed to call myself "Research Technician/Lab Manager" in the header of this section when I describe my title? Just wondering since it's not official in terms of the position I am employed as

 

[Catalystik]

Hey everyone! I have a question about how the "most important" activities actually show up. Do the two separate text boxes show up next to each other as continuous text or are they separated? The way I wrote them, the first text box definitely flows into the second (though they are clearly separate paragraphs). Can anyone shed light on this?

There is one box. The only separation between the first 700 and the last 1325 characters is a blank line with a note in the left margin that says "Most Meaningful Experience Remarks."

 

[efle]

It wouldn't have been accepted for the conference proceedings if it didn't go through a review process. Also note I had additional qualifiers: "If it will appear in the organization's paper journal and be pubmed searchable, it's a publication." JMO.

The review process for conference is essentially just checking that the topic is related, no? Not some thorough critique of methods and interpretations. Just seems disingenuous to me, to list a few figures that got accepted for a conference as if it were a paper reviewed and accepted for a major journal, on the grounds that the society publishes their conference's abstracts each year. I think aldol put it well in another thread when he said it's like saying you're Harvard educated because you took some of their online classes.

 

[Catalystik]

I have question about my full time research job. I'm officially titled "research technician I" and will probably be "research technician II" very soon as I'm almost here for a whole year. Despite this title, I am also the lab manager. There's no "official" position in terms of employment meaning I cant get my title changed to "Laboratory Manager" as that position doesn't exist where I am.

I get referenced as lab manager in my rec letter from my PI as well, so I was wondering am I allowed to call myself "Research Technician/Lab Manager" in the header of this section when I describe my title? Just wondering since it's not official in terms of the position I am employed as

Yes. Your title is meant to be descriptive and not necessarily what your employment papers say. And, no one else will know the distinction between Tech I and Tech II.

 

[UnassumingToad]

There is one box. The only separation between the first 700 and the last 1325 characters is a blank line with a note in the left margin that says "Most Meaningful Experience Remarks."

Perfect clarification!!! Thank you. That definitely leaves room for a little creativity.

I appreciate you!

 

[Catalystik]

The review process for conference is essentially just checking that the topic is related, no? Not some thorough critique of methods and interpretations. Just seems disingenuous to me, to list a few figures that got accepted for a conference as if it were a paper reviewed and accepted for a major journal, on the grounds that the society publishes their conference's abstracts each year. I think aldol put it well in another thread when he said it's like saying you're Harvard educated because you took some of their online classes.

It wouldn't be remarkable if the standard held by med schools and residency programs wasn't as stringent as that of the PhD scientific community.

What can I list under "Peer Reviewed Journal Articles/Abstracts"?

• Articles that have been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Abstracts that have been published in a peer-reviewed journal. (This is rare, but generally some academic societies have their abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, abstracts from the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism World Congress, September 13-16, 2010 were published in a supplement to the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. This is not a peer-reviewed venue in the traditional sense, so Still Kickin was right to express some reservations about this in another thread. If you were submitting materials for tenure, then you would not list this in any 'peer-reviewed' section of your CV. However, for the purposes of a medical student applying for residency training using the CAF, it is generally considered acceptable to list in this section.)
• For completed articles published in non-peer-reviewed venues (e.g., newspaper op-eds, Harvard Business School case studies), see below.
• For abstracts that have been 'published' not in peer-reviewed journals (e.g. conference abstract CD-ROM, conference program book, etc.) see below.

Note: 'Peer review' generally means that your article has been subjected to scrutiny by one or more referees in your field. Generally this does not include book editors (and therefore books and book chapters should not be listed in this category), newspaper and magazine editors, etc.

What can I list under "Peer Reviewed Journal Articles/Abstracts (Other than Published)"?

• Articles that have been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Articles that have been conditionally accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
• For not-yet completed manuscripts that have been submitted for publication, not yet been submitted for publication but are intended for submission, etc., see below.

Other considerations

• If you gave a (poster or oral) presentation at a conference, and the abstract corresponding to your presentation was 'published' in a non-peer reviewed venue (such as the conference program book or CD-ROM), then see above: this would not count as a 'peer reviewed' publication, and you should not list in more than one category. (If this seems like a capricious function of the academic society's decision about whether or not to commission a journal supplement, it is. If you feel like this is 'unfair' because you don't get to list your work in the 'peer reviewed journal abstracts' section of the CAF, then get over it. Life is unfair.)

 

[lexington251]

I'm having trouble citing all the posters I have presented. I have three research-related entries, 1 to talk about my research, 1 being a conference I attended, and 1 being additional posters/presentations. However, with these three entries I'm only able to cite 5 of the 7 posters I presented.

1. Research entry-Is it okay to just say "Presented seven posters" and not specifically cite them? I mention some of them in my additional poster entry, but I can't cite every conference/presentation. I've also used up all my MM space too.

2. Conference entry-I used my entry to talk about the conference and what I learned/did there. Should I omit something to include my poster citation?

 

[OchemOficionado]

To name drop or not to name drop?

I shadowed several physicians, 1 being the Dean of Admissions of a med school I'm applying to. Would it look bad if I say, "I shadowed physicians in Ob/gyn, neurosurgery, ortho and, most memorably, Dr. Dean in derm." Or should I be less obvious and say, "I shadowed Dr. X in Ob, Dr. Y in neuro and most memorably, Dr. Dean in derm." Or maybe just no names at all?

Is this a stupid question? Lol. Is gonnif gonna come tell me Rule #1: Take a breath? Thank you guys for helping us all. You're appreciated!

 

[medbunny56]

1. do we need to add a sentence description of a poster/oral presentation about what the presentation was about?

2. should we separate poster vs oral presentation at the same conference? i heard that oral was more prestigious so I was wondering if its worth putting the oral presentation its own separate slot since I have 3 posters in the posters slot already

3. if an abstract is peer-reviewed and published an online supplement to a very reputable journal---should I list it under publication or poster/presentation or both?

 

[Mrd7889]

Do you think it would be okay to list reading as an EC? I'm a big bookworm but don't know if this is too bland to list as an EC

 

[Catalystik]

I am 3rd author on an abstract. It was reviewed and accepted by a panel to be presented by the 1st author at a national conference. The abstract is going to be published in one of the organization's journals. With all the review and publication in a journal, I'm unsure if this is a publication or a poster/presentation? I did not know if an abstract can count as a publication. If so, how do I site something that is yet to be published (coming out next month)?

Example of an Abstract citation:

Li TW, Jones PA. Methylation changes in early embryonic genes in cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2006 Apr 1–5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2006. Abstract nr 30.

 

[Catalystik]

I'm having trouble citing all the posters I have presented. I have three research-related entries, 1 to talk about my research, 1 being a conference I attended, and 1 being additional posters/presentations. However, with these three entries I'm only able to cite 5 of the 7 posters I presented.

1. Research entry-Is it okay to just say "Presented seven posters" and not specifically cite them? I mention some of them in my additional poster entry, but I can't cite every conference/presentation. I've also used up all my MM space too.

2. Conference entry-I used my entry to talk about the conference and what I learned/did there. Should I omit something to include my poster citation?

1) For those that were presented locally, that would be fine. It's also OK to abbreviate the citation of the title and the author list, if you haven't done that yet. For any presented in more than one locale, based on same/similar data set, you can add "Also presented at . . . without going into more detail. See my comments on Research in post #2, item 20.

2) I'd omit the Conference entry. One generally mentions the conference anyway when discussing where posters were presented and that's sufficient.

 

[Catalystik]

To name drop or not to name drop?

I shadowed several physicians, 1 being the Dean of Admissions of a med school I'm applying to. Would it look bad if I say, "I shadowed physicians in Ob/gyn, neurosurgery, ortho and, most memorably, Dr. Dean in derm." Or should I be less obvious and say, "I shadowed Dr. X in Ob, Dr. Y in neuro and most memorably, Dr. Dean in derm." Or maybe just no names at all?

Is this a stupid question? Lol. Is gonnif gonna come tell me Rule #1: Take a breath? Thank you guys for helping us all. You're appreciated!

Don't name drop. Don't editorialize with "most memorably." Include the names. Most just list them with their individual dates, hours, specialty, and contact.

 

[tbonez71]

Abstracts that have been published in a peer-reviewed journal. (This is rare, but generally some academic societies have their abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, abstracts from the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism World Congress, September 13-16, 2010 were published in a supplement to the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. This is not a peer-reviewed venue in the traditional sense, so Still Kickin was right to express some reservations about this in another thread. If you were submitting materials for tenure, then you would not list this in any 'peer-reviewed' section of your CV. However, for the purposes of a medical student applying for residency training using the CAF, it is generally considered acceptable to list in this section.)

This is exactly my situation. The poster abstract will be published in a supplemental issue alongside the monthly journal. As I understand it, the suggestion is I can still list this under "publication" as long as I am explicit in saying it is an abstract, not a fully peer-reviewed manuscript.

Thank you for the citation example as well. I honestly don't know how I would be figuring this out if you all weren't here to help!

 

[Catalystik]

1. do we need to add a sentence description of a poster/oral presentation about what the presentation was about?

2. should we separate poster vs oral presentation at the same conference? i heard that oral was more prestigious so I was wondering if its worth putting the oral presentation its own separate slot since I have 3 posters in the posters slot already

3. if an abstract is peer-reviewed and published an online supplement to a very reputable journal---should I list it under publication or poster/presentation or both?

1) No, the title of the poster should tell us that.

2) Why not put the oral (podium) presentation first (distinguishing it as oral) and then the others after it?

3) See posts above: #524, 532,535,535, 539, and 547 which are a prolonged, spread-out discussion of this issue. Summary: Abstract Publication

 

[Catalystik]

This is exactly my situation. The poster abstract will be published in a supplemental issue alongside the monthly journal. As I understand it, the suggestion is I can still list this under "publication" as long as I am explicit in saying it is an abstract, not a fully peer-reviewed manuscript.

Thank you for the citation example as well. I honestly don't know how I would be figuring this out if you all weren't here to help!

Thanks to @efle for inspiring me to offer provide an example and to clarify all our thoughts on how to approach this.

 

[Catalystik]

Do you think it would be okay to list reading as an EC? I'm a big bookworm but don't know if this is too bland to list as an EC

Yes, but you might specify some genres that attract you or specific authors you collect. Give an adcomm reason to use it as a conversational gambit.

 

[OchemOficionado]

Don't name drop. Don't editorialize with "most memorably." Include the names. Most just list them with their individual dates, hours, specialty, and contact.

Will do. Thank you!