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

[Catalystik]

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Question about how to classify an activity.

I played a leadership role during 3/4 years of undergrad in a club. The club engaged in a lot of non-medical community service. Would it be okay to list it as leadership and not as community service-not medical/clinical?

EDIT: Re-read the first page after posting. The answer is yes, it is okay to list as leadership.

But the date span in the header should be for leadership years only, with the year of general membership referred to in the narrative as the back story, and not including those hours in your Total Hours of Leadership.

 

[Ayahuasca]

But the date span in the header should be for leadership years only, with the year of general membership referred to in the narrative as the back story, and not including those hours in your Total Hours of Leadership.

Ahhh interesting, could it be useful to split it into two then? One stating leadership and the associated hours and another that is community service/ non-clinical and have the hours spent doing that. It was originally a MM so i might make the leadership MM. Is that weird? Can just select another activity as MM too.

 

[Catalystik]

Ahhh interesting, could it be useful to split it into two then? One stating leadership and the associated hours and another that is community service/ non-clinical and have the hours spent doing that. It was originally a MM so i might make the leadership MM. Is that weird? Can just select another activity as MM too.

If the hours associated with each component are strong enough, certainly you can split the activities and their separate hours into two spaces. It's fine for the Leadership portion to be designated MM and to pick another activity as MM, too. It's also fine to have only 1-2 MM spaces.

 

[lickerwhicker]

How do you describe an award or honor you received? I received a leadership award + small scholarship for cultural awareness...should I just simply describe what the honor was for? or should i go beyond that and say something like "i got this award because" or "i am grateful to receive this award because" ?

 

[teamoteamo]

One of the physicians that I shadowed has since retired, and I was never able to retain her personal email address. She still has access to her work email, but I doubt she regularly checks it. Should I just use the contact information that I have for her in my shadowing section?

 

[Catalystik]

How do you describe an award or honor you received? I received a leadership award + small scholarship for cultural awareness...should I just simply describe what the honor was for? or should i go beyond that and say something like "i got this award because" or "i am grateful to receive this award because" ?

I would want to know the criteria for receiving the awards. If you can give a notion of how selective the process was, that would be helpful.

 

[Catalystik]

One of the physicians that I shadowed has since retired, and I was never able to retain her personal email address. She still has access to her work email, but I doubt she regularly checks it. Should I just use the contact information that I have for her in my shadowing section?

Yes. And you might note in your narrative that she's no longer in practice by adding "(retired)" to your description of her.

 

[Ayahuasca]

If the hours associated with each component are strong enough, certainly you can split the activities and their separate hours into two spaces. It's fine for the Leadership portion to be designated MM and to pick another activity as MM, too. It's also fine to have only 1-2 MM spaces.

How strong do the hours have to be for leadership to stand on its own? I would estimate that I have ~90 or about 1 hour per week over 3 years.

Or could I also just classify the club as an extracurricular activity and place the time as all 4 years then explain the leadership and community service within that. That also gives me a chance to talk about other club activities that were not directly related to those classifications.

Thanks for the help by the way. I appreciate it.

 

[Catalystik]

1) How strong do the hours have to be for leadership to stand on its own? I would estimate that I have ~90 or about 1 hour per week over 3 years.

2) Or could I also just classify the club as an extracurricular activity and place the time as all 4 years then explain the leadership and community service within that. That also gives me a chance to talk about other club activities that were not directly related to those classifications.

Thanks for the help by the way. I appreciate it.

1) 90 hours is terrific and sufficiently strong.

2) Having a Leadership and a Service tab will serve your application best if you have nothing else in those categories.

If you do use an EC tab, be sure your title for the activity suggests the other qualifying designations.

 

[Wingardium Leviosa]

Hello--I apologize in advance if this has been asked anywhere else.

I am currently completing a "year of service" working in a community health position. We are sort of the link between the medical field and social services. I don't want to get too into details for anonymity, but we do things link getting people access to health insurance, chronic disease management, appointments, transportation, and lowering prescription costs. I sometimes go to appointments with consumers. I am not paid directly (other than a minimal (<$150) per month stipend), but room and board is taken care of. What should this be filed under? Volunteer experience? Work experience? Clinical or non-clinical? If you need more details, I am happy to PM. This might be one of my most meaningful experiences.

Thanks 🙂

 

[lexington251]

I have authorship on several other posters, but including the ones I've presented, there isn't enough space (8 posters, 5 of which are mine). Should I just omit the ones I did not present?

Also, should I mention whether or not they are international/national conferences??

 

[Catalystik]

Hello--I apologize in advance if this has been asked anywhere else.

I am currently completing a "year of service" working in a community health position. We are sort of the link between the medical field and social services. I don't want to get too into details for anonymity, but we do things link getting people access to health insurance, chronic disease management, appointments, transportation, and lowering prescription costs. I sometimes go to appointments with consumers. I am not paid directly (other than a minimal (<$150) per month stipend), but room and board is taken care of. What should this be filed under? Volunteer experience? Work experience? Clinical or non-clinical? If you need more details, I am happy to PM. This might be one of my most meaningful experiences.

Thanks 🙂

Sounds to me like it's Volunteer, but I'd mention the minimal stipend that is not a living wage.

Since your clients are current patients with medical problems (I'm assuming at least 50% of them) that you interact with in a helpful way to improve their medical condition, I'd consider it clinical.

 

[Catalystik]

1) I have authorship on several other posters, but including the ones I've presented, there isn't enough space (8 posters, 5 of which are mine). Should I just omit the ones I did not present?

2) Also, should I mention whether or not they are international/national conferences??

1) Just because you didn't present it personally, that doesn't take away from the credit you get for authorship (tho you should give credit to the actual presenter). If you have to eliminate some, I'd use different criteria. Omit any presented at your home institution, or move them to the affiliated Research space. If any are based on the same project, you might list only the one that had the most prestigious venue, and vaguely refer to the rest. You could take out any where you are far down on the author list. You can also shorten the citations by summarizing titles and author lists to gain more space.

2) The name of the conference and its city are enough to mention.

 

[lexington251]

1) Just because you didn't present it personally, that doesn't take away from the credit you get for authorship (tho you should give credit to the actual presenter). If you have to eliminate some, I'd use different criteria. Omit any presented at your home institution, or move them to the affiliated Research space. If any are based on the same project, you might list only the one that had the most prestigious venue, and vaguely refer to the rest. You could take out any where you are far down on the author list. You can also shorten the citations by summarizing titles and author lists to gain more space.

2) The name of the conference and its city are enough to mention.

Thank you! I was able to omit 2.

1. Is it alright to abbreviate the conference for additional posters if I use the full name first? Ex. "Super Amazing Research Conference (SARC)"

2. I have two conference experiences, one national and international. However, the international one was hosted at my local university, so I was involved with managing and organizing. Would it be better to use the international conference experience than the national conference I was not affiliated with, even though our university hosted it? Or does it not matter at all 😛

 

[hat]

I have yet another question about my scribe/trainer work. Like I said, I'm listing Scribe Training Work under Leadership and non-trainer Scribe Work under Clinical Employment. My question is in regard to hours. The total number of hours I worked with the official job title of "Scribe Trainer" would add up to around 750, but I actually spent most of this time doing individual scribe work, since we only trained when new scribes were hired, which wasn't all the time. There is no way for me to go back and find out exactly what days I was training versus when I was just doing regular scribe work. So my question is, is it okay for the total hours in the "Leadership (Not Listed Elsewhere)" section to include all of the hours I was working under the Scribe Trainer title, even the hours that I was just doing regular, individual (ie not particularly leadership-y) scribe work under this title? I wouldn't want adcoms to think I am artificially fluffing my leadership hours, but I don't know how else I could break down the hours in a way that makes sense.

 

[Catalystik]

Thank you! I was able to omit 2.

1. Is it alright to abbreviate the conference for additional posters if I use the full name first? Ex. "Super Amazing Research Conference (SARC)"

2. I have two conference experiences, one national and international. However, the international one was hosted at my local university, so I was involved with managing and organizing. Would it be better to use the international conference experience than the national conference I was not affiliated with, even though our university hosted it? Or does it not matter at all 😛

1) Yes.

2) I can't judge which is the more prestigious, but the International Conference on your home turf might be perceived of lesser importance due to its location, unless you explain. If you're not sure, maybe go with the one that had the most attendees?

 

[Catalystik]

I have yet another question about my scribe/trainer work. Like I said, I'm listing Scribe Training Work under Leadership and non-trainer Scribe Work under Clinical Employment. My question is in regard to hours. The total number of hours I worked with the official job title of "Scribe Trainer" would add up to around 750, but I actually spent most of this time doing individual scribe work, since we only trained when new scribes were hired, which wasn't all the time. There is no way for me to go back and find out exactly what days I was training versus when I was just doing regular scribe work. So my question is, is it okay for the total hours in the "Leadership (Not Listed Elsewhere)" section to include all of the hours I was working under the Scribe Trainer title, even the hours that I was just doing regular, individual (ie not particularly leadership-y) scribe work under this title? I wouldn't want adcoms to think I am artificially fluffing my leadership hours, but I don't know how else I could break down the hours in a way that makes sense.

That seems "fluffy" to me.

Could you maybe use your impression of the %time you worked that utilized your leadership capabilities and calculate the hours that way? Precision regarding the exact days isn't necessary.

 

[lickerwhicker]

I would want to know the criteria for receiving the awards. If you can give a notion of how selective the process was, that would be helpful.

What if I don't know what the selection process was like? I just know that my university's selection committee receives lots of nominations for qualified candidates and that the committee selects who they think made the biggest impact on our campus and etc...do you think I should contact the selection committee and ask what their selection process was like, or is there something else that I could also talk about for the award/honor description?

 

[Ayahuasca]

1) 90 hours is terrific and sufficiently strong.

2) Having a Leadership and a Service tab will serve your application best if you have nothing else in those categories.

If you do use an EC tab, be sure your title for the activity suggests the other qualifying designations.

Thanks for the help! Looks like I'll be splitting it into two slots.

 

[Hirro]

Hello, sorry to take up space again.

When filling out my previous shadowing experiences, I have shadowed multiple physicians as well as other healthcare professionals (PA, RN, Pharm.D) among different hospitals and clinics. I cannot list them all within 700 characters without giving absolutely 0 detail about the experiences including contact info and hospital. I was also considering listing one of them as a most meaningful experience but am not sure if that's acceptable when I have other non-related shadowing experiences grouped with it. If I did have my shadowing experience separate, I would have 3 shadowing experiences total if the most meaningful was given its own experience. What is the best approach here?

In listing that I was in my university marching band, I put down hours spent for the band practices as well as at exhibitions, competitions, and games. Should I list this as an extracurricular activity or as an artistic endeavor? We regularly performed in front of an audience and I had to audition to get into the marching band. It was very competitive to get in. In order to be in the band, I was required to sign up for 1 credit hour so this activity is on my transcript as well but that one hour does not convey how big a commitment this was hence why I am listing it in this section.

 

[begoood95]

Quick question @Catalystik: how many hours should I put for posters I significantly contributed to, but did not present? The conferences were held during the academic semester so I was unable to attend.

 

[lickerwhicker]

Also I have a couple other questions:

1) Do you always have to say what you learned from the experience? Could you instead write about what impact you made through the experience?

2) Would you consider peer-led sexual health education to be a nonclinical community service activity or a teaching/tutoring activity?

3) Can you use acronyms for an organization name if the name is too long?

Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

What if I don't know what the selection process was like? I just know that my university's selection committee receives lots of nominations for qualified candidates and that the committee selects who they think made the biggest impact on our campus and etc...do you think I should contact the selection committee and ask what their selection process was like, or is there something else that I could also talk about for the award/honor description?

You could talk to someone and ask # of nominations vs # selected for recognition, in addition to including the "biggest impact" on campus criteria that you mentioned.

 

[Catalystik]

Quick question @Catalystik: how many hours should I put for posters I significantly contributed to, but did not present? The conferences were held during the academic semester so I was unable to attend.

Enter a 0 or a 1. Preparation hours should be added to the Research Total Hours.

 

[Catalystik]

Also I have a couple other questions:

1) Do you always have to say what you learned from the experience? Could you instead write about what impact you made through the experience?

2) Would you consider peer-led sexual health education to be a nonclinical community service activity or a teaching/tutoring activity?

3) Can you use acronyms for an organization name if the name is too long?

Thank you!

1) No. Yes.

2) It could be either, depending on which balances your application better.

3) Only if it's universally understood, like YMCA.

 

[begoood95]

Enter a 0 or a 1. Preparation hours should be added to the Research Total Hours.

Lastly: this is my 15th activity, and I was hesitant to include it because "15 is a lot," but I consider it an important product of my research. I state clearly that I didn't present the posters, describe my contribution, then cite them. This wouldn't be considered "fluff," right? I've quoted my other activities below so you could reference them.

edit: oh, and they weren't included in #6 because I didn't present them, and they were off-campus at conferences; #6 was on campus, and I exclusively presented.

Hello again @Catalystik!

1. *Research: “Glycobiology/Biochemistry Research"
   
2. Physician Shadowing: “Physician Shadowing”
3. *Extracurricular Activities: “Martial Arts Student, Lead Instructor, and Organizer"
4. Paid Employment-Clinical: "Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA)"
5. Paid Employment-Nonclinical: “Server at Olive Garden"
6. Presentations/Posters: “Poster Presentations and 3MT Competition" (I explain what "3MT" is in the description)
   
7. Honors/Awards/Recognitions: "Academic and Athletic Awards"
8. Presentations/Posters: “Philosophical Conference Presentation”
9. *Other: “Himalayan Medical and Anthropological Global Health"
10. Community Service/Volunteering-Nonclinical: "STEM Tutor"
11. Leadership: “President and Vice President of Secular Organization"
12. Other: “Panel Debate: Creation vs. Evolution"
13. Community Service/Volunteering-Clinical: "Hospice and Cancer Center Volunteer"
14. Leadership: "President and Vice President of Philosophy Organization"

(*Most Meaningful)

 

[Catalystik]

1) When filling out my previous shadowing experiences, I have shadowed multiple physicians as well as other healthcare professionals (PA, RN, Pharm.D) among different hospitals and clinics. I cannot list them all within 700 characters without giving absolutely 0 detail about the experiences including contact info and hospital.

2) I was also considering listing one of them as a most meaningful experience but am not sure if that's acceptable when I have other non-related shadowing experiences grouped with it.

3) If I did have my shadowing experience separate, I would have 3 shadowing experiences total if the most meaningful was given its own experience. What is the best approach here?

4) In listing that I was in my university marching band, I put down hours spent for the band practices as well as at exhibitions, competitions, and games. Should I list this as an extracurricular activity or as an artistic endeavor? We regularly performed in front of an audience and I had to audition to get into the marching band. It was very competitive to get in. In order to be in the band, I was required to sign up for 1 credit hour so this activity is on my transcript as well but that one hour does not convey how big a commitment this was hence why I am listing it in this section.

1) You can cut out the non physician shadowing completely, or instead sum it up with one sentence about those occupations and total hours. If the entry still won't fit, pick the top total hours docs, list their details, and summarize the other specialties with total hours in one sentence.

2) It would be fine to do that.

3) Three entries are too many for Shadowing, IMO.

4) I'd call it an Artistic Endeavor, but either category will do.

 

[Catalystik]

Lastly: this is my 15th activity, and I was hesitant to include it because "15 is a lot," but I consider it an important product of my research. I state clearly that I didn't present the posters, describe my contribution, then cite them. This wouldn't be considered "fluff," right? I've quoted my other activities below so you could reference them.

edit: oh, and they weren't included in #6 because I didn't present them, and they were off-campus at conferences; #6 was on campus, and I exclusively presented.

It wouldn't be fluff. Go for it.

 

[GCS-15]

Hi all, For entering awards, what should I put as the number of hours? I have several awards I grouped together.

Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Catalystik]

For entering awards, what should I put as the number of hours? I have several awards I grouped together.

Enter 0 or the number of hours you spent sitting at the related awards ceremonies.

 

[Wingardium Leviosa]

Sounds to me like it's Volunteer, but I'd mention the minimal stipend that is not a living wage.

Since your clients are current patients with medical problems (I'm assuming at least 50% of them) that you interact with in a helpful way to improve their medical condition, I'd consider it clinical.

Thanks mucho!

 

[cupcakewarrior]

I spent a lot of time working a clinical research assistant job where I directly interacted with the patients - in the hierarchy of how I should list this, I can't decide between paid employment - medical/clinical (I think this describes it better), or research/lab. One of my LORs is from the PI here, too. Any thoughts?

 

[zasxd]

Should I list a pizza delivery job I had for two summers? I don't really have a contact number besides the number for the restaurant. I'm also not sure if we're on the best terms (long story) and don't want them to say anything negative about me if contacted.

 

[boogiecousins94]

What do you put in the description box for a publication? I'm assuming just the citation, but should we put abstract also? My citation has PMID at the end, just not sure if I should leave all the blank space

Edit: Nevermind I underestimated how little 700 characters is. What do we put in the title though? Just the name of the paper?

 

[Catalystik]

I spent a lot of time working a clinical research assistant job where I directly interacted with the patients - in the hierarchy of how I should list this, I can't decide between paid employment - medical/clinical (I think this describes it better), or research/lab. One of my LORs is from the PI here, too. Any thoughts?

If you have nothing with decent hours under clinical volunteer or employment, then Employment-Medical/Clinical would be more important for your application. If you do, you're fine to call it Research.

 

[Halcyon32]

Is it a bad idea to put an EC that I started in February of 2017 and have only ~75 hours invested in to date (I will have a lot more by matriculation) as "most meaningful"? I really enjoy what I do there and learn a ton.

 

[Catalystik]

Should I list a pizza delivery job I had for two summers? I don't really have a contact number besides the number for the restaurant. I'm also not sure if we're on the best terms (long story) and don't want them to say anything negative about me if contacted.

You are not obliged to list every experience you've had. When a Contact is contacted, however, a reference isn't asked for, just a confirmation of timespan and hours worked. You'll have to decide if listing an activity that required responsibility and performance under pressure supercedes the small chance that a Contact would be attempted and negative information offered.

 

[Catalystik]

Is it a bad idea to put an EC that I started in February of 2017 and have only ~75 hours invested in to date (I will have a lot more by matriculation) as "most meaningful"? I really enjoy what I do there and learn a ton.

No. It's an acceptable choice.

 

[paran0idandr0id42]

I am lumping together my time as a camp counselor along with the time I served as a medic at said camp in one slot (I was solely a counselor for two years and counselor/medic for one). Is it ok to consider this paid employment-medical/clinical?

 

[Catalystik]

What do you put in the description box for a publication? I'm assuming just the citation, but should we put abstract also? My citation has PMID at the end, just not sure if I should leave all the blank space

Edit: Nevermind I underestimated how little 700 characters is. What do we put in the title though? Just the name of the paper?

Title could be Fourth- Authored Paper on Biomechanics (or some other general category).

 

[Catalystik]

I am lumping together my time as a camp counselor along with the time I served as a medic at said camp in one slot (I was solely a counselor for two years and counselor/medic for one). Is it ok to consider this paid employment-medical/clinical?

No. Better to say it's not, but to include the medic designation in the title you give the space. Let adcomms make their own decision.

If you have nothing else clinical, then you'd do best to divide the activity into two spaces, one of which would be clinical, but with those hours separated out and not double counted.

 

[morejedi]

Hi again Cat - my personal statement has a section that discusses something that is also one of my most memorable activities. One line within the PS and AS are the same, they just provide a very accurate example of my overall takeaway from the experience.

Is that a really bad idea/should I re-word it in the activity statement?

 

[Crocognar]

I have been scribing for 1 year and plan to do so until around June of 2018 before I matriculate. What should I put for my End Date and Hours?

 

[pewpew95]

So my problem is that I have too many work/activity experiences (16) and I need some input on what I should and should not include here. Out of the ones listed below, I'm wondering if I should eliminate one of them completely or find somewhere else on the app to include:
- Medical scribe part-time employment that I just began this month
- Awards (2 scholarships, dean's list, honors college)
- Part-time sales associate

All my other experiences are significant enough that I would want to keep them listed. Any thoughts or advice please?

 

[lickerwhicker]

I have a couple more questions:

1) Would you consider being a camp counselor for kids with chronic illnesses as nonclinical or clinical community service?

2) Would you consider teaching science lessons to elementary school students and students with disabilities as nonclinical community service or teaching/tutoring?

sorry i'm just really bad at figuring out which categories to pick since they kind of overlap with both...thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

my personal statement has a section that discusses something that is also one of my most memorable activities. One line within the PS and AS are the same, they just provide a very accurate example of my overall takeaway from the experience.

Is that a really bad idea/should I re-word it in the activity statement?

I would use somewhat different vocabulary. The sentiment can remain the same.

 

[Catalystik]

I have been scribing for 1 year and plan to do so until around June of 2018 before I matriculate. What should I put for my End Date and Hours?

The end date can be June 2018, but I suggest a conservative estimate of hours, and breaking the hours down by current and future so they are separate. Consider using the Repeated feature, using May as the start date for the second timespan. If you enter June before it's actually June, the program won't save it.

Alternatively, mention the future hours only in the narrative space.

 

[Catalystik]

So my problem is that I have too many work/activity experiences (16) and I need some input on what I should and should not include here. Out of the ones listed below, I'm wondering if I should eliminate one of them completely or find somewhere else on the app to include:
- Medical scribe part-time employment that I just began this month
- Awards (2 scholarships, dean's list, honors college)
- Part-time sales associate

All my other experiences are significant enough that I would want to keep them listed. Any thoughts or advice please?

Cut out the Awards or mention the new scribe job in the PS or at the end of another clinical activity.

 

[Catalystik]

I have a couple more questions:

1) Would you consider being a camp counselor for kids with chronic illnesses as nonclinical or clinical community service?

2) Would you consider teaching science lessons to elementary school students and students with disabilities as nonclinical community service or teaching/tutoring?

1) What was your role?

2) Either is fine. Pick the one that balances your application best.

 

[GCS-15]

Enter 0 or the number of hours you spent sitting at the related awards ceremonies.

Thank you! For the presentation/poster sections, it also asks for the number of hours - is that the number of hours at the conference or the number of hours I spent working on the poster?