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

[Catalystik]

If we're condensing all physician shadowing into one entry who exactly should be entered as the contact info sense you can only put one person/organization down?

You'd enter contact info for each doc in the narrative after the first. See example in the FAQ of post #2.

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[Halcyon32]

I have a repeated EC, i.e. one that I do during the school year only, how should I indicate hours that I plan to do in the future? For example, when next semester starts in September, I plan on starting one of my ECs again but AMCAS only lets you put in a start date that has already passed, not a future start date. Should I just answer "no" for "Repeated?" and list all the hours, current and future, all together?

 

[Catalystik]

I have a repeated EC, i.e. one that I do during the school year only, how should I indicate hours that I plan to do in the future? For example, when next semester starts in September, I plan on starting one of my ECs again but AMCAS only lets you put in a start date that has already passed, not a future start date. Should I just answer "no" for "Repeated?" and list all the hours, current and future, all together?

You could list an all-inclusive datespan and theoretical Total Hours through next ?May 2018, and add the words, Academic Year to the activity name to suggest intermittency, but it would be desirable to break down current vs future hours in the narrative if you use that approach.

Alternatively, list only the current dates and hours, but add to the narrative the future dates and hours, saying they "aren't included in the above Total Hours."

 

[Halcyon32]

You could list an all-inclusive datespan and theoretical Total Hours through next ?May 2018, and add the words, Academic Year to the activity name to suggest intermittency, but it would be desirable to break down current vs future hours in the narrative if you use that approach.

Alternatively, list only the current dates and hours, but add to the narrative the future dates and hours, saying they "aren't included in the above Total Hours."

I wrote the dates as August 2016-May 2018 and included the future hours with the total hours. In the description I wrote ~50 hours a semester, 4 hours a week. Do you think its clear that half of the total hours are current and half in the future?

 

[Catalystik]

I'm having trouble deciding on how to organize my various research activities in AMCAS. Any advice is appreciated. Here's what I have so far:

**Undergrad research (Research/Lab)

• Description of research activities I did. I am a co-author on two posters from this research, but 1) not sure if this is where I should list those, or in a separate poster section

**Graduate Research

• Description of research. This was pretty successful research, and resulted in a patent through the university 2) (should I list the patent here or somewhere else?). I am first author on a paper in review, but won't be accepted by the time I submit. 3) I would like to be able to mention this somewhere, though. We posted a pre-print online that got a lot of news exposure for this project; I was on the news, and there were >10 articles written on popular science news websites.

**Awards/Honor/Recognition

• I have several scholarships and awards from undergrad.
• Won a poster prize and travel award to a conference in grad school.
• Received a national fellowship for graduate school. This is a very competitive fellowship, and 4) I'm not sure if I should list it in it's own category or not?

** Presentations/Posters

• I presented an extended talk at a national conference
• I am a co-author on 5 other presentations given at national conferences, as well as a poster. All from grad school.
• I also have the two co-author posters from undergrad. Should i list them here, or in the research spot above?

** Publications

• I have a first author in review now, though I've read that I shouldn't list it until it's accepted. But, given the explanation above, I'd like to put it somewhere.
• I will have ~4-6 more co-author publications within the next year, but nothing accepted yet. 5) Should I list anything about this, or just have my PI put it in my recommendation letter.

** Research Mentoring / Leadership

• I was the first student in PI's lab, helped him build the lab space and the culture of the group.
• I have 6) mentored an undergrad student, and a visiting international graduate student. Should I list these experiences on their own, or in a different part of my research experience? Or in a different leadership experience I have already listed?

Anyways, a lot of this stuff is related and I'm not sure how to structure it the best on the AMCAS application. Any advice?

In answer to the questions you posed, which I numbered (but also please read post #2, item 20, as it might help you organize):

1) If they were presented locally, mention the posters with the affiliated Research, otherwise they can have their own space.

2) If you have a patent or patent pending, it deserves its own space. Use the Other tag.

3) If you feel compelled to include a submitted manuscript, add it to the affiliated Research slot.

4) It would in Awards/Honors. Give the criteria and an idea of how competitive it is.

5) You should not mention them, but having the PI do so is acceptable.

6) Mentoring goes under Teaching, not leadership.

NB: You may not have the space to separate out these extra activities, and may need to make compromises, selecting out those experiences that best suit your candidacy for med school.

 

[cupcakewarrior]

I drafted my descriptions but am having trouble cutting down from around 1200 char to 700. How important are these things and can I reasonably cut any?

• contact info for multiple activities under one heading
• hours subdivided by activity
• hours for future activities
• responsibilities of the positions vs. what I learned (in some cases I can choose between an illustrative example, or a description of things I did there generally)
• title of research vs. citation with description of title

Thanks in advance!!

edit: is just a contact name okay instead of email or phone? will save a lot of characters, and they're all verifiable on google basically

edit 2: in choosing future activities, i left out my papers that will come out during the cycle for update letters. i'm not sure if i should leave my new summer employment and volunteering for the next year out of work/activities and save it for an update? i do know about it already, though, and they fit in with the existing categories. and i'm not sure how much of an impact it would make for updates the way research papers would. i appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

[Halcyon32]

I want to write about an ethnic club I joined at school. I am a part of this ethnicity and before joining this club, I had traveled to that country and spent a significant amount of time there. While there, the literally 90% of the people I interacted with in the whole country were the most unpleasant, heartless, and unfriendly I had ever met and I developed a negative disposition towards people of this ethnicity. However, I felt I was being a bit extreme in thinking this so in an effort to learn more about my culture and it's people I joined that ethnic club at school and now they are some of the dearest friends I have and I feel a great sense of unity with them and my culture and realize I was hasty in judging the people of the country I traveled to.

My question is two fold:
1) how can I word my initial disdain for these people without coming off as racist or dismissing a whole country as consisting of awful people?
2) should I even mention this change of heart/reasons why I joined the club/bonds I made in the club or should I save this sort of thing for secondaries and just talk about what I did in the club?

Leaning towards number 2 but I think the explanation I gave is also important and am worried I won't be able to talk about it in all of the secondaries.

 

[cupcakewarrior]

I want to write about an ethnic club I joined at school. I am a part of this ethnicity and before joining this club, I had traveled to that country and spent a significant amount of time there. While there, the literally 90% of the people I interacted with in the whole country were the most unpleasant, heartless, and unfriendly I had ever met and I developed a negative disposition towards people of this ethnicity. However, I felt I was being a bit extreme in thinking this so in an effort to learn more about my culture and it's people I joined that ethnic club at school and now they are some of the dearest friends I have and I feel a great sense of unity with them and my culture and realize I was hasty in judging the people of the country I traveled to.

My question is two fold:
1) how can I word my initial disdain for these people without coming off as racist or dismissing a whole country as consisting of awful people?
2) should I even mention this change of heart/reasons why I joined the club/bonds I made in the club or should I save this sort of thing for secondaries and just talk about what I did in the club?

Leaning towards number 2 but I think the explanation I gave is also important and am worried I won't be able to talk about it in all of the secondaries.

since i had a similar experience before, i'll chime in. when i talk about it, i usually try to focus on how that made me doubt my culture relative to myself instead of how i felt about other people. questioning yourself isn't racist, but judging others based on ethnicity is. when talking about interactions that led you to feel this way, you might consider phrasing it as a culture shock or misunderstanding from your different point of view. for an exaggerated example, if talking loudly is rude in my neighbor's household, but a sign of affection in mine, they'll probably develop a negative attitude towards me from that misunderstanding. let's say we're forced to hang out at a neighborhood block party and end up understanding where each other are coming from and accept the differences and move past it. if you can connect your experiences to a similar situation, i think it could be good at demonstrating your ability to learn to communicate with people different from you and learning to not judge others, which (idk i'm not a doctor yet!) seems like a pretty important clinical skill.

 

[Catalystik]

I wrote the dates as August 2016-May 2018 and included the future hours with the total hours. In the description I wrote ~50 hours a semester, 4 hours a week. Do you think its clear that half of the total hours are current and half in the future?

Good enough, but could be clearer.

 

[Halcyon32]

since i had a similar experience before, i'll chime in. when i talk about it, i usually try to focus on how that made me doubt my culture relative to myself instead of how i felt about other people. questioning yourself isn't racist, but judging others based on ethnicity is. when talking about interactions that led you to feel this way, you might consider phrasing it as a culture shock or misunderstanding from your different point of view. for an exaggerated example, if talking loudly is rude in my neighbor's household, but a sign of affection in mine, they'll probably develop a negative attitude towards me from that misunderstanding. let's say we're forced to hang out at a neighborhood block party and end up understanding where each other are coming from and accept the differences and move past it. if you can connect your experiences to a similar situation, i think it could be good at demonstrating your ability to learn to communicate with people different from you and learning to not judge others, which (idk i'm not a doctor yet!) seems like a pretty important clinical skill.

This is terrific advice, thank you! It encompasses a lot of how I feel about the situation, especially the doubting my culture relative to myself aspect. Do you think I should talk about this stuff in the activity description or secondaries?

 

[cupcakewarrior]

This is terrific advice, thank you! It encompasses a lot of how I feel about the situation, especially the doubting my culture relative to myself aspect. Do you think I should talk about this stuff in the activity description or secondaries?

Glad I could help, I'm running into the same issue myself for a few activities where I could go on and on about them. but the character limit only gives us around 6 lines to describe everything in that entry so the more "deep" things about my personality are going into secondaries.

 

[Halcyon32]

Glad I could help, I'm running into the same issue myself for a few activities where I could go on and on about them. but the character limit only gives us around 6 lines to describe everything in that entry so the more "deep" things about my personality are going into secondaries.

Yeah that was giving me trouble too. Good idea, thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

I drafted my descriptions but am having trouble cutting down from around 1200 char to 700.

1) How important are these things and can I reasonably cut any?

• contact info for multiple activities under one heading
• hours subdivided by activity
• hours for future activities
• responsibilities of the positions vs. what I learned (in some cases I can choose between an illustrative example, or a description of things I did there generally)
• title of research vs. citation with description of title

2) is just a contact name okay instead of email or phone? will save a lot of characters, and they're all verifiable on google basically

3) i'm not sure if i should leave my new summer employment and volunteering for the next year out of work/activities and save it for an update? i do know about it already, though, and they fit in with the existing categories. and i'm not sure how much of an impact it would make for updates the way research papers would. i appreciate any thoughts on this.

1) One set of guidelines won't universally be true for all activities. You can cut out responsibilities, impact, or anecdotes where most people would intuit that info. Taking out basic header information may de-legitimize an activity in adcomm eyes. I'm just giving one possible approach, which you're free to ignore.

2) No.

3) If you want schools to know what your plans are, I understand that you might want to include a new activity even tho it won't impact your application. You can use a space for it, which might look like fluff (though I think one fluff won't have a negative impact), or you can sneak mention of it at the end of the PS if it can be made into a logical progression in your journey to medicine, or alternatively, mention it at the end of a related activity space. Update letters where allowed would show you carried through on your plan.

 

[Catalystik]

since i had a similar experience before, i'll chime in.

I appreciate your taking the time to give your perspective.

 

[cupcakewarrior]

3) If you want schools to know what your plans are, I understand that you might want to include a new activity even tho it won't impact your application. You can use a space for it, which might look like fluff (though I think one fluff won't have a negative impact), or you can sneak mention of it at the end of the PS if it can be made into a logical progression in your journey to medicine, or alternatively, mention it at the end of a related activity space. Update letters where allowed would show you carried through on your plan.

Thank you!! This clears up how to prioritize trimming the description a lot for me.

 

[sparkleberry27]

is it okay to have an organization acronym in the Experience Name, which i then spell out in the Organization Name?

 

[type42tardis]

A couple quick question regarding Work/Activities section.

1. Do one of most meaningful experiences have to be medically related? I currently have three that are unrelated to medicine listed as my three most meaningful experiences
2. I have been working at the same part time job (at a fast food restaurant near my place of residence) ever since I started undergraduate in 2014. I can not recall how many hours I have worked there over the past three years. Will it reflect upon me poorly if I say I worked an average of 20 hrs a week, when in actuality I may have only worked an average of 15 hours a week. I ask because I am going to put my General Manger as the Contact, and I don't want him to say something that contradicts what I have written in case he is contacted. I am including my work experience as one of my most meaningful experiences.

 

[MDEngineer]

.

 

[hat]

[deleted]

 

[Hopeful2021]

Hey guys,

I have had 4 retail jobs where my responsibilities have been the same for the most part, so I wanted to put them all under one entry and save some spots that way but they are all with different companies, different timelines and different contact details so doesn't look like I can put them under one entry. Is there any way around this or it just has to be 4 entries? Thank you.

 

[brabaroni]

Most meaningful question:

I feel weird being so introspective. Everything sounds cheesy and lame to explicitly say what something did for me, or why it was important to me. Does anyone feel like this? Anyone have any tips for this?

For instance, I worked with a nonprofit to create a program that gave free wifi to villagers in Africa through use of off-hours of humanitarian organizations wifi networks. Honestly it was a really amazing experience. I never talked with any of the people directly, but the organizations showed so much gratitude and exclaimed how cool of an idea it was. Am I supposed to just say blatantly how it made me feel and what I learned from it?

Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

is it okay to have an organization acronym in the Experience Name, which i then spell out in the Organization Name?

It would be better to use a more generic designation in the title, then spell out the organization followed by it's acronym in the narrative the first time you use it. So instead of AED in the title, say "Premed Support Club" or somesuch.

 

[Harrybean]

Hello!

I was wondering if it would look like I'm fluffing up my application if I put a clinical volunteering and an award that I received from the org as separate activities.

 

[Catalystik]

A couple quick question regarding Work/Activities section.

1. Do one of most meaningful experiences have to be medically related? I currently have three that are unrelated to medicine listed as my three most meaningful experiences
2. I have been working at the same part time job (at a fast food restaurant near my place of residence) ever since I started undergraduate in 2014. I can not recall how many hours I have worked there over the past three years. Will it reflect upon me poorly if I say I worked an average of 20 hrs a week, when in actuality I may have only worked an average of 15 hours a week. I ask because I am going to put my General Manger as the Contact, and I don't want him to say something that contradicts what I have written in case he is contacted. I am including my work experience as one of my most meaningful experiences.

1) Nope.

2) Yes. It would be better to underestimate than to exaggerate.

 

[Catalystik]

I'm trying to organize my non-clinical volunteering experiences. I have about 50 hours of volunteer tutoring, but I grouped that into a teaching experience. Then I have about 30 hours of volunteering at science outreach events, and 200 hours of dog fostering. Would it be acceptable just to group the outreach and fostering into a single "Non-clinical volunteering" activity?

Yes, but I don't know enough about the dog fostering to support its being a volunteer experience vs a hobby.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Is it necessary to say something really profound in every activity marked Most Meaningful? I am marking my research experience as Most Meaningful, but by the time I finish describing all my research I only have about 3 sentences left to explain what makes it so meaningful. It's hard to fit something profound in that space.

2) Also, in my personal statement I already reference how the experience of performing human-subject research caused me to begin considering a career as a clinician researcher, so I assume anyone reviewing my application would realize that is a major part of why I mark it Most Meaningful, even if I don't say that or anything else so deep in the Activities section.

3) Is it okay to just list a brief laundry list of skills I developed in the course of my research? ie,

"Through these experiences, I became more adept at finding pleasure and fulfillment in the daily pursuit of knowledge without relying on short-term reward, as these experiments often yielded inconclusive or negative results. I also developed organizational skills by managing participant information and ensuring informed consent protocols were followed. Finally, my ability to communicate complex information was greatly strengthened by presenting results to a wider audience."

Or would that be seen as too brief and shallow, causing people to question why I marked it most meaningful?

1) No, but ideally there'd be some comment on impact, lessons learned, or future direction, which the purpose of the additional space.

2) You're making an assumption that the same screener reads all portions of the application. Not always true!

3) Yes, that looks good to me.

 

[Catalystik]

I have had 4 retail jobs where my responsibilities have been the same for the most part, so I wanted to put them all under one entry and save some spots that way but they are all with different companies, different timelines and different contact details so doesn't look like I can put them under one entry. Is there any way around this or it just has to be 4 entries?

You could make two entries, or eliminate one so the other three will fit in one spot.

 

[Catalystik]

Most meaningful question:

I feel weird being so introspective. Everything sounds cheesy and lame to explicitly say what something did for me, or why it was important to me. Does anyone feel like this? Anyone have any tips for this?

For instance, I worked with a nonprofit to create a program that gave free wifi to villagers in Africa through use of off-hours of humanitarian organizations wifi networks. Honestly it was a really amazing experience. I never talked with any of the people directly, but the organizations showed so much gratitude and exclaimed how cool of an idea it was. Am I supposed to just say blatantly how it made me feel and what I learned from it?

If it's designated MM, I'd hope you'd have something to say about impact, insights gained, lessons learned, or future direction. I'd hope there might be something uncheesy to say in response to one of those cues.

 

[Catalystik]

I was wondering if it would look like I'm fluffing up my application if I put a clinical volunteering and an award that I received from the org as separate activities.

If you have lots to say about each, it won't look fluffy.

 

[Lifeworks]

Hello,

1. I worked as a grader for a biochemistry course during the summer. Can I list this under teaching/tutor/teaching assistant?

2. I picked two paid employments for most meaningful experiences. One is a library assistant position and one is a lab tech position. Is it okay to have two separate paid employment entries?

 

[Catalystik]

1. I worked as a grader for a biochemistry course during the summer. Can I list this under teaching/tutor/teaching assistant?

2. I picked two paid employments for most meaningful experiences. One is a library assistant position and one is a lab tech position. Is it okay to have two separate paid employment entries?

1) If you didn't teach, call it Employment.

2) Yes. It's even OK to have three.

 

[Lifeworks]

1) If you didn't teach, call it Employment.

2) Yes. It's even OK to have three.

Thank you so much for the quick reply.

 

[Stumpyman]

I was an intern at a large city hospital and part of the internship involved shadowing surgeons, psychiatrists, and ER doctors (totaled close to 70 hours of shadowing). Should this shadowing experience be listed separately from the internship? Or should I include the shadowing aspect of the internship in the same experience?

I don't really have any shadowing experience aside from the internship (although I do have other clinical experiences, such as scribing).

 

[MDEngineer]

.

 

[Catalystik]

I was an intern at a large city hospital and part of the internship involved shadowing surgeons, psychiatrists, and ER doctors (totaled close to 70 hours of shadowing). Should this shadowing experience be listed separately from the internship? Or should I include the shadowing aspect of the internship in the same experience?

I don't really have any shadowing experience aside from the internship (although I do have other clinical experiences, such as scribing).

I strongly recommend that you separate out the Shadowing experiences and put them into a dedicated Shadowing space with their own hours. While scribing in person should count as shadowing IMO, every adcomm doesn't have the same opinion.

 

[Catalystik]

I rescued a dog from a breeder who no longer wanted her because she couldn't produce puppies anymore. I took care of her for around a month while we found her a permanent home. Does this help clarify whether it would be a hobby or volunteer experience?

I'd look at this as a weak volunteer experience unless you did it through an organization. I took in a rescued feral kitten found by a farmer and have kept her ten years (even though she bites a lot). I would not list that on my CV.

 

[FutureDoc4799]

If I had two separate leadership positions in a minority club for pre-med students, and the experience is titled as such, should I be elaborating on the mission of the club as well? I guess I just don't know if the role of such clubs is common knowledge. And if I should comment on the mission, should I do it for both leadership positions?

 

[Catalystik]

If I had two separate leadership positions in a minority club for pre-med students, and the experience is titled as such, should I be elaborating on the mission of the club as well? I guess I just don't know if the role of such clubs is common knowledge. And if I should comment on the mission, should I do it for both leadership positions?

If the purpose of the club is different than what most might assume from the description, then elaborate, but you will need space to discuss the role of each leadership position, too (unless they are exactly as expected, eg, Treasurer).

 

[HungryHungryHorse]

Hi everyone, thanks to the great people answering questions! I have three.

1. How/where to put the degrees (MD/PhD) that your contacts may have into the Activities Section of AMCAS?

2. Is it okay to reference the name of a specific doctor that I have worked with in my personal statement? He also wrote a letter of recommendation for me. It seems fine to me, but somebody made a remark that it may be better to just say the department name.

3. What does marking Combined MD / Graduate Degree on imply/entail? Are there additional application steps? I've seen that at some schools you seem to apply to graduate programs once you're already a medical student there. I'm considering a MD/MPP or MD/MPA.

 

[yuw057]

Hi everyone,

Quick question, I will writing about two research opportunities that were granted with scholarships in two separate research/lab entries. But I would like to include those scholarships on the honors/awards section as well (multiple honors lumped together). Could I just write "blah internship - see research (blah lab)" or is that not okay?

 

[MDEngineer]

.

 

[J_da123]

When writing the title of a doctor we shadowed or worked on research with, should we include MD as part of their title or just "division chief" for example?

 

[jkis]

Hi there! I'm unsure of how to list a couple of my activities.

I've done a lot of political work, and I'm not sure how best to categorize it.

a) Can I count working on a campaign (non-partisan, for an individual issue) as community service? It involved canvassing, phone banking, and rallies on a civil rights issue. On the one hand we made a meaningful difference in access to fair treatment for a lot of people in the community. On the other, the work I did wasn't necessarily helping the individuals/places with whom/which I interacted, and it's hard to measure the size of my individual influence/assistance. Additionally, not everyone would agree that what I did was a service, because some people opposed what I worked on.

b) What about volunteering for (partisan) campaigns for specific candidates? Is that an extracurricular?

c) Last one: lobbying? I called and met with legislators to lobby on issues that I felt were crucial to my community (women's healthcare access, public transportation to underserved areas, voting access, and funding for continuing education for ESL students, for example) and often relayed both personal stories/info and what I'd learned from community engagement. Not everyone had access to do this, so I often provided a connection between people and their representatives that they otherwise may not have had. But is that community service, leadership, or an extracurricular activity?

Sorry if this is asked and answered. I tried to search all the threads and still am not really sure how to approach these things.

Thanks!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is too much/irrelevant. I like to revive dying plants that are on sale at different stores, and have been successfully growing a lot of neglected plants for some time. Can I list this as a hobby? Thanks.

I think that's cool, personally. Definitely a talking point as long as you don't try to make it seem like a window into your inner doctor or something.

 

[lickerwhicker]

So I'm in a weird situation right now. I am an officer in many of the community service clubs I'm in at school, but do I need to talk about my leadership experience and my organization involvement separately? I have already used up all 15 spaces for the work and activities, so I'm not sure if I should lump my leadership and organization involvement into one category, or if I should get rid of some activities in order to make room to talk about each role separately.

 

[Oddball1221]

So I'm involved in leadership positions in 6 clubs and have two questions.

So with the 700 character limit, I'm running into space issues. Is it alright if I spread them out to 3 leadership entries?

Also, I was wondering if positions on grant committees counts as a leadership entry or extracurricular entry.

 

[Catalystik]

1. How/where to put the degrees (MD/PhD) that your contacts may have into the Activities Section of AMCAS?

2. Is it okay to reference the name of a specific doctor that I have worked with in my personal statement? He also wrote a letter of recommendation for me. It seems fine to me, but somebody made a remark that it may be better to just say the department name.

3. What does marking Combined MD / Graduate Degree on imply/entail? Are there additional application steps? I've seen that at some schools you seem to apply to graduate programs once you're already a medical student there. I'm considering a MD/MPP or MD/MPA.

1) In the title space, like "MD/PhD, Principle Investigator."

2) Yes. It's patients you don't want to specifically identify.

3) For the Activities section, you'd do nothing different. In my experience, there is generally a separate appication required for the other degree program. @gonnif might be able to give you a broader view of this across multiple institutions.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone,

Quick question, I will writing about two research opportunities that were granted with scholarships in two separate research/lab entries. But I would like to include those scholarships on the honors/awards section as well (multiple honors lumped together). Could I just write "blah internship - see research (blah lab)" or is that not okay?

Don't double list them in multiple entries.

 

[Catalystik]

When writing the title of a doctor we shadowed or worked on research with, should we include MD as part of their title or just "division chief" for example?

You can include both in the title space, like "MD, Neurology Division Chief."

 

[Catalystik]

I've done a lot of political work, and I'm not sure how best to categorize it.

a) Can I count working on a campaign (non-partisan, for an individual issue) as community service? It involved canvassing, phone banking, and rallies on a civil rights issue. On the one hand we made a meaningful difference in access to fair treatment for a lot of people in the community. On the other, the work I did wasn't necessarily helping the individuals/places with whom/which I interacted, and it's hard to measure the size of my individual influence/assistance. Additionally, not everyone would agree that what I did was a service, because some people opposed what I worked on.

b) What about volunteering for (partisan) campaigns for specific candidates? Is that an extracurricular?

c) Last one: lobbying? I called and met with legislators to lobby on issues that I felt were crucial to my community (women's healthcare access, public transportation to underserved areas, voting access, and funding for continuing education for ESL students, for example) and often relayed both personal stories/info and what I'd learned from community engagement. Not everyone had access to do this, so I often provided a connection between people and their representatives that they otherwise may not have had. But is that community service, leadership, or an extracurricular activity?

Sorry if this is asked and answered. I tried to search all the threads and still am not really sure how to approach these things.

For political activism, I would suggest using Other, or Extracurricular, or Employment if you were compensated. Let's see if @gonnif has another opinion.