*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Work/Activities Tips Thread 2018-2019*~*~*~*

[Lucca]

So I have a dilemma... I have more than 15 activities and I need help trimming them down. While maintaining anonymity, they are:

1. Medical office assistant - full time 1 year
2. Awards at University X - range from academic to service to graduation ceremony
3. Study Abroad in Europe - 1 semester
4. Conference I attended
5. Research at University X - 2 years
6. translator at hospital
7. free clinic volunteer
8. shadowing physicians - 80 hours
9. leadership in frat (doesnt include gen membership) - 2 years
10. leadership in club a (doesnt include gen membership)- 2 years
11. leadership in club b - (doesn't include gen membership) - 1 year
12. tutor for freshman biology - 2 years
13. TA for psych
14. hospital volunteer (2 hospitals) - 200 hours
15. summer job - tennis instructor
16. summer job (differnet summer) - waiter and delivery guy
17. work-study jobs at info desk, gym

Two solutions I see, help me choose one:

• Scrap #3 (awards) and just explain them in the other descriptions.
• Consolidate all my summer jobs (don't want to do this b/c one is my most meaningful).
• Just omit stuff

Didn’t read all of the acitivities but i will share the approach I am applying to my own application just in case it helps you trim:

Figure out a noticeable theme of your app and pick those activities which best make your whole app look like a coherent package and not just a constellation of information.

Idk if this is the best way to think about it but it’s how I think about it.

I would also say keep everything clinical and find ways to lump related activities together. I did this for all my non medical volunteering since even though I did a bunch of different things it was through 1 organization rly.

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[Catalystik]

So I have a dilemma... I have more than 15 activities and I need help trimming them down. While maintaining anonymity, they are:

1. Medical office assistant - full time 1 year
2. Awards at University X - range from academic to service to graduation ceremony
3. Study Abroad in Europe - 1 semester
4. Conference I attended
5. Research at University X - 2 years
6. translator at hospital
7. free clinic volunteer
8. shadowing physicians - 80 hours
9. leadership in frat (doesnt include gen membership) - 2 years
10. leadership in club a (doesnt include gen membership)- 2 years
11. leadership in club b - (doesn't include gen membership) - 1 year
12. tutor for freshman biology - 2 years
13. TA for psych
14. hospital volunteer (2 hospitals) - 200 hours
15. summer job - tennis instructor
16. summer job (differnet summer) - waiter and delivery guy
17. work-study jobs at info desk, gym

Two solutions I see, help me choose one:

• Scrap #3 (awards) and just explain them in the other descriptions.
• Consolidate all my summer jobs (don't want to do this b/c one is my most meaningful).
• Just omit stuff

What was the conference you attended about? (Consider omitting it.)

Definitely group the seasonal employment, 15 & 16. If any of 9, 10, 11 are similar, they could be grouped.

 

[Gilakend]

So I have a dilemma... I have more than 15 activities and I need help trimming them down. While maintaining anonymity, they are:

1. Medical office assistant - full time 1 year
2. Awards at University X - range from academic to service to graduation ceremony
3. Study Abroad in Europe - 1 semester
4. Conference I attended
5. Research at University X - 2 years
6. translator at hospital
7. free clinic volunteer
8. shadowing physicians - 80 hours
9. leadership in frat (doesnt include gen membership) - 2 years
10. leadership in club a (doesnt include gen membership)- 2 years
11. leadership in club b - (doesn't include gen membership) - 1 year
12. tutor for freshman biology - 2 years
13. TA for psych
14. hospital volunteer (2 hospitals) - 200 hours
15. summer job - tennis instructor
16. summer job (differnet summer) - waiter and delivery guy
17. work-study jobs at info desk, gym

Two solutions I see, help me choose one:

• Scrap #3 (awards) and just explain them in the other descriptions.
• Consolidate all my summer jobs (don't want to do this b/c one is my most meaningful).
• Just omit stuff

I'm grouping all my non-clinical work experience into one section and doing very short descriptions.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if someone could review and help me edit my ECs down to 15 activities as well as help me categorize my ECs... I am having a lot of trouble figuring out what would be the best way to highlight my activities especially since I believe I am lacking in explicit nonclinical volunteer hours and leadership.

1. Clinical Research Associate (2017 - current): Paid Employment - Medical/Clinical, Leadership, or Research/Lab?
- full-time job coordinating clinical trials (work with patients and providers.. this is the bulk of my clinical experience)
- trained new staff & in the process of designing new program within department (leadership component)
- since I am coordinating research activities for patients (scheduling appts, administering questionnaires, adverse events assessments, blood draws and lab processing, EKGs, etc.), it could also be labeled as clinical research but my role is strictly data collection (no data analysis or manuscript writing)

2. Terminal Cancer Support Group Co-Facilitator (60 hrs): Clinical volunteering

3. Steering group member (50 hrs without including time spent writing paper - current) - Other, Research/Lab, or Nonclinical volunteering?
- working with hospital staff from multiple departments and disciplines to implement trauma-informed care
- collaborating with team on editing hospital's ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) screening tool and ACEs screening workflow
- volunteering at hospital events to raise public awareness about ACEs
- conducting ACEs research with one member on team.. namely many hours spent writing review paper, now submitted for publication

4. Hospice volunteering (50 hrs so far - current): Clinical volunteering

5. Research Coordinator (4 years) at school: Research/Lab
- collaborated with professor in designing experiments
- created surveys, navigated IRB process
- recruited subjects, collected data via survey administration + biomarker collection
- led data analysis (stats + elisa assays)
- facilitated diverse student group involvement with project; mentored other research coordinators (should I split this part into leadership?)
- authored 2 abstracts

6. Research Intern at school (6 mos): Research/Lab
- survey programming and design, data analysis, epidemiology research
- authored 1 abstract

7. Medical Ethics Intern (1 year): Shadowing or Clinical volunteering?
- shadowed clinical providers in different hospital systems and departments
- participated in bimonthly reflections on medical ethics
- since we received course credit for this internship, even if I spent some time volunteering with patients (i.e. providing blankets, water, listening), I should keep it as strictly shadowing/clinical observation, correct?

8. Student Health Magazine Manager (2.5 years): Paid Employment Nonmedical/Clinical or Leadership?
- created and edited monthly content for digital health magazine
- mentored and trained next manager

9. Teacher's Assistant (1 semester of bio): Tutoring/Teaching or Paid Employment Nonmedical/Clinical?

10. Paid Summer Research Intern (10 weeks): Paid Employment Nonmedical/Clinical or Research/Lab?
- epi research, qualitative research, etc
- authored 1 abstract

11. Quality Improvement Intern (1 school year): Clinical volunteering
- conducted quality improvement projects in clinic
- served as volunteer clinic receptionist

12. Paid Health Care Administration Intern (10 weeks): Paid Employment Nonmedical/Clinical
- conducted data analysis for county hospital system
- worked with providers from multiple disciplines to formalize workflow of clinics

13. Public Health Researcher/Community Volunteer (50 hours): Research/Lab or Nonclinical volunteering?
- collaborated in creating walking group for low-income moms in local neighborhood near school
- spent time with moms and solicited their feedback
- developed evaluation measures (i.e. surveys)

14. Tutor for Student with Autism (3 years): Tutor/Teaching or Nonclinical volunteering?
- tutored student with autism in reading comprehension, writing, and social studies
- practiced communication skills with student

15: Physician Shadowing at local community hospital (50 hrs)

16. Student government senator (1 year): Leadership

17. Education conference organizer and workshop coordinator (80 hours): Nonclinical volunteering or leadership?
- collaborated in organizing educational justice conference for low-income students (conference topics included criminalization of brown & black children in schools (school to prison pipeline system), high stakes testing, budget cuts, preserving co-curricular programs, how to advocate and petition school board members)
- led workshop

18. New Students Program Coordinator (100 hrs): Paid Employment Nonmedical or Leadership?
- planned and executed several outreach events for incoming freshmen
- focused on outreach to nontraditional students

19. Posters
- 1 presented at local conference by PI
- 1 presented at international conference by PI
- 1 presented at national conference by PI
- 1 presented by me at national conference

20. Publications
- 1 published
- 1 solicited review submitted for publication

21. Honors & Awards
- Received 4 scholarships
- 1 conference award

22. Hobbies - Important to include or no?
- hobbies for myself (not done for larger audiences) including cooking and gardening

You've probably made some decisions by now. You'll need to omit 7 activities or group them together.
21) Could omit and add conference award to the relevant Posters entry.

19) & 20) Read item #20 in post 2 and see if you can reorganize these.

16) Could take it out if you mainly showed up and voted.

?Put some of the Internships together under Other, as much as possible.

14) Nonclinical volunteering. Or 9) and 14) could go together under Teaching.

8) Keep as Leadership.

7) Add the shadowing component only to the Shadowing space #15.

Put 2) & 4) together.

Can decide on 22) After you've made a lot of other decisions.

Along with decisions you've already made, where do you sit now with number of activities you plan to include? Some of your questions I can't answer without knowing if you're a strong candidate for a top research school, or if you're aiming for less-selective institutions.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi, everyone! I would be really happy if you could, please, go over my experiences list and tell me whether it is done properly.

1. Clinical paid employment (I don't know how to tell the readers that this experience automatically also included shadowing). Clinical Undergraduate Intern at the Neurosurgery Department. Abroad. 1700 hours. I worked overnights and 24 hours in a row, sometimes, but don't know how to prove it except by asking my Supervisor to mention that in the recommendation.
-Assisting Nurses and Neurosurgeons as instructed. Changing bandages, recording biometrical parameters of the patients. Junior surgical assistant (participated in the surgeries as a junior assistant): permitted by the regulations of the respective University (in Eastern Europe).
Preparing the presentations for the patients. The presentations included awareness information about the type of the surgery that they were going to undergo, post-op coping strategies.

2. Research. Independent research project in using HIV Tat cell penetrating protein to deliver age-1 into the C. elegans worms. 200 hours.
Canadian University. 1 semester. Results are not published yet. The project presentation,

3. Research. Research Assistant at the Medical University in Eastern Europe. 500 hours. Roles included: translating written materials into English, analyzing statistical data for the papers on SPSS. Writing an independent project on comparison of high and low cement viscosities used for vertebral vertebroplasty. The paper is under review (Journal of Young Investigators). Now, I am starting another project on using Arduino-based triaxial inclinometer to optimize lumbar fixation.

4.Leadership. Journal of Young Investigators Lead Editor. 1.5 years. 2 hours/week. Edited more than 70 submissions, of which 10 were published. I lead a team of 8 copy editors and coordinate their communication with the paper Authors.

5.Leadership. Canadian University. 2 years, 2 hours/week. Organizing networking events for students so that they could find a 4th-year thesis supervisor. We are about to publish a second issue of the Journal.

6. Medical Volunteering. Kingston General Hospital. 1 semester. 2 hours/week. Providing company to elderly patients. Throughout the semester, I was assigned to help 4 patients.

7. Medical Volunteering. Eastern European Hospital. 3 summers, 300 hours. Supporting post-op patients Feeding them and providing mental support. I served to more than 100 patients.

8. Leadership, Unpaid. Canadian University Anatomy Undergraduate TA. 50 hours. The roles included explaining human morphology to 40 students using cadavers, anatomical specimens.

9. Medical Volunteering/Shadowing (don't know which one to choose). A private clinic (Eastern Europe). 1000 hours. Escorting the patients to the wards, examination rooms, providing food and water. At the same time, shadowing a GI specialist.

10.Volunteering, leadership. Canadian University, English Department. English language tutor for the group of 5 Japanese students. 1 semester, 1 hour/week.

11.Leadership. Medical University, Eastern Europe. Neuroanatomy TA. 10 weeks, 2 hours/week. Leading Neuroanatomy seminars for MBBS students (10-12 people in each group). Position gained after an oral examination by the Head of the Neurosurgery department.

12.Volunteering. Science co-op community. 1 year, 3 hours/week. Served in the Co-op kitchen.

13. Leadership. Canadian Undergraduate Conference on Healthcare Research Coordinator. I have just started working there (2 hours/week). The responsibilities include selecting abstracts for the conference, coordinating with URNCST journal to publish the conference abstracts.

14. Leadership. Neurogeneration conference case competition coordinator. 2 years, 1 hour/week. Preparing and running the case comp for the delegates.

15. Scholarship. -the full scholarship covering all Unversity Fees, by my home country
-Dean's list with distinction (3% top of the faculty)
-Principal's scholarship ($8000)
-Queen's Agora Public Speaing club in-promtu competition 2nd place

16. Sports. 3 years 1 hour/week. Intramural indoor soccer. Won nothing, but had a lot of good time.

Please, please, let me know which ones to fuse/eliminate/change. Just telling whether the overall structure is ok or not is also valuable.
I would really appreciate any suggestions.
I would be very thankful if @Catalystik could very briefly go through the list.

Sincerely,
LazySurgeon.

Just some thoughts to consider:

6) and 7) could go together.

8) Is Teaching, not leadership.

9) Medical volunteering, but could split out the shadowing hours and put them in a separate Shadowing entry (don't double count the hours).

10) is teaching. Could group with 8) and 11).

13) is leadership provided you are coordinating the efforts of other people (not if you do all the work). Ditto for 14). If the two are similar, you might group them.

15) I assume this is Awards/Honors.

 

[buckoh24]

I was a part of a snowboard team in school (a part of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association) and have been snowboarding for 10 years. I have also volunteered at a ski resort in high school (while doing post secondary education classes full time) and am trying to list that with the team activity (so far its listed as intercollegiate sports). Should I list the dates as 3 separate to show: hobby I started in 6th grade, volunteering hours 11th-12th grade, then college team? Thats how I have it listed right now but not sure if it would be confusing or not to the reader.

 

[Hirro]

I'm grouping all my non-clinical work experience into one section and doing very short descriptions.

Doing the same.

I have 3 non-clinical volunteering instances, all of them unrelated. One of them was my most meaningful. Since I had a lot to say about it, I put it in a separate entry. I put the other two instances in the same entry (One instance was very few hours and the other was a large amount of hours). I had space to put the activities separately but grouped them as I don't feel like it warrants separation. Will this splitting of the 3 volunteering activities be seen as acceptable?

I also have been involved with many research projects. One of them was a project which I completed on my own from start to finish. While I did not list it as a meaningful experience (there's only so much I can say about it), I did feel it warranted a separate entry and currently have it listed as such. I expanded upon how I learned everything from conception to finish, including writing my own proposal. I then listed my separate research experiences together. One of these grouped experiences has a separate entry as I ended up presenting it at a large conference. I still felt I should group them together as I didn't have nearly as much to say about them both as I did my solo project. Will this be seen as acceptable?

 

[Pooker_]

So I did an internship that was primarily shadowing at a learning hospital primarily under one physician for ~160 hours. However, through this internship I did shadow a few other physicians that accounts for ~15 hours and I had another ~30-40 hours of shadowing elsewhere.

I'm trying to figure out how to classify this. I want to specify the internship as a meaningful activity and dedicate its own section to it, but I feel like that will take make my shadowing section look weak. If I throw all of the shadowing into one group with the internship then it takes away from the uniqueness of the opportunity.

Should I just let my shadowing section appear weaker with ~40hours or so and then make the separate section for the internship that will also have shadowing aspects of it? I just don't want the shadowing section to look bad because it's hours or low since a lot of part of the internship itself.

Edit: Also this may be a dumb question, but when grouping things what do I put in for the contact information? I know in the description I specify each doctor, but what about above that when it asks for the main contact?

 

[Catalystik]

I was a part of a snowboard team in school (a part of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association) and have been snowboarding for 10 years. I have also volunteered at a ski resort in high school (while doing post secondary education classes full time) and am trying to list that with the team activity (so far its listed as intercollegiate sports). Should I list the dates as 3 separate to show: hobby I started in 6th grade, volunteering hours 11th-12th grade, then college team? Thats how I have it listed right now but not sure if it would be confusing or not to the reader.

Using "Extracurricular" might be better (with three datespans), unless you want to go with just the college involvement for dates and refer to the rest as a brief backstory in the narrative. If the latter, then "Intercollegiate Sports" would be fine.

 

[Catalystik]

1) I have 3 non-clinical volunteering instances, all of them unrelated. One of them was my most meaningful. Since I had a lot to say about it, I put it in a separate entry. I put the other two instances in the same entry (One instance was very few hours and the other was a large amount of hours). I had space to put the activities separately but grouped them as I don't feel like it warrants separation. Will this splitting of the 3 volunteering activities be seen as acceptable?

2) I also have been involved with many research projects. One of them was a project which I completed on my own from start to finish. While I did not list it as a meaningful experience (there's only so much I can say about it), I did feel it warranted a separate entry and currently have it listed as such. I expanded upon how I learned everything from conception to finish, including writing my own proposal. I then listed my separate research experiences together. One of these grouped experiences has a separate entry as I ended up presenting it at a large conference. I still felt I should group them together as I didn't have nearly as much to say about them both as I did my solo project. Will this be seen as acceptable?

1) Yes, it's fine to group two of them since they are both nonclinical volunteering and to split out the third since you had a lot to say. For the grouped entry, hopefully you have space for the second Contact, location, dates, subtotal of hours, etc. Then you can put the grand total of hours in the header.

2) Yes. And I assume the second related entry for one of the Research gigs was Poster/Presentations (not Conferences Attended)?

 

[Catalystik]

1) So I did an internship that was primarily shadowing at a learning hospital primarily under one physician for ~160 hours. However, through this internship I did shadow a few other physicians that accounts for ~15 hours and I had another ~30-40 hours of shadowing elsewhere.

I'm trying to figure out how to classify this. I want to specify the internship as a meaningful activity and dedicate its own section to it, but I feel like that will take make my shadowing section look weak. If I throw all of the shadowing into one group with the internship then it takes away from the uniqueness of the opportunity.

Should I just let my shadowing section appear weaker with ~40hours or so and then make the separate section for the internship that will also have shadowing aspects of it? I just don't want the shadowing section to look bad because it's hours or low since a lot of part of the internship itself.

2) when grouping things what do I put in for the contact information? I know in the description I specify each doctor, but what about above that when it asks for the main contact?

1) Don't make the Shadowing entry look weak. Put all of it there. For the Internship entry, subtract the shadowing hours from the total so they aren't double counted, but then in the narrative say, "This opportunity also provided extensive shadowing experience, which is listed elsewhere in the application." If the remaining hours for the Internship are negligible, however, you have the option of omitting a second entry completely.

2) I'd put the Internship Coordinator into the header, not the doctors, as that person can attest to all your hours and the timeframe of involvement.

 

[buckoh24]

Using "Extracurricular" might be better (with three datespans), unless you want to go with just the college involvement for dates and refer to the rest as a brief backstory in the narrative. If the latter, then "Intercollegiate Sports" would be fine.

Thats basically how I described it. Focused on how I got to the point of being on the team and showed that I was involved (via volunteering) in both the sport and the overall community/environment.

 

[Hirro]

1) Yes, it's fine to group two of them since they are both nonclinical volunteering and to split out the third since you had a lot to say. For the grouped entry, hopefully you have space for the second Contact, location, dates, subtotal of hours, etc. Then you can put the grand total of hours in the header.

2) Yes. And I assume the second related entry for one of the Research gigs was Poster/Presentations (not Conferences Attended)?

1) Great! I did include all the other information in the grouped entry.

2) I filled it out that way per some of the information in a past thread or in the OP. Thank you so much.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Great! I did include all the other information in the grouped entry.

2) I filled it out that way per some of the information in a past thread or in the OP. Thank you so much.

Happy to help!

 

[Pooker_]

1) Don't make the Shadowing entry look weak. Put all of it there. For the Internship entry, subtract the shadowing hours from the total so they aren't double counted, but then in the narrative say, "This opportunity also provided extensive shadowing experience, which is listed elsewhere in the application." If the remaining hours for the Internship are negligible, however, you have the option of omitting a second entry completely.

2) I'd put the Internship Coordinator into the header, not the doctors, as that person can attest to all your hours and the timeframe of involvement.

The issue is the majority of the internship was an observer position, I spent a lot of time in the OR, attending rounds, going to grand rounds, participating in the lectures for the residents and so forth. So if I subtract all of the shadowing hours then it becomes a grey area and the internship itself also looks weak and will be hard to be a "meaningful" one. Also, not all of my shadowing was done at the place of my internship which makes things slightly more confusing.

So I'm not really sure the best way to go about writing this up...to give you more information I have some shadowing with 1 doctor for ~25hours from a separate place, then 6 hours with 3 physicians from the internship (18hrs), then the rest of the ~160 hours were all various parts of the internship, but a lot of it could be defined as shadowing (i just had much more access to resources and was able to participate more than your average shadow)

 

[Catalystik]

The issue is the majority of the internship was an observer position, I spent a lot of time in the OR, attending rounds, going to grand rounds, participating in the lectures for the residents and so forth. So if I subtract all of the shadowing hours then it becomes a grey area and the internship itself also looks weak and will be hard to be a "meaningful" one. Also, not all of my shadowing was done at the place of my internship which makes things slightly more confusing.

So I'm not really sure the best way to go about writing this up...to give you more information I have some shadowing with 1 doctor for ~25hours from a separate place, then 6 hours with 3 physicians from the internship (18hrs), then the rest of the ~160 hours were all various parts of the internship, but a lot of it could be defined as shadowing (i just had much more access to resources and was able to participate more than your average shadow)

It's fine to leave more of the hours with the internsip slot, considering that I don't think of attending grand rounds and resident lectures or shadowing nurses or other medical professional as relevant "Shadowing." Or you could split out the shadowing that wasn't at the place of the internship and add only that to the Shadowing space (maybe that's the 18 hours you refer to?)

Earlier you said, "I did shadow a few other physicians that accounts for ~15 hours and I had another ~30-40 hours of shadowing elsewhere." IMHO if you have ~50 hours in the Shadowing space, you're above average for what you're listing, and it won't look "weak."

 

[Pooker_]

It's fine to leave more of the hours with the internsip slot, considering that I don't think of attending grand rounds and resident lectures or shadowing nurses or other medical professional as relevant "Shadowing." Or you could split out the shadowing that wasn't at the place of the internship and add only that to the Shadowing space (maybe that's the 18 hours you refer to?)

Earlier you said, "I did shadow a few other physicians that accounts for ~15 hours and I had another ~30-40 hours of shadowing elsewhere." IMHO if you have ~50 hours in the Shadowing space, you're above average for what you're listing, and it won't look "weak."

Yeah I was just estimating the numbers and then actually did the calculations to the exact numbers. It's about 25 with the old place, 6 hours x3 with the physicians from the internship that were not the person I was working with (18) -- so this is 43 shadowing hours that I (could) put it it's own shadowing section, but then I also have the issue of who do I place as the direct contact since 3 were from the internship (which I have a manager for) but one wasn't?

Also, I do have available slots so I could separate these into 3 entries (1 for old doctor, 1 for new place, 1 for internship)
Sorry if this is getting confusing, I'm just still trying to determine how to best separate these activities without it being interpreted incorrectly.

 

[Catalystik]

Yeah I was just estimating the numbers and then actually did the calculations to the exact numbers. It's about 25 with the old place, 6 hours x3 with the physicians from the internship that were not the person I was working with (18) -- so this is 43 shadowing hours that I (could) put it it's own shadowing section, but then I also have the issue of who do I place as the direct contact since 3 were from the internship (which I have a manager for) but one wasn't?

Also, I do have available slots so I could separate these into 3 entries (1 for old doctor, 1 for new place, 1 for internship)
Sorry if this is getting confusing, I'm just still trying to determine how to best separate these activities without it being interpreted incorrectly.

It's best to have all the shadowing in one place under Shadowing, so adcomms in a hurry looking for it will find it and get the full picture. Second best is to have one grouped Shadowing section and another one from a single doc (also listed under Shadowing) when you had an experience that was remarkable enough to comment on extensively. How would you feel about listing the entire Internship under Shadowing, but then explaining that the experience included x, y, and z, as well (but that those xx hours aren't included above in the header)?

The disparate shadowing activity would need you to insert an alternative Contact in the narrative.

Don't make three entries.

 

[Pooker_]

It's best to have all the shadowing in one place under Shadowing, so adcomms in a hurry looking for it will find it and get the full picture. Second best is to have one grouped Shadowing section and another one from a single doc (also listed under Shadowing) when you had an experience that was remarkable enough to comment on extensively. How would you feel about listing the entire Internship under Shadowing, but then explaining that the experience included x, y, and z, as well (but that those xx hours aren't included above in the header)?

The disparate shadowing activity would need you to insert an alternative Contact in the narrative.

Don't make three entries.

I'm fine with listing it all under shadowing because -- so, what do you think of writing it up like this.

Listing all hours together since I'm grouping it all together (183hrs: 140 internship, 18 shadowing, 25 other shadowing) -- I'd list the internship contact as the primary contact and in the description I'd list the physicians I shadowed with the hours, and do the same for the other doctor while providing his phone. Then in the "more meaningful" section I can go into details about the internship and what was so important about it.

Does that sound okay?

 

[Catalystik]

I'm fine with listing it all under shadowing because -- so, what do you think of writing it up like this.

Listing all hours together since I'm grouping it all together (183hrs: 140 internship, 18 shadowing, 25 other shadowing) -- I'd list the internship contact as the primary contact and in the description I'd list the physicians I shadowed with the hours, and do the same for the other doctor while providing his phone. Then in the "more meaningful" section I can go into details about the internship and what was so important about it.

Does that sound okay?

Yes. Keep in mind that the MM extra 1325 characters are directly below the 700 character area divided only by a blank space. So it would behoove you to make the main entry and the MM meld together like one essay, as that's how it will be read.

 

[Pooker_]

Yes. Keep in mind that the MM extra 1325 characters are directly below the 700 character area divided only by a blank space. So it would behoove you to make the main entry and the MM meld together like one essay, as that's how it will be read.

If that is the case then it seems like I would be better off just going back to separating it into internship and shadowing while labeling them both as shadowing.

This way I can just list the descriptions in the "Shadowing" section with contact info and breakdowns and then in the "Shadowing Internship" section I can create the narrative.
Since I will be talking about the fact that I shadowed in the description would it really make any negative impact to see I only had 43 hours in the shadowing section if I still label the internship as shadowing?
Seems like that may be the best option. Would it look bad having the same contact (internship program manager) for both of those experiences if I included the contact info of the other doctor in the bottom?

 

[Catalystik]

If that is the case then it seems like I would be better off just going back to separating it into internship and shadowing while labeling them both as shadowing.

This way I can just list the descriptions in the "Shadowing" section with contact info and breakdowns and then in the "Shadowing Internship" section I can create the narrative.

1) Since I will be talking about the fact that I shadowed in the description would it really make any negative impact to see I only had 43 hours in the shadowing section if I still label the internship as shadowing? Seems like that may be the best option.

2) Would it look bad having the same contact (internship program manager) for both of those experiences if I included the contact info of the other doctor in the bottom?

1) As a failsafe, I suggest you make it clear in the title of the 43 hour shadowing entry that it's not the only Shadowing entry, like eg, Additional Shadowing or Supplemental Shadowing, or somesuch. It will clue readers to look further.

2) Not at all, especially if it's obvious that the locations are different.

 

[mariposas905]

I am curious on how to insert hobbies in AMCAS. Do you know of any place where I can find a good example template?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I am curious on how to insert hobbies in AMCAS. Do you know of any place where I can find a good example template?

You do it just like any other activity. You name it, put the info, and then describe it. The only real difference is that you don’t need a contact.

 

[XOXO123]

I've been doing a sport since I was 5. I've participated on the intercollegiate club team for 4 years at school, and have continued doing it individually at the same time. I'm also on the exec board of the club team. Do I list this as:
a) one entry, Hobbies, and include all hours since I was a child (which would be thousands)
b) split into Hobbies, Intercollegiate Athletics, Leadership and parse out hours as appropriate, with hobby hours including wither my whole life, or just the non-club team hours from during college
c) Just Hobbies and Intercollegiate Athletics and put the exec hours into the athletics ones
d) something else?

 

[Catalystik]

I've been doing a sport since I was 5. I've participated on the intercollegiate club team for 4 years at school, and have continued doing it individually at the same time. I'm also on the exec board of the club team. Do I list this as:
a) one entry, Hobbies, and include all hours since I was a child (which would be thousands)
b) split into Hobbies, Intercollegiate Athletics, Leadership and parse out hours as appropriate, with hobby hours including wither my whole life, or just the non-club team hours from during college
c) Just Hobbies and Intercollegiate Athletics and put the exec hours into the athletics ones
d) something else?

There's no one right way to do it. To add to the angst of your decision-making:

You could call it Extracurricular, which covers all types of your past involvement, divide it into several timeframes using the Repeated feature (like childhood, HS, college), then describe the types of involvement in the narrative. Plus add a Leadership entry, particularly if you have nothing stronger for that category and have a good number of hours dedicated to leading.

Or you could have an entry just for the college years and hours (and call it Intercollegiate Athletics), but refer to the childhood backstory and hobby aspect in the narrative (no point in detailing all those hours as they'd be too high to be other than a giant number, and recent involvement is more important anyway). Plus/minus a Leadership space.

Your decision will be based on the number of spaces at your disposal and how much you have to say. You could probably squeeze everything into one space if you use MM (Most Meaningful)designation.

I kinda feel like using three spaces would be overkill, but maybe it's just me.

 

[mariposas905]

You do it just like any other activity. You name it, put the info, and then describe it. The only real difference is that you don’t need a contact.

Thanks! I have multiple hobbies that I am going to group together in one item. Any ideas on a good experience name for it lol? Idk if I should just list them as Hobbies since that will already be indicated in AMCAS as type of activity...

 

[pbsdrinkingwhale]

Is it a red flag if none of the most meaningful activities are clinical?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks! I have multiple hobbies that I am going to group together in one item. Any ideas on a good experience name for it lol? Idk if I should just list them as Hobbies since that will already be indicated in AMCAS as type of activity...

Leisuretime Activities?

 

[Catalystik]

Is it a red flag if none of the most meaningful activities are clinical?

No.

 

[mariposas905]

Is it usually expected that a rec letter should accompany a most meaningful activity?

 

[Catalystik]

Is it usually expected that a rec letter should accompany a most meaningful activity?

I've never heard or read that the criteria for designating a MM activity is the ability to get a supportive letter. That requirement would negate one's ability to be honest about what experiences had the most impact on one's life.

 

[mariposas905]

I've never heard or read that the criteria for designating a MM activity is the ability to get a supportive letter. That requirement would negate one's ability to be honest about what experiences had the most impact on one's life.

I see...I guess I should have phrased my question better. Let's say we talk at length about an activity and it's clear it is meaningful both in the W/A section and PS. would adcoms be expecting a letter in such a case considering that this activity was so important? For example, I have 3 research experiences in my W/A. If I don't get an LOR from at least one of the experiences, does it look fishy?

 

[Catalystik]

I see...I guess I should have phrased my question better. Let's say we talk at length about an activity and it's clear it is meaningful both in the W/A section and PS. would adcoms be expecting a letter in such a case considering that this activity was so important? For example, I have 3 research experiences in my W/A. If I don't get an LOR from at least one of the experiences, does it look fishy?

If you were applying to research-oriented schools, it might seem odd not to get a PI LOR. Schools that aim to train physicians focused on clinical practice aren't going to care so much. Consider how many schools in general want three academic letters only.

 

[Lucca]

if we won a prize for writing, should we link to the essay/work if it is available online in the description? Should we list the award amount?

 

[Lucca]

anybody else having issues inputing dates for work and activities? I put in like "June 2014 --> July 2014" and when I go to edit an entry it says "February 2014-->April 2014" ... ???? Not sure what to do about that.

 

[Catalystik]

if we won a prize for writing, should we link to the essay/work if it is available online in the description? Should we list the award amount?

Feelings are mixed on providing such a link. Some Adcomms would feel pressure to read the whole thing. Personally, I've tended to encourage links, as I don't mind sampling entries until I get a feel for theur quality.

Mentioning the amount if prize money is fine.

 

[Catalystik]

anybody else having issues inputing dates for work and activities? I put in like "June 2014 --> July 2014" and when I go to edit an entry it says "February 2014-->April 2014" ... ???? Not sure what to do about that.

Hmm. What do you see if you access the PDF version from the print command?

 

[JugglesMed]

For hobbies, should I just list them?
Should I describe any of them?
For example:

Playing recreational Basketball
Working out at the Gym
Learning to play guitar
Watching baseball
Spending time with family (I have a big family with 6 nieces and nephews so I do this a lot)
Learning basic java and writing simple programs.
Etc....

 

[Catalystik]

For hobbies, should I just list them?
Should I describe any of them?
For example:

Playing recreational Basketball
Working out at the Gym
Learning to play guitar
Watching baseball
Spending time with family (I have a big family with 6 nieces and nephews so I do this a lot)
Learning basic java and writing simple programs.
Etc....

You can just list them, or you can add interest with some side commentary, like maybe your skill level on the guitar (or favorite complex song a common person might recognize), what area in particular you work on in the gym, preferred baseball team, favorite family activity (as long as it's not watching TV or playing video games), describe a program you wrote, etc.

 

[Lucca]

Hmm. What do you see if you access the PDF version from the print command?

I see the incorrect dates in the PDF. I.e., something I listed originally as September shows up as August. Is this a weird browser issue? I'm on chrome.

 

[Catalystik]

I see the incorrect dates in the PDF. I.e., something I listed originally as September shows up as August. Is this a weird browser issue? I'm on chrome.

Experimentation is in order. Have you tried reentering it via another browser, say, Microsoft Edge, or whatever?

 

[Catalystik]

I see the incorrect dates in the PDF. I.e., something I listed originally as September shows up as August. Is this a weird browser issue? I'm on chrome.

Lucca,

Using Chrome, I entered the same dates, June 2014 --> July 2014, for a sample activity and the Print PDF reads 6/2014 to 7/2014. I did the same thing through Microsoft Edge and got the same result, so it isn't a browser issue.

 

[Lucca]

Lucca,

Using Chrome, I entered the same dates, June 2014 --> July 2014, for a sample activity and the Print PDF reads 6/2014 to 7/2014. I did the same thing through Microsoft Edge and got the same result, so it isn't a browser issue.

When I get home I’ll experiment then

 

[Catalystik]

When I get home I’ll experiment then

I also tried widening the range by a month, and it still came out wrong. When I changed the dates to Jan 2018 to Feb 2018, it printed correctly. So, AMCAS software glitch?

 

[buckoh24]

Would it be better to just leave modeling/social media influencer out of my activities section? I have approx 13 activities without it and dont know if it would be seen negatively

 

[Catalystik]

Would it be better to just leave modeling/social media influencer out of my activities section? I have approx 13 activities without it and dont know if it would be seen negatively

Give me an example of what the entry would say (or a link to where you've discussed the issue on SDN before).

 

[buckoh24]

Give me an example of what the entry would say.

Something along the lines of "being a social media influencer has showed me the impact that technology has on reaching a larger market to spread information. With a combined 90,000 followers, I have been able to reach an audience that spreads well beyond my geographic limitations. Social media can be used in this way to help spread information to those in areas with limited resources and has helped me provide visibility for LGBT+ individuals pursuing careers in the medical profession."

EDIT: That was a quick word vomit so it will be way more articulate if I decide to add it to my app.

 

[Catalystik]

Something along the lines of "being a social media influencer has showed me the impact that technology has on reaching a larger market to spread information. With a combined 90,000 followers, I have been able to reach an audience that spreads well beyond my geographic limitations. Social media can be used in this way to help spread information to those in areas with limited resources and has helped me provide visibility for LGBT+ individuals pursuing careers in the medical profession."

EDIT: That was a quick word vomit so it will be way more articulate if I decide to add it to my app.

Is it a blog, a Facebook page, or what? How did you attract so many followers? Are you willing to provide a link on your application so adcomms can check it out, or are there controversial elements you wouldn't want seen?

 

[buckoh24]

Is it a blog, a Facebook page, or what? How did you attract so many followers? Are you willing to provide a link on your application so adcomms can check it out, or are there controversial elements you wouldn't want seen?

Its instagram and tumblr. Nothing on there is inappropriate and I would totally provide my username if needed (won't on here tho cuz dont wanna dox myself).