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

Started by Lucca
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Boola Boy said:
How should I approach the hobbies section?

For example, one of my hobbies is poetry, and I have performed at a spoken word event. My performance was recorded and posted on the Instagram page of the organizers of the event.

Another one of my hobbies is dancing. I have never performed on an official team though because of costs, but I take free classes when I can. I could really talk about it and connect it to my life experiences. It's a great jumping off point for talking about other cultures and my travels to South America and Africa for a study abroad program that I also mention in my PS. It's just not totally relevant to medicine, ya know?

Thoughts? Is it unprofessional? Will med schools care? Am I reaching for straws? I really want to talk about it, but I also want the medical schools to take me seriously.
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As your poetry has reached a wider audience, it's an Artistic Endeavor. The dance interest sounds more like a Hobby. If you need more space to discuss either, giving them their own spots is in order. If you don't need the space and don't want to provide a Contact, using Hobbies for both works, too.

Med schools will care. These activities make you memorable in a sea of look-alike applicants. They also show adcomms you have relaxing leisuretime activities: they like to know that.
Lucca said:
Performing is quite a good thing to include in my opinion. The way I see it seeing patients and presenting research is a kind of performance
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Good point!
 
Lucca said:
I would include all of this under artistic endeavors. I’ve done some similar things and I’m including it in my app. Not everything has to be related to medicine. But this shows that you are a human being with interests at least. Performing is quite a good thing to include in my opinion. The way I see it seeing patients and presenting research is a kind of performance
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I included two artistic endeavors too. They wouldn’t have those categories if they didn’t want to see who you are as a person.
 
Anyone else on here working on activities descriptions want to critique each others descriptions sometime later? Some of mine I think are ok while with some things I am not sure if I'm focusing on the right stuff.
 
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@Catalystik I know you said that expected hours aren’t really taken into account that much, but I don’t really have clinical volunteering at the moment and am doing it this summer. Would med schools still look at me as not having clinical volunteering?
 
Basil246 said:
@Catalystik I know you said that expected hours aren’t really taken into account that much, but I don’t really have clinical volunteering at the moment and am doing it this summer. Would med schools still look at me as not having clinical volunteering?
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Yes, that's how they'll view you. But if you have employment in a clinical environment where you interact with patients, it won't matter. Do you have other experience working directly with patients? How about physician shadowing?
 
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Catalystik said:
Yes, that's how they'll view you. But if you have employment in a clinical environment where you interact with patients, it won't matter. Do you have other experience working directly with patients? How about physician shadowing?
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I have a lot of physician shadowing
 
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Catalystik said:
For broader appeal to more med schools, you might consider waiting to apply until after you've acquired a decent number of hours of the clinical volunteering.
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I would have about 100 hours done before June 15. Still worth applying?
 
Basil246 said:
I would have about 100 hours done before June 15. Still worth applying?
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One hundred hours is a good amount, but honestly, I think most med schools would want to see a longer term of involvement rather than a quick acquisition of hours. I realize you probably have an application timeline you don't want to adjust, but might you consider waiting a year to submit your application, to decrease the chance of another application cycle?
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Why would you think delaying your application until it is the best you can get it would decrease your appeal?
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Well I’m not talking about waiting for next cycle, but if I wait until August or September I’ve been told that hurts you, and if you apply later then you might as well wait for next cycle
 
Basil246 said:
Well I’m not talking about waiting for next cycle, but if I wait until August or September I’ve been told that hurts you, and if you apply later then you might as well wait for next cycle
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Yeah, @Catalystik meant delaying a cycle, I’m sure, not waiting until August or September. No one would suggest that.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Yeah, @Catalystik meant delaying a cycle, I’m sure, not waiting until August or September. No one would suggest that.
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I had been considering that. But I received a few interviews and waitlists this cycle so I feel like my application couldn’t be that bad as is? Especially with some improvements I’ve made this year. Plus I’m applying DO too and am very okay with going DO
 
Basil246 said:
I had been considering that. But I received a few interviews and waitlists this cycle so I feel like my application couldn’t be that bad as is? Especially with some improvements I’ve made this year. Plus I’m applying DO too and am very okay with going DO
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Well, ultimately your decision. @gonnif always recommends taking a year between cycles to improve your app, as your app probably won't see much improvement from one cycle directly into another. But I don't want to derail the thread.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Well, ultimately your decision. @gonnif always recommends taking a year between cycles to improve your app, as your app probably won't see much improvement from one cycle directly into another. But I don't want to derail the thread.
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Just to clarify, I am passing on the recommendation of several medical schools that say the most common mistake by reapplicants is applying again too soon
 
Hi, can the student include a paid full-time 9-week summer research internship on the W/A section if the activity begins a couple of days before May 31 (upcoming 2018-2019 cycle AMCAS app submission begins May 31)? The internship actually formally begins mid-June(it is a formal University internship program with a fixed start/end date), but the Prof has offered to pay starting May 29 if the lab internship is begun then (making it about 11 week paid summer internship).

Thanks.
 
Permanent vs. mailing address vs. legal county residence

So my home home where my parents live is where I put as my permanent address. My university address however is where I live mostly now and work here and plan to put that as mailing address. When it comes to assigning legal county residence, which county should I put in? Both addresses are within the same state. Or should I just put my mailing address my permeant as well as legal residency county?
 
ruar12 said:
Hi, can the student include a paid full-time 9-week summer research internship on the W/A section if the activity begins a couple of days before May 31 (upcoming 2018-2019 cycle AMCAS app submission begins May 31)? The internship actually formally begins mid-June(it is a formal University internship program with a fixed start/end date), but the Prof has offered to pay starting May 29 if the lab internship is begun then (making it about 11 week paid summer internship).
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Yes. You might not be able to say much that will impact your application, but you can list it if you have started the activity.

An alternative would be to tack mention of it onto the end of another Research entry. Or to save it for Secondaries and update letters later in the cycle.
 
DameJulie said:
Permanent vs. mailing address vs. legal county residence

So my home home where my parents live is where I put as my permanent address. My university address however is where I live mostly now and work here and plan to put that as mailing address. When it comes to assigning legal county residence, which county should I put in? Both addresses are within the same state. Or should I just put my mailing address my permeant as well as legal residency county?
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If you are still a student, or out of school less than a year, your legal county of residence is where your permanent mailing address is, namely where your parents reside. If you have worked for the last year without being a student at your current location, your permanent address and county are where you live now.
 
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Catalystik said:
A zero, a one, or the hours you sat at ceremonies to receive them.
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Would this technique also work for a space with combined publications/presentations? They are very obviously related to a research slot that has all my research hours listed, and I honestly have no idea how I would break out the hours for the publications/presentations from the overall research hours.
 
Sagebrush said:
Would this technique also work for a space with combined publications/presentations? They are very obviously related to a research slot that has all my research hours listed, and I honestly have no idea how I would break out the hours for the publications/presentations from the overall research hours.
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I am in favor of prep time for posters and presentations being included in the affiliated Research space. For the Presentation/Posters space, enter the time involved in giving the oral presentation or the time you stood next to the poster.
 
I graduated undergrad in December and have been focusing on working and studying for MCAT this semester. I still had group membership with my premed organization, so I would still show up to volunteering events, but not consistently. Now that I am wrapping up my studying, would it look bad (on my app/to adcoms) if I began picking up the weekly volunteering on a regular basis? I don't know how frowned upon it'd be if my hours became more heavy in May you know

(I do have clinical volunteering ~120 hours as well as nonclinical volunteering with a camp ~200+ hours) I was just curious on how a new activity is viewed
 
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diene_daily said:
I graduated undergrad in December and have been focusing on working and studying for MCAT this semester. I still had group membership with my premed organization, so I would still show up to volunteering events, but not consistently. Now that I am wrapping up my studying, would it look bad (on my app/to adcoms) if I began picking up the weekly volunteering on a regular basis? I don't know how frowned upon it'd be if my hours became more heavy in May you know
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No. Lots of folks cut back on activities while studying for the MCAT. Just try to keep up some sort of volunteer activity through most of the application cycle for the sake of Secondaries, update letters, and in case you end up reapplying. Not necessarily with the same organizations, but something similar would be nice.
 
Does anyone know if there will be an opportunity to list experiences that haven't happened yet? I have taken a job as a scribe in an ER for my gap year (starts in june) but I want to be able to communicate that.
 
Franzliszt1 said:
Does anyone know if there will be an opportunity to list experiences that haven't happened yet? I have taken a job as a scribe in an ER for my gap year (starts in june) but I want to be able to communicate that.
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future hours are generally disregarded. I would recommend saving it for secondaries so you have something fresh to add
 
Couple questions on an EMT class. I've got substantial experiences using the cert which I already talk about in my MM's but as for the class itself.

First, the clinicals at my program were very extensive and added up to about 40 hours on a truck and 100 hours in various hospital departments (L1 trauma ER, peds ER, multiple ICU's, psych, Labor and delivery, etc.)- all very hands on. Do I list that as clinical volunteering or something else (it wasn't paid, but also a requirement for the certification so not really volunteer/community service)?

Second, The course itself says 284 contact hours or 28.4 CEU's on the transcript. The AMCAS helpline said this doesn't go into course info since it was CEU's, not semester hours, but that I could put in work/activities. Is this actual course part (not the clinicals) even worth adding and if so what type of activity would I list it is? If not I'll probably just tack on a sentence on the clinical description that the course consisted of 284 contact hours whatever that means :shrug:
 
Neurotic pre-med alert...

I have less than 50 clinical volunteer hours at the moment. Should I wait until I get 50 clinical hours to submit my app? Theoretically, I could submit on May 31st or whenever the first day is, but I won't have as many hours if I wait a couple of weeks to submit (say, submit on June 20th or something). Based on what I have read on other threads, I can submit a little later and I should be fine. I read somewhere that a good application gets you an interview, not an early one.

That being said, what really is the difference between 30 hours and 50 hours? I kinda want to submit early just to be done with this leg of the admissions process.

Thoughts?
 
theKingLT said:
Couple questions on an EMT class. I've got substantial experiences using the cert which I already talk about in my MM's but as for the class itself.

1) First, the clinicals at my program were very extensive and added up to about 40 hours on a truck and 100 hours in various hospital departments (L1 trauma ER, peds ER, multiple ICU's, psych, Labor and delivery, etc.)- all very hands on. Do I list that as clinical volunteering or something else (it wasn't paid, but also a requirement for the certification so not really volunteer/community service)?

2) Second, The course itself says 284 contact hours or 28.4 CEU's on the transcript. The AMCAS helpline said this doesn't go into course info since it was CEU's, not semester hours, but that I could put in work/activities. Is this actual course part (not the clinicals) even worth adding and if so what type of activity would I list it is? If not I'll probably just tack on a sentence on the clinical description that the course consisted of 284 contact hours whatever that means :shrug:
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1) Since these hours were a curricular requirement, and not volunteer or paid, you'd list them under "Other."

2) While you could mention it as part of the backstory for the EMT certification or the curricular clinical hours, no one cares how many "contact" hours you had since you qualified for the certification. I'd be more interested in who the sponsoring body was since it won't be on your transcript. Others won't even be that curious. So leave it off if you are space-impaired.
 
Boola Boy said:
Neurotic pre-med alert...

I have less than 50 clinical volunteer hours at the moment. Should I wait until I get 50 clinical hours to submit my app? Theoretically, I could submit on May 31st or whenever the first day is, but I won't have as many hours if I wait a couple of weeks to submit (say, submit on June 20th or something). Based on what I have read on other threads, I can submit a little later and I should be fine. I read somewhere that a good application gets you an interview, not an early one.

That being said, what really is the difference between 30 hours and 50 hours? I kinda want to submit early just to be done with this leg of the admissions process.

Thoughts?
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The answer is most likely there is no difference. If you only have 50 clinical volunteer hours i would hope that you have significantly more non-clinical volunteer and paid clinical hours to make up for it, in which case the difference between 30 and 50 is essentially nothing; however, if that is your only volunteering or only clinical experience, than 50 vs 30 becomes a slightly bigger difference; however at that point you have a much bigger problem in lack of volunteer or clinical hours, and I would recommend delaying a year to gain hours.
 
Boola Boy said:
Neurotic pre-med alert...

I have less than 50 clinical volunteer hours at the moment. Should I wait until I get 50 clinical hours to submit my app? Theoretically, I could submit on May 31st or whenever the first day is, but I won't have as many hours if I wait a couple of weeks to submit (say, submit on June 20th or something). Based on what I have read on other threads, I can submit a little later and I should be fine. I read somewhere that a good application gets you an interview, not an early one.

That being said, what really is the difference between 30 hours and 50 hours? I kinda want to submit early just to be done with this leg of the admissions process.

Thoughts?
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Clinical experience is a relatively important part of the application. Listing 30 vs 50 volunteer hours on your application is unlikely to change the outcome when your application is evaluated. What other clinical exposure can you list, including personal or family experiences, jobs, physician shadowing, etc?
 
I did a 400 hour research fellowship at a prestigious institution that can technically look like a big part of my application. Unfortunately, the project was divided into several parts and I ended up not really learning as much as I could have because I was constantly shifted to different tasks. I left afterwards because the work was boring and confusing to me. I didn't particularly enjoy the experience and found myself questioning why I was doing what I was doing.

However, this experience appears great on paper and I'm worried that adcoms will drill me on this project. Will they be expecting me to write this as a MM or get a letter from the PI (who I never had a close connection with)?

Also, should I describe this activity in general terms or specifically (objective, research procedure, results, etc.)?
 
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mariposas905 said:
I did a 400 hour research fellowship at a prestigious institution that can technically look like a big part of my application. Unfortunately, the project was divided into several parts and I ended up not really learning as much as I could have because I was constantly shifted to different tasks. I left afterwards because the work was boring and confusing to me. I didn't particularly enjoy the experience and found myself questioning why I was doing what I was doing.

1) a. However, this experience appears great on paper and I'm worried that adcoms will drill me on this project.
b. Will they be expecting me to write this as a MM or get a letter from the PI (who I never had a close connection with)?

2) Also, should I describe this activity in general terms or specifically (objective, research procedure, results, etc.)?
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1) a. Some schools pair interviewees with researchers in a similar field so they can drill in on tiny details. So be prepared for that type of interogation. b. Not unless you're a candidate for top-twenties.

2) Start with one sentence a lay person can understand about the point of the project. Then get technical if you like (or not). Discuss your role and some procedures you learned. You can save the specifics for interview interogations, but often results are not yet known, nor are analyses made, or conclusions drawn at the time you apply. If you are able to make a quick summation, feel free, though. If you presented a poster, you can mention it here.

If you don't want to be responsible for every little detail, call yourself a lab tech rather than a research assistant in the name of the activity.
 
@Catalystik @theKingLT I have shadowing experience and clinical exposure from my healthcare consulting job. Personal experiences, well my parents have had major surgeries...

I could wait another year. I just don't think I have the steam to continue in a full-time job that I'm not really passionate about, so that's why I am applying this year. Also, I've looked at WedgeDawg's Applicant Rating System, and I'm happy with where I fall and what my school list looks like...so I'm going for it.
 
Catalystik said:
1) a. Some schools pair interviewees with researchers in a similar field so they can drill in on tiny details. So be prepared for that type of interogation. b. Not unless you're a candidate for top-twenties.

2) Start with one sentence a lay person can understand about the point of the project. Then get technical if you like (or not). Discuss your role and some procedures you learned. You can save the specifics for interview interogations, but often results are not yet known, nor are analyses made, or conclusions drawn at the time you apply. If you are able to make a quick summation, feel free, though. If you presented a poster, you can mention it here.

If you don't want to be responsible for every little detail, call yourself a lab tech rather than a research assistant in the name of the activity.
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It's a specific fellowship with a well-known name, so they would know I'm not a lab tech :/ Oh well, I'm not looking to get into research heavy schools so hopefully it won't be too bad
 
Catalystik said:
Yes. You might not be able to say much that will impact your application, but you can list it if you have started the activity.

An alternative would be to tack mention of it onto the end of another Research entry. Or to save it for Secondaries and update letters later in the cycle.
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Thank you for your very helpful advice. I think tacking it with another activity, and then using it in Secondaries or as update letters seems like a good approach.
 
Would an abstract go under publications or just along with the research category I already have? (It's a second author one)

Currently I have 3 research experiences already. One for poster presentation, one for my 2 years of research, and one for my money award to fund doing a research project this summer. I wasn't sure if adding a fourth would be overkill for research since it's not an actual publication and just an abstract. Maybe I can fit it within one of the current 3?

For reference I do still have 3 open activity slots I could use.
 
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