*~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2019-2020 *~*~*~*
Started by Matthew9Thirtyfive
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It will make you interesting and memorable. List it.
I work at 4 different locations (an ED located downtown, an ED in a residency hospital, an OB/GYN clinic, and a PCP clinic) under 1 scribe company. I can't separate them by a specific timeframe because I rotate through all 4 locations weekly. I've also learned different things at each location (typical scribing at downtown ED, worked with residents at residency ED, learned a different EMR and assist in some procedures at OB clinic, learned a new EMR and trained other scribes this new EMR at PCP clinic).
Would it be better to list all 4 under 1 activity or to separate them out?
Would it be better to list all 4 under 1 activity or to separate them out?
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deleted972488
I would just list them all under one activity.
I have a similar question as @ahembearr for a hospital volunteer experience, but my volunteer coordinator does have record of how many hours I spent in each department. Would I still be able to combine it? The coordinator is a little unresponsive so I'm worried I won't have the breakdown by department by the time May 30th rolls around.
For my research lab I have done a campus poster presentation, and also currently assembling a paper regarding the same project — it will obviously be unpublished by app submission time, but it will be likely submitted to bioXriv open source journal, so it will be searchable and have a DOI, I actually am having a role in writing the paper so it's been a fairly worthwhile experience for me. My current plan is to not make a separate entry for the poster but I figure that making a separate entry for the paper would be appropriate? Thoughts?
Also in terms of the leadership category, I haven't had any explicit leadership roles/titles that wouldn't somehow be tied into another activity... is it worthwhile trying to discern hours to the activity and "leadership" time — my activity descriptions will certain talk about mentoring etc. that will "show" leadership but might not necessarily explicitly say it.
Lastly, I am in a writing club that I initially would say is a hobby, but considering our work get shared with our student body via social media/website is it appropriate to consider that an artistic endeavor (someone mentioned in this thread that if it's shared it is more of an artistic endeavor)
Also in terms of the leadership category, I haven't had any explicit leadership roles/titles that wouldn't somehow be tied into another activity... is it worthwhile trying to discern hours to the activity and "leadership" time — my activity descriptions will certain talk about mentoring etc. that will "show" leadership but might not necessarily explicitly say it.
Lastly, I am in a writing club that I initially would say is a hobby, but considering our work get shared with our student body via social media/website is it appropriate to consider that an artistic endeavor (someone mentioned in this thread that if it's shared it is more of an artistic endeavor)
I agree.
Using one space is most appropriate. In your narrative you can list the different departments. You don't need to break down the time in each, if you don't have the data. Total Hours is the most important.
1) I would mention the poster in the Research entry. Save the manuscript for an update letter after it's published. Using a Publications tab for it at this point would not be appropriate.
2) A dedicated Leadership space isn't required. Your activity descriptions AND the title of the space can communicate leadership connected to a given activity. Keeping the leadership in context with the experience that led to it often makes more sense.
3) Either Hobby or Artistic Endeavor can be used for this activity, keeping in mind that for Hobbies you don't need a Contact (if that's an issue).
In regard to repeated activities, I participated in long-term volunteering at a local clinic starting in 2009 and continuing until 2016. This activity only occurred during the summers. However, there are not enough slots to enter in the date information/hours for each summer period. For example, there are 4 slots, but I have 8 summers in total to log hours for. Should I just not select the repeated activities button and simply record the dates as May 2009 - August 2016? In the activity description, I do specify that I volunteered at this clinic over multiple summers.
Use the full date span, May 09-Aug 16, in the header, but use the word "Summer" in the name you give the space. In the description give a sense of how many weeks that entailed, and average hours per week.
I've presented several research posters, but I cannot fit them all into one entry if I put the full title of each poster, should I do two separate entries? My supervisor has presented at many national conferences and has put my work and name on some of his posters, should I include these in there as well?
1) It's OK to truncate the title or to just list the general topic. Also, if a similar poster was presented at more than one venue, there's no need to repeat the title.
2) If you are listed as an author, you can include them, giving credit to the actual presenter. If you are not an author, don't list it, no matter what you contributed.
1) Do you think using paragraph form comes off more meaningful than bullet-point? I definitely feel it would be easier to use bullet-points but I also feel like that can give off a resume vibe.
2) I want to group together all of my random community service activities that I've accumulated over the years. Since they are all different should I just name the experience: Community Service Volunteerism? I don't like that it's the same name as the Experience Type but I don't know what else to call it.
3) I only have 3 shadowing experiences to talk about and will be listing them in the same category. This gives me some extra room to describe each experience; should I use that as a way to talk about how it "impacted me" and whatnot? OH, and if I list "Dermatologist" as the physician's title, should I still write "Physician's Name, D.O., Dermatologist" or leave it out?
4) I was a member of a sorority in college and will be listing that under Extracurricular because I didn't hold any significant positions. However, I was involved in many philanthropic events and fundraisers (community service), as well as holding a small, temporary position in the chapter (leadership - maybe). I just want to know how I can organize that in the description? ALSO (sorry I keep adding things), should I name the Experience: Membership in XXX Sorority & name organization: University of X, or just do "Sorority Membership" and then name the organization XXX Sorority.
Those are all my questions........for now😵
Thank you!!!
2) I want to group together all of my random community service activities that I've accumulated over the years. Since they are all different should I just name the experience: Community Service Volunteerism? I don't like that it's the same name as the Experience Type but I don't know what else to call it.
3) I only have 3 shadowing experiences to talk about and will be listing them in the same category. This gives me some extra room to describe each experience; should I use that as a way to talk about how it "impacted me" and whatnot? OH, and if I list "Dermatologist" as the physician's title, should I still write "Physician's Name, D.O., Dermatologist" or leave it out?
4) I was a member of a sorority in college and will be listing that under Extracurricular because I didn't hold any significant positions. However, I was involved in many philanthropic events and fundraisers (community service), as well as holding a small, temporary position in the chapter (leadership - maybe). I just want to know how I can organize that in the description? ALSO (sorry I keep adding things), should I name the Experience: Membership in XXX Sorority & name organization: University of X, or just do "Sorority Membership" and then name the organization XXX Sorority.
Those are all my questions........for now😵
Thank you!!!
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I volunteered with Hospice from 2/2017 to present, but they were at 2 different locations because I ended up moving.
I was gonna make the header Hospice Volunteering and list my current location's contact information.
My times are:
2/2017-3/2017 in Hospice #1 I had 22 hours
7/2017- Present in Hospice #2 I have 107 Hours
I don't really want to make separate listings for basically the same activity with different locations. Would this listing be okay or is there a better way?
Start Date: 2/2017 - Present
Total Hours = 129 Hours
Hospice #2 contact info
Experience description:
Started volunteering at Hospice #2 in 7/2017 after moving to a different area and accumulated about 107 hours since then.
Also:
Hospice #1
Contact info
22 hours - 2/2017 to 3/2017
I was gonna make the header Hospice Volunteering and list my current location's contact information.
My times are:
2/2017-3/2017 in Hospice #1 I had 22 hours
7/2017- Present in Hospice #2 I have 107 Hours
I don't really want to make separate listings for basically the same activity with different locations. Would this listing be okay or is there a better way?
Start Date: 2/2017 - Present
Total Hours = 129 Hours
Hospice #2 contact info
Experience description:
Started volunteering at Hospice #2 in 7/2017 after moving to a different area and accumulated about 107 hours since then.
Also:
Hospice #1
Contact info
22 hours - 2/2017 to 3/2017
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Thanks for numbering your questions:
1) No. Your entries are expected to be succinct and avoid excessive verbiage. You can mix and match the two styles as seems best to convey what you want to get across. If you want to use flowery words, though narrative format is probably best. [j/k-don't do that.]
2) How about "Short-Term Community Volunteer Positions" (or "Short-Term Volunteerism" if it includes campus service as well).
3) Only use the specialty once.
4) You might call the space "Greek Involvement" then label two paragraphs : 1) Philanthropy and 2) Leadership, then bullet point events under each (noting that you can't use a real bullet point as the formatting won't work out. Instead use stars or dashes, etc).
Use the Organization space to name the sorority.
Perfect, except you'll put the Contact info for hospice #2 in the header, not in the narrative space. And you might consider mentioning that you changed facilities due to relocating.
Thank you so much!
1) Awesome! And thankfully narratives aren't my strong suit, so we're good there.
2) Perfect
3) Sounds good, I'll probably leave it as the title. What do you think about writing a little on the impact?
4) Again, perfect; I'll do just that.
Thanks again, this was very helpful!
3) Depends on what you'd say. Avoid emotional stuff. And you could consider adding a highlight you experienced with each doc.
Yes that's what I'm planning. Definitely nothing emotional, just what I got out of it and how it further motivated me in this pursuit kind of deal.
Pressed for space and could really could use some advice here. I have >10 national presentations (many are first author) and >10 first-author regional presentations (do not think it is worth mentioning non-first author regional presentations). Also the national presentations are all published in journals.
Would it be sufficient to give citation details on all national presentations under "Publications" section (and make it a most meaningful for space), while focusing on those I actually presented under "Presentations/Posters"? I am trying to avoid duplicating information, while providing clarification on my roles on these project.
Would it be sufficient to give citation details on all national presentations under "Publications" section (and make it a most meaningful for space), while focusing on those I actually presented under "Presentations/Posters"? I am trying to avoid duplicating information, while providing clarification on my roles on these project.
Do the abstracts published in national journals have a PubMedID#?
Paper journals or on-line journals?
Did some of the regional presentations consist of the same data sets later presented nationally?
1a) I received an associates degree in engineering before transferring to a 4-year school and changing my major to biomedical sciences. During that time, I was a member of two research projects (one with hoverboards and one with a solar powered phone), should I list these under "Research"? There were multiple members in my group, and we collaborated with professors, so would these even count as research or just group projects and I shouldn't mention them?
1b) I had a paper published my senior year, so should I also list that under research or just under a publication?
2) I've seen it recommended that you should keep the format of your entries the same. Does this apply for your MM's as well? For instance, for descriptions for all of my activities I was going to use bullet points, but then for the additional 1300 characters for my MM's I was going to write a paragraph.
3) I'm sure it varies from school to school, but how important are all of the categories we can list and what do adcoms look for first? For example, is leadership more important than non-clinical volunteering? Or is shadowing more important than research?
4) Could a high GPA/MCAT make up for a lack in another category (I have no non-clinical volunteering at the moment)?
1b) I had a paper published my senior year, so should I also list that under research or just under a publication?
2) I've seen it recommended that you should keep the format of your entries the same. Does this apply for your MM's as well? For instance, for descriptions for all of my activities I was going to use bullet points, but then for the additional 1300 characters for my MM's I was going to write a paragraph.
3) I'm sure it varies from school to school, but how important are all of the categories we can list and what do adcoms look for first? For example, is leadership more important than non-clinical volunteering? Or is shadowing more important than research?
4) Could a high GPA/MCAT make up for a lack in another category (I have no non-clinical volunteering at the moment)?
1a) Group engineering development projects are often mentioned, but under the category "Other." They are a great demonstration of involvement in teamwork.
1b) Senior year of college?
Was this original hypothesis-based research that resulted in new human knowledge?
Journal was paper or online, or published where?
2) I disagree that the chosen format needs to be the same with every entry. It's fine to mix formats within an entry.
3) Adcomms will look for clinical experience first. Without that, there's no point to checking the rest.
4) At a few schools, this is true. For the most part, all schools will want to see nonmedical community volunteering. Examples of exceptions might be exmilitary, those with strong, long-term clinical volunteering, or those that worked full time to support themselves in college.
@Catalystik Wow you are extremely helpful. Thank you very much.
1b) Yes sorry, my senior year of college. The publication was a review paper, that I collaborated on with two other students (both are and were in medical school or graduate school) and one of our professors. It was published by PeerJ, and is available online at a couple places including NIH.gov and PeerJ.com.
1b) Yes sorry, my senior year of college. The publication was a review paper, that I collaborated on with two other students (both are and were in medical school or graduate school) and one of our professors. It was published by PeerJ, and is available online at a couple places including NIH.gov and PeerJ.com.
All abstracts are published online in good impact journals and with their own DOI, but not all have a Pubmed ID specifically. I was planning on providing the DOI for reference. There is some overlap between the national and regional presentations, so I will mention only those once under national presentations.
I have the same contact listed thrice for research related things. Will this be an issue? The three things are my undergraduate research. my poster presentations, and non-clinical paid employment (it's in the same lab, after I graduated the PI wanted me to stay on as a payed employee).
When discussing research in the activity section, how technical should we get? Do we have to make it understandable to a lay person or can it have some jargon that a reasonably well informed person can understand? (such as nucleotide, protease, etc)
You would list it under Publication.
Here is an example of a super condensed format using PMID#. I encourage you to use PMID whenever possible as everyone doesn't have access via DOI. See if you can make this work for you, keeping in mind that you don't have to list everything. (Though I generally disagree with including submitted manuscripts, there might be a place for it when one wants to demonstrate super-productive involvement and has a proven pattern of acceptance).
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It's no problem at all, and certainly easier for anyone calling/emailing for verification.
Your first sentence should explain the project in lay terms your English teacher would understand. After that, feel free to use technical jargon.
For AMCAS, definitely not, unless you don't double count the hours. Then you can break one activity down into multiple components.
If applying through TMDSAS (Texas public schools) in previous years, this was permitted, but NB: this has changed considerably for the 2020 season. For guidelines, see *~*~*~*Official TMDSAS Questions Thread 2019-2020*~*~*~*
Thank you, I should be able to make it this work. Also, do you think it is worth highlighting patent applications as their own activity? Or should I just mention them briefly in the activity where I discuss the affiliated job position? I have a couple pending at the moment and I am unsure where the appropriate place to report this. Thanks again for the help on this forum.
If you have a "patent pending" or a "patent" they are worthy of their own space. You can use Other for this. Anything earlier in the pipeline can be mentioned in the affiliated Employment entry.
Question about MM:
I'm grouping together my community service volunteer activities because I haven't been involved in any of them for a significant amount of time (max 3 months). However, one of these experiences has really meant a lot to me and I genuinely enjoy giving my time to this incredible organization. By the end of this month I'll only have about 30 hours there and am definitely planning to continue through the application cycle. So the question is, would this be ridiculous to list as a MM activity? And if I did, would it be advised to list it as a separate entry?
Be honest with me. If not I can list a research internship as a MM (~500 hours). I just feel like this has meant more to me recently, but I can also definitely talk about it in secondaries as well.
I'm grouping together my community service volunteer activities because I haven't been involved in any of them for a significant amount of time (max 3 months). However, one of these experiences has really meant a lot to me and I genuinely enjoy giving my time to this incredible organization. By the end of this month I'll only have about 30 hours there and am definitely planning to continue through the application cycle. So the question is, would this be ridiculous to list as a MM activity? And if I did, would it be advised to list it as a separate entry?
Be honest with me. If not I can list a research internship as a MM (~500 hours). I just feel like this has meant more to me recently, but I can also definitely talk about it in secondaries as well.
The amount of time you invest in an activity has no expected correlation with whether it's a reasonable choice for MM, but it should go in its own space.
If you have a school list, and you have run out of space, you might check the list of Seconday questions from last year (95% won't change, link should be in one of the stickies) to see if a good number of them would give you the opportunity to discuss the impact of this activity there.
Should I list raising a Rottweiler as one of my activities? It's obviously been a huge part of my life for the past 5 years and I took it very seriously, but I see it under the same genre as people listing that they're a parent (I understand kids and dogs are not equivalent!) Should I perhaps leave it off and maybe touch on it in secondaries if the opportunity arises? In which case, I could just add dog training to my hobbies list.
Including dog training on a Hobbies list is fine.
Thank you very much! I appreciate it.
I'll definitely check that thread. Thanks!
A compilation of Secondary essay questions can be found here 2017-2018 Secondaries (Alphabetical List) but an updated list for the 2018-2019 season is pending. You can still locate the current Secondary essay questions in the Allopathic School Specific Discussions in individual threads.
That makes total sense. Split out anything that needs more space for explanation.
1.) Say we are splitting an activity into two components (philanthropy and leadership) but it is also the most meaningful activity. Can I talk about my experience as a whole in the most meaningful section?
2.) Plan on changing labs but have not decided at this point, how should I plan future hours? On the same note, do I have to forecast future hours (I feel like I will overestimate) if I am forecasting a future end date?
2.) Plan on changing labs but have not decided at this point, how should I plan future hours? On the same note, do I have to forecast future hours (I feel like I will overestimate) if I am forecasting a future end date?
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1) Separating them and taking the leadership out of context may make it harder for adcomms to put the pieces together. Why not leave them in one space together, list it under Community Service, but include the leadership position in the title of the space, so it won't be overlooked? If you don't want to do that, I suggest making the Leadership the Most Meaningful space, make most of your comments about the leadership aspect, but just touch lightly on the philanthropic effort that arose from your organizational skills.
2) As future hours aren't much regarded, there's no need to include them if the activity isn't certain. They are more of a signal of your intentions at the time. Many do not include any future hours. Alternatively, you might hint about another possible path in the narrative, like, "I may/will continue this activity through summer 2019, but I am seeking/will seek another lab position that would give me more [whatever]." You can then update schools through Secondary essays, interview conversations, or update letters (where allowed), if plans change, or don't. If your plan is extremely uncertain, just say nothing for now.
I would prefer the former method of listing the club (combining service + leadership), but then that would leave me with no other experience labeled as "leadership". Is that problematic?
A dedicated Leadership entry is not required. It might be desirable if you are a good candidate for highly-selective, research-focused med schools which specifically look, per their mission statement, to "train future leaders in medicine." Are you in that category? Do you have enough non-medical community service under another tab that you don't need one focused on philanthropy? If not, it is far more important to have a solid Community Service/Volunteer-Not Medical/Clinical space, as this is probably the second category that most adcomms will be looking for (after Clinical experience).
German mostly lol
Audi S4 Avant and 2005 BMW M5 are my poison
Audi S4 Avant and 2005 BMW M5 are my poison
Most adcomms are old and staid, and probably won't find risk-taking activities to be an appealing characteristic in an applicant. But if risk is your thing, and you want your genuinine self to be known, go ahead and list it.
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