*~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2020-2021 *~*~*~*

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Great, thank you! Yes, I have no idea what the hours during childhood and highschool would be as I was dancing between 25-35 hours a week since I was ten years old.

Also, if I list dance as a Hobby do I need to put a specific contact? I have trained at many studios throughout my life so I do not know if I have a specific contact that would know about all of my training throughout childhood, high school, and college.
No Contact is needed for a Hobbies space. The Artistic Endeavors tag, however, would require one.
 
An activity considered "Research" for AMCAS purposes uses the scientific method in a scholarly investigation to discover new human knowledge. A literature review or term paper or class report or an innovative group project does not fall into that category. These activities were Projects. They could be listed under Other, or Teaching, or for the latter Non-Medical Community Service. Please don't use the Research category inappropriately.

Further, they were curricular activities, so including all the class time is redundant, considering they appear on your transcript. You should list only the actual time spent on each project.
How do you classify a term paper that was published by a global project and listed by Google Scholar (but not listed by Researchgate)?
 
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Hey all, I currently work as an MRI tech for the last 3 years so I have a lot of clinical hours. Part of my job involves cross training other technologists or teaching students how to do MRI. I was wondering if it is appropriate to cut some hours from my total hours and make a new category for teaching?
 
I have worked at the same organization for 3.5 years (throughout college and post-grad), and have held several distinct roles in this organization, each of which coming with distinct responsibilities. However, I still cycle between these 3 roles on a regular basis, rather than each having a distinct start and end date.

I will have amassed ~8000 hours of experience by matriculation in Fall 2021, evenly spread across the 3 roles I have held at the company. I am thus finding it difficult to do justice to each of these roles by lumping my involvement at the company under one single entry (I will certainly list it as a most meaningful activity). Since I have extra Work and Activities spaces leftover, could I perhaps split my involvement at the company into 3 separate entries for each of the 3 roles I have held and designate the most meaningful role(s) as such such?
 
Hey all, I currently work as an MRI tech for the last 3 years so I have a lot of clinical hours. Part of my job involves cross training other technologists or teaching students how to do MRI. I was wondering if it is appropriate to cut some hours from my total hours and make a new category for teaching?
That is what I'd suggest you should do.
 
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Would it be looked down upon to list an activity categorized as "employment" as opposed to volunteering as one of my Most Meaningfuls?

It was swim teaching+coaching, and I learned a lot of people skills and other lessons (as my first job too). I have a story I could include about my learning curve. However theclients weren't disadvantaged in any way; my local community is pretty well-off. To get an idea of hours and commitment, it was 225 total hours: Instructing 100 hrs 8/2015-8/2017, Coaching 62 hrs 5/2017-8/2017, 63 hrs 5/2018-8/2018. So a big portion was done before college (I graduated HS June 2017), but I continued partially into my first year of college, and was formative during my "coming of age" and as a first job.
 
I have worked at the same organization for 3.5 years (throughout college and post-grad), and have held several distinct roles in this organization, each of which coming with distinct responsibilities. However, I still cycle between these 3 roles on a regular basis, rather than each having a distinct start and end date.

I will have amassed ~8000 hours of experience by matriculation in Fall 2021, evenly spread across the 3 roles I have held at the company. I am thus finding it difficult to do justice to each of these roles by lumping my involvement at the company under one single entry (I will certainly list it as a most meaningful activity). Since I have extra Work and Activities spaces leftover, could I perhaps split my involvement at the company into 3 separate entries for each of the 3 roles I have held and designate the most meaningful role(s) as such such?
Yes, you can split them out. Be sure in your own mind that the extra resulting verbiage would actually enhance your candidacy.
 
Hi @Catalystik I have a question in regards to a research letter of recommendation. I appreciate your advice.

I had the opportunity to work with a Nurse- Scientist who I performed clinical research under. I worked with her on a paper, got a poster presentation and an oral presentation. She was a great individual who mentored me throughout. However, the problem is she is highly against physicians as when she was working in the 60s, she feels they looked down her and other nurses .

She has tried to get me to deviate my path from medicine; for ex., I told her I'm passionate about religion and she suggested I choose Theology school. I told her I enjoy patient care and immediately she said I should choose nursing school. I think she is under the impression that i'm not 100% on medicine.

I really want to ask her for a letter, but I am worried that the letter might say something wrong about my desire to be a physician or something negative of that nature. What would you advise in this situation? Is there any way i can find out her thoughts on the matter in writing me a good letter?
 
Term papers are generally not listed at all. Why does your son want to include it?
It's a healthcare study funded by USAID and published in 2 languages. It's done for a honors seminar class thugh.
 
Hi @Catalystik I have a question in regards to a research letter of recommendation. I appreciate your advice.

I had the opportunity to work with a Nurse- Scientist who I performed clinical research under. I worked with her on a paper, got a poster presentation and an oral presentation. She was a great individual who mentored me throughout. However, the problem is she is highly against physicians as when she was working in the 60s, she feels they looked down her and other nurses .

She has tried to get me to deviate my path from medicine; for ex., I told her I'm passionate about religion and she suggested I choose Theology school. I told her I enjoy patient care and immediately she said I should choose nursing school. I think she is under the impression that i'm not 100% on medicine.

I really want to ask her for a letter, but I am worried that the letter might say something wrong about my desire to be a physician or something negative of that nature. What would you advise in this situation? Is there any way i can find out her thoughts on the matter in writing me a good letter?
Your LOR question lies outside the scope of this thread, which relates to Activity entries for AMCAS
 
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I have a question about combining paid and volunteer work in one section.
I was a paid graduate TA for 1.5 years and am currently a volunteer tutor. Is it ok to combine these activities in one slot?
You can if you pick the tag for Teaching. OTOH, if you are weak in nonmedical volunteering otherwise, that would not be your best strategy.
 
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It's a healthcare study funded by USAID and published in 2 languages. It's done for a honors seminar class though.
As you described it as a term paper, rather than as original, hypothesis-based research resulting in new knowledge, I suggest picking the tag "Other," and providing the database from which it can be searched with your son's name (and not a full citation). If you are looking for validation that it should be labeled as Research, I suggest posting a new thread in the main forum with a lot more detail than is appropriate to provide here.
 
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As you described it as a term paper, rather than as original, hypothesis-based research resulting in new knowledge, I suggest picking the tag "Other," and providing the database from which it can be searched with your son's name (and not a full citation). If you are looking for validation that it should be labeled as Research, I suggest posting a new thread in the main forum with a lot more detail than is appropriate to provide here.
I was wrong to describe it as a term paper. My son said started as a class assignment but worked it after semester ended and it's original, hypothesis-based research. Sorry for wasting your time.
 
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Would it be looked down upon to list an activity categorized as "employment" as opposed to volunteering as one of my Most Meaningfuls?

It was swim teaching+coaching, and I learned a lot of people skills and other lessons (as my first job too). I have a story I could include about my learning curve. However theclients weren't disadvantaged in any way; my local community is pretty well-off. To get an idea of hours and commitment, it was 225 total hours: Instructing 100 hrs 8/2015-8/2017, Coaching 62 hrs 5/2017-8/2017, 63 hrs 5/2018-8/2018. So a big portion was done before college (I graduated HS June 2017), but I continued partially into my first year of college, and was formative during my "coming of age" and as a first job.


Wanted to bump this in case it was missed.

I also have an additional question - thank you so much for your tremendous help, btw - is it a red flag to not include any medicine-related activities in my 3 MM's? I'm thinking of the swim job, leading my nonprofit, and an internship at a trafficking nonprofit. These were honestly the most formative for me. I was going to include shadowing since my description won't have space to reflect on it, and because I wanted to talk more about learning the reality of a physician's job, to balance out my PS which focuses on all the positive aspects. But I also wasn't sure if this would be glossed over, since everyone has shadowing (less unique than my other options).
 
1) Another question..as a nontrad I feel like I'll be a frequent flyer in here :)

2) I'm not sure how I should handle this situation. I founded a volunteer organization from the ground up in which we have non-clinical projects aimed at decreasing loneliness. I also act as a volunteer within the organization.
a) How should I label this activity - leadership or non-clin volunteering?
b) Should I separate the activity into two entries?

My other non-clinical volunteering (~250 hrs) includes Crisis Text Line, Volunteer Tutoring, and county commissioner (which can likewise be labeled as either leadership or volunteering)
1) Destined to be one of our "Gold Members," then. :D

2a) If you label it leadership, the space should claim only the dates and hours of leadership. If you call it volunteering (and add the leadership role to the title you pick for the space), the dates and hours can be all-inclusive.

2b) It depends. If you have the stats to aim at highly-selective med schools, then your strategy overall should be to have at least one dedicated Leadership space. If the hours were to be divided out into two spaces, you'd want the hourly total for each to be sufficient that the space looks solid. You obviously have enough other nonclinical volunteering that if the volunteer time for this organization can be on the lighter side, though.
 
1) Would it be looked down upon to list an activity categorized as "employment" as opposed to volunteering as one of my Most Meaningfuls?

2) It was swim teaching+coaching, and I learned a lot of people skills and other lessons (as my first job too). I have a story I could include about my learning curve. However the clients weren't disadvantaged in any way; my local community is pretty well-off. To get an idea of hours and commitment, it was 225 total hours: Instructing 100 hrs 8/2015-8/2017, Coaching 62 hrs 5/2017-8/2017, 63 hrs 5/2018-8/2018. So a big portion was done before college (I graduated HS June 2017), but I continued partially into my first year of college, and was formative during my "coming of age" and as a first job.
1) No.

2) You won't be able to use the Repeated feature for the three different timeframes, since some of it overlaps, unless you meld the first two together..
 
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1) Is it a red flag to not include any medicine-related activities in my 3 MM's?

2) I'm thinking of the swim job, leading my nonprofit, and an internship at a trafficking nonprofit. These were honestly the most formative for me. I was going to include shadowing since my description won't have space to reflect on it, and because I wanted to talk more about learning the reality of a physician's job, to balance out my PS which focuses on all the positive aspects. But I also wasn't sure if this would be glossed over, since everyone has shadowing (less unique than my other options).
1) No.

2) We want you to be honest. And a Shadowing space is not not generally used for a lot of reflection. "Just the facts, ma'am (or sir)" as given in the example in Post #2 of this thread.
 
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I know this doesnt belong here, but is there a thread for PS readers for 2020/2021?
 
I know this doesnt belong here, but is there a thread for PS readers for 2020/2021?
 
I recently submitted a research abstract for a national conference (6th World One Health Congress 2020) and it was accepted for a poster presentation. It was originally scheduled for June, but due to COVID, it has now been postponed to October/November. I want to add this as an activity in my application, but I am not sure whether to consider it as a presentation/poster, a conference attended or under research/lab. Any help will be appreciated!
 
I recently submitted a research abstract for a national conference (6th World One Health Congress 2020) and it was accepted for a poster presentation. It was originally scheduled for June, but due to COVID, it has now been postponed to October/November. I want to add this as an activity in my application, but I am not sure whether to consider it as a presentation/poster, a conference attended or under research/lab. Any help will be appreciated!

I'm in the same boat, and I think I will just mention it in my Research/Lab, since I technically haven't presented yet. Also, I looked at the conference out of curiosity and it says it's in Scotland, so isn't it an international conference then? Mine is also in Europe and it's with people from all over the world so idk if it's international or not.
 
I recently submitted a research abstract for a national conference (6th World One Health Congress 2020) and it was accepted for a poster presentation. It was originally scheduled for June, but due to COVID, it has now been postponed to October/November. I want to add this as an activity in my application, but I am not sure whether to consider it as a presentation/poster, a conference attended or under research/lab. Any help will be appreciated!
At this point, all you can say is that the Abstract was accepted for the conference, which is recognition enough. It is not yet a poster presentation and it is not a conference attended. If you have already-presented posters, or have in-print accepted manuscripts, you could mention it in the same space. But if not, add it to the affiliated Research space or use an Honors/Award space. I would favor the former, as it would keep the achievement in context and you won't have to explain it again.
 
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I'm in the same boat, and I think I will just mention it in my Research/Lab, since I technically haven't presented yet. Also, I looked at the conference out of curiosity and it says it's in Scotland, so isn't it an international conference then? Mine is also in Europe and it's with people from all over the world so idk if it's international or not.
USA conferences also have many foreign attendees. I'd consider it an "international" conference if it isn't held on US soil.
 
Is it alright to lump together my active involvement in a university sports club (I attend 4 practices/week + attending tournaments) with my hobbies (more informal participation than the club)? If so, should I list the category as Extracurriculars or Hobbies, and what is the best way to title the experience? Thank you!
 
Hi all, new here! I have been a scribe in a busy emergency department for roughly 2,500 hours but have not done any formal physician shadowing outside of this. I am wondering if I should discuss the job responsibility elements of this experience (organizational skills, medical narrative writing etc.) under "Paid Employment - Clinical" and then discuss experiences I have had that are more traditionally associated with shadowing under "physician shadowing/ clinical observation".

I have grown very close with the two overnight docs at my hospital and when I am not entering info into the EMR I am by there side really shadowing. I am there for the difficult conversations with family, they have me answer their phone when they are busy, they have allowed me to be an extra set of hands during intubations, laceration repairs and other procedures, they have taught me the basics of X-ray, CT and EKG reading, and ask me questions about what I'm thinking throughout the work-up about differential diagnoses, among many other things.

In my mind, the job responsibilities and the skills developed through that are separate from these shadowing type of experiences and my descriptions would definitely reflect this. I just wonder if AdComs will see this as redundant or an otherwise undesirable way to describe my experiences. Any help sorting this out would be very helpful!
 
1) Is it alright to lump together my active involvement in a university sports club (I attend 4 practices/week + attending tournaments) with my hobbies (more informal participation than the club)?
2) If so, should I list the category as Extracurriculars or Hobbies, and
3) what is the best way to title the experience?
1) Yes.
2) Either is suitable, but keep in mind that Hobbies doesn't need a Contact, if that is an issue for you.
3) You make it sound like both are with the same sport. If so, then maybe Collegiate [name of sport] Involvement?
 
Hi all, new here! I have been a scribe in a busy emergency department for roughly 2,500 hours but have not done any formal physician shadowing outside of this. I am wondering if I should discuss the job responsibility elements of this experience (organizational skills, medical narrative writing etc.) under "Paid Employment - Clinical" and then discuss experiences I have had that are more traditionally associated with shadowing under "physician shadowing/ clinical observation".

I have grown very close with the two overnight docs at my hospital and when I am not entering info into the EMR I am by there side really shadowing. I am there for the difficult conversations with family, they have me answer their phone when they are busy, they have allowed me to be an extra set of hands during intubations, laceration repairs and other procedures, they have taught me the basics of X-ray, CT and EKG reading, and ask me questions about what I'm thinking throughout the work-up about differential diagnoses, among many other things.

In my mind, the job responsibilities and the skills developed through that are separate from these shadowing type of experiences and my descriptions would definitely reflect this. I just wonder if AdComs will see this as redundant or an otherwise undesirable way to describe my experiences. Any help sorting this out would be very helpful!
I would certainly suggest an entry under Employment-Medical/Clinical. In addition, under the Shadowing tag in another space, describe those elements of your experience you feel are concordant solely with a clinical observation role, enter a 0, 1, or 99 (meaning "unknowable") for the Total Hours, in the narrative explain that your shadowing role was part of your clinical employment-listed elsewhere, and give a rough percentage of your clinical employment that you were engaged in physician observation.

Keep in mind that some schools won't look kindly on your lack of dedicated physician shadowing, so be convincing that you are aware of all the roles a doc takes on during his entire workday.
 
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1) Yes.
2) Either is suitable, but keep in mind that Hobbies doesn't need a Contact, if that is an issue for you.
3) You make it sound like both are with the same sport. If so, then maybe Collegiate [name of sport] Involvement?

Thanks - I think I'll label as Extracurricular. Regarding 3 - sorry I was unclear - it's a sport club and then artistic hobbies. "[Sport] Club and Assorted Hobbies?" Not sure if there is more appealing wording..?

Also, for an Extracurricular category, is it possible to include "0" as the hours since I can't estimate everything?
 
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I think I'll label as Extracurricular. Regarding 3 -
1) sorry I was unclear - it's a sport club and then artistic hobbies. "[Sport] Club and Assorted Hobbies?" Not sure if there is more appealing wording..?

2) Also, for an Extracurricular category, is it possible to include "0" as the hours since I can't estimate everything?
1) How about Collegiate Leisuretime Activities? But your suggestion works, too.

2) Yes. Do you have a Contact for each component? The second activity you list in the space would have the dates and Contact included in the narrative.
 
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Hey everyone! I've been trying to decide what to put for my last EC. I'm struggling between putting a research publication or Covid volunteering that I plan to continue long-term. I participated in a summer research internship (one of my ECs) and my project ended up being a component of a future publication. I feel like my project was not that impactful to the overall publication though, and I did not have a chance to participate in writing any of it. Should I just mention that the work was published at the end of my summer research internship EC and free up the space for the Covid volunteering?

Just to give some context, my application is pretty research heavy already, so I'm leaning towards the Covid volunteering, but I wanted to get a second opinion. Any help is always appreciated. I hope everyone is staying safe!
 
I've been trying to decide what to put for my last EC. I'm struggling between putting a research publication or Covid volunteering that I plan to continue long-term. I participated in a summer research internship (one of my ECs) and my project ended up being a component of a future publication. I feel like my project was not that impactful to the overall publication though, and I did not have a chance to participate in writing any of it. Should I just mention that the work was published at the end of my summer research internship EC and free up the space for the Covid volunteering?

Just to give some context, my application is pretty research heavy already, so I'm leaning towards the Covid volunteering, but I wanted to get a second opinion.
I agree with your reasoning. Make it so.
 
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My group did a research project on killing bacteria with bacteriophages. It was a side project from our own creativity; separate from the actual lab assignments. Do I include this research into my application and how? We made a presentation over it.
You may include it under a Research tab, assuming it was scholarly (hypothesis based and used the scientific method), original research (did not repeat someone else's work), potentially publishable (you learned new information), and the faculty is willing to be your Contact for the activity.

If the "presentation" took place at your university, mention it in the same space with the Research description. If it underwent an acceptance process, was peer-reviewed, and took place in an off-campus venue, you can enter it under Posters/Presentations.

JMO.
 
I agree with your reasoning. Make it so.
Awesome. Thanks for your feedback! Should I just write something along the lines, "This work was published in X (journal name), titled Y (publication title)?"
 
For context I am an teaching major, but I would like to include my practicum coursework(we go to the same classroom and teach under supervision over a long period of time) as one of my activities as it has had a major impact on me in understanding diversity(most of the classrooms we go into are inner-city schools). Would it be correct to place this under the "Other" category or should it not be placed at all due to it technically being part of coursework? I would like to highlight this, as I feel like most adcoms don't know what an "education practicum" is even though it is on my transcript.
"Teaching" might be better, but Other will do if a lot of the experience you want to discuss was observational, meetings or in other ways Not teaching. If the latter is the case, you still have the option of carving out the teaching-only Total Hours (and prep time) and listing those without the other non-teaching elements.
 
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What's the best way to explain a long-ish period of travel?

Current plan: a) discuss in secondaries where possible (but some of my schools don't have a secondary question that fits this information) and b) Lump it in the same W&A slot as international non-clinical volunteering while being sure to carefully detail the hours for volunteering from the unknowable hours of travel listed in the heading
 
What's the best way to explain a long-ish period of travel?

Current plan: a) discuss in secondaries where possible (but some of my schools don't have a secondary question that fits this information) and b) Lump it in the same W&A slot as international non-clinical volunteering while being sure to carefully detail the hours for volunteering from the unknowable hours of travel listed in the heading
I suggest entering your travel as a "Hobby" (no Contact required), keeping the international volunteering in its own space with those hours carved out. "Other" is another potential category for you to use.
 
I had a part-time job throughout college and eventually held a managerial position within that timeframe (that being my only long-term leadership experience in college), should I count the managerial position as 'leadership' or as 'paid-employment'?
If you call it all Employment and add the leadership role to the title you give the space (so it won't be overlooked), you'd just need one space, with all-encompassing dates and hours. If you use a Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere tag, you'd have to separate out the leadership dates and Total Hours (which might be very difficult) from the general Employment dates and hours, and use two spaces. The latter approach would be more important if you are applying to the highly-selective research-oriented schools that greatly value a strong leadership experience.
 
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To best fit my activities, I was going to group my 3 shadowing experiences together.

1) Just to make sure -- is it ok to add all 3 timelines (i.e. 2015-2016 w/ Dr. X, 2017-2018 w/ Dr. Y, 2019-2020 w/ Dr Z) then specify in my description which experience was in which time frame?

2) And does it let me add 3 locations, 3 organization names, 3 contacts, etc? (Not sure about character limits when filling out the app)
1) I suggest entering a datespan that covers all three shadowing experiences, then in the narrative enter the actual dates, subtotaled hours, and Contact (for #2 & #3) in front of each shadowing description.

2) No.
 
1. I grouped research, shadowing, pubs, and awards together. I have several very different hobbies, but only fill 11 slots if I group them together. Would separating one or two of the hobbies into different slots to discuss them more be fine? Or does it look like I'm just trying to stretch out my slots with just basic hobbies?

I know it doesn't matter how many you fill, but just thought may as well use that space to discuss things more.

2. Just to clarify, for future hours for an activity that will go on all year, should I put
start date - application submission date
separately from:
application submission date - projected end date

And include future hours in total hours? Then clarify how much I've actually done in the description? This is an ongoing nonclin volunteer position that's all done online, every single week.
1) One grouped Hobbies slot is common. If one of them is more of an avocation and you have a lot to say about it, feel free to spread it into a second space. I would not fluff your hobbies into three spaces.

2) Yes. You can use the Repeated feature of AMCAS to break your competed hours and highly certain future hours into two entries using the month of submission as the end of span #1 and also the beginning of span #2 (the latest end date being August 2021). Each will have its own Total Hours, but both datespans will appear at the top of the header for the space. Alternatively, if you are not absolutely sure of how long the activity will continue, add the possible plan to the end of the narrative space, like, "Plan to continue through April 2021 for X hr/wk" without adding the future totaled hours.
 
For one of my leadership activities which will be a MM, should I talk about the awards my nonprofit has achieved in the first description, or as part of the narrative in the MM remarks? I could definitely write about the work and learning lessons leading up to and culminating in those awards in the MM remarks, but I worry if I mention them interspersed in that narrative, it might not stand out as much if I put it in the first description?
 
For one of my leadership activities which will be a MM, should I talk about the awards my nonprofit has achieved in the first description, or as part of the narrative in the MM remarks? I could definitely write about the work and learning lessons leading up to and culminating in those awards in the MM remarks, but I worry if I mention them interspersed in that narrative, it might not stand out as much if I put it in the first description?
Mentioning the award in the MM space is appropriate. Maybe you could clue readers in early-on with the title of the space, like Award-Winning [Organization for Whatever] or some variation that sounds less cocky.
 
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