*~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2021-2024 *~*~*~*

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1) The honors and awards are for various course capstone projects and more about academics and not research.

2) The leadership activities are two separate EC clubs.

3) One of the nonclinical volunteering is tutoring low income minorities (middle school level). Would it be ok to fold this into my current tutoring/TAing slot (which is only college level)?
3) Yes.

You could also consider eliminating 1) the Awards/Honors slot, as your GPA speaks for itself. And/or 2) merging the Leadership.

You have options. They might be painful choices, but they give you other ways to consider organizing.

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Thank you so much for your help! I can definitely see room to squeeze and continue trimming!
 
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Hi,

I am getting ready to apply to MD programs in the upcoming cycle. I have a strong research background, and I am wondering how I should list 60+ publications (~20 as first author) in the AMCAS work/activities section.

Is it better to put all research under one activity? Or explain how a particular paper made me want to pursue medicine? Or put all first author papers together, and all co-author papers together?

Ideally I want to highlight the impact of some of them too as (co-author in Nature & Lancet; first author in JAMA & Science). I'm not sure how I can include all this information, because there is no CV we can submit.

Any advice is appreciated
Thanks
 
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Hi,

I am getting ready to apply to MD programs in the upcoming cycle. I have a strong research background, and I am wondering how I should list 60+ publications (~20 as first author) in the AMCAS work/activities section.

Is it better to put all research under one activity? Or explain how a particular paper made me want to pursue medicine? Or put all first author papers together, and all co-author papers together?

Ideally I want to highlight the impact of some of them too as (co-author in Nature & Lancet; first author in JAMA & Science). I'm not sure how I can include all this information, because there is no CV we can submit.

Any advice is appreciated
Thanks
Do they all have a PMID#?
 
Yes
Do you think the people reading the list actually look them up?
You might list just the ones in high impact journals ( dividing by first-author and co-author is fine) and refer to the ncbi website for a further list, where after a Search for your name, it would be easy to scan titles.

No one will look up all 60. If you included a topic for the important ones, adcomms in related fields, or the curious, might look them up.
 
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Is it better to put all research under one activity? Or explain how a particular paper made me want to pursue medicine?
You will have to decide how much you want to emphasize or de-emphasize your research background, based on how competitive your stats are, the sorts of schools you aspire to attend, whether you aim for MD/PhD or not, and what the focus of your application will be (research, clinical practice, service, etc).

If a "particular paper" made you want to pursue medicine, that would properly be discussed in your Personal Statement.
 
You will have to decide how much you want to emphasize or de-emphasize your research background, based on how competitive your stats are, the sorts of schools you aspire to attend, whether you aim for MD/PhD or not, and what the focus of your application will be (research, clinical practice, service, etc).

If a "particular paper" made you want to pursue medicine, that would properly be discussed in your Personal Statement.
Thank you!
 
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Would it be weird to mark my tutoring/teaching/teaching assistant as nonclinical volunteering? I TA'd some classes in college but also tutored/mentored low income minority students at the local middle school. Unfortunately I don't have enough space to split these two out. I only have one other nonclinical volunteering experience listed on my app and am afraid that the service oriented schools won't recognize this tutoring as volunteering
 
Would it be weird to mark my tutoring/teaching/teaching assistant as nonclinical volunteering? I TA'd some classes in college but also tutored/mentored low income minority students at the local middle school. Unfortunately I don't have enough space to split these two out. I only have one other nonclinical volunteering experience listed on my app and am afraid that the service oriented schools won't recognize this tutoring as volunteering
Were you paid to be a TA? If so, how would you differentiate the two activities in the space?

If you were to keep them under a Teaching/Tutoring designation, you could use the title of the space to indicate that it includes both volunteer and paid experiences. You could highlight the volunteer experience by describing it first and more thoroughly. You'd still want to enter the separate hours and datespans in the narrative space.
 
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Thank you! Additionally, is it a big no no to group publications and presentations into one category?

My options (due to limited space) are to either list the posters/presentations in the research entry itself or to add them to the publications section?

I can clearly differentiate between pub and poster but am worried that adcoms may gloss over the posters/presentations if placed in the research entry.

Is there one you would recommend over the other?
 
Thank you! Additionally, is it a big no no to group publications and presentations into one category?

My options (due to limited space) are to either list the posters/presentations in the research entry itself or to add them to the publications section?

I can clearly differentiate between pub and poster but am worried that adcoms may gloss over the posters/presentations if placed in the research entry.

Is there one you would recommend over the other?
As from your previous information you said the posters and pubs are unrelated, it would be preferred to keep the posters with the related Research activity. (If they had been related, you could have included the presentations with the related pubs, as per the example in Post #2 of this thread, item #20.)
 
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Can I break apart military experiences into parts like “healthcare”, and “leadership”? Obviously assigning a proper number of hours to each.
 
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Can I break apart military experiences into parts like “healthcare”, and “leadership”? Obviously assigning a proper number of hours to each.
Do you mean as subcategories under a Military tag, or under two other tags, Employment-Medical/Clinical and Leadership? Either is fine.
 
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Hey guys! So I'm having a lot of trouble narrowing down my work/activities to 15 items. As of right now I have 16 experiences which I think are pretty important and highlight different strengths/experiences. I don't have a ton of shadowing experience (probably ~25 hours, 10 in person and 15 virtual) but I do have significant scribing experience (>1,000 hours across ~7 specialties). My question is, can I group shadowing and scribing into 1 activity and just call it clinical experience?

If not, the activity that I would have to exclude would be my senior thesis (which was done in social science because I was a double major). I personally think this diversifies and adds more to my activities list than a small amount of shadowing. However, it feels wrong to completely exclude shadowing from my activities list. So what are your thoughts on what I should do?
1) add shadowing in with scribing and just call the activity "clinical experience"
2) include shadowing and scribing as separate activities, don't include my senior thesis
3) include scribing and senior thesis, don't include shadowing
 
Hey guys! So I'm having a lot of trouble narrowing down my work/activities to 15 items. As of right now I have 16 experiences which I think are pretty important and highlight different strengths/experiences. I don't have a ton of shadowing experience (probably ~25 hours, 10 in person and 15 virtual) but I do have significant scribing experience (>1,000 hours across ~7 specialties). My question is, can I group shadowing and scribing into 1 activity and just call it clinical experience?

If not, the activity that I would have to exclude would be my senior thesis (which was done in social science because I was a double major). I personally think this diversifies and adds more to my activities list than a small amount of shadowing. However, it feels wrong to completely exclude shadowing from my activities list. So what are your thoughts on what I should do?
1) add shadowing in with scribing and just call the activity "clinical experience"
2) include shadowing and scribing as separate activities, don't include my senior thesis
3) include scribing and senior thesis, don't include shadowing
Aside from the scribing, do you have other active clinical experience through work or volunteering (I'm assuming this was in-person scribing)? If so, for AMCAS you might reasonably put the scribing under a Shadowing tag if there are a decent number of hours for the other clinical activity. If you need to keep the scribing under an Employment-Medical/Clinical tag, then keep the Shadowing, too, and omit the thesis entry.
 
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Hello!

From Dr. Gray's videos and some examples I've seen for shadowing entries, I assume it's fine to simply list what doctor you shadowed, what his or her specialty was, and maybe what department or setting you shadowed in. For a scribing position, what is recommended to put? As a scribe, I mostly followed the physician and recorded notes/charted and never directly cared for a patient unless I was getting them a cup of water or blankets. Therefore, when writing for my activity entry for scribing, is it fine to simply follow the format for a shadowing entry? I know the general advice is to show and not tell your impact, but I didn't really have an impact while scribing. Is it okay to go into detail of the specific cases I've seen or describing my perspective of impactful patient encounters?

Unrelated question: If I only had dean's list for one semester, is it okay if I just omit this and have an empty awards section? What do yall think?

Thank you in advance!
 
1) From Dr. Gray's videos and some examples I've seen for shadowing entries, I assume it's fine to simply list what doctor you shadowed, what his or her specialty was, and maybe what department or setting you shadowed in. 2) For a scribing position, what is recommended to put? As a scribe, I mostly followed the physician and recorded notes/charted and never directly cared for a patient unless I was getting them a cup of water or blankets. Therefore, when writing for my activity entry for scribing, is it fine to simply follow the format for a shadowing entry? I know the general advice is to show and not tell your impact, but I didn't really have an impact while scribing. 3) Is it okay to go into detail of the specific cases I've seen or describing my perspective of impactful patient encounters?

4) Unrelated question: If I only had dean's list for one semester, is it okay if I just omit this and have an empty awards section? What do yall think?
1) Yes. See post 2, item #10 of this thread for an example.
2) You did provide comfort measures for patients, and I suggest making a comment about that in your entry, as it shows you interacted with sick folks.
3) It isn't necessary, but if you have space for a brief mention of an impactful experience, feel free to mention it.
4) Yes, omit it.
 
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If I was a volunteer at three different hospitals (in three different states) but had a similar role in each and group this activity together how should I go about the contact info? Should I also mention this explicitly in the experience description as well?
 
If I was a volunteer at three different hospitals (in three different states) but had a similar role in each and group this activity together how should I go about the contact info? Should I also mention this explicitly in the experience description as well?
Enter the most recent or the one with the best record keeping in the header (for location, organization and Contact info). Put the total hours for all three in the Total Hours space and make the header's dates all-inclusive. In the narrative, you'll add the brief explanation, Contact info-just an email or phone number is fine for the 2nd and 3rd, and subtotals of hours with individual date ranges.
 
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Aside from the scribing, do you have other active clinical experience through work or volunteering (I'm assuming this was in-person scribing)? If so, for AMCAS you might reasonably put the scribing under a Shadowing tag if there are a decent number of hours for the other clinical activity. If you need to keep the scribing under an Employment-Medical/Clinical tag, then keep the Shadowing, too, and omit the thesis entry.
In person scribing! My only other clinical experience is like 20 hours of scribing.
 
In person scribing! My only other clinical experience is like 20 hours of [shadowing].
Then take out the thesis entry. If schools are looking for your shadowing, they will be looking for a Shadowing tag. When they are looking for your active clinical experience, it also needs to be under the relevant label.
 
I have served as a peer reviewer a few times for journals in which I have published. Is this something that is thought to be worthy of its own W&A slot, better off mentioned in the context of my other research activities, or not mentioned at all? Part of me wants to highlight this as academic service to show my dedication to the continued pursuit of knowledge and the scientific process but I am slightly concerned that it could raise questions about my qualifications to take on such a role even though I only reviewed manuscripts that were well within my expertise (topic areas I have published several papers in and have been working with for >5 years).
I would definitely include mention that you were solicited to do peer review within your area of expertise. You ideally would do this with one sentence at the end of a related Research entry to keep the context (and your qualifications) clear. Or if you have lots to say about it, and an open space, could dedicate an Honors/Awards/Recognitions spot to the discussion.
 
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1. I have an emergency room scribe position >2000 hours and as part of the position I also did ~3 shifts (24 hours) in a family medicine department. For my shadowing experiences I have ~30 hours in IM and non in primary care—would it be possible for me to count these FM shifts in the 'shadowing' so I can talk about it in more detail (or a separate scribing slot), or should I briefly mention it in the original scribe description? I believe it is important to convey that I have also worked/observed in primary care, as this is what a lot of my narratives/EC focus on.

2. What sort of activity is a startup accelerator? Distant from a startup award. "Extracurricular activity?"
1) It would be fine to include the Family Med scribing in the Shadowing entry. No need to mention it in the Employment-Medical/Clinical entry.

2) Extracurricular works fine.
 
Should I give more explanation in a shadowing activity, beyond just listing who I shadowed, specialty, number of hours, location, contact information? Do I need to include anecdotes of impact from shadowing? I have a bunch of shadowing and want to keep it all in one box, and I can fit it all just barely within the character limit.
 
Should I give more explanation in a shadowing activity, beyond just listing who I shadowed, specialty, number of hours, location, contact information? Do I need to include anecdotes of impact from shadowing? I have a bunch of shadowing and want to keep it all in one box, and I can fit it all just barely within the character limit.
No explanations/anecdotes are necessary.
 
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I'm going to publish a children's book this year and it's almost completed. Can I list that as one of the activities or will adcoms look down on that?
 
You could list it as a hobby or creative endeavor, but not a publication :)
ty for your response! is it worthwhile to list in the activities section or doesn't really provide much to the section? it focuses on mental health within minority populations and i've talked to a doc who blogged about it. my whole general app focuses on mental health so idk if it's redundant or just better to not include
 
Should I group my TA and private tutoring together? I plan on making this one of my most meaningful experiences so should I use the original 700 characters to describe the different subjects and places I worked at and the 1350 for a specific narrative? I have room to split the tutoring and TA if that makes a difference
 
1) Should I group my TA and private tutoring together? I plan on making this one of my most meaningful experiences so 2) should I use the original 700 characters to describe the different subjects and places I worked at and the 1350 for a specific narrative? I have room to split the tutoring and TA if that makes a difference
1) If both were paid positions, it’s fine to group them together. If one was volunteer, better to list them separately, since you have the spaces.

2) Yes.
 
@Catalystik How should I list my experience type as a TA (nonpaid) and tutoring (paid, consistent over several years). I have written two separate descriptions but I see that AMCAS has listed "Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant." Do I just use two separate slots and use that title or should i list my tutoring as paid employment?
 
@Catalystik How should I list my experience type as a TA (nonpaid) and tutoring (paid, consistent over several years). I have written two separate descriptions but I see that AMCAS has listed "Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant." Do I just use two separate slots and use that title or should i list my tutoring as paid employment?
Unless you have tons of "Volunteer/Community Service -Not Medical/Clinical" already, I suggest listing the unpaid TA position under that tag, rather than using a Teaching/Tutoring designation. It's your choice to use a "Teaching" or " Employment-Not Medical/Clinical " tag for the paid tutoring position. I'd suggest that Employment over a prolonged period of time adds additional benefit to your candidacy. [In which case, if you use that tag, be sure to use the word "Tutoring" in the name you give the space, so the teaching component is evident.]
 
Is it appropriate to list varsity athletic accolades under Honors/Awards/Recognitions? Not athletic scholarships but player of year type etc. Thanks!
 
Is it appropriate to list varsity athletic accolades under Honors/Awards/Recognitions? Not athletic scholarships but player of year type etc. Thanks!
Assuming you're not referring to HS sport recognitions, you can do so, but you might also consider including the accolades in your College Sport entry to keep them in better context (unless you need more space for explanation).
 
With a 4.0 GPA, is it worth it to use an activity slot to list any of my university honors? It would make it 15 activities total but is it better to have 14? I feel like putting it makes it seem like I'm trying to stretch to 15
 
With a 4.0 GPA, is it worth it to use an activity slot to list any of my university honors? It would make it 15 activities total but is it better to have 14? I feel like putting it makes it seem like I'm trying to stretch to 15
Do you have any significant recognitions that are not based on GPA?
 
Do you have any significant recognitions that are not based on GPA?
No not really. I have some scholarships that are based on service but they're from right before undergrad (applied as a high school student).
 
No not really. I have some scholarships that are based on service but they're from right before undergrad (applied as a high school student).
I think you're fine to let the 15th space stay empty, as your GPA speaks for itself. Filling it won't add any additional benefit to your candidacy.:)
 
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Is including presentations/posters in the publication section okay if we don't have space elsewhere?

I have a few publications and cited them in the publication slot, leaving enough characters to put in a presentation from a undergrad symposium I was in, but I don't have space to formally cite this presentation in the actual activity section for that research internship. Should I try to make space in the research internship slot or is it okay to include it in publications and in experience name write "authored ___ publications in ___ and first author presentation"
See item #20 of post 2 in this thread for the exception to my below comment.

It would be vastly preferred that you make space in the research internship slot. You could add it with very few characters, eg, "Results presented at campus symposium." A formal citation would not be needed since the topic will be clear from your Research description.
 
I am the second author on a poster that was presented at an international conference by the first author. Should I include this under presentations/posters? I also have a few other posters as well. Should I use a generic title like "multiple poster presentations" or should I be more specific/highlight any of them?
 
1) I am the second author on a poster that was presented at an international conference by the first author. Should I include this under presentations/posters? 2) I also have a few other posters as well. Should I use a generic title like "multiple poster presentations" or should I be more specific/highlight any of them?
1) Yes, include it under a Posters/Presentations tag, but give credit to the actual presenter, eg, "Presented by 1st author."

2) If possible, it would be nice if you could add additional information with the title of the space, rather than reiterating the space designation. Is there a similarity that applies to all of them? Are they all related to one field of endeavor, eg Biochem? Medically-related? Were they all presented at non-campus venues? Were they all first and second authored by you?
 
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Hello,



I’m looking for help on how to classify this experience.

I worked as a Subject Matter Expert for Certified Nursing Assistant course. I reviewed and created outlines for an online CNA course. This was a one time contract, and being an RN was a requirement.



Thanks!
 
Hello,



I’m looking for help on how to classify this experience.

I worked as a Subject Matter Expert for Certified Nursing Assistant course. I reviewed and created outlines for an online CNA course. This was a one time contract, and being an RN was a requirement.



Thanks!
Teaching? Employment?
 
1) So I could put it under either?

2) If I put it under employment, should I choose nonclinical?
1) Yes. Pick the one that balances your application best, so, eg, if you have nothing else under Teaching, pick that. A third choice might be Artistic Endeavors, as you were exercising your writing skills (especially, if you have more to enter under that tag).

2) Yes.
 
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I'm fairly new to SDN's threads, but I have some questions:

First, for research assistant positions, should I list the name of the lab in the experience name or organization name? I had trouble finding some info on this.

Second, if I worked a clinical job at two different clinics (doing the same stuff though), would people advise that I combined them into a single entry?

Third, if I volunteered at the same hospital in 2 diff departments, should I list the both in the same entry?

Fourth, if I have a TA job, do you list the course name in the description or just the course topic e.g. 'Chemistry'

Fifth, what would be a proper classification for a large capstone project (have patent pending)?
 
First, for research assistant positions, should I list the name of the lab in the experience name or organization name? I had trouble finding some info on this.

Second, if I worked a clinical job at two different clinics (doing the same stuff though), would people advise that I combined them into a single entry?

Third, if I volunteered at the same hospital in 2 diff departments, should I list the both in the same entry?

Fourth, if I have a TA job, do you list the course name in the description or just the course topic e.g. 'Chemistry'

Fifth, what would be a proper classification for a large capstone project (have patent pending)?
Welcome to SDN.

1) Either is fine, but if you work at the Smith Lab and you'll be using Douglas Smith, PhD for your Contact, you can avoid redundancy by using, say, University of Hogwarts as your Organization instead.
2) You may, if you are short of space, or if the positions were largely similar and you'd say the same thing if you used two entries. Contact info for the second would go in the narrative. Be sure to give individual dates and hours in the description, though the header can have the added Total Hours for both together.
3) Yes.
4) Use the Course name or an abbreviated version if it gives more information than just "Chemistry."
5) Other or Research, depending on your role.
 
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