*~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2021-2026 *~*~*~*

[Catalystik]

Hey y'all! I'm planning to submit today, and I had some last minute clarifications on how to classify a few activities, if y'all would be so kind as to help.

1) My school has a peer tutoring service, and I'm a "team leader" for my subject, where I lead a group of other peer tutors, meet with faculty, coordinate events, etc. ---> I've been given advice to avoid putting things under "Leadership - Other" if I can help it, so I currently have it under Teaching/Tutoring/TA. Do you think this is an appropriate category? Also, is the whole "Leadership - other" thing true?

2) I work at a rape crisis center, and I've mentored a few trainees who are working to become certified hotline volunteers. Currently have it under "Leadership - Other," since I doubt it's community engagement or Social Justice, but again, any advice is appreciated 🙂

3) The biggie: I founded a nonprofit that's operated in several states and works to educate underserved high school students and close educational disparities and get minority students interested in medicine, and I'm really unsure where to put it. I've vacillated between Leadership - Other, social justice/advocacy, and community engagement (since I'm also a TA). This is the one I've struggled with the most to classify!

4) Finally, I'm an officer for a large pre-med org, and I do a fair bit both within and out of my role. Anyway, I have it under extracurricular activities, which I think is okay?, but should I classify it under "Leadership - other," since what I do is be a leader?

I know it's a little semantic-y, but I just want to put my best foot forward. Thanks to anyone who can help out 🙂

IMO when you use a Leadership tag, the space should have the dates and hours for only leadership, not the preceeding club membership, employment, etc ( though those can be mentioned as part if the backstory). You can, however, add the leadership role to the name of an EC, Employment, or Volunteer space, along with the title you enter.

Suggest (but knowing I don’t know all the details):
1) Keep at Teaching/Tutoring.
2) Employment -Clinical (you said “work”).
3) Leadership should be highlighted, not the TA part you mention.
4) Extracurricular.

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[IWishICouldPhysics]

IMO when you use a Leadership tag, the space should have the dates and hours for only leadership, not the preceeding club membership, employment, etc ( though those can be mentioned as part if the backstory). You can, however, add the leadership role to the name of an EC, Employment, or Volunteer space, along with the title you enter.

Suggest (but knowing I don’t know all the details):
1) Keep at Teaching/Tutoring.
2) Employment -Clinical (you said “work”).
3) Leadership should be highlighted, not the TA part you mention.
4) Extracurricular.

Thank you! I should clarify super quickly:

1) The word choice on the crisis center was my bad: I volunteer there, not work. The reason I was considering putting it under "Leadership" was because I only discuss my role training and mentoring the trainees.

2) With the team leader thing, I don't talk about the teaching (that's a separate activity), but rather the leading and organizing and offering feedback.

I'm not sure if that changes anything, but I figured the clarification may help, and thank you for your response again 🙂

 

[Catalystik]

Thank you! I should clarify super quickly:

1) The word choice on the crisis center was my bad: I volunteer there, not work. The reason I was considering putting it under "Leadership" was because I only discuss my role training and mentoring the trainees.

2) With the team leader thing, I don't talk about the teaching (that's a separate activity), but rather the leading and organizing and offering feedback.

I'm not sure if that changes anything, but I figured the clarification may help, and thank you for your response again 🙂

1) Then you would of course use Volunteer-Clinical.
2) OK.

 

[ninidia]

I have some questions about how to list an experience. I have been involved with a social justice organization for over 6 years and have had various roles in that time:
- Volunteer (2018-2019, 2022-2024 ): ~ 100 hours
-Practicum (for college credit) 2018-2019: ~250 hours
-Paid roles (2021-2022, 2024): ~ 100 hours

Should I classify this as Social advocacy or non-clinical volunteering?

Should I list this all under one experience or split up by paid and volunteer? One concern about splitting is that there's no difference in responsibilities across my paid and volunteer roles at this org; I got compensated those times because there was grant funding available for the role I played at that moment. So my description of the activities wouldn't differ much across the 2 entries.

Also wondering how to list the start and end dates. I was continuously active since I started in 2018 but there weren't always activities available so there are some breaks of a few months between actual volunteer activities. Should I list as repeated instances or list as continuous from 2018-2024?

Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

I have some questions about how to list an experience. I have been involved with a social justice organization for over 6 years and have had various roles in that time:
- Volunteer (2018-2019, 2022-2024 ): ~ 100 hours
-Practicum (for college credit) 2018-2019: ~250 hours
-Paid roles (2021-2022, 2024): ~ 100 hours

Should I classify this as Social advocacy or non-clinical volunteering?

Should I list this all under one experience or split up by paid and volunteer? One concern about splitting is that there's no difference in responsibilities across my paid and volunteer roles at this org; I got compensated those times because there was grant funding available for the role I played at that moment. So my description of the activities wouldn't differ much across the 2 entries.

Also wondering how to list the start and end dates. I was continuously active since I started in 2018 but there weren't always activities available so there are some breaks of a few months between actual volunteer activities. Should I list as repeated instances or list as continuous from 2018-2024?

Thanks!

I suggest tagging it as Social Justice/Advocacy. In the description you can mention paid, volunteer, and practicum designations. If you also mention intermittent involvement or academic-year involvement you don’t have to break it into “Repeated” date-frames, unless you prefer to highlight the hourly totals for each category.

 

[ninidia]

I suggest tagging it as Social Justice/Advocacy. In the description you can mention paid, volunteer, and practicum designations. If you also mention intermittent involvement or academic-year involvement you don’t have to break it into “Repeated” date-frames, unless you prefer to highlight the hourly totals for each category.

Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

Am I cooked? I accidentally turned in "imprive" instead of improve on my personal statement. Everything else is grammatically correct.

This thread is for Work/Activities tips. But one typo won’t hurt you.

 

[spillingthetea]

I am talking about GBS in one of my description (worded as patient xyz had GBS...), is it ok to use the acronym here? Should I use the full form instead or assume that the reader will know that it's a disease? What's the consensus on using disease acronyms especially those which are actually long if expanded such as SARS, ALS, GVHD etc.?

 

[wysdoc]

I am talking about GBS in one of my description (worded as patient xyz had GBS...), is it ok to use the acronym here? Should I use the full form instead or assume that the reader will know that it's a disease? What's the consensus on using disease acronyms especially those which are actually long if expanded such as SARS, ALS, GVHD etc.?

I don't think that's a common enough acronym for readers of your essays who are not medical to know.
Is it crucial to your essay?

 

[medicalchic17]

Hi all! I am wondering under what category I should list one of my activities. I became the VP of an honor society of my college and from that position, I, along with the rest of e-board, co-founded a mental health project. this project wanted to help the local community with the burden of mental illness and we raised and later donated $20,000 to our county's national alliance of mental illness so they could offer more counseling sessions and so on. However i am not sure if I should put this project + my VP duties under Leadership - Other or another category like Extracurricular Activities. I do want to combine VP stuff with this project since the project is basically all I did while being VP.

Thanks!

 

[Catalystik]

I am wondering under what category I should list one of my activities. I became the VP of an honor society of my college and from that position, I, along with the rest of e-board, co-founded a mental health project. this project wanted to help the local community with the burden of mental illness and we raised and later donated $20,000 to our county's national alliance of mental illness so they could offer more counseling sessions and so on. However i am not sure if I should put this project + my VP duties under Leadership - Other or another category like Extracurricular Activities. I do want to combine VP stuff with this project since the project is basically all I did while being VP.

Use Leadership as the tag if the space will include only the dates and hours of the VP position along with the co-founded mental health project. Use Extracurricular if you want to include the dates and hours of all the college Honor Society interactions, but add mention of the VP role to the title you give the space.

 

[penguino10]

Hi all, current MS4 at MD school here. Willing to help out with PS, secondaries, AMCAS, whatever you need. PM me if interested

 

[Coolguy23]

Hi I had a presentation that was presented/published as an oral presentation last year in one journal and published as an abstract in another journal this year. How should I go about listing that on AMCAS?

 

[Catalystik]

Hi I had a presentation that was presented/published as an oral presentation last year in one journal and published as an abstract in another journal this year. How should I go about listing that on AMCAS?

Presuming you have at least one PubMed ID# or DOI, since they all come from the same project, list them as a Publication under the highest prestige journal, with a note after the citation that it also appeared in . . . , along with the second identifier (if you have two). And then that it was also an oral presentation at . . .

See item #20 in the second post of this thread.

 

[Catalystik]

I submitted my primary a few weeks ago and I didn't have room to list any honors/awards since I filled up the rest of the 15 activities slots already. Would it be okay to use the space in secondaries that ask for any additional information to list my honors/awards? Saying something along the lines of: Due to a lack of space on the primary application, here is a list of Honors/Awards I've received...

Sure, but don’t include near-universal commonalities, like Dean’s List. And don’t say, “due to a lack of space on the Primary . . . “. Just list them and say why each is important to you.

 

[Catalystik]

Okay, that makes sense, thanks! So I shouldn't have any intro to the awards, I should just go straight into it? For example:

1st Place in XXX Design Expo
My team and I were awarded...

Open House Speaker
I was selected...

Presidential Scholarship Recipient
I received...

Ues, but if the Presidential Scholarship wasn't highly selective, leave it out.

 

[xeno7410]

Hello, I have a few questions about my entry for a research presentation:

I was the presenter and 1st author of the corresponding abstract which was delivered at FASEB 2021, and was the first undergraduate in my lab to do so.

1) What format is appropriate for the citation? Should I include a citation, or should I instead just include the DOI and use the character count to describe what was presented?

2) Would FASEB be better listed as an International conference than a national conference? (About)

3) Should I list FASEB or my lab as the organization on AMCAS?

I'm assuming I should put my PI as the point of contact.

Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

Hello, I have a few questions about my entry for a research presentation:

I was the presenter and 1st author of the corresponding abstract which was delivered at FASEB 2021, and was the first undergraduate in my lab to do so.

1) What format is appropriate for the citation? Should I include a citation, or should I instead just include the DOI and use the character count to describe what was presented?

2) Would FASEB be better listed as an International conference than a national conference? (About)

3) Should I list FASEB or my lab as the organization on AMCAS?

4) I'm assuming I should put my PI as the point of contact.

See the second post of this thread, item 20 and item 14.
1) Google how to cite an abstract. Any format is fine. You will mention the presentation in the same space since it is from the same data set.
2) I’d consider it national.
3) Use the conference name.
4) Use the PI.

 

[PrinceElvis97]

Hello, I started a number of activities a few years before COVID-19, some of whom were paused during COVID-19, and have started up again ever since.

ex./ AIDS Counselor from 09/2017 to 06/2024

On AMCAS, should I break it down further into:
1. 09/2017 to 07/2021 (So and so hours)
2. 04/2022 to 06/2024 (so and so hours)
3. Anticipated Future Hours

Or should I just do:
1. 09/2017 to 06/2024 (Total Hours)
2. Anticipated Future Hours

Seems the latter is easier, but not sure! Thank you so much

 

[Catalystik]

Hello, I started a number of activities a few years before COVID-19, some of whom were paused during COVID-19, and have started up again ever since.

ex./ AIDS Counselor from 09/2017 to 06/2024

On AMCAS, A) should I break it down further into:
1. 09/2017 to 07/2021 (So and so hours)
2. 04/2022 to 06/2024 (so and so hours)
3. Anticipated Future Hours

B) Or should I just do:
1. 09/2017 to 06/2024 (Total Hours)
2. Anticipated Future Hours

Seems the latter is easier, but not sure! Thank you so much

A) of the above. with a brief comment about the activity's pause in your narrative.

 

[PrinceElvis97]

A) of the above. with a brief comment about the activity's pause in your narrative.

Thank you so much for your response. One last question I had is,

1.) I had an ongoing multi-year-long clinical activity that I had to stop in March 2020 (COVID), having accumulated hundreds of hours. However, with the COVID-19 lockdown, patient interaction was no longer feasible with the organization.

2.) Even after the lockdown ended, I was waiting to the paired with another patient but it was not happening and that organization stopped all of it's operations.

3.) I have since been looking to join another similar organization and am scheduled to start one in August 2024, but I am concerned if Include this under the anticipated hours section, it'll be seen as "suspicious" to the adcoms.
- Like, I think they can think, why haven't you resumed that activity over the past 4 years and are starting it up again during your application cycle?

Do you think based on appearances alone, I should just leave the activity as having ended in March 2020 and not fill out the anticipated hours portion (starting August 2024 to July 2025)? Again I do want to say that when I did end the activity in 2020, I accumulated hundreds of hours and I am genuinely interested in starting it up again, just could not make it work over the past few years.

I can also just let it be here and include it in my secondaries that I started it again, if you think that's best!

Thank you very much @Catalystik

 

[Catalystik]

1.) I had an ongoing multi-year-long clinical activity that I had to stop in March 2020 (COVID), having accumulated hundreds of hours. However, with the COVID-19 lockdown, patient interaction was no longer feasible with the organization.

2.) Even after the lockdown ended, I was waiting to the paired with another patient but it was not happening and that organization stopped all of it's operations.

3.) I have since been looking to join another similar organization and am scheduled to start one in August 2024, but I am concerned if Include this under the anticipated hours section, it'll be seen as "suspicious" to the adcoms.
- Like, I think they can think, why haven't you resumed that activity over the past 4 years and are starting it up again during your application cycle?

Do you think based on appearances alone, I should just leave the activity as having ended in March 2020 and not fill out the anticipated hours portion (starting August 2024 to July 2025)? Again I do want to say that when I did end the activity in 2020, I accumulated hundreds of hours and I am genuinely interested in starting it up again, just could not make it work over the past few years.

I can also just let it be here and include it in my secondaries that I started it again, if you think that's best!

Thank you very much @Catalystik

As you have more than enough clinical hours completed, you are fine to just leave off the planned activity and save it for Secondaries or update letters. Besides adding zero value to your application, it's not related to the previous related experience (organization, location) and will have a different Contact.

 

[hopefulphysicanscientist]

Hi everyone. I am shortening my publication citations to fit within the W/A experience description character limit. Is PMID necessary? Currently, I am following the format of "1st author, et al. Shortened title. Journal. Year. Author X of Y". Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[sapphire_fire]

I did something like this:
"1st Author et al. (nth au). Full Title (with abbreviations if necessary). Journal Year, vol(num) pages."

In the cases I was 1st author I'd just use my name in place of 1st author and not clarify "1st au" afterwards.
Looking back, I'd replace the "vol(num) pages" with PMIDs or DOIs since I abbreviated some terms in the title (like "age-related macular degeneration" -> AMD) since that's an easy way to make sure they can find the paper.
I would not shorten the title beyond abbreviations if possible.

 

[hopefulphysicanscientist]

I did something like this:
"1st Author et al. (nth au). Full Title (with abbreviations if necessary). Journal Year, vol(num) pages."

In the cases I was 1st author I'd just use my name in place of 1st author and not clarify "1st au" afterwards.
Looking back, I'd replace the "vol(num) pages" with PMIDs or DOIs since I abbreviated some terms in the title (like "age-related macular degeneration" -> AMD) since that's an easy way to make sure they can find the paper.
I would not shorten the title beyond abbreviations if possible.

Great, thank you! One other question, did you list in chronological or reverse chronological order?

 

[Baller27]

I have some questions.

1. So, I have 85 hours shadowing, 400+ clinical hours where I worked directly with patients and lead a clinic initiative on improving exercise, and then I also did clinical research (as a SURP) where I worked with patients post-operatively, and this resulted in two pubs. (however, more time was spent with research) I also have a seperate research experience that's closer to 1,000 hours but haven't got a pub on the project yet (poster and abstract, yes). Should I list the clinical research as a clinical experience?
2. I started a couple non-profit service orgs and they make a huge portion of my service hours, should I just list them as community service? Or could I have one entry where I talk about leadership in both, and then one where I talk about service in both? (~300 character descriptions for each component I guess)
3. I could also combine the poster with my awards, but it was a decently prestigous conference I got accepted into as an undergrad and I included title of both abstract and poster in one entry slot currently.
Please let me know if you all have any advice, I know that was a lot.

 

[TheHumanSlimjim]

Hello I have a question regarding an activity I'm considering listing as meaningful. Basically this was a community health event and listening session which involved speaking with patients. It was really meaningful to me and fits with the general narrative of my application but this was only a one day event which is why I don't know if its right to list as meaningful. Is this a valid concern and should I just stick to long term activities to list as meaningful?

 

[Catalystik]

Hello I have a question regarding an activity I'm considering listing as meaningful. Basically this was a community health event and listening session which involved speaking with patients. It was really meaningful to me and fits with the general narrative of my application but this was only a one day event which is why I don't know if its right to list as meaningful. Is this a valid concern and should I just stick to long term activities to list as meaningful?

The brevity of an experience doesn’t mean it can’t be listed as MM. But I suggest if you do so that you include its significant impact or transformative nature and also have begun whatever action proceeded from the inspiration that resulted.

 

[sapphire_fire]

Reverse

Great, thank you! One other question, did you list in chronological or reverse chronological order?

Reverse chronological, and then added one more that was still under review (pending only minor formatting revisions) at the end.
I can also see an argument for starting with your 1st author ones and then doing reverse chronological for the rest. Coincidentally, my 1st authored ones were also the most recent so I didn’t really have to think about that.
Also just a disclaimer I’m just a wee applicant hahah, I just filled it how it made sense to me. From the sounds of it you’ve been in academia for a while so I’m sure your opinion is as good (if not better) than mine.

 

[chilly_md]

Hi everyone. I am shortening my publication citations to fit within the W/A experience description character limit. Is PMID necessary? Currently, I am following the format of "1st author, et al. Shortened title. Journal. Year. Author X of Y". Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Your question and the associated replies have been moved to our main AMCAS Work and Activities thread. Posters can search through it in case they have similar questions.

 

[chilly_md]

I have some questions.

1. So, I have 85 hours shadowing, 400+ clinical hours where I worked directly with patients and lead a clinic initiative on improving exercise, and then I also did clinical research (as a SURP) where I worked with patients post-operatively, and this resulted in two pubs. (however, more time was spent with research) I also have a seperate research experience that's closer to 1,000 hours but haven't got a pub on the project yet (poster and abstract, yes). Should I list the clinical research as a clinical experience?
2. I started a couple non-profit service orgs and they make a huge portion of my service hours, should I just list them as community service? Or could I have one entry where I talk about leadership in both, and then one where I talk about service in both? (~300 character descriptions for each component I guess)
3. I could also combine the poster with my awards, but it was a decently prestigous conference I got accepted into as an undergrad and I included title of both abstract and poster in one entry slot currently.
Please let me know if you all have any advice, I know that was a lot.

I have moved your question to our main thread.

1. 400 hours is sufficient for clinical experience, but you can list the SURP one as clinical employment if many of your responsibilities were patient-facing. Be clear in the description.

2. Community service with a mention of your leadership in the description. You could make this a most meaningful and have more space.

3. Do not lump posters and abstracts with awards.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi, I have some questions about an error I made on the activities section. My application has gone out to schools and I just noticed that one of my activity descriptions is completely incorrect.

The activity I messed up is a non-clinical food pantry volunteering position I did over a summer. Instead of inputting the description I had written up for it, I instead accidentally inputted my description for a leadership position on a community-based volunteering organization across several years. Although the activities have some similarities (volunteering, work with food pantries), my descriptions are pretty specific. If one were to read the incorrect food pantry description, they would quickly realize that it does not match with my timeline written above, even if they ignore their sense of deja vu. I am torn between letting it be vs. including it wherever I can in my "anything else?" secondaries and adding it as an additional document when possible vs. even emailing adcoms. I do not know if adding a correction just hurts my application more, or if there is some potential remediation. Thank you for your advice!

In either an update note (where allowed) or for an appropriate Secondary prompt, you might say, “Please be aware that I made the error of submitting an incorrect activity description under Volunteer-Not Medical/Clinical, titled [name you gave the space], dated (whatever) It should read . . . (yadda, yadda, yadda).

 

[WarmFoxyHugs]

Hello everyone! =^.^=

I'm having a teeny-tiny bit of trouble with what to say/not say in one of my entries :c

I had the opportunity to work as a non-certified surgical technician (in CA, position permitted on-the-job training) in a private ambulatory surgery center and even had a handful of less invasive first assists during my time. Where do I draw the line regarding the scope of practice in my W/A entry? I understand that different states have differing stances on both scope and cert, but I wouldn't want to avoid talking about this clinical experience... should I speak very generally to avoid raising red flags in my app?

 

[Catalystik]

Hello everyone! =^.^=

I'm having a teeny-tiny bit of trouble with what to say/not say in one of my entries :c

I had the opportunity to work as a non-certified surgical technician (in CA, position permitted on-the-job training) in a private ambulatory surgery center and even had a handful of less invasive first assists during my time. Where do I draw the line regarding the scope of practice in my W/A entry? I understand that different states have differing stances on both scope and cert, but I wouldn't want to avoid talking about this clinical experience... should I speak very generally to avoid raising red flags in my app?

Speak generally about your role, but feel free to add something interesting that you observed during your time in the OR.

 

[WarmFoxyHugs]

Speak generally about your role, but feel free to add something interesting that you observed during your time in the OR.

Will do!

Should I even mention my first assists, or would that introduce some presumptive compliance issues in the eyes of an admissions officer?

Thank you~~

 

[Catalystik]

Will do!

Should I even mention my first assists, or would that introduce some presumptive compliance issues in the eyes of an admissions officer?

Thank you~~

It depends on what you say and whether you want to use characters explaining you were in training and under the direct supervision of a certified tech or nurse.

 

[FajitaEnjoyer3000]

Hi everyone,

I have a quick question about my current gap year research position - I'm working as a clinical research coordinator at a private derm practice and I've been there for just under a year (by the time I'd hypothetically put my two weeks in, it'll have been a year.) I'm really not happy in my current role and the pay isn't great - now that I've been able to add lots of research to my resume, I'd really rather work somewhere else and save money as I prepare to apply in the next cycle. I'm wondering if it would be looked down on by admissions committees if I didn't stay there until I applied/matriculated -- my current plan would be to do something outside of healthcare (I.e., bartending). As it stands I will have ~1500 research hours, ~10 projects, and 1-2 letters of recommendation from the physicians I worked under to add to my application from this role. Should I be looking to move into another healthcare job? Would it be best for me to stick it out? Or should I not worry about that and go make/save more money?

 

[AJS59]

Hi everyone,

I have a quick question about my current gap year research position - I'm working as a clinical research coordinator at a private derm practice and I've been there for just under a year (by the time I'd hypothetically put my two weeks in, it'll have been a year.) I'm really not happy in my current role and the pay isn't great - now that I've been able to add lots of research to my resume, I'd really rather work somewhere else and save money as I prepare to apply in the next cycle. I'm wondering if it would be looked down on by admissions committees if I didn't stay there until I applied/matriculated -- my current plan would be to do something outside of healthcare (I.e., bartending). As it stands I will have ~1500 research hours, ~10 projects, and 1-2 letters of recommendation from the physicians I worked under to add to my application from this role. Should I be looking to move into another healthcare job? Would it be best for me to stick it out? Or should I not worry about that and go make/save more money?

Do you have sufficient non-clinical volunteering?

 

[FajitaEnjoyer3000]

Do you have sufficient non-clinical volunteering?

I've got quite a bit from undergrad, but one of my takeaways from my WAMC thread was that I needed more community volunteering. That's something I'm looking to get started on ASAP as well -- plenty of religious centers/homeless shelters/etc. in my area that need help.

 

[AJS59]

I've got quite a bit from undergrad, but one of my takeaways from my WAMC thread was that I needed more community volunteering. That's something I'm looking to get started on ASAP as well -- plenty of religious centers/homeless shelters/etc. in my area that need help.

Okay. I'd focus on that first and foremost. With respect to your clinical hours I'd say you'd be fine to quit.

 

[nathansoz]

Hey all! I've started working on my activities prewriting for the next cycle and am trying to figure out how to deal with a specific experience. I'm a nontraditional student and have 10 years of employment experience at (insert tech company here) where I've had promotions from: Software Engineer -> Software Engineer II -> Senior Software Engineer -> Principal Software Engineer. This will be one of my most meaningful experiences, as I've spent 20k hours here and my current role is considered a leadership/director role.

I'm trying to figure out how to break this apart (if at all). My current role has pretty different characteristics from when I started. My options:

1. Lump them all together. Experience name: Principal Software Engineer at (tech company). Category: Paid employment. Mark as most meaningful and just describe briefly that I've had 3 significant promotions and my current responsibilities.

2. Spit the prior roles into their own experience and mark as paid employment. Keep the newest role as a leadership experience (or do I need to still mark this as employment as well?). The newest role will be marked as most meaningful.

I have 14 activities if I don't split this role in two... so I do have room to do so. I would be able to write meaningfully about both roles if I did split them. Just not sure what best practices are here.

 

[Catalystik]

Hey all! I've started working on my activities prewriting for the next cycle and am trying to figure out how to deal with a specific experience. I'm a nontraditional student and have 10 years of employment experience at (insert tech company here) where I've had promotions from: Software Engineer -> Software Engineer II -> Senior Software Engineer -> Principal Software Engineer. This will be one of my most meaningful experiences, as I've spent 20k hours here and my current role is considered a leadership/director role.

I'm trying to figure out how to break this apart (if at all). My current role has pretty different characteristics from when I started. My options:

1. Lump them all together. Experience name: Principal Software Engineer at (tech company). Category: Paid employment. Mark as most meaningful and just describe briefly that I've had 3 significant promotions and my current responsibilities.

2. Spit the prior roles into their own experience and mark as paid employment. Keep the newest role as a leadership experience (or do I need to still mark this as employment as well?). The newest role will be marked as most meaningful.

I have 14 activities if I don't split this role in two... so I do have room to do so. I would be able to write meaningfully about both roles if I did split them. Just not sure what best practices are here.

If you have no other significant Leadership entries, then use option 2, call it Leadership, and mention the employment aspect in the description.

 

[Catalystik]

I volunteer with beach cleanup. I've led my own group of volunteers for cleanups and also joined a nonprofit company to volunteer as beach cleanup supervisor.

Should I count this as A) leadership or B) non-clinical volunteer and then just write about the leadership in the description box?

A Leadership space should include only the description/role, datespan, and hours of the leadership activity. If you have enough hours of being a cleanup supervisor and the space could stand on its own, then split the activity into two portions, Leadership and Volunteer/Community Service (don't double count the hours). If not, then plan B. But if plan B, then include the leadership role in the title you give the space, as well as describing it in the narrative.

 

[Catalystik]

if I volunteered in multiple 5K Runs and also volunteered at a summer sports clinic, can I combine these activities? They’re both sports. I want to combine them because the 5K Runs are only a day each, while the sports clinic is the whole summer.

Yes.

 

[Catalystik]

Does environmental volunteering such as beach cleanup count as non-clinical volunteering?

Yes.

I know non-clinical volunteering has to be with underserved communities.

It doesn't have to be, but it does give your application more pizazz for time spent.

 

[pedneuro6894]

Hi,
So I have a paid research position but the AMCAS doesn't specify. Should I put it as Research/Lab or Paid Employment - Not Medical/Clinical? If I put it as Research/Lab how would I indicate that it was paid?

Put it under research. You don’t need to indicate if it was paid or not

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

I do extra work for my district as a diabetes care aide. I help input carbs and monitor the blood sugar app associated with a kid's Omnipod while she is at sports games and practices. I get paid my hourly rate. I had to get extra training and certification from Health Services to do this. Is listing this as clinical employment too much?

 

[Catalystik]

I do extra work for my district as a diabetes care aide. I help input carbs and monitor the blood sugar app associated with a kid's Omnipod while she is at sports games and practices. I get paid my hourly rate. I had to get extra training and certification from Health Services to do this. Is listing this as clinical employment too much?

If you don't have patient interaction, it would not be clinical.

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

If you don't have patient interaction, it would not be clinical.

Thank you.

We interact but she is still a student in this context.

 

[Brandon M.]

Does clinical research count as clinical experience?

Can I separate clinical research into two separate categories: clinical and research?

I have more clinical than research, can I put it in research to balance my application?