applicant29999
New Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
That sounds good, thanks for the reply!
*~*~*~* Official AMCAS "Work/Activities" Tips Thread 2021-2027 *~*~*~*
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
I am the founder and president of a tutoring club at my college. I plan to categorize this activity as leadership and title it "Founder and President". I will continue to serve as a tutor and advisor after graduation. Is it okay if I provide anticipated hours even though I will no longer hold the title of president or should I add " tutor and advisor after graduation" to the title? (Is there a character limit?) Thank you!
I suggest that you include only the Leadership hours in the header. You can add at the end of the entry “I hope to continue my involvement after graduation as tutor and advisor for xx hours/week through 8/2026.” There is a character limit for the title of ~62.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Thank you!
I’d consider it primarily nonclinical employment. Make your case for any peer leadership role that you took in the description. Unless you were in charge of managing or training other RAs, it was not solely Leadership.
I did lead multiple collaborative events by planning them and distributing tasks but I don’t know if that counts
No, leave it under employment then. RA is a very recognizable and fairly standardized role., so they'll understand what this entailed.
Sounds like "leadership," but it was not the majority of the hours you will claim for the activity. If there were enough hours for the leadership portion to stand on its own, you have the option to list them in their own space (but don't double count the hours).
I just realized the amcas classification for leadership includes “not listed elsewhere” so it would make sense to put my role under employment as it is still leadership but under employment. Thanks for the advice!
Last edited by a moderator:
List the number of hours that your Contact should honestly attest to. Don't play with fire.
.
Last edited:
I’ve moved your question to our main thread about the AMCAS work/activities section.
That is appropriate. It seems like you would have a lot to talk about since there is a research component as well.
g0ldendoodle
Full Member
I have two internships I’m trying to classify.
-20 hr/week for one semester working on care quality, continuity of care, basic patient interactions with a chief resident and nurse administrator in a large hospital clinic, unpaid but received 8 credit hours of college credit and completed a poster presentation (was a graduation requirement, thesis-lite for non-honors students)
-20 hr/week for one summer while taking classes working on provider/patient satisfaction, med tech assessments and training, lots of care observation in a large hospital department, unpaid
Also, I have around 60 shadowing hours with 5 different physicians but the 2nd most hours one retired and I’m not sure of current contact info, and the 3rd most hours one was a resident who tragically passed away. Should I just put the contact info of someone who would’ve known them (but wouldn’t know anything about me?) or a general office contact info, or just omit these? I could reasonably verify the shadowing with texts/emails and a contemporaneous journal where I logged hours and key highlights.
-20 hr/week for one semester working on care quality, continuity of care, basic patient interactions with a chief resident and nurse administrator in a large hospital clinic, unpaid but received 8 credit hours of college credit and completed a poster presentation (was a graduation requirement, thesis-lite for non-honors students)
-20 hr/week for one summer while taking classes working on provider/patient satisfaction, med tech assessments and training, lots of care observation in a large hospital department, unpaid
Also, I have around 60 shadowing hours with 5 different physicians but the 2nd most hours one retired and I’m not sure of current contact info, and the 3rd most hours one was a resident who tragically passed away. Should I just put the contact info of someone who would’ve known them (but wouldn’t know anything about me?) or a general office contact info, or just omit these? I could reasonably verify the shadowing with texts/emails and a contemporaneous journal where I logged hours and key highlights.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
1) & 2) List them under "Other," as this is the appropriate designation for activities that cross more than one category. You could carve some of the physician observation out (if any) and include it with your shadowing, but you have enough in that category anyway.
3) List the Contact info for the first most shadowing hours in the header. Include a general office Contact in your description to cover others.
I have about 1200 research hours, but no papers or first-author posters yet. I have a second-author poster that I did not present (the first author presented it at a conference), and a paper in prep (wrapping up experiments, expect to submit in a few months, though things could take longer). Should I include either or both of these as a separate activity, include them at the end of my research description or most meaningful, or just not list them?
1) Was the paper presented at a) a regional or national conference, or was it presented at b) a campus symposium where you go to school? If the latter, you can mention it in the Research space. If the poster underwent a competitive vetting process before being accepted for one of the former, you can give it it's own space. But give credit to the presenter.
2) A paper in preparation is not worth mentioning on the AMCAS application.
Your question was moved to our main Work and Activities thread.
nothingtoseehere
New Member
Should being captain of a College (D3) sports team be listed separately as a leadership activity, or just be a part of the description of the "Intercollegiate athletics" activity. If it should be separated, how should I handle the hours? I have estimated the total hours I spent on practices, matches, etc. but I don't feel that I can quantify "captain" hours separately.
Similarly, I took on a leadership role in an MA job. I would like to somehow split the leadership up from the clinical hours because I have a lot that I would like to discuss about both aspects of the job. The problem is, there was no official title change when I took on the leadership position. My contact will be the physician I worked with, and she did refer to me at one point as the "team lead" but that was not an official title or part of my job description. If i do separate it out like that, it would feel weird to put all the hours in the "team lead" role under leadership (would be about 2500 hours) because most of those hours would be better classified as clinical experience even though I was in a leadership role. How would you recommend approaching this?
Similarly, I took on a leadership role in an MA job. I would like to somehow split the leadership up from the clinical hours because I have a lot that I would like to discuss about both aspects of the job. The problem is, there was no official title change when I took on the leadership position. My contact will be the physician I worked with, and she did refer to me at one point as the "team lead" but that was not an official title or part of my job description. If i do separate it out like that, it would feel weird to put all the hours in the "team lead" role under leadership (would be about 2500 hours) because most of those hours would be better classified as clinical experience even though I was in a leadership role. How would you recommend approaching this?
Note that the leadership tag is "Leadership-not listed elsewhere," so keeping the leadership hours with the other activity is fine, especially if you can't honestly quantitate the number of hours for each portion. You could include the leadership title, like Team Captain or Team Lead (your official title doesn't matter) in the name of the space and use the narrative to state the onset date and role description.
Alternatively, give the active leadership hours an honest estimate that would be supported by your Contact, don't include those hours with the Sport Team or general MA hours, and take advantage of the extra space if you'd have a lot to say about the new role.
TibiaOrNotTibia
Full Member
Hey all, I'm wondering how I should go about referencing a preprint in my activities section, or if I should avoid it entirely. I did a research internship last summer and helped create the main "item" that is the focus of the research itself, and the paper has since been submitted. I am second author of it, however it technically remains a "preprint" (I think this is what they're called when they haven't undergone peer review yet...?). I don't know how to talk about this on my activities, however it was a pretty major position for me and I spent a lot of time on it. In other words, it feels wrong placing it under "publications" since it is not officially published yet.
Any advice as to how to go about this? Thank you! 🙂
Any advice as to how to go about this? Thank you! 🙂
Did you submit the research paper to a peer-reviewed journal, or to a non-peer-reviewed journal, or to something else such as medRxiv or bioRxiv (used for the distribution of preprints, which are complete, but unpublished manuscripts)? Hoping for a review or waiting for referee?
Based on your post, your submitted research paper can be entered under "research" at this time.
If it is published in the future, it can be entered as a "publication" with its DOI.
Last edited:
diltiazemm
Full Member
Hi all!
I'm currently writing my AMCAS application, and I noticed that a lot of applicants include at least one Honors/Awards/Recognitions in their W/A.
I've already maxed out the 15 slots, but I was curious if it was an expectation to have an activity dedicated to Honors/Awards/Recognitions?
Right now, my hobby/EC slots are:
1. Ultrarunning: I've done 2x50k and one 6-hour race. Super fun outlet for me.
2. Cartooning: Just a personal passion - I do live portrait drawing at local art events 🙂
3. Language learning: I taught myself Spanish for use at work and my free clinic, and am currently doing a medical Spanish course. I'm also learning Vietnamese to connect with family and patients.
Would it be worth it to substitute one of these instead?:
- Biological Sciences Distinction (acquired by completing a year-long independent research project, writing a thesis paper, and presenting a poster).
- Merit scholarship (acquired after committing to my school - it's the UC Regents scholarship, if that helps).
I just find my awards to be unremarkable... One of them I earned before even starting college, and the other is already fleshed out in my research essays. But, my hobby/EC essays aren't really medical/science oriented.
I'd appreciate any advice. Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed! Thank you in advance for the help☺️
I'm currently writing my AMCAS application, and I noticed that a lot of applicants include at least one Honors/Awards/Recognitions in their W/A.
I've already maxed out the 15 slots, but I was curious if it was an expectation to have an activity dedicated to Honors/Awards/Recognitions?
Right now, my hobby/EC slots are:
1. Ultrarunning: I've done 2x50k and one 6-hour race. Super fun outlet for me.
2. Cartooning: Just a personal passion - I do live portrait drawing at local art events 🙂
3. Language learning: I taught myself Spanish for use at work and my free clinic, and am currently doing a medical Spanish course. I'm also learning Vietnamese to connect with family and patients.
Would it be worth it to substitute one of these instead?:
- Biological Sciences Distinction (acquired by completing a year-long independent research project, writing a thesis paper, and presenting a poster).
- Merit scholarship (acquired after committing to my school - it's the UC Regents scholarship, if that helps).
I just find my awards to be unremarkable... One of them I earned before even starting college, and the other is already fleshed out in my research essays. But, my hobby/EC essays aren't really medical/science oriented.
I'd appreciate any advice. Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed! Thank you in advance for the help☺️
Frankly, because we can see your GPA and your transcript, I don't find academic honors such as Dean's List to be particularly helpful. If you won a prize that is given to only one student per year at your school, or a prize that is awarded to only one person per year in the country, or something extraordinary (Carnegie Medal for life-saving bravery) or something just quirky like being on Jeopardy!, then okay but otherwise I would hope that there are 15 more interesting things to put on your application.
I don't find language learning to be particularly helpful given that there is another section of the application, IIRC, that asks your languages and your fluency level. Don't waste a spot on something that is already shown elsewhere.
I don't find language learning to be particularly helpful given that there is another section of the application, IIRC, that asks your languages and your fluency level. Don't waste a spot on something that is already shown elsewhere.
Super_Student21
New Member
Hey everyone, I hope you all are well. I have a question about this one extracurricular I do (and have been doing for a very long time). It came to mind because I didn’t really think of it and have been reflecting on my activities.
I am an electrician who starting training when I was 16 as an apprentice. I am now 21 and by the time I will apply to medical school (approx 3 more years) I will be able to sit for a licensing exam because I would have accumulated more than 8000 hours. (I am at around 6500). In conjunction with working as an EMT, I am able to pay for college and support myself
Would medical schools see this as a positive? Could including this hurt or help my application? Is it possible for me to tailor this to my advantage?. I became an electrician at this time because my father is a tradesman who wanted me to become educated but have something to fall back on.
Thanks everyone
I am an electrician who starting training when I was 16 as an apprentice. I am now 21 and by the time I will apply to medical school (approx 3 more years) I will be able to sit for a licensing exam because I would have accumulated more than 8000 hours. (I am at around 6500). In conjunction with working as an EMT, I am able to pay for college and support myself
Would medical schools see this as a positive? Could including this hurt or help my application? Is it possible for me to tailor this to my advantage?. I became an electrician at this time because my father is a tradesman who wanted me to become educated but have something to fall back on.
Thanks everyone
diltiazemm
Full Member
I don't see how this hurts. If it's the primary way that you support yourself, then that's awesome. As long as you can provide a strong reason why you want to become a physician over electrician, I think you'll be fine.
IMO it's actually quite unique 🙂 You could definitely use that experience to highlight your strengths. These kinds of non-clinical jobs are even mentioned on the W/A tips thread:
TibiaOrNotTibia
Full Member
Hello, it is bioRxiv! So I should put it under "research" then? Thank you for your help.
There’s no reason to include the APRN’s name.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
diltiazemm
Full Member
You should be OK, since the research was during your undergraduate years (I'm assuming you're non-traditional). Just make sure you have activities in the interim that continue to demonstrate your interest/passion for medicine! This link has good info: How old can AMCAS activities be for a nontrad?
And as far as I know, people don't really reach out to contacts 🤷♀️... Unless the activity is really farfetched or suspicious.
Can you ask someone who was not involved in the "banter?" Is there anyone else higher in the pecking order who knows about your contributions that you might use? You'd need to have a conversation with anyone you pick to be sure it's OK with them and to have a correct email. During that conversation you should be able to get a feel for whether they are a safe person to list. Last-resort options would be to pick a co-volunteer, or to use yourself.
As long as this person feels comfortable vouching for the dates of service & hours you will claim, it's fine.
Hi! Question about how to categorize one of my experiences: In the fall semester I was a clinical assistant/scribe for a physician as part of a practicum for course credit, but have continued throughout spring semester on my own, unpaid. I am also continuing this role during my gap year as a paid position. Would this be 'Other' or would it be better to put as Community Service- Clinical to make it clear that it is a clinical position?
Options: You could put it under Other, since it's a mixed bag of experience types. (As you took it for course credit, that portion would not be considered Volunteer.) And it will soon be a paid position. You can make the Clinical aspect clear from the tile you choose for the space (say, MA/Scribe Practicum, then Volunteer, soon to be Paid). With this approach you can include all the completed hours in the header.
Alternatively, list it under Volunteer-Clinical, but do not include the practicum hours in the header. Instead use the narrative space to say the volunteer experience was preceded by 4 months/ XX hours of practicum work for credit. And will be succeeded by a paid position expected to last from 6/1 ( or whatever) to 8/1/26 (or whatever) for xx hours per week.
Alternatively, put the Clinical Practicum on its own under Other, and the Volunteer-Clinical portion on its own, with a note at the end that you expect to assume a paid position as of . . . etc.
Hi!
So I am in the middle of doing my honors thesis and an underclassman asked if they could join it. I said yes initially. I’m wondering if med schools view research done individually vs with another person differently?
For context,
I’m definitely doing most of the work ranging from data collection, processing, cleaning, and scheduling. The other person just helps with data collection, but can’t make several sessions. When they do, they often leave early due to other commitments (without letting me know when during data collection they’d be leaving exactly, which complicates things). They’re also on their phone a lot when performing a task that requires you to stay still. My PI says I should call them out next time which I definitely will.
I’m kind of regretting agreeing to letting them join in on my thesis. As selfish as this sounds, I’d hate to do a joint poster presentation with someone who hasn’t contributed much to the study as a whole. I might just ask my PI if this other person can do their thesis on another section of the study or ask them directly. How should I go about this? If medical schools don’t view solo vs group research differently, I might just suck it up.
So I am in the middle of doing my honors thesis and an underclassman asked if they could join it. I said yes initially. I’m wondering if med schools view research done individually vs with another person differently?
For context,
I’m definitely doing most of the work ranging from data collection, processing, cleaning, and scheduling. The other person just helps with data collection, but can’t make several sessions. When they do, they often leave early due to other commitments (without letting me know when during data collection they’d be leaving exactly, which complicates things). They’re also on their phone a lot when performing a task that requires you to stay still. My PI says I should call them out next time which I definitely will.
I’m kind of regretting agreeing to letting them join in on my thesis. As selfish as this sounds, I’d hate to do a joint poster presentation with someone who hasn’t contributed much to the study as a whole. I might just ask my PI if this other person can do their thesis on another section of the study or ask them directly. How should I go about this? If medical schools don’t view solo vs group research differently, I might just suck it up.
Med schools will judge by the description of your contributions to the project that you'll describe in the narrative space. And by the validation provided by your PI's LOR.
bananabuttercup
Full Member
Hi! I spent a significant amount of time at a research lab in which I had two positions: an unpaid independent research project and a PAID role in which I helped out with other people's projects. Could I list these as two seperate activities, or would this be confusing as my position was a "research assistant" for both? And had the same PI, at the same lab, and overlapping time periods.
I'm thinking that perhaps I list my independent unpaid research project under publications (this is my only publication) and listing citation and left over characters to explain project more. I would like to make this my most meaningful experience as well.
Then a separate entry under research/lab elaborating on the other projects I contributed to.
There's just a lot I want to talk about, but I don't want to make it confusing!
I'm thinking that perhaps I list my independent unpaid research project under publications (this is my only publication) and listing citation and left over characters to explain project more. I would like to make this my most meaningful experience as well.
Then a separate entry under research/lab elaborating on the other projects I contributed to.
There's just a lot I want to talk about, but I don't want to make it confusing!
Yes, you can list them separately. Using the tags you've suggested for each is fine. Be sure to mention that you were a paid research assistant when assisting others.
bananabuttercup
Full Member
Thank you SO much! Follow up questions:
- Under my publication I'm listing zero hours, and then putting both my unpaid and paid hours under the other research/lab entry. I would then as you suggested say that on all other projects beyond independent published work I was paid. Is this okay?
-Under publication tag, is it okay to mark this as a most meaningful experience? My 700 characters would include the actual citation and some elaboration on project (and perhaps including some university presentations I did?). And then the 1325 would be used for more story telling about the project.
Very grateful for your help!
Grouping all the hours that way would be too confusing. Instead, put the unpaid research/pub hours in the Publications header or alternatively in another Research-designated space (after dividing them out as fairly as you can and being sure your Contact will back you up). Be sure to name the space in a way that refers to the research effort if it's in a Publications-tagged slot, so it won't be thought that you're listing the hours it took to write the manuscript. If the research experience is included in the Pub space, it's fine to tag this space Most Meaningful and get the extra characters for description. University-based presentations are best not included in a Publications space, unless they are related to the same data set.
bananabuttercup
Full Member
Thank you so much!!!
sunnyseonyi
New Member
Hey! Sorry if a similar question has been asked before; I am new here and thus am still getting used to navigating around.
I started fostering dogs at the start of this year, and am unsure how to accurately determine my hours without the number sounding too bloated. I work from home and care for them throughout the day, but I don't know if that necessarily means I'm fostering all 24 hours. Does anyone have any advice for calculating hours for such an activity?
I started fostering dogs at the start of this year, and am unsure how to accurately determine my hours without the number sounding too bloated. I work from home and care for them throughout the day, but I don't know if that necessarily means I'm fostering all 24 hours. Does anyone have any advice for calculating hours for such an activity?
What time involvement is there for actively engaging the dogs for feeding, grooming, walking, going to the vet, training, etc? Definitely do not count the sleep hours or time the dogs are lounging nearby you. Be sure not to double count hours when you are "working from home" and have listed that time under Employment.
If you list this activity under Hobbies, the hours are a less important matter and you don't need to list a Contact who can attest to those hours.
Hello,
I'm working on my Work/Activities and had a question about listing hobbies, specifically as an MME. I was thinking of listing playing soccer as an MME. I've played soccer for most of my life. Although I haven’t played competitively since high school (apart from a few recreational leagues), it’s been a consistent and important part of my life and has contributed to my growth as a person.
Also, if I do list soccer as a standalone hobby + MME, how should I go about listing other hobbies? Should I group them all into one entry or list one or two others as separate activities?
THANK YOU!
I'm working on my Work/Activities and had a question about listing hobbies, specifically as an MME. I was thinking of listing playing soccer as an MME. I've played soccer for most of my life. Although I haven’t played competitively since high school (apart from a few recreational leagues), it’s been a consistent and important part of my life and has contributed to my growth as a person.
Also, if I do list soccer as a standalone hobby + MME, how should I go about listing other hobbies? Should I group them all into one entry or list one or two others as separate activities?
THANK YOU!
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
might be a stupid question, but do adcoms (ideally!) read all of the W/A section? i’m combining a few awards in my other activites/MMEs that I think are pretty relevant and I wanna know if everything gets read lol
Last edited by a moderator:
Group all non-soccer hobbies into one slot. if they don't fit gracefully, leave some out. DO NOT use three+ spaces for Hobbies.
They all get read, but not necessarily by the same person, so don't assume the info from one space is accessible to every reader. Some schools feel there is better quality control/head to head comparison if one person reads just Clinical, or Leadership, or Research, or etc.
That said, combining awards with the activity that spawned them makes it easier to keep them in proper context.
sunnyseonyi
New Member
That makes a lot of sense! I think this probably counts as a hobby for me, so I'll just approximate the time I actively spend with the dogs. Thank you for the helpful reply!
I agree with your thoughts that you shouldn’t overly dwell on HS accomplishments, though you could briefly comment on them in a generic way with one sentence before going on to what they mean to you/impact/etc during recent years. Don’t try to precisely estimate hours involved, since they won’t matter. Just use 999 or 9999 as the code for unknowable hours.
Similar threads
