proving your extracurriculars? HOW????

[zurned]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Which part of the application process do schools ask for you to prove your volunteer experiences. I have about 100 hours, but do I have to let my supervisors sign anything? Do you submit proof with AMCAS? or with secondaries?

 

[synapse lapse]

It's on the honor code, so to speak. No verification.

 

[sunUCB]

when you enter activities on AMCAS they ask you for the name of a contact person.....i have no idea if they ever look people up and contact them to make sure you're telling the truth, but i suppose they can...

Which part of the application process do schools ask for you to prove your volunteer experiences. I have about 100 hours, but do I have to let my supervisors sign anything? Do you submit proof with AMCAS? or with secondaries?

 

[nockamura]

when you enter activities on AMCAS they ask you for the name of a contact person.....i have no idea if they ever look people up and contact them to make sure you're telling the truth, but i suppose they can...

I doubt they ever look it up. Maybe some sort of random lottery or something-like being audited.

 

[jackets5]

i really see no way they could spend all that time into verifying all the extra cirriculars. I guess if you put something along the lines of Noble prize winner or something outrageous. For the vast majority its probally the honor system.

 

[Ambs]

Be able to talk about them in countless essays in secondaries and during interviews. In some interviews, you'll be talking about them in-depth. Not only will they ask what you did for activity X, but what you learned from it and how it impacted your life. Blah, blah, blah.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

AMCAS reserves the right to investigate any and all claims on any application, so something that sounds fishy could very well be looked at. But no, they're probably not going to check and see if you actually served as Secretary of the pre-med club, if that's what you're wondering.
I think the "real" checking occurs in interviews. Can you speak intelligently about the activity you claimed on AMCAS? If you can't, you probably wont get credit for it. This is how a lot of research claims are checked out. The "tell me about your research" question is asked to see if you were really involved in the science of the issue or if you were a lab monkey that cleaned pipets. From what I hear, you'd be very surprised about the number of people who claim years of research experience, only to have been the lab bi*ch for a few years with no real connection to the research.

 

[Ambs]

I agree with sandiego's post about research. At a few of my interviews, I had to discuss my research in great depth. At one of them, I actually had to describe step-by-step an experimental technique, how many cells I plated, the different media I made & the ingredients, how I improved my experiments, what I could have done differently or better, even what concentrations of drugs worked better. (I did cancer research, and my interviewer was just fascinated with dose and kinetics dependent effects and their intricacies.)

 

[Code Brown]

I agree with SanDiegoSOD and Ambs. At 4 or 5 of my interviews, I was asked about the details of some of my research. One person even asked what model Mass Spec we used. Once I started talking about it, they changed the subject, but it sounded like they just wanted to turn the BS detectors on for a while since so many people make things up in their apps. Embellishing is fine, but complete fabrication is not recommended.

 

[Haybrant]

i think adcoms care about your big extracurrics and they want verification in the form of LOR's; if you have extensive research or volunteer etc.. have someone back that up in the form of an LOR, otherwise it doesnt really carry so much weight

 

[Ambs]

i think adcoms care about your big extracurrics and they want verification in the form of LOR's; if you have extensive research or volunteer etc.. have someone back that up in the form of an LOR, otherwise it doesnt really carry so much weight

oh yeah! LORs! good point.

yes, if you have extensive research, then you MUST get an LOR from your mentor/PI. If you worked for a doc, again, you must get a letter from him/her. And of course be able to talk about these things at great length during interviews.

 

[45408]

Well, you videotaped all of your extracurricular experiences, right? You didn't?!?

 

[Code Brown]

Well, you videotaped all of your extracurricular experiences, right? You didn't?!?

Just the ones from Spring Break 👍

 

[45408]

Just the ones from Spring Break 👍