Questions about Activities section of AMCAS

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danielsgirl0403

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I just have some questions that i am having trouble filling out on the activities section, as well as mention all the activities i am including and if there are any that would just be pointless to include and i should remove?

Top 3:
1. ED Scribing - paid employment
2. Crisis Line and Suicide Hotline phone counselor - Volunteering, I am not sure if I should include this as clinical or non clinical volunteering? I answered suicide hotline calls, and have certification in suicide prevention, along with other extra stuff like teaching suicide prevention to 911 dispatch and law enforcement officers.
3. Biochemistry Student Instructor - Teaching Assistant

Others:
4. Organic Chemistry 1 TA - teaching assistant
5. First Year Florida TA - teaching assistant (I taught a freshman college readyness course of 25 students)
6. "Secrets of Songs club" - this is the one i'm mostly having a hard time with. I started a club at my university and served as the clubs president, this club was just for fun that i started with a couple of friends as a fun hobby, it was a "lyrical analysis" type of club, we listened to music and went to concerts and played instruments and all that, I am not sure if i should consider it leadership because i started the club myself or as hobby?
7. Volunteering - Clinical volunteering in hospital
8. Service Trip to Medellin Columbia 1 week - educational service trip to Columbia, we did educations workshops for a girls orphanage, donated lots of school materials and hygiene products, etc. (Iffy about this because of all the things I've heard about "voluntourism") I also am not sure what this would be classified under, non clinical volunteering probably?
9. EMR certification class- this was a semester long course where i became EMR certified, CPR certified, learned how to backboard, etc etc. Not sure what this would be classified under either or if its worthy of including, although its a class, it was pretty hands on and wasn't a registered class on my official transcript.
10. shadowing cardiology
11. shadowing urologist
12. Restaurant waitress - my family has owned a restaurant for over 10 years and I worked there as a waitress since i was about 15 years old. I really am not sure to include this one or not. I worked here any time i was home over the summer from university and on weekends.


my main questions are about #2 and #6. If I consider suicide hotline as clinical volunteering, then i will have nothing as non clinical volunteering, but I do not want to seem that mental health is not considered clinical is my dilemma? as for the club i started, i do not have any other leadership roles (teaching assistant technically is i thought but its under a different category?) but then i also don't have anything for hobby if i make the club a leadership role. Any advice helps!

Thank you so much to whoever responds to this!!

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I just have some questions that i am having trouble filling out on the activities section, as well as mention all the activities i am including and if there are any that would just be pointless to include and i should remove?

Top 3:
1. ED Scribing - paid employment
2. Crisis Line and Suicide Hotline phone counselor - Volunteering, I am not sure if I should include this as clinical or non clinical volunteering? I answered suicide hotline calls, and have certification in suicide prevention, along with other extra stuff like teaching suicide prevention to 911 dispatch and law enforcement officers.
3. Biochemistry Student Instructor - Teaching Assistant

Others:
4. Organic Chemistry 1 TA - teaching assistant
5. First Year Florida TA - teaching assistant (I taught a freshman college readyness course of 25 students)
6. "Secrets of Songs club" - this is the one i'm mostly having a hard time with. I started a club at my university and served as the clubs president, this club was just for fun that i started with a couple of friends as a fun hobby, it was a "lyrical analysis" type of club, we listened to music and went to concerts and played instruments and all that, I am not sure if i should consider it leadership because i started the club myself or as hobby?
7. Volunteering - Clinical volunteering in hospital
8. Service Trip to Medellin Columbia 1 week - educational service trip to Columbia, we did educations workshops for a girls orphanage, donated lots of school materials and hygiene products, etc. (Iffy about this because of all the things I've heard about "voluntourism") I also am not sure what this would be classified under, non clinical volunteering probably?
9. EMR certification class- this was a semester long course where i became EMR certified, CPR certified, learned how to backboard, etc etc. Not sure what this would be classified under either or if its worthy of including, although its a class, it was pretty hands on and wasn't a registered class on my official transcript.
10. shadowing cardiology
11. shadowing urologist
12. Restaurant waitress - my family has owned a restaurant for over 10 years and I worked there as a waitress since i was about 15 years old. I really am not sure to include this one or not. I worked here any time i was home over the summer from university and on weekends.


my main questions are about #2 and #6. If I consider suicide hotline as clinical volunteering, then i will have nothing as non clinical volunteering, but I do not want to seem that mental health is not considered clinical is my dilemma? as for the club i started, i do not have any other leadership roles (teaching assistant technically is i thought but its under a different category?) but then i also don't have anything for hobby if i make the club a leadership role. Any advice helps!

Thank you so much to whoever responds to this!!
As far as the mental health volunteering goes I would recommend classifying it as non-clinical. You already have clinical volunteering elsewhere and no one will bat an eye at suicide hotline as non-clinical. That non-clinical box is a box that needs checked and classifying this activity as such makes searching the PDF a lot easier.

Also, combine the shadowing activities

Combine the TA activities

Come up with a Hobby. What do you do? Read books? Hike? Road trips? Or are you just a boring ole does-nothin’?
 
Label the lyrical analysis club as an artistic endeavor
 
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@MemeLord
How important is non-clinical volunteering? I realized I do not have anything that could be considered non-clinical since I had to hold a part-time job while in college
 
@MemeLord
How important is non-clinical volunteering? I realized I do not have anything that could be considered non-clinical since I had to hold a part-time job while in college
Very important. Having a part-time job doesn't excuse a 3 hour a week commitment.
 
Work was 20+ hours a week on top of clinical volunteering, club leadership, and full-time student
 
I just have some questions that i am having trouble filling out on the activities section, as well as mention all the activities i am including and if there are any that would just be pointless to include and i should remove?

Top 3:
1. ED Scribing - paid employment
2. Crisis Line and Suicide Hotline phone counselor - Volunteering, I am not sure if I should include this as clinical or non clinical volunteering? I answered suicide hotline calls, and have certification in suicide prevention, along with other extra stuff like teaching suicide prevention to 911 dispatch and law enforcement officers.
3. Biochemistry Student Instructor - Teaching Assistant

Others:
4. Organic Chemistry 1 TA - teaching assistant
5. First Year Florida TA - teaching assistant (I taught a freshman college readyness course of 25 students)
6. "Secrets of Songs club" - this is the one i'm mostly having a hard time with. I started a club at my university and served as the clubs president, this club was just for fun that i started with a couple of friends as a fun hobby, it was a "lyrical analysis" type of club, we listened to music and went to concerts and played instruments and all that, I am not sure if i should consider it leadership because i started the club myself or as hobby?
7. Volunteering - Clinical volunteering in hospital
8. Service Trip to Medellin Columbia 1 week - educational service trip to Columbia, we did educations workshops for a girls orphanage, donated lots of school materials and hygiene products, etc. (Iffy about this because of all the things I've heard about "voluntourism") I also am not sure what this would be classified under, non clinical volunteering probably?
9. EMR certification class- this was a semester long course where i became EMR certified, CPR certified, learned how to backboard, etc etc. Not sure what this would be classified under either or if its worthy of including, although its a class, it was pretty hands on and wasn't a registered class on my official transcript.
10. shadowing cardiology
11. shadowing urologist
12. Restaurant waitress - my family has owned a restaurant for over 10 years and I worked there as a waitress since i was about 15 years old. I really am not sure to include this one or not. I worked here any time i was home over the summer from university and on weekends.


my main questions are about #2 and #6. If I consider suicide hotline as clinical volunteering, then i will have nothing as non clinical volunteering, but I do not want to seem that mental health is not considered clinical is my dilemma? as for the club i started, i do not have any other leadership roles (teaching assistant technically is i thought but its under a different category?) but then i also don't have anything for hobby if i make the club a leadership role. Any advice helps!
#2 I agree should be nonclinical.
#6 I suggest that you use the tag Extracurricular and include in the name of the space Club Founder and President, so the leadership component won't be missed. Hobbies would be fine, too, and doesn't need a Contact listed. It isn't an Artistic Endeavor.
#8 can be included under nonclinical volunteering.
#9 should be excluded. If you used it in an activity, mention it in that same space
#12 should be included. Many applicants have worked for a family business. Put it under Employment.
 
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@MemeLord
How important is non-clinical volunteering? I realized I do not have anything that could be considered non-clinical since I had to hold a part-time job while in college
I believe it is very important, you need to be able to demonstrate altruism outside of the medical field.

And I agree that the split in time is tremendous and SHOULD be valued more and potentially excuse a volunteering commitment. But it does not, unfortunately. And when you have so many applicants who are working, doing two volunteer gigs, research, MCAT studying, maintaining a high GPA, some with families, some with sports/artistic/military commitments, hobbies etc. then anything less will just be viewed as an excuse (even though I personally know it isn’t)
 
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As far as the mental health volunteering goes I would recommend classifying it as non-clinical. You already have clinical volunteering elsewhere and no one will bat an eye at suicide hotline as non-clinical. That non-clinical box is a box that needs checked and classifying this activity as such makes searching the PDF a lot easier.

Also, combine the shadowing activities

Combine the TA activities

Come up with a Hobby. What do you do? Read books? Hike? Road trips? Or are you just a boring ole does-nothin’?

Thanks for the reply!

The shadowing activities can definitely be combined i agree, but the 3 TA positions are very different from one another and i have too much to talk about with them, one of them i tutored, one of them i held office hours and graded and proctored exams, the other was a non academic TA position. i am thinking to consider the non academic one (First Year Florida) as leadership instead of teaching assistant, thoughts?

I'll have to think of some hobby, i really like the idea of the lyrical analysis club as artistic endeavor, thanks for that one!
 
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Thanks for the reply.

The shadowing activities can definitely be combined i agree, but the 3 TA positions are very different from one another and i have too much to talk about with them, one of them i tutored, one of them i held office hours and graded and proctored exams, the other was a non academic TA position. i am thinking to consider the non academic one (First Year Florida) as leadership instead of teaching assistant, thoughts?
#2 I agree should be nonclinical.
#6 I suggest that you use the tag Extracurricular and include in the name of the space Club Founder and President, so the leadership component won't be missed. Hobbies would be fine, too, and doesn't need a Contact listed. It isn't an Artistic Endeavor.
#8 can be included under nonclinical volunteering.
#9 should be excluded. If you used it in an activity, mention it in that same space
#12 should be included. Many applicants have worked for a family business. Put it under Employment.
thank so much for the reply!

Agree with excluding #9 just wanted to hear it from someone else lol. Thanks so much for the #6 suggestion! I will be using the faculty advisor as the contact listed, so i decided not to make it as a hobby, i definitely want the leadership component in there. How come it is not an artistic endeavor, and if you have any examples of what would be considered artistic endeavor, that'd be awesome :) I'm not really sure what that classification means haha
 
How come it is not an artistic endeavor, and if you have any examples of what would be considered artistic endeavor, that'd be awesome :) I'm not really sure what that classification means
One engages in a hobby for one's own enjoyment or for that of a limited circle of people. An artistic endeavor reaches a wider audience. Examples would be one who learned to play an instrument or to dance, then joined a group and performed for an audience. Or one who enjoys writing short stories then sold one to a magazine for publication.
 
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As the club founder/president, could he also put that down under “leadership” instead of extracurricular?
It would belong under Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere only if the dates and hours of leadership alone were included in the header. Many aren't willing to omit those other hours of organizational involvement and prefer to keep everything together.
 
It would belong under Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere only if the dates and hours of leadership alone were included in the header. Many aren't willing to omit those other hours of organizational involvement and prefer to keep everything together.
I ask because I’m in the same situation. If I put it down as EC, can it be assumed that I’m really putting it down as a leadership opportunity, especially when I mainly talk about my role as the president?
 
One engages in a hobby for one's own enjoyment or for that of a limited circle of people. An artistic endeavor reaches a wider audience. Examples would be one who learned to play an instrument or to dance, then joined a group and performed for an audience. Or one who enjoys writing short stories then sold one to a magazine for publication.
I ask because I’m in the same situation. If I put it down as EC, can it be assumed that I’m really putting it down as a leadership opportunity, especially when I mainly talk about my role as the president?
I think if you're mainly talking about your role as president then make it leadership. I mostly talked about what we did in the club and didn't really go into too much depth of what i did as the presidential role, because i mean it was a pretty collaborative group thing where everyone shared their opinions and i wasn't like the only spokesperson lol. I'm thinking of putting mine under extracurricular after some thought, but i will mention in it that i was the president of the club and i started it.
 
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I ask because I’m in the same situation. If I put it down as EC, can it be assumed that I’m really putting it down as a leadership opportunity, especially when I mainly talk about my role as the president?
You mean if you tag it as in the Extracurricular category? If you do so, and include the leadership role in the name of the space, the leadership component will be noted more readily than if you don't, as readers from some schools will specifically be looking for evidence of leadership before they read the descriptions in detail.
 
You mean if you tag it as in the Extracurricular category? If you do so, and include the leadership role in the name of the space, the leadership component will be noted more readily than if you don't, as readers from some schools will specifically be looking for evidence of leadership before they read the descriptions in detail.
If I just put “leadership not listed elsewhere” but I make it clear within the description that I’m also including hours from just participating in the club, would that work as well?
 
If I just put “leadership not listed elsewhere” but I make it clear within the description that I’m also including hours from just participating in the club, would that work as well?
That would be misleading to anyone looking at the header, who'd assume all the hours were related to leadership duties. You don't want that perception, as it might then be assumed that you were less than transparent in other entries.

Another way to get the information across about extended involvement would be to select Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere, put only the leadership dates and hours in the header, but in the narrative start the description with, "After two years of general membership in {Organization}, I felt there was a need for [xxx], so I ran for office . . . ." or something like that.
 
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