RN to MD/DO activities section!

[nontradnerd24]

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Hi! I’ve been a nurse (BSN) for four years and am currently taking remaining pre-reqs (Organic, Physics, Biochem) at a community college with plans to take the MCAT next April, and apply in the 2020 cycle [emoji4]. I have a couple of questions -

-For the activities section for AMCAS, how should I list my nursing experience? As one section? I worked one job in my old city, a few travel nursing jobs, and now work at a new hospital in another city. Any advice?

-I graduated from college almost FIVE years ago- does it look lame for me to include my collegiate activities? I was pretty involved in sorority, volunteering, etc... but it was so long ago, it feels almost cheap to write it down. Thoughts, non-trads?!

-Who to ask for letters of rec since I’ve been out of school forever? Community college professors & a supervisor from work?

Thanks so much!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Hi! I’ve been a nurse (BSN) for four years and am currently taking remaining pre-reqs (Organic, Physics, Biochem) at a community college with plans to take the MCAT next April, and apply in the 2020 cycle [emoji4]. I have a couple of questions -

-For the activities section for AMCAS, how should I list my nursing experience? As one section? I worked one job in my old city, a few travel nursing jobs, and now work at a new hospital in another city. Any advice?

-I graduated from college almost FIVE years ago- does it look lame for me to include my collegiate activities? I was pretty involved in sorority, volunteering, etc... but it was so long ago, it feels almost cheap to write it down. Thoughts, non-trads?!

-Who to ask for letters of rec since I’ve been out of school forever? Community college professors & a supervisor from work?

Thanks so much!

I listed my previous work experience as one section, so I recommend doing the same. There should be room to list the positions/roles you held chronologically.

You can mention college volunteering etc., it can’t hurt, but I think they’re going to look most closely/put the greatest emphasis on your recent volunteering or shadowing experiences.

LORs requirements vary from school to school. Many do allow nontrads to substitute a supervisor letter in lieu of a faculty letter, but you’ll have to check the MSAR or individual school websites

 

[Cornfed101]

Hi! I’ve been a nurse (BSN) for four years and am currently taking remaining pre-reqs (Organic, Physics, Biochem) at a community college with plans to take the MCAT next April, and apply in the 2020 cycle [emoji4]. I have a couple of questions -

-For the activities section for AMCAS, how should I list my nursing experience? As one section? I worked one job in my old city, a few travel nursing jobs, and now work at a new hospital in another city. Any advice?

-I graduated from college almost FIVE years ago- does it look lame for me to include my collegiate activities? I was pretty involved in sorority, volunteering, etc... but it was so long ago, it feels almost cheap to write it down. Thoughts, non-trads?!

-Who to ask for letters of rec since I’ve been out of school forever? Community college professors & a supervisor from work?

Thanks so much!

I grouped some work experience and separated others. I had a bunch of nonclinical jobs that I just threw together, and then I had a separate entry for each different type of clinical job I had. In your case, I would put your nursing jobs under a single entry.

I listed everything significant I have done since high school, which was in 2008. I feel that one of the benefits of being a nontrad is that you get to include more experience and just because your experience is over a longer period of time doesn't make it less valuable.

This last one is tough. You can definitely ask your CC professors and supervisor. I'm not sure how schools look at CC LORs. Someone else may have to chime in on that.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I listed everything significant I have done since high school, which was in 2008. I feel that one of the benefits of being a nontrad is that you get to include more experience and just because your experience is over a longer period of time doesn't make it less valuable.

I agree with everything you posted but I want to offer up one minor point of elaboration/clarification.

Adcoms on SDN and the ones I’ve talked to in my offline life have said that nontrads shouldn’t feel the need to list old ECs if they don’t add that much to the application.

So, for example, if you were a rank and file member (e.g. not leadership or officer role) of a college organization over 5 years ago, putting it on your AMCAS probably doesn’t add much and could be seen as “padding” your activities. This doesn't apply if it was a super meaningful activity for you and you can speak about it thoughtfully. OP mentioned sorority experience, and it seems like Greek life usually falls in the bucket of “not worth mentioning unless you were in a leadership role or were the philanthropy chair.” Just a thought.

 

[RNthenDoc]

Nursing went under my most important experiences section, for sure. That enabled me to write a longer paragraph about it.

 

[Dr. Faust]

Depends on how valuable your experiences are. I agree with @StayWandering as to not list things that are insignificant. I just applied this app cycle and am an aspiring RN-MD as well.

For my letters of rec, I had 2 professors from my post-bacc activities that I was close to write me letters and one from my DON. Being that you still need to take post-bacc classes for some of the more rigorous sciences, developing a good relationship with those professors will both help you acclimate to the rigors of the courses as well as develop a relationship where they would be a good letter writer for you. Do well in your post-bacc classes.

For my experiences, I listed all of my nursing jobs in separate categories as I could elaborate how each job taught me something different. If your nursing experiences are relatively the same, you can list them under one section.

 

[DO_or_Die]

Hi! I’ve been a nurse (BSN) for four years and am currently taking remaining pre-reqs (Organic, Physics, Biochem) at a community college with plans to take the MCAT next April, and apply in the 2020 cycle [emoji4]. I have a couple of questions -

-For the activities section for AMCAS, how should I list my nursing experience? As one section? I worked one job in my old city, a few travel nursing jobs, and now work at a new hospital in another city. Any advice?

-I graduated from college almost FIVE years ago- does it look lame for me to include my collegiate activities? I was pretty involved in sorority, volunteering, etc... but it was so long ago, it feels almost cheap to write it down. Thoughts, non-trads?!

-Who to ask for letters of rec since I’ve been out of school forever? Community college professors & a supervisor from work?

Thanks so much!

Hello fellow RN, I was you exactly last year! I have just finished putting in my applications this cycle. I would list your working experience separately as each job has its own teaching points. You need to look into your school and see if they offer a "committee letter" from the pre-health department. You will more than likely need an MD/DO letter and 1-2 letters or recommendation from a science professor for the committee letter but that will cover all of your bases. I would also begin volunteering 1x per week for several hours if possible and even though you are a nurse, still try to shadow. I shadowed one of the pediatric hospitalists that I work with for 50 hours and shadowed an ED DO for 40 hours. Good luck!