- Joined
- Dec 20, 2024
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Churchill once said, “Short words are best, and the old words, when short, are best of all.” That’s your model for sentence surgery in the Work and Activities section: where character counts are tight and every word has to pull weight.
ADCOMs have read thousands of these entries. They know what a nearly-full box looks like. A dense, bloated 700-character entry with vague verbs and padded phrasing slows them down. A crisp 620-character one that hits hard? That’s a gift. Less truly is more — if it says more.
Don’t say: “I was fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer with an amazing team helping many patients in need.”
Do say: “Volunteered 82 hours with a mobile wound care team treating 120+ unhoused patients across LA County.”
Use active verbs. Quantify. Specify. Translate impact.
Numbers matter. So do details about demographics — did you serve uninsured laborers? Low-literacy populations? Recent migrants? These details are not just social proof. They frame you as observant and strategic.
Lastly, top surgeons operate to leave room for further care. Great AMCAS entries do the same. Write clearly so your secondaries, interviews, and future letters can build naturally on the story you’ve already told with strength, not redundancy.
Need help sharpening your Work and Activities section? We are offering a special sentence surgery consult.
Bring a W&A piece and we'll give you an expert lookover.
ADCOMs have read thousands of these entries. They know what a nearly-full box looks like. A dense, bloated 700-character entry with vague verbs and padded phrasing slows them down. A crisp 620-character one that hits hard? That’s a gift. Less truly is more — if it says more.
Don’t say: “I was fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer with an amazing team helping many patients in need.”
Do say: “Volunteered 82 hours with a mobile wound care team treating 120+ unhoused patients across LA County.”
Use active verbs. Quantify. Specify. Translate impact.
Numbers matter. So do details about demographics — did you serve uninsured laborers? Low-literacy populations? Recent migrants? These details are not just social proof. They frame you as observant and strategic.
Great entries spare mental energy.
Adcoms read late into the day. Decision fatigue is real. A clean, rhythmic entry reads easy and feels smart — something your reader may subconsciously reward.Read it out loud.
If it trips you up? It’ll trip them up. Great entries sound good because they flow. That’s not fluff: it’s how your words prove they’re ready to be heard in committees and whether ADCOMs may extend interviews to hear you in real time..Lastly, top surgeons operate to leave room for further care. Great AMCAS entries do the same. Write clearly so your secondaries, interviews, and future letters can build naturally on the story you’ve already told with strength, not redundancy.
Need help sharpening your Work and Activities section? We are offering a special sentence surgery consult.
Bring a W&A piece and we'll give you an expert lookover.
