Temporarily exaggerating hours on AMCAS?

[tavokeri9]

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I want to submit my AMCAS when it opens in early June. However, I know for sure that I will accumulate ~100 clinical hours in June - until mid-July. My application is low on clinical hours, so I would really like to include these hours on my AMCAS. But at the same time, I don't want to wait until mid-July to submit.

Can I include these hours on my AMCAS application even though I'll technically be completing them by mid-July? I figure that it wouldn't be a huge problem since adcoms won't even receive the apps until a month later due to the long verification process. By then, I will have performed those hours, so even if an adcom decides to call up and check, they will get the confirmation for those hours.

I feel like this might be the only way for me to save my app from automatic rejection due to low clinical hours. I can't get those 100 hours now because of MCAT 🙁

What do you think? Is this way too risky, and if so how? Am I missing any possible consequences?

 

[Chelsea FC]

Too risky, chances are they wont check But chances are donald trump wasnt going to be a successful political campaigner and we see how that turned out. I think there is a place where you can indicate additional hours you will gain use the search function I think this been asked a couple times already

 

[tavokeri9]

Too risky, chances are they wont check But chances are donald trump wasnt going to be a successful political campaigner and we see how that turned out. I think there is a place where you can indicate additional hours you will gain use the search function I think this been asked a couple times already

But why would this be risky? As I understand it, adcoms won't even see my app until July right? By then, I'll have finished the hours I claimed on my AMCAS…

 

[ArtisticMed]

You can still submit early and include future hours on AMCAS. Just provide the date range for the activity and total hours including any you will complete after submitting your application.

From the AMCAS instructions manual, p. 56: Enter the total number of hours that you completed (or expect to complete) related to this experience during the date range that you indicated.

 

[mr.mkitty]

Yeh as ArtisiticMed stated, you can include hours that you will do UP TO when you matriculate into medical school.
If you wanna be safe, tell your supervisor (the person you list on your AMCAS as the contact for that activity) how many hours you plan to have before you leave.
It's a bit of a hassle, but I think it's better to be sure that your supervisors all know how many hours you are planning on listing JUST in case they did call and ask.

 

[deleted482591]

Can an adcom weigh in on how future hours are looked at? I don't have many clinical hours now but will get at least 200+ between AMCAS submission and matriculation if not way more.

 

[candbgirl]

I'm certainly not an ADCOM and I'm sure this has been answered before. But I would think future hours would be viewed skeptically since there is no guarantee you'll ever finish the projected hours. The road is paved with good intentions but life happens.


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[LizzyM]

If you list something on the application, you are invited for an interview and when I ask you about your activities you tell me that the activity you listed didn't work out and you had only 2 weeks at that site when you listed having 10 months, well, it is not going to look good. If you say you will do it, you better be sure it works out. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, if you end up in traction for 12 weeks, you wouldn't be expected to have completed your planned activities.

 

[bee17]

You are supposed to put future hours in AMCAS. Just note in the description how many you have completed so far.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I was in the same position as you but with research (0 hours in May 2015)...I post dated like 1000+ hours of research into my app because I applied at the beginning of my gap year (that I planned to spend working in research). None of my interviewers ever seemed to express any doubt that I would actually accumulated that many hours by the end date listed.

That said I have no idea how it was viewed vs actual hours.

But it doesn't really matter since adding hours + future end date is really your only option that is honest and doesn't break the rules

Last thing you want is someone to ask about an activity you claim to have already completed only to find out you never did it because it fell through

 

[deleted482591]

Well it's something certain like a 1-year clinical job with a signed contract so it's not something to flake out of.

 

[clippers50fan]

If it's something you've been involved with for a significant time then future hours will hold much more weight. It is way easier to say "I've been working this full time job for 9 months and have 1000 hours and I will continue to work on it for 9 more months and have 1000 more." That's logical. Now if you just start a new volunteering position the week before you submit, it'll be a little weird to have put down 200 hours done over the next year. 1) no guarantee you'll be there and no indication to show that and 2) why would that experience matter if you haven't experienced it?

I'm a fan of future hours as my application does not simply just stop the day I submit, but make sure it's a logical jump.

 

[Alaskan Spartan]

If you have started your clinical hours, and you are still sure about the rest of the hours come June, put them down. No worries.

Ideally, it's about the quality of the experience and your ability to reflect on it; after a certain point another 100 hours won't make a difference for your app so long as you have already demonstrated commitment to medicine.

 

[XxThaDoggxX]

Trying to have a large proportion of future clinical hours raises two questions. One is the above on just padding. But the second in much more important. Why are you submitting an application into a profession that you have yet significant exposure via clinical hours to make an informed and intelligent decision to choose? So to me, it raises the questions of is this applicant not only padding, but is rash and making judgements with insufficient data.

I see what you are saying...but I think that's a bit of stretch and too harsh.

 

[Goro]

I would ignore this because it hasn't happened. One can anything will happen in the future. I want to see what you've done.

Can an adcom weigh in on how future hours are looked at? I don't have many clinical hours now but will get at least 200+ between AMCAS submission and matriculation if not way more.