Thoughts on combining two volunteer experiences into one on AMCAS?

[Sharknad0]

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I’ve applied to volunteer at a few hospitals and if I get into 2 can I combine them into 1 “Hospital Volunteering” activity in AMCAS?

 

[LizzyM]

Unless you have 16 items, why would you want to do that? The contacts, the names of the facilities, etc will be different; don't they each deserve their own slot?

 

[differentiating]

You certainly can if you want to/need the space.

 

[Sharknad0]

It's more for the reason that if I have 60 hours in each, that would be 120 combined. I know that it's the same numbers as listing it individually but would it make a difference in ADCOM eyes to see a 120 instead of 2 smaller numbers? Or say 80 & 80 vs 160.

 

[907914]

I am doing that. However, I have 14 sections with between 2 and 5 activities listed on each section. Unless you have a similar set up, I would recommend giving individual items their own sections.

Note to anyone reading: You are not expected, nor as a traditional student should you, to have 14 sections each filled with multiple activities. Being from the military, a stellar non-trad, or just a super-duper-high-speed-does-it-all undergrad are the only real ways you are going to fill up AMCAS in this manner. And at that point, I am guessing most ADCOMS just say “Ok, we get it.” I am only doing it (military and non-read) because I am neurotic. @LizzyM does this all sound about right?

 

[Med Ed]

but would it make a difference in ADCOM eyes to see a 120 instead of 2 smaller numbers?

No.

 

[Rachapkis]

The AMCAS application is like many other things in life. If you have a logical reason for doing something (e.g., you have too many activities and want to compress two of them into one), and do it in a way that makes sense (e.g., combining activities into a logical catch-all category), you should be fine. In general, people don't get into trouble when they take measures like the one you are considering; they get into trouble when the are trying to obfuscate the truth, exaggerate or lie.

 

[965978]

Unless you have 16 items, why would you want to do that? The contacts, the names of the facilities, etc will be different; don't they each deserve their own slot?

I didn’t do this but my friend had three different volunteer activities and she used the same slot simply because she wanted to create a mini-narrative of how they impacted her. She used the 700 characters for technical information (contacts and description) and then the 1300 characters for creating her narrative.