Please Note: This is a particularly difficult section of the application. On almost every point there are differing opinions, and ultimately you need to create the work and activities section that is best for you, but being consistent is important. Take all advice offered here as a piece of the solution, but often not the ultimate word on the subject.
This FAQ is a work in progress. Any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.
Work and Activities FAQ
1. What is the Work/Activities Section all about?
This is where you get to talk about your extracurricular activities, or "ECs" as they are referred to around SDN. This includes things like research experience, tutoring, academic awards, volunteer experience, clinical experience, etc. Everything that you ever wanted an admissions committee member (AdCom) to know about you to show that you are in fact a good candidate for medical school.
2. What kinds of categories can I put things in?
- Paid employment (not military)
- Paid employment (military)
- Community service / volunteer (not medical / clinical)
- Community service / volunteer (medical / clinical)
- Research / lab
- Teaching / tutoring
- Honors / awards / recognitions
- Conferences attended
- Presentations / posters
- Publications
- Extracurricular / hobbies / avocations
- Leadership (not listed elsewhere)
- Intercollegiate athletics
- Artistic endeavors
- Other
3. What kinds of things should I put in each category?
Part of this will be a judgement call. Adcoms are aware that things may fall into more than one category. For instance, if you are a tutor, you may want to list this as both a Leadership Activity, and Teaching/Tutoring. If you feel like you are more deficient in one category than another, then you may want to list it in the category where you are lacking something to balance out your application.
Some examples of things to list in each category:
Leadership
-Camp counselor
-Student activism/government/Greek activities
-Starting a non-profit/student organization
Honors/Awards/Recognitions
-Academic awards such as honor societies, dean's list, etc.
-Interesting certifications or recognitions you have such as a black belt in a martial art, placing in a competition, certified as pilot, etc.
Community Service - Medical/Clinical
-As
LizzyM likes to put this one, if you are close enough to SMELL patients, it is clinical. This is pretty much the prevailing wisdom on SDN.
Community Service - Non-medical/Clinical
-If it doesn't fall into the above, you didn't get paid for it, and it isn't a leadership or teaching opportunity, it probably falls here
-Include things like volunteering for non-profits and charitable organizations, volunteer work you have done at your school, etc.
Most of the other categories should be pretty self-explanatory.
4. They are giving me a lot of space to describe each activity....how the heck should I enter them in? Is less more? Should I use up all available space?
Unfortunately...you will never get a clear cut answer to this one. But we can give you some possible techniques and advice
A - One school of thought is that this is not the time to pontificate. Describe the activity
if it needs describing (if you think it is something an AdCom member will not know about) and otherwise, be pithy with your description. Many think that talking about what you learned from the activity is not appropriate in this section, and is better saved as material for secondary applications.
B - Another school of thought is that this is
exactly the place to address what you learned from an activity because you may not get another chance in a secondary application. Those from California especially feel this pressure since most of the secondaries at California Med Schools are screened (you do not automatically get a secondary; they review your primary application first and decide if you are worthy). Because of this it is tempting to spew as much as possible here.
C - Approach C is a combination of the two approaches. Spew when necessary (an unusual activity that may need a little bit more explanation to understand its depth, and you learned a lot from but you are NOT addressing in your PS) and limited description of commonplace application items (ER scribe, general hospital volunteer, MCAT teacher/tutor).
You can really go down two general paths when it comes to entering the activities in: paragraph form or bullet points. Go with what comes most naturally to you, and don't force yourself to conform to a style that you think is inappropriate for the information you are trying to convey and your writing style.
Another trick for entering your activities is to use a catchall description that allows you to enter several different activities under one heading so that you are not wasting multiple spots. For example:
Activity: "Undergraduate Work Experience". Category: Paid Employment - Non-Military
Starbucks Barista - August 2007 - May 2008
-Responsible for training new employees, customer service, and product ordering.
-Worked 20 hours per week while attending school full time
Paid Intern - Summer 2008
-Worked at the Mayor's Office for the City of Memphis.
-Responsible for...
-Worked 40 hours per week while taking 1 summer class
Grocery Store Worker - August 2008 - May 2010
-Worked as a cashier for a major grocery store chain
-Worked 30 hours per week while attending school full time
-Responsible for....
By using this method, you are able to save 2 spaces in the Work/Activities section, but still are able to show that you have significant work experience and experience juggling a job and school.
5. Is work experience really that important for me to list? Who is going to care if I worked at a grocery store for 2 years, 20 hours a week, while in college?
Work experience is ABSOLUTELY important for you to list. There is a fantastic thread about this topic here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=813497
The short version: the work/activities section is there for you to show off all of your skills. Holding down a job while continuing to be a learner (student) is a huge skill that not every medical student can bring to the table. It also shows commitment and an ability to tolerate some suckage, something that every job has, no matter how much you may love it on some days.
6. Should I really list that I was on the dean's list/in an honor society?
Again....two schools of thought here. One is that many applicants have these things, so why list them. The other is that they won't know unless you tell them.
Again, a good trick for entering activities is to have a catch-all category like "Academic Recognition" where you then list the X number of awards/recognition that you have received. That way you are not taking up multiple spaces for things you don't want to emphasize.
7. Do AdCom members really contact people in the "Contact Information" field of this section?
General thoughts about this say that no, AdCom members do not contact these people. However, the application has changed this year to ask for a phone number for a contact. It is unclear whether or not this will change the answer to this question. If anyone finds out any information about this, please feel free to post it in this thread.
8. Most Meaningful Activities (Submitted by sector9)
It is difficult to have definitive answers about the use of this new feature on AMCAS since this is the first year. These answers are a summary of the opinions available from admission committee members Catalystik and/or LizzyM
8a. Is it bad if I don't have three activities to mark as "Most Meaningful"?
You are only obliged to list one activity as most meaningful. It's impossible to know what the average will be.
8b. What happens if I wrote about my most meaningful activities in my personal statement?
It is best not to repeat information on your application. There are two options:
1. Pick different activities as your "Most Meaningful". You only have to pick one as "Most Meaningful".
2. Rework your personal statement. You can use your Personal Statement to address a specific story, patient, or moment, then use the "Most Meaningful" box to provide a more general, big picture message from the activity.
8c. Can I use the "Most Meaningful" box to continue the description of my activity? For example, can I use it to list the citations for all my posters and presentations?
It is best to use the box as AMCAS suggests on the application. Since this is a new feature, it is impossible to know how applicants will use the additional space at this point.
Other Questions To Be Answered:
If I talk about something in my personal statement, should I still mention it in my Work/Activities Section?
What category should I list Physician Shadowing under?
How many spaces are there for activities? How many of them should I use? Should I be trying to fill them all?
Should I really be talking about my hobbies or artistic endeavors?
Should I list something that I am doing in the future but haven't started yet?
How do I answer the "average hours per week" for this activity question when I did a different number of hours each week?
How should I list publications? What if some of them are "submitted" but not actually accepted yet?
What if I have work experience that is also clinical experience (working as a phlebotomist in a hospital, etc)? How should I list it?
How far back should I go listing activities?
How should I go about naming an activity?
