*~*~*~*Tips for Entering your "Work and Activities" in AMCAS*~*~*~*

[Catalystik]

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What is the conferences attended category for? I think I saw an earlier post where someone asked about a poster presentation they made at a large national conference and was wondering whether to list this under poster/presentations or conferences attended. The reply was to put it under poster/presentations. If that doesn't fall under conferences attended, what would?

Conferences Attended is used when one is an attendee who goes to meetings and soaks in information.

Certainly it would fall under "conferences attended" as well, but I would think the rationale there was that presenting one's work is seen as more valuable than merely attending a conference.

Agreed.

Catalystik will probably strike me down from on high if I'm incorrect

You've been doing a fine job.

 

[Catalystik]

I have been working in a lab in the health psychology department for the last 2 years so I do have that research experience. I also have been shadowing experience that's much more recent and am now a scribe in the ED.
1. Is listing 10 experiences a bad idea? I was not a member of any groups/clubs as an undergraduate because I transferred more than once. I do have research, honors, employment, leadership, and both medical and non-medical volunteering but I'm having a hard time coming up with 15 things. What I do have are more long-term activities.
2. Can we list things that we are planning to do this coming school year? a) My professor asked me to TA but obviously I haven't done it yet. b) I also was awarded a stipend for research. Could I put these things on there? I feel they are significant and I will definitely be doing them.

1) I'd say the average number of spaces filled is 9-10. Don't forget Hobbies, Sports, and Artistic Endeavors (where one shares one's arts involvement with others) as adcomms like to know you have stress relieving activities. This is also your opportunity to stand out, as most applicants have the usual and customary ECs. Don't forget Shadowing (goes under Other).

2 a) No. Save it for an update letter, interview conversaton, or Secondary essay. It is not possible to enter a future date in the Experiences section.
b) If you have already been awarded the stipend, you might add it to your Honors/Awards category or at the end of an existing Research listing.

 

[Catalystik]

1) I began working at an eye/ear infirmary in nyc last january. I started out as a volunteer in the PACU/Recovery, where kids/adults were taken directly after surgery. This included taking care of the kids after they woke up/changing sheets/helping RNs etc. After about a month I was inducted into the ophthalmology research internship program (still volunteering) but now completely focused in the glaucoma clinic where the study was taking place. (I'm not sure if I should split this up as I only worked in PACU for a month but I absolutely love kids so I highly enjoyed it and learned a lot.)

2) Internship Program- I was responsible for scanning all charts for medical histories/discussing the study with all patients in the clinic/and i was basically in the clinic all day (i watched 1st/2nd year residents speak with attendings about cases and had a lot of random clinical experiences just being in an nyc clinic). Once I had recruited patients I transported them to a different part of the hospital and sat in the waiting room with them, and then entered diagnostic imaging rooms. So here is my dilemma. The principal physician working on the study, was more of an academic physician i guess because he was only seeing research oriented patients. The thing was for every single recruited patient, (basically on average 2-3 per day that i interned) I was allowed in the room with the physician and the patient and he would talk me through what the images mean and simultaneously talk to the patient. After the imaging/tests we would kind of go through the results, he would explain to me some irregularities.

There was a lot of patient interaction and I could clearly see the Dr. interact with the patient. I'm just not sure how to exactly split this up since this shadowing/observing component was a main part of the study. I did about 300 hours of research and it resulted in 3 abstracts. My only other shadowing experiences are from high school, which I won't be listing, so I want to be kind of clear that it was physician/patient interaction.

1) Options might be to a) refer to the month in the PS. b) tack it on to the end of the Clinical research gig. c) List it on its own (since yo seem to have a lot to say about it). d) Include it with some other Short-Term Volunteering (if you had any).

2) Since the research-related experiences are so entwined, I see it would be difficult to split them. You might name the experience "Clinical Research Assistant and Ophthalmologist Shadowing." Describe it as you have above.

But, split out the shadowing of the residents (estimating the time and subtracting it from the other experience) and list that under Other along with the HS shadowing you did.

 

[Catalystik]

Catalystic, would you consider being the Student Commencement Speaker at a big university an honor/award/recognition ? If so what should I discuss in the "experience"... about what I discussed in my speech?

Why not include it along with your other Awards/Honors/Recognitions? I would not discuss the content of the speech. I would, however, discussion the selection criteria.

 

[raltima07]

For my research, I have a pub, 2 posters (same at different locations), and a research grant for it. Should I include the citations and everything into one entry (this is a most valuable/memorable experience) and dicuss the value in the extra box? Or should I split it up?

 

[sector9]

Hey Cat,
I was wondering if adcom's would penalize you for having entries that they don't think are own-space worthy? If they thought you included fluff, would they rate your ECs lower?

Two entries that I'm worried about:
1. I tutored for a high school chem teacher for a semester. It was only 1 hour per week after school, cumulative of 11 hours. I don't have anything good to group this with.
2. I was involved in some fundraising stuff as a "model student"-type deal. For one thing, they sent out a letter to graduates from my school telling people about my research and how their money helps me fulfill my dreams🙂. It probably took about 10 hours total for me to answer interview questions multiple times, have my picture taken professionally, etc. Then another time I made a short (2 min) oral presentation to the donors and leadership of the college, telling them about my research again. This was another ~10 hours of preparing my remarks, meeting with a professor to plan, attending practice sessions, and then attending the real deal. Right now, I have these experiences grouped together in a space under "Other".

Thanks!

 

[soccerbabe7582]

Okay question.


1) So I studied abroad in high school for a semester and then twice in college for two week periods. However, the one is high school was for Spanish and culture and the college ones were for marine biology but in a South American.

Do you think that I should be able to include these all in my work/activities section as lumped together? I kinda want to write about these for my significant experience .. but I don't know if it would be pushing it to include my high school study abroad experience.

2) In my research conferences, etc section, I included all my awards and conferences into one. The school one semester did an article on my research for the bi-annual parent letter. Do you think it is worthy of putting down? or is it just major fluff?

Gracias chicos🙂 😍😍

 

[Catalystik]

For my research, I have a pub, 2 posters (same at different locations), and a research grant for it. Should I include the citations and everything into one entry (this is a most valuable/memorable experience) and dicuss the value in the extra box? Or should I split it up?

Assuming they are all related to the same research, and that the publication was not in a campus journal, I would list the Publication on its own. Everything else could go in a Research slot.

 

[orchestra]

One of my hobbies is international travel.
For country selection, can I choose "Decline to Answer"
or choose "other" & select any one country and list
all the other countries I traveled on the experience description ?
Is either "other" or "decline to answer" o.k ?

Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

Hey Cat,
I was wondering if adcom's would penalize you for having entries that they don't think are own-space worthy? If they thought you included fluff, would they rate your ECs lower?

Two entries that I'm worried about:
1. I tutored for a high school chem teacher for a semester. It was only 1 hour per week after school, cumulative of 11 hours. I don't have anything good to group this with.
2. I was involved in some fundraising stuff as a "model student"-type deal. For one thing, they sent out a letter to graduates from my school telling people about my research and how their money helps me fulfill my dreams🙂. It probably took about 10 hours total for me to answer interview questions multiple times, have my picture taken professionally, etc. Then another time I made a short (2 min) oral presentation to the donors and leadership of the college, telling them about my research again. This was another ~10 hours of preparing my remarks, meeting with a professor to plan, attending practice sessions, and then attending the real deal. Right now, I have these experiences grouped together in a space under "Other".

Thanks!

If I see Fluff X 1, I would mentally downgrade my positive impression by a tiny notch. Fluff X 2 = exponential downgrade. This is all relative though, as something else could be so amazing as to override the negative impression. And if the Fluff was so egregious it made me laugh, I'd could just ignore it, having been put in a good mood.

For the examples given, they are both interesting experiences that I feel can be reasonably included, but I agree, NOT own-space worthy. You might name the shared space Short-Term Volunteering, or somesuch, to show you realize they are not going to get you gold stars.

 

[Catalystik]

1) So I studied abroad in high school for a semester and then twice in college for two week periods. However, the one is high school was for Spanish and culture and the college ones were for marine biology but in a South American.

Do you think that I should be able to include these all in my work/activities section as lumped together? I kinda want to write about these for my significant experience .. but I don't know if it would be pushing it to include my high school study abroad experience.

2) In my research conferences, etc section, I included all my awards and conferences into one. The school one semester did an article on my research for the bi-annual parent letter. Do you think it is worthy of putting down? or is it just major fluff?

1) I think it's fine to lump them all together, including the HS activity.

2) I would not include it.

 

[Catalystik]

One of my hobbies is international travel.
For country selection, can I choose "Decline to Answer"
or choose "other" & select any one country and list
all the other countries I traveled on the experience description ?
Is either "other" or "decline to answer" o.k ?

I would "Decline to Answer" and then list the countries or regions (if they are too many to list) visited in the narrative.

 

[raltima07]

Assuming they are all related to the same research, and that the publication was not in a campus journal, I would list the Publication on its own. Everything else could go in a Research slot.

The publication is a textbook chapter dealing with our research. Does that change things?

 

[sector9]

If I see Fluff X 1, I would mentally downgrade my positive impression by a tiny notch. Fluff X 2 = exponential downgrade. This is all relative though, as something else could be so amazing as to override the negative impression. And if the Fluff was so egregious it made me laugh, I'd could just ignore it, having been put in a good mood.

For the examples given, they are both interesting experiences that I feel can be reasonably included, but I agree, NOT own-space worthy. You might name the shared space Short-Term Volunteering, or somesuch, to show you realize they are not going to get you gold stars.

Thanks for the insight👍

One follow-up question:
Are you saying I could combine all three items (the short-term tutoring and both "fundraising" activities) into one EC space, label it as "Short-term volunteering" and mark it as "community service-non-medical"? Just want to make sure I won't be downgraded exponentially

 

[rhysticlight]

I currently have two first-author papers (one primary and one review) In the midst of the peer-review process. Since the papers deal with relatively different subject matter, should I put them in separate slots (I have the space right now) or group them into one. I figured putting them into separate slots might let me describe them in more detail, but I am not sure if this so important on the primary application.

Just worried that separating them out will look too much like "fluff", especially since i already have a slot (one of my "most meaningful) dedicated to the research experience as a whole (12 months full time research).

Thanks!

 

[libraryismyhome]

(2) umm.. however, I included all of them as "XXX hospital volunteer" where I volunteered at Surgical Center, ER, ER Fast track, Radiology, OR, and Children's hospital during each semester. (bold ones are the shadowing/volunteering) Should I take ER Fast track and OR out and make two separate categories like you suggested?

I would list the shadowing by itself under "Other," and name it Physician Shadowing. Don't count the same hours twice.

(1) Thank you Catalystik, as you suggested, I made a separate category named it as "Physician Shadowing."
The third year resident ER shadowing one was about 15 hours
Shadowing ENT, Thoracic, and general surgeons and Anesthesiologist in OR by observing surgery was also 15 hours.
I went to mission trip to Ecuador for 10 days and shadowed Internist and Pediatricians for about 25 hours. But they were speaking Spanish to patients and tried to explain to me in English on what they were saying and doing. Should I list them as well?

(2) I practiced Japanese Fencing during my first and second year and was the vice president of the club during my second year. I taught basics to beginning students and helped the president and the head instructor in arranging tournaments and seminars(bringing highly experienced instructors from NYC). Should I put it as Leadership or Hobby?

(3) I attend Korean Catholic Church and am currently volunteering as a "weekend school teacher." Other teachers and I teach abridged bible stories to elementary school kids, and since these kids just recently moved to USA with their Ph.D student parents, I teach them in English to improve their pronunciation and reading. But I do this only once every other week and only assist another teacher during other weeks. I also pay special attention to one child, who is diagnosed with Autism. Since he is easily distracted and always says random stuff, I try to help him to keep up with other kids. Is this too trivial to list as nonmedical volunteering?

(4) I play tennis every week with other Korean students and often compete in our tournament. Should I count this as a hobby? Or is it too trivial?

(5) I was the member of pre-health club for 2 years and did random volunteering with them for about 2 hours per week. Volunteering at farm, teenage single mother tutoring, Ronald McDonald house, homeless kitchen, nursing home(still nonmedical since I was just playing games), and etc. But I never held a leadership position since all they do is just checking to make sure that people did volunteering. Should I list this as a nonmedical volunteering? Or is it trivial?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the insight👍

One follow-up question:
Are you saying I could combine all three items (the short-term tutoring and both "fundraising" activities) into one EC space, label it as "Short-term volunteering" and mark it as "community service-non-medical"? Just want to make sure I won't be downgraded exponentially

Consider using "Other."

 

[Catalystik]

The publication is a textbook chapter dealing with our research. Does that change things?

I don't feel you've giving enough information. Did you write the whole chapter. Did you contribute 5%? Was it printed by a university press or a national publishing house? Do you have an extra space?

 

[Catalystik]

I currently have two first-author papers (one primary and one review) In the midst of the peer-review process. Since the papers deal with relatively different subject matter, should I put them in separate slots (I have the space right now) or group them into one. I figured putting them into separate slots might let me describe them in more detail, but I am not sure if this so important on the primary application.

Just worried that separating them out will look too much like "fluff", especially since i already have a slot (one of my "most meaningful) dedicated to the research experience as a whole (12 months full time research).

Thanks!

You should not list submitted papers at all if they are not yet accepted, but you can mention their submission at the end of the Research space if you wish. When they are accepted, you can inform schools through an update letter.

 

[Catalystik]

(1) Thank you Catalystik, as you suggested, I made a separate category named it as "Physician Shadowing."
The third year resident ER shadowing one was about 15 hours
Shadowing ENT, Thoracic, and general surgeons and Anesthesiologist in OR by observing surgery was also 15 hours.
I went to mission trip to Ecuador for 10 days and shadowed Internist and Pediatricians for about 25 hours. But they were speaking Spanish to patients and tried to explain to me in English on what they were saying and doing. Should I list them as well?

(2) I practiced Japanese Fencing during my first and second year and was the vice president of the club during my second year. I taught basics to beginning students and helped the president and the head instructor in arranging tournaments and seminars(bringing highly experienced instructors from NYC). Should I put it as Leadership or Hobby?

(3) I attend Korean Catholic Church and am currently volunteering as a "weekend school teacher." Other teachers and I teach abridged bible stories to elementary school kids, and since these kids just recently moved to USA with their Ph.D student parents, I teach them in English to improve their pronunciation and reading. But I do this only once every other week and only assist another teacher during other weeks. I also pay special attention to one child, who is diagnosed with Autism. Since he is easily distracted and always says random stuff, I try to help him to keep up with other kids. Is this too trivial to list as nonmedical volunteering?

(4) I play tennis every week with other Korean students and often compete in our tournament. Should I count this as a hobby? Or is it too trivial?

(5) I was the member of pre-health club for 2 years and did random volunteering with them for about 2 hours per week. Volunteering at farm, teenage single mother tutoring, Ronald McDonald house, homeless kitchen, nursing home(still nonmedical since I was just playing games), and etc. But I never held a leadership position since all they do is just checking to make sure that people did volunteering. Should I list this as a nonmedical volunteering? Or is it trivial?

1) Yes, but mention the circumstances.

2) You can use either, depending on what balances the application best, making the other component apparent in the description.

3) No. Sounds interesting.

4) Include it with other hobbies, grouping them.

5) It is nonmedical community service. You might list the separate gigs under the name Short-Term Volunteerism, possibly in the same space with the religious education.

 

[orchestra]

Thanks, Catalystik

One more question regarding this international travel(#864).
I travelled to many countires for the international competition, research,
volunteer, study, for pleasure etc...

For experience type, should I put this under hobbies or other ?

Thanks again.

 

[desperate4help]

Regarding contacts,
I dont have contact names for some of my experiences,
instead can I just put "Volunteer services" for the name? And provide the phone number for their office?

 

[rhysticlight]

You should not list submitted papers at all if they are not yet accepted, but you can mention their submission at the end of the Research space if you wish. When they are accepted, you can inform schools through an update letter.

Thanks for the clarification, really appreciate it!

 

[raltima07]

I don't feel you've giving enough information. Did you write the whole chapter. Did you contribute 5%? Was it printed by a university press or a national publishing house? Do you have an extra space?

Sorry - I wrote up half of it, but there are 4 authors. In terms of space, I am at 15 activities. It was published by a big time publishing house and it is archived on pubmed.

If I wanted to give this its own entry, I would get rid of my one on hobbies.

Speaking of which: I have a hobbies entry - is it ok to discuss more than one hobby in it (I.e, painting, moviemaking, and ect) in one entry?

 

[sector9]

Sorry - I wrote up half of it, but there are 4 authors. In terms of space, I am at 15 activities. It was published by a big time publishing house and it is archived on pubmed.

If I wanted to give this its own entry, I would get rid of my one on hobbies.

Speaking of which: I have a hobbies entry - is it ok to discuss more than one hobby in it (I.e, painting, moviemaking, and ect) in one entry?

I will attempt to answer your question, at the peril of providing an incorrect answer and Cat will surely strike me down as maubs suggests.

I would include that book chapter. It sounds legit.

Definitely group all of your hobbies in one entry

 

[upchurch]

Is it OK to just have two meaningful experiences. I listed my research lab and one extremely eye opening community service that I participated in as eye opening.

Should I have a clinical experience that is most meaningful also? I did hospital volunteering, shadowing, and am also a EMT-B. My shadowing was what convinced me to pursue medicine in the first place. However, I have not "grown as a person through shadowing." The EMT-B experience was great but I don't know what else to write about it in the additional space.

 

[raltima07]

Is it OK to just have two meaningful experiences. I listed my research lab and one extremely eye opening community service that I participated in as eye opening.

Should I have a clinical experience that is most meaningful also? I did hospital volunteering, shadowing, and am also a EMT-B. My shadowing was what convinced me to pursue medicine in the first place. However, I have not "grown as a person through shadowing." The EMT-B experience was great but I don't know what else to write about it in the additional space.

I would include all of that

 

[JayNikki]

What if I have an activity that I recently started and will continue with throughout the summer. Is this okay to list as an experience?

 

[Catalystik]

One more question regarding this international travel(#864).
I travelled to many countires for the international competition, research,
volunteer, study, for pleasure etc...

For experience type, should I put this under hobbies or other ?

Since you traveled for purposes besides pleasure, I think Other is the best choice.

 

[Catalystik]

Regarding contacts,
I dont have contact names for some of my experiences,
instead can I just put "Volunteer services" for the name? And provide the phone number for their office?

It would be easy enough to call the number you have and ask the name of Director of Volunteer Services or the secretary for the office.

 

[sector9]

Is it OK to just have two meaningful experiences. I listed my research lab and one extremely eye opening community service that I participated in as eye opening.

Should I have a clinical experience that is most meaningful also? I did hospital volunteering, shadowing, and am also a EMT-B. My shadowing was what convinced me to pursue medicine in the first place. However, I have not "grown as a person through shadowing." The EMT-B experience was great but I don't know what else to write about it in the additional space.

It's just fine to only list 2 most meaningful experiences.

I would not list shadowing as most meaningful. Don't feel pressured to mark the hospital volunteering or EMT-B as most meaningful if they really weren't. This is the first year that the "Most Meaningful" option has existed, but I would imagine that adcom's will pay more attention to the activities that you mark, and if you don't seem passionate about them in your interview, it will probably look bad

 

[libraryismyhome]

(1) I started to volunteer at Haven Hospice (palliative health care facility) and XXX Nursing Home and Rehab since last spring term. Though these two places are different facilities, I need to report my volunteer hours to the same volunteer coordinator. By joining Haven Hospice, I was allowed to volunteer at various nursing home places in addition to its palliative care facility. Should I put the title as "Haven Hospice and XXX Rehab Nursing Center Volunteer"?

 

[Catalystik]

Sorry - I wrote up half of it, but there are 4 authors. In terms of space, I am at 15 activities. It was published by a big time publishing house and it is archived on pubmed.

1) If I wanted to give this its own entry, I would get rid of my one on hobbies.

2) Speaking of which: I have a hobbies entry - is it ok to discuss more than one hobby in it (I.e, painting, moviemaking, and ect) in one entry?

I will attempt to answer your question, at the peril of providing an incorrect answer and Cat will surely strike me down as maubs suggests.

1) I would include that book chapter. It sounds legit.

2) Definitely group all of your hobbies in one entry

1) It deserves its own entry, but Hobbies are important to include too. If there is no weaker entry you can get cut out, then you probably should include it all under a single entry as you'd suggested initially, under Research.

2) Agreed.

[@sector9: I don't "strike down." I might hiss though. 🙂]

 

[Catalystik]

Is it OK to just have two meaningful experiences.

You are only obliged to specify one.

 

[Catalystik]

What if I have an activity that I recently started and will continue with throughout the summer. Is this okay to list as an experience?

Yes, even if it started a day ago, it's legit to list it.

 

[Catalystik]

(1) I started to volunteer at Haven Hospice (palliative health care facility) and XXX Nursing Home and Rehab since last spring term. Though these two places are different facilities, I need to report my volunteer hours to the same volunteer coordinator. By joining Haven Hospice, I was allowed to volunteer at various nursing home places in addition to its palliative care facility. Should I put the title as "Haven Hospice and XXX Rehab Nursing Center Volunteer"?

Perfect!

 

[sector9]

Yes, even if it started a day ago, it's legit to list it.

I have a follow up question related to this. Should you put down an expected end time for the activity in the description? Or how about this: "Minimum commitment of 6 months" since most hospital volunteering positions seem to require this?

 

[Catalystik]

I have a follow up question related to this. Should you put down an expected end time for the activity in the description? Or how about this: "Minimum commitment of 6 months" since most hospital volunteering positions seem to require this?

You could do that, but it will look very bad if you don't follow through.

 

[phnerd1105]

Hi all! I'm wrapping up my application and hope to submit it in a few days. All I have left is a few descriptions for my work and activities section, and I just wanted to get some clarification on a few things.

1) I've been involved in a research team for a few years. I've held many different positions that can fall under different categories. I've had leadership (secretary and student lead), been a student PI and worked on many studies (research), HIV testing and data collection (medical volunteering), and have over 100 hours of emergency physician shadowing. Is it okay to put these each in their own category? They have been pretty significant on their own, and I wanted to make sure that even though they have all been done with the same group, it was okay listing them separately. Some of these will also qualify as meaningful experiences.

2) I've done random bouts of nonmedical volunteering over the years. I went on a one week Alternative Spring Break trip (50 hours), tutored a middle school student on and off during the years (probably around 75 hours), and did some SAT/ACT tutoring the summer before college, in addition to other stuff. Is it okay to list the ASB trip even though it was short term? Also, I don't remember the girl's name or phone number that I tutored for SAT/ACT since it was 3 years ago. Should I not even mention it?

3) I've had leadership positions on exec committees for volunteering. Can I list the positions separately as leadership and the volunteer hours under volunteering, or should I put them both under volunteering?


Thanks for all of your help in advance!

 

[HopefulDoc2be]

Why not include it along with your other Awards/Honors/Recognitions? I would not discuss the content of the speech. I would, however, discussion the selection criteria.

thanks for the response Catalystik.
If you wouldn't mind, could you elaborate a little bit on why not to discuss the contents?

 

[adam17]

It's been recommended to group certain activities under one category. For example, if I shadow multiple doctors and list all the experiences under shadowing, how should I put the contact info for all doctors when there is only one space for a contact? What would you recommend that I do?

 

[krose113]

I have somewhat of a unique question regarding a contact person for a "most meaningful experience." Last summer, I worked in a surgical research laboratory in a hospital where I had been shadowing throughout the year. Naturally I would use the Director of Surgical Research as my contact, but he happens to be a member of my extended family. I would not normally be concerned about this, but I plan to discuss a multi-generation family legacy somewhere down the line to one specific school. I'm worried that this school may look unfavorably on having a family member as a contact in a significant clinical research experience. Is this unfounded? I do have other meaningful experiences/accomplishments which I achieved without association with physicians in my family, but this one particular experience is important to me and provided me with great insight. How should I approach this?

 

[HughManne]

I'm not sure if someone else has already asked this question. If I volunteered or worked at the same place but took a year or two of break in between, how would I write the start and end date? I don't want to make it seem like I volunteered/worked for 3 years if I took a break for a year or so.

 

[hurricane123]

I received an award at graduation and was considering putting it my academic honors section. Should I just list the name of the award or also put the description? I also received a monetary prize for the award. Should this be included or is that tacky?

Thank you!

 

[Catalystik]

1) I've been involved in a research team for a few years. I've held many different positions that can fall under different categories. I've had leadership (secretary and student lead), been a student PI and worked on many studies (research), HIV testing and data collection (medical volunteering), and have over 100 hours of emergency physician shadowing. Is it okay to put these each in their own category? They have been pretty significant on their own, and I wanted to make sure that even though they have all been done with the same group, it was okay listing them separately. Some of these will also qualify as meaningful experiences.

2) I've done random bouts of nonmedical volunteering over the years. I went on a one week Alternative Spring Break trip (50 hours), tutored a middle school student on and off during the years (probably around 75 hours), and did some SAT/ACT tutoring the summer before college, in addition to other stuff. Is it okay to list the ASB trip even though it was short term? Also, I don't remember the girl's name or phone number that I tutored for SAT/ACT since it was 3 years ago. Should I not even mention it?

3) I've had leadership positions on exec committees for volunteering. Can I list the positions separately as leadership and the volunteer hours under volunteering, or should I put them both under volunteering?

1) It's fine to split out the hours of defined activities and list them separately. Just don't double count the hours.

2) I've seen ASB mentioned on its own in an effective way. You could just as well group it with other short-term experiences, if you'd prefer.

If you grouped the ACT/SAT tutoring with something else, there would be a contact in the header for the first activity and I think it would be fine for this one to say "contact location unknown."

3) You could do either, depending on how much you have to say about each component, but personally, if you have other Leadership already listed, I think it's very effective to show in the same space how you progressed to a leadership role over time.

 

[Catalystik]

It's been recommended to group certain activities under one category. For example, if I shadow multiple doctors and list all the experiences under shadowing, how should I put the contact info for all doctors when there is only one space for a contact? What would you recommend that I do?

Put the contact info for additional docs in the narrative after each name, specialty, date span, and before total hours.

 

[Catalystik]

I would not discuss the content of the speech. I would, however, discussion the selection criteria.

thanks for the response Catalystik.
If you wouldn't mind, could you elaborate a little bit on why not to discuss the contents?

I wouldn't give details due to space limitations and the fact that including it won't make your application stronger. Also, there's a potential 'boredom factor' as many of these addresses are very similar (faculty input tends to assure this), or even a "not politically correct" factor, etc. Feel free to convince me if what you'd want to say falls outside these concerns.

 

[flatearth22]

I volunteered at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland. Should I list it as "Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland Volunteer" or "Children's Hopital Volunteer" or what about just "Hospital Volunteer"?

Also if I was a member of a Club Cricket team do I list it as "Berkley Club Cricket" or just "Club Cricket" with UC Berkley under organization name?

 

[Catalystik]

I have somewhat of a unique question regarding a contact person for a "most meaningful experience." Last summer, I worked in a surgical research laboratory in a hospital where I had been shadowing throughout the year. Naturally I would use the Director of Surgical Research as my contact, but he happens to be a member of my extended family. I would not normally be concerned about this, but I plan to discuss a multi-generation family legacy somewhere down the line to one specific school. I'm worried that this school may look unfavorably on having a family member as a contact in a significant clinical research experience. Is this unfounded? I do have other meaningful experiences/accomplishments which I achieved without association with physicians in my family, but this one particular experience is important to me and provided me with great insight. How should I approach this?

You could discuss it with the family member involved. Perhaps there is another faculty member affiliated with the team, or a department sdecretary you could use, or a postdoc/PhD candidate you worked closely with?

 

[Catalystik]

I'm not sure if someone else has already asked this question. If I volunteered or worked at the same place but took a year or two of break in between, how would I write the start and end date? I don't want to make it seem like I volunteered/worked for 3 years if I took a break for a year or so.

Either list it in two spaces, or list only the most recent, but then in the narrative state that you also worked at this location (give separate date span) at 30 hours/week with same job and contact person.

If you worked two adjacent summers, you could use the full 15-month date span, but name the activity Summer Employment at KMart, putting the hours per week as they were for each summer, then in the narrative make clear again the actual date spans for each summer.