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

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Catalystik said:
This is why mention of future planned activities is a bad idea. At least you didn't put it in its own space. It would help if you could share what the activity is, but I understand if you prefer to maintain anonymity. What I'd do, since I can't judge the relative impact of the activity's noncompletion, is mention the cancelation in a future update letter (no rush at this point). Ideally (and especially if the activity was important to fill a gap in your EC lineup), you will have found something to substitute for it that would have the same impact and mention in the letter that you have begun XXXX activity instead.
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Thanks for the response. The future activity was actually research and development work in Africa. I've done a lot of work abroad and, at the end of one of my descriptions of this past work, I wrote a short sentence about how I would be continuing with my interests in development this summer through an internship in Africa. I only just found out that my funding has been approved to start at the end of June, which unfortunately does not work for my timetable (as it will overlap will school starting in Sept).

I actually have another opportunity lined up which I will be accepting -- global health research at a domestic institution. I am not exactly worried about the impact of this missing activity, since I already have a lot of research/development experiences on my application. Mostly, I'm worried that med schools might interpret my original description as misleading in some way. Would the best way be to simply include it in an update letter, or just not mention it at all?

Thank you again! I appreciate your help a lot.
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So I've read through about eighty percent now and I am still confused on something (even though it has been discussed fairly often).

I have two research experiences: the first was a plant physiology project where I developed a hypothesis with two other students and independently carried out experiments in the field (under the supervision of the professor). This project began as a term project for the class, but because the data was interesting we continued continued data collection into the summer.

My two partners and I presented a poster at an undergraduate research conference. Furthermore, the professor took my group's data and put it with a few other group's data and got a paper published out of it. That year there was a weird freezing event in the surrounding chaparral communities. Most of the class based their research on the freezing event, which is why the professor was able to integrate data from multiple groups. There are 10 authors) The paper was published by the California Native Plant Society (not affiliated with our university), and the circulation of the journal is throughout California (Again, I would guess the readership to be about 5000).

My second research experience was in a molecular biology lab where I carried out my own experiments with my own hypothesis. I presented my work at the same undergraduate research conference (but different year / different location) as an oral presentation. How should I list this?

Possibility 1:

Research (Plant)
Research (Biology)
Publication (Plant)
Presentation at undergraduate research conference(2007 Plant)
Presentation at undergraduate research conference(2008 Biology)

My thoughts: I think 5 work/activity spaces is excessive. My research isn't that impressive, the paper isn't that impressive, and undergraduate research conferences aren't that impressive. It seems like I am trying to make these experiences seem more important than they really were.


Possibility 2:

Research + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (Biology)
Research + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (plant)
Publication (plant)

My thoughts: 3 spaces used. The plant publication will stand out. It's not in an impressive journal and it will attract too much attention. If interviewers start to ask too many questions, they will not be impressed by the depth of my contributions/research.

Possibility 3:

Research + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (Biology)
Research + publication + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (plant)


My thoughts: Only 2 spaces used. This is how I want it to be, but I am afraid that I won't be able to discuss what happened in the plant research because of the character limit. All of the space will go towards citations and not my contribution to the project!




Lastly, the specifics of the molecular biology lab will be thoroughly explained as a "meaningful experience".
 
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I was wondering, is it possible to put that i have a second degree black belt in TaeKwonDo if i stopped this in high school but occasionally did it in college in the Works/Activities
 
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I was selected to participate in a webinar put on by UCSF called "Current Methods for Translational Research in Human Immunology." It involved reading and discussing a couple papers as case studys, a couple live web presentations, and on-your-own viewing of several other presentations. Most of the people that attended were investigators and graduate students and were from all over the country. Should this get its own entry, and what should it be listed as?

I have another research listing for virology research that uses a lot of the same methods, but this is somewhat separate from that.
 
(1) I tried to include everything in one research activity but wasn't able to add them all in 700 characters. Should I just use the "most meaningful" slot and fill out the rest? I need to include scholarship program, poster presentation, and senior thesis.

(2) For the remaining space of the most meaningful remark, I wrote a paragraph about my research project.
 
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Hello everybody! I had a quick question whose answer I did not find within this thread.

If I have a peer-reviewed paper that has just been "accepted with revisions", how should I list this in the work/activities section. Should I cite the paper differently?
 
1. For Honors/Awards what is the convention for indicating latin honors (summa cum laude/magna cum laude/ cum laude) For example, right now I have it as "Honors Degree with Distinction: Summa Cum Laude" (also is it well-known that distinction means you had to defend a senior thesis?- otherwise I will specify this)

2. There are many awards which are not self-explanatory but explaining the criteria would take 700 characters on its own. For those of you familiar with these organizations, would you include descriptions?: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Epsilon (International Medical Fraternity), Beta Beta Beta (Biology Honors Society), Psi Chi (Psychology Honors Society), Nu Rho Psi (Neuroscience Honors Society), National Society of Collegiate Scholars

3. Two of my 3 most meaningful activities take up the bulk of my personal statement. I feel like I've already explained their significance. I have a 4th meaningful activity that cannot be explained in such detail. I do not want to repeat anything in my personal statement but I want to make it clear which experiences were the most important. Any advice?

4. Would you ever include travel as an extracurricular/hobby? I travel a lot but I'd rather come off as "worldly" than "spoiled".

edit/
5. One my most meaningful experiences is a conference I attended because I received a travel award to attend. I have other conferences attended as well as other awards. Where should I designate this experience?
/edit

Thank you for your help, I've noticed a lot of advice given in this thread. Namely, Catalystik has been a great help to us all.
 
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I was part of the Clinical Care Extender internship program. I'm assuming many schools know the tasks that were accomplished during this internship. How much explaining is necessary in the description? Just curious if I even need to list what I specifically did (bathed, walked, comforted patients, etc.). It's labeled as a meaningful experience for me, so obviously I discuss what I took from it in the explanation.

Also, Supplemental Instruction (a form of paid tutoring conducted by the school), is this something that needs 700 characters to explain what it is, or strictly what I got from it?
-Thanks
 
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Catalystik said:
No. But you need to give some idea of the degree of involvement for many of them. Listing an activity without putting in the time commitment seems pretty worthless, except for the Awards/Honors, Presentations/Posters, Publications designation, and occasionally, Other.
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Thank you Catalystik.
You listed publications and awards/honors, what do you think of grants? For example, if you worked on obtaining an NIH grant for your research and list it as a separate experience from your research/lab, should you list hours?

Sorry just one more question, and I apologize if its been answered before by you.
What's your view on whether we should indicate three "most meaningful experiences"? Must it be three? Would two be ok?
 
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Hey guys I have a quick question. So I was a DJ for about two years and I did gigs like house parties, clubs, formal events such as wedding receptions etc. I was compensated but I guess you could say it was "under the table." I'm worried about how adcoms would view me DJing house parties and clubs. Do you think they would view that negatively? Also, where would I put this experience; paid employment or hobbies? Thanks!
 
Looking for help with a couple of classifications.

1) Mentoring a high school student (when I was out of college). Most of the mentoring involves putting her in a position where she might be able to go to college (planning course schedules, finding extracurricular she's interested in, etc) and doesn't involve too much homework help. Non-clinical volunteer? Teaching/tutoring? Leadership?

2) Part of a disciplinary committee for my sorority. Held the office for one year. Was one of four members. It's not such a great office, but I wanted somewhere to talk about my work in the sorority. Extracurriculars? Leadership?
 
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TheRealAngeleno said:
Hey guys I have a quick question. So I was a DJ for about two years and I did gigs like house parties, clubs, formal events such as wedding receptions etc. I was compensated but I guess you could say it was "under the table." I'm worried about how adcoms would view me DJing house parties and clubs. Do you think they would view that negatively? Also, where would I put this experience; paid employment or hobbies? Thanks!
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bump
 
I presented a poster at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2009. Since I both presented and went to lectures on a wide variety of topics, should I post this experience under "Poster Presentation" or "Conferences Attended" or does it not matter. (I want whichever looks better :D )
 
I have a question..

If I have five seaparate research projects, do I put them as separate entities or combine and summarize them...?
 
candav said:
Mostly, I'm worried that med schools might interpret my original description as misleading in some way. Would the best way be to simply include it in an update letter, or just not mention it at all?
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With the added information, I am less concerned about the issue, and I doubt it will have a negative impact on your application. I would just mention the canceled activity in an future update letter.
 
MalibuPreMD said:
So I've read through about eighty percent now and I am still confused on something (even though it has been discussed fairly often).

I have two research experiences: the first was a plant physiology project where I developed a hypothesis with two other students and independently carried out experiments in the field (under the supervision of the professor). This project began as a term project for the class, but because the data was interesting we continued continued data collection into the summer.

My two partners and I presented a poster at an undergraduate research conference. Furthermore, the professor took my group's data and put it with a few other group's data and got a paper published out of it. That year there was a weird freezing event in the surrounding chaparral communities. Most of the class based their research on the freezing event, which is why the professor was able to integrate data from multiple groups. There are 10 authors) The paper was published by the California Native Plant Society (not affiliated with our university), and the circulation of the journal is throughout California (Again, I would guess the readership to be about 5000).

My second research experience was in a molecular biology lab where I carried out my own experiments with my own hypothesis. I presented my work at the same undergraduate research conference (but different year / different location) as an oral presentation. How should I list this?

Possibility 1:

Research (Plant)
Research (Biology)
Publication (Plant)
Presentation at undergraduate research conference(2007 Plant)
Presentation at undergraduate research conference(2008 Biology)

My thoughts: I think 5 work/activity spaces is excessive. My research isn't that impressive, the paper isn't that impressive, and undergraduate research conferences aren't that impressive. It seems like I am trying to make these experiences seem more important than they really were.


Possibility 2:

Research + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (Biology)
Research + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (plant)
Publication (plant)

My thoughts: 3 spaces used. The plant publication will stand out. It's not in an impressive journal and it will attract too much attention. If interviewers start to ask too many questions, they will not be impressed by the depth of my contributions/research.

Possibility 3:

Research + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (Biology)
Research + publication + Presentation at undergraduate research conference (plant)


My thoughts: Only 2 spaces used. This is how I want it to be, but I am afraid that I won't be able to discuss what happened in the plant research because of the character limit. All of the space will go towards citations and not my contribution to the project!


Lastly, the specifics of the molecular biology lab will be thoroughly explained as a "meaningful experience".
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Ideally, you would go with option 2. If you have no other Publications, I'd push you more strongly to go with option 2.

If you had a more substantive other Publication, then option #3 could be OK, but I get the impression that is not the case. If you absolutely don't have any other space, then option #3, but really you should toot you own horn, even if your contribution wasn't significant in your opinion.

You can cut down the citation length by listing the first author, et al, then saying you were author #X (and not the entire author list).
 
oaa said:
I was wondering, is it possible to put that i have a second degree black belt in TaeKwonDo if i stopped this in high school but occasionally did it in college in the Works/Activities
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If you have done this activity less than an hour a week, I'd probably leave it out, but if you really, really want to mention it along with some other hobbies, then do so.
 
HINKLO said:
I was selected to participate in a webinar put on by UCSF called "Current Methods for Translational Research in Human Immunology." It involved reading and discussing a couple papers as case studys, a couple live web presentations, and on-your-own viewing of several other presentations. Most of the people that attended were investigators and graduate students and were from all over the country. Should this get its own entry, and what should it be listed as?
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Either Presentations, or if the entire production is still viewable on the web, then maybe Publications ( as web publication is still a publication).
"Other" is another category to consider if you think it fits better.
 
libraryismyhome said:
(1) I tried to include everything in one research activity but wasn't able to add them all in 700 characters. Should I just use the "most meaningful" slot and fill out the rest? I need to include scholarship program, poster presentation, and senior thesis.

(2) For the remaining space of the most meaningful remark, I wrote a paragraph about my research project.
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There aren't any established "rules" about how to use the "Most Meaningful" extra space, so use it as you see fit.
 
I'm slightly confused about how to list my sorority involvement in the application. I was incredibly active in my chapter, serving not only as President, but also as two other positions on our executive board during the last four years. Obviously, I put this under leadership, but do I list the sorority's name as the "experience name", or do I list it as something more descriptive, like Chapter President? If the latter, then do I use the dates of my presidency as the start and end dates, or should I enter the start and end dates for my overall involvement in the sorority? I understand that I can talk about my other positions held in the description, so I guess I'm mostly just confused on what I should title it and what dates I should enter for the experience.
 
Freigeist said:
1. For Honors/Awards what is the convention for indicating latin honors (summa cum laude/magna cum laude/ cum laude) For example, right now I have it as "Honors Degree with Distinction: Summa Cum Laude" (also is it well-known that distinction means you had to defend a senior thesis?- otherwise I will specify this)

2. There are many awards which are not self-explanatory but explaining the criteria would take 700 characters on its own. For those of you familiar with these organizations, would you include descriptions?: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Epsilon (International Medical Fraternity), Beta Beta Beta (Biology Honors Society), Psi Chi (Psychology Honors Society), Nu Rho Psi (Neuroscience Honors Society), National Society of Collegiate Scholars

3. Two of my 3 most meaningful activities take up the bulk of my personal statement. I feel like I've already explained their significance. I have a 4th meaningful activity that cannot be explained in such detail. I do not want to repeat anything in my personal statement but I want to make it clear which experiences were the most important. Any advice?

4. Would you ever include travel as an extracurricular/hobby? I travel a lot but I'd rather come off as "worldly" than "spoiled".

5. One my most meaningful experiences is a conference I attended because I received a travel award to attend. I have other conferences attended as well as other awards. Where should I designate this experience?
/edit
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1) What you stated is fine. Since all schools don't require a thesis for honors distinction, you can add that unless you listed the thesis related info elsewhere.

2) The common wisdom of SDN is that Phi Beta Kappa is the only one on your list worth mentioning. List any others you feel compelled to include regardless. And if you do so, include the criteria for nomination.

3) You can give more detail, expand further, reflect, but try not to duplicate information much. I suppose you can also just list it as most menainful and add one more paragraph rather than 1325 characters just so the importance is clear. As this is the first year for "Most Meaningful " designation, it is not known in what creative ways the space will be used.

4) Yes, you may include it. Spin it as you wish.

5) Conference Attended (if no Posters/Presentations done) or Awards/Honors, perhaps.
 
CheekyFellow said:
1) I was part of the Clinical Care Extender internship program. I'm assuming many schools know the tasks that were accomplished during this internship. How much explaining is necessary in the description? Just curious if I even need to list what I specifically did (bathed, walked, comforted patients, etc.). It's labeled as a meaningful experience for me, so obviously I discuss what I took from it in the explanation.

2) Also, Supplemental Instruction (a form of paid tutoring conducted by the school), is this something that needs 700 characters to explain what it is, or strictly what I got from it?
-Thanks
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1) I think that some basic explanation is a good idea. Experienced adcomms will know, but that doesn't mean everyone will.

2) That is probably a more universally understood experience. Still, try to make the scope of the job clear, # students, most responsible tasks, amount of prep needed, anything creative you did, etc.
 
TheRealAngeleno said:
Hey guys I have a quick question. So I was a DJ for about two years and I did gigs like house parties, clubs, formal events such as wedding receptions etc. I was compensated but I guess you could say it was "under the table." I'm worried about how adcoms would view me DJing house parties and clubs. Do you think they would view that negatively? Also, where would I put this experience; paid employment or hobbies? Thanks!
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I think it's an interesting experience. Adcomms are not IRS secret police. They won't care how or if you got paid. If you're worried about it, though, list it as Other or Artistic Endeavor.
 
RookTookIt said:
Looking for help with a couple of classifications.

1) Mentoring a high school student (when I was out of college). Most of the mentoring involves putting her in a position where she might be able to go to college (planning course schedules, finding extracurricular she's interested in, etc) and doesn't involve too much homework help. a) Non-clinical volunteer? b) Teaching/tutoring? c) Leadership?

2) Part of a disciplinary committee for my sorority. Held the office for one year. Was one of four members. It's not such a great office, but I wanted somewhere to talk about my work in the sorority. Extracurriculars? Leadership?
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1) I see it most often under b) Teaching/Tutoring, but Nonmedical Volunteering works, too.

2) What you describe seems Leadership-y to me, but if you have many roles you want to talk about, then maybe use Other, and make each subcomponent evident in your description.
 
I'm nervous that my 5 research listings are too much. I feel that each of them is "own space" worthy, and the way I have everything right now uses 13 spaces so I'm not in danger of running out of room. (This question might be similar to Swiss Medical)

I posted my research spaces plan back here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10946268&postcount=153) and Cat responded here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10946952&postcount=159)

1. Is it just too much to use 5 spaces on my research? Or is it just an "overabundance of riches" from 3 years of research (including summers) and I shouldn't worry about it? My other option would be to group unrelated research projects together (and not have room to provide citations), or include some of the posters as part of my already bursting main research entry (similarly running out of room to provide citations).

2. One of my publications is not PubMed searchable. It's a new species description in a national taxonomy journal. It is a different project than my other projects, but is it "own space" worthy?
 
dlouis said:
I presented a poster at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2009. Since I both presented and went to lectures on a wide variety of topics, should I post this experience under "Poster Presentation" or "Conferences Attended" or does it not matter. (I want whichever looks better :D )
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Posters/Presentations looks best (and attending other talks is presumed). Conferences Attended is only for those meetings where you just went and soakied up information without making a personal contribution. You would not list it in both places.
 
jls11 said:
I'm slightly confused about how to list my sorority involvement in the application. I was incredibly active in my chapter, serving not only as President, but also as two other positions on our executive board during the last four years. Obviously, I put this under leadership, but do I list the sorority's name as the "experience name", or do I list it as something more descriptive, like Chapter President? If the latter, then do I use the dates of my presidency as the start and end dates, or should I enter the start and end dates for my overall involvement in the sorority? I understand that I can talk about my other positions held in the description, so I guess I'm mostly just confused on what I should title it and what dates I should enter for the experience.
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Presuming the presidency was by far the most important role, I'd list it under Leadership, name it Chapter President of XXX XXX XX Sorority, list the dates as president, and then list other accomplishments and involvement and their dates in the narrative.

Alternatively, if the other two board positions were equally impactful and representative of your leadership skills, I'd name the activity XXX XXX XX Sorority Leadership Poositions, use the date span that encompasses the leadership roles, and mention the earlier sorority involvment in the narrative.
 
sector9 said:
I'm nervous that my 5 research listings are too much. I feel that each of them is "own space" worthy, and the way I have everything right now uses 13 spaces so I'm not in danger of running out of room. (This question might be similar to Swiss Medical)

I posted my research spaces plan back here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10946268&postcount=153) and Cat responded here (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10946952&postcount=159)

1. Is it just too much to use 5 spaces on my research? Or is it just an "overabundance of riches" from 3 years of research (including summers) and I shouldn't worry about it? My other option would be to group unrelated research projects together (and not have room to provide citations), or include some of the posters as part of my already bursting main research entry (similarly running out of room to provide citations).

2. One of my publications is not PubMed searchable. It's a new species description in a national taxonomy journal. It is a different project than my other projects, but is it "own space" worthy?
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Swiss Medical became a college freshman a week ago. Prehaps he/she was anticipating your question to save you time.

1) If you are a research-oriented person, then 5 spaces isn't too much. Keep in mind that you are supposed to be listing the most significant activities, not every activity you've ever engaged in. So if you have to do a bit of pruning to create a more elegant application, then do so. If you feel compelled to include everything, then expand into another space or two. Or use more of the "Most Meaningful" space for an accounting of experiences rather than reflections/impact. You get to decide.

2) This sounds on par with a case report, which isn't really a research publication. You could safely exclude it or lump it with something else.
 
As a non-trad, I have 14 extra years of experience to include in my work and activities section. As a result, I have consolidated everything into categories rather than individual experiences (except three specific "most meaningful" activities). Specifically, I have hobbies, nonprofessional work experience, clinical volunteer activities, nonclinical volunteer activities, presentations, and so on. I have read several suggestions that using categories is a useful way to save space, but I am concerned that I am overusing it. Any thoughts?

Additionally, with respect to the nonprofessional work experience, it is primary odd jobs that I held for three months to a several years throughout high school, college, and graduate school. 21 years of work experience is a hefty amount, and the range of jobs is diverse. I am mostly wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to organize this information? Given the large amount of information, is there anything that I should not include?
 
Kphrogg said:
As a non-trad, I have 14 extra years of experience to include in my work and activities section. As a result, I have consolidated everything into categories rather than individual experiences (except three specific "most meaningful" activities). Specifically, I have hobbies, nonprofessional work experience, clinical volunteer activities, nonclinical volunteer activities, presentations, and so on. I have read several suggestions that using categories is a useful way to save space, but I am concerned that I am overusing it. Any thoughts?

Additionally, with respect to the nonprofessional work experience, it is primary odd jobs that I held for three months to a several years throughout high school, college, and graduate school. 21 years of work experience is a hefty amount, and the range of jobs is diverse. I am mostly wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to organize this information? Given the large amount of information, is there anything that I should not include?
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Keep in mind that you are supposed to be listing the most significant activities, not every activity you've ever engaged in. So if you have to do a bit of pruning to create a more elegant application, then do so.

Any odd job that did not demonstrate some trait useful in a physician can be removed. Definitely don't list HS jobs or activities. The most recent 21 years of work experience is the more important; all else might be summed up as 'multiple odd jobs that taught me customer service skills, etc."
 
Because you do not accept private messages, I will say it publicly: Thank you Catalystik for your individualized answers. They have been extremely helpful! :)
 
MalibuPreMD said:
Because you do not accept private messages, I will say it publicly: Thank you Catalystik for your individualized answers. They have been extremely helpful! :)
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I'm happy I could get to your question before I go out of town for the next week, as I have no idea if I will have internet access.
 
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I was involved in two different research labs. From what I've read thus far, It would best that I group the two into one research category. In doing that then, would I just put each PI's name into the single contact information? And then when describing each of these experiences, I would probably then write a paragraph for each one and reflect upon it. Would this be alright? Thanks a lot Catalystik you've been such a tremendous help!
 
1) I am working on the paragraphs for my 3 most meaningful activities. How much space did you guys use for this section? I want to use as much space as possible, but after 900 characters, sentences seem to become somewhat repetitive. 900 characters are good enough??

Another questions.

2) I tried to put all my work experiences under one category, but should I put all the contact information of the employer from previous works? Or, just pick one work experience and just put one? Thank you in advance.
 
yunakim said:
1) I am working on the paragraphs for my 3 most meaningful activities. How much space did you guys use for this section? I want to use as much space as possible, but after 900 characters, sentences seem to become somewhat repetitive. 900 characters are good enough??

Another questions.

2) I tried to put all my work experiences under one category, but should I put all the contact information of the employer from previous works? Or, just pick one work experience and just put one? Thank you in advance.
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1) For one of mine, I used 1300 characters, and for the other, I used about 900 characters. I only had two that I marked as most meaningful. 900 characters is perfectly fine. Adcom's will thank you for being succinct

2) I would put the contact info for all of the activities when you're grouping things
 
For the formatting when I put in bullet points, the PDF preview has them in a list, but the HTML preview seems to ignore the line breaks and just clumps them together. Which one is right, slash how do I alleviate this problem?
 
Catalystik said:
With the added information, I am less concerned about the issue, and I doubt it will have a negative impact on your application. I would just mention the canceled activity in an future update letter.
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Great, will do that! I can already tell this application process is going to be very stressful, and people like you make it less so for us applicants. Thank you!
 
Catalystik said:
Keep in mind that you are supposed to be listing the most significant activities, not every activity you've ever engaged in. So if you have to do a bit of pruning to create a more elegant application, then do so.

Any odd job that did not demonstrate some trait useful in a physician can be removed. Definitely don't list HS jobs or activities. The most recent 21 years of work experience is the more important; all else might be summed up as 'multiple odd jobs that taught me customer service skills, etc."
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Thanks for the input, Catalystik. It's sometimes easy to lose sight of what is or is not relevant. Summarizing as "customer service skills" is an excellent idea for a lot of it.

I'm a little surprised about keeping the high school stuff out though. I thought that showing 21 years of uninterrupted work experience would be a good thing to point out. Of course, I suppose I can point it out without giving specifics.
 
Got another question.

So for three years, i've volunteered in our county's ER...and then i had to stop because I got hired as an MA (in the last month or so).

In any case, now that I'm an MA (and getting paid), I am going to put both volunteering and working as separate activities.

However, in the experience, I've learned a lot from being both an MA and a volunteer, and so I wasn't sure how/where I should write about my experiences As I found the experience altogether to be a "valuable experience."

So here are my questions.
1) Should I write my 1325 characters about both volunteering and working in "one" activity description? (I have other activities that i have that are important, so I don't think I want to spend 2/3rds of my extra space for significant activties solely on this)
2) If I do or don't, where should i put the description? Being an MA is clinical experience, however I've only worked about a month there, whereas I've volunteered for 3 years.

i guess if i write about work, i'll be able to write about one patient last week who had bedbugs...and started seizing in his stretcher...lol, jk i bet adcoms probably would be intrigued by the patient, but says very little about me hahaha. :p

Thanks!
 
Catalystik said:
Swiss Medical became a college freshman a week ago. Prehaps he/she was anticipating your question to save you time.

1) If you are a research-oriented person, then 5 spaces isn't too much. Keep in mind that you are supposed to be listing the most significant activities, not every activity you've ever engaged in. So if you have to do a bit of pruning to create a more elegant application, then do so. If you feel compelled to include everything, then expand into another space or two. Or use more of the "Most Meaningful" space for an accounting of experiences rather than reflections/impact. You get to decide.

2) This sounds on par with a case report, which isn't really a research publication. You could safely exclude it or lump it with something else.
Click to expand...

Wow...! How did you know?? Anyways, thanks for the advce. I asked this question because my research background at the end of two years will be unbelievable (i hope).
 
ahhh.. I made a mistake... I put free clinic volunteering as "non-medical" and submitted my primary. But, this activity is included in my ps, occupies an entire paragraph, and is clearly described as medical volunteering. Would adcoms be confused? :D
 
libraryismyhome said:
ahhh.. I made a mistake... I put free clinic volunteering as "non-medical" and submitted my primary. But, this activity is included in my ps, occupies an entire paragraph, and is clearly described as medical volunteering. Would adcoms be confused? :D
Click to expand...
If you clearly described it as medical volunteering, then you will be fine. There's nothing you can do at this point anyway
 
Alejandro said:
Got another question.

So for three years, i've volunteered in our county's ER...and then i had to stop because I got hired as an MA (in the last month or so).

In any case, now that I'm an MA (and getting paid), I am going to put both volunteering and working as separate activities.

However, in the experience, I've learned a lot from being both an MA and a volunteer, and so I wasn't sure how/where I should write about my experiences As I found the experience altogether to be a "valuable experience."

So here are my questions.
1) Should I write my 1325 characters about both volunteering and working in "one" activity description? (I have other activities that i have that are important, so I don't think I want to spend 2/3rds of my extra space for significant activties solely on this)
2) If I do or don't, where should i put the description? Being an MA is clinical experience, however I've only worked about a month there, whereas I've volunteered for 3 years.

i guess if i write about work, i'll be able to write about one patient last week who had bedbugs...and started seizing in his stretcher...lol, jk i bet adcoms probably would be intrigued by the patient, but says very little about me hahaha. :p

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Is your MA job in the same department of the same hospital that you were a volunteer? If so, then I would group them, mark it as medical community service, and note in the description that you recently started getting paid and stopped volunteering.

If the MA job is different, then I would list both separately. The MA job explains why you stopped volunteering (although I'm a little unclear about why you can't keep volunteering) and will be a good conversation for interviews. I would mark the ER volunteer as being the most meaningful and not the MA job, since the MA job is so recent.
 
Hello,

I'm not sure if this has already been addressed... Two of my most significant activities is also included in my personal statement. I have already elaborated and gone into detail in one part of my application, so should I avoid being redundant? Or should I elaborate in a different fashion in work/activities?

Thanks.
 
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