Too Much Information on Research Experiences in My EC's?

[zizou232]

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I've worked in 3 labs for extended periods of time and I am listing each experience separately on my primary. For most of my EC's I used short, simple bullet points but for research experiences I've written more in paragraph form. Basically, I've included things I would say if I were to explain what I do in my lab to any science person: what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, basic theory/hypothesis of experiments, results and lastly (for med school admissions purposes) what I've gotten from the experience.

Thats all great but I realize that including so much info may screw me at interviews because if they ask, "So tell me about X research. What did you do?", I'm basically going to regurgitate what I wrote on my primary. Is that a problem? Am I going to come across as not knowing what I'm doing if I do this because they expect some info other than what is listed on my primary? Obviously, I've gotten more than a few sentences worth of material to talk about but what I've listed really is the meat of my experience.

Basically, is there any value in leaving out some info on my primary so I can bring up something not listed on my primary at interviews?

 

[hewmanoid]

For the AMCAS primary, you don't want to put too much detail. If anything on there grabs the interview's attention, he will definitely ask you about it on the interview day. Basically, if I were you, I would simply say what my research area is, the hypothesis I tried to test, and the result. Also, if you have published any paper in one of those 3 labs, BE SURE to mention it on the AMCAS app (with a full citation preferably). Btw, did you spend equal amounts of time in all three labs? In my case, I have worked in 4 different labs and, for the EC section of the AMCAs app, I actually ended up choosing 2 labs where I spent the most time and got papers published (because you have to focus on other kinds of activities too besides research). Hope this helps!

 

[shemarty]

For the AMCAS primary, you don't want to put too much detail. If anything on there grabs the interview's attention, he will definitely ask you about it on the interview day.

👍

This is how I described one of my research experiences on my AMCAS last year.

Title, dates, contact info, etc.

Conducted outcomes research on patients undergoing surgical correction for congenital heart defects.
- Bullet point about overall goals / hypothesis
- Bullet point about data collection
- Bullet point about data analysis

Sentence about the fact that I was continuing for x hrs/week during the upcoming year.​

 

[zizou232]

For the AMCAS primary, you don't want to put too much detail.

So you recommend I keep out any anecdotal info -- like this experience was important to me because of X, Y, & Z?