Which Activity categories are typically valued the highest?

[Gauss44]

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Are all activity categories equal on AMCAS, or are some more highly valued than others? I am making this a thread so that multiple people can discuss as there are so many different schools.

 

[TheBiologist]

hobbies

 

[MalenurseRN]

What do you mean by activities? EC?

 

[Dr. Stalker]

Rumor has it medical schools do value one particular category a lot with respect to admissions, its the "academics"; those with a 512+ and 3.8+ are heavily favored in admission.

My post above may be a bit asinine, but those two factors are huge not only for an interview, but also for the final yes/no.

I assume the other valued categories are research (basically a must-have for medical school applications), as well as community service (both clinical and non-clinical). Nobody particular cares if an applicant was "a general member in pre-med society at __ university." Oh, you don't say?

 

[Gauss44]

Clarification: I mean the categories on the drop down bar of the Activities and Experience section of the AMCAS application.

 

[efle]

See this AAMC survey of admissions committees

Edit: I'll add that research is especially emphasized by the most competitive places, and some other schools have an emphasis on service.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

See this AAMC survey of admissions committees

Edit: I'll add that research is especially emphasized by the most competitive places, and some other schools have an emphasis on service.

It can't be that emphasized, as research is listed as being of only medium importance by private schools and of low importance by public schools. I'm sure if you're applying to a research powerhouse, then it will be expected that you have some research experience. Maybe that's what you meant.

 

[Lawpy]

See this AAMC survey of admissions committees

Edit: I'll add that research is especially emphasized by the most competitive places, and some other schools have an emphasis on service.

It can't be that emphasized, as research is listed as being of only medium importance by private schools and of low importance by public schools. I'm sure if you're applying to a research powerhouse, then it will be expected that you have some research experience. Maybe that's what you meant.

Most competitive places refer to schools with high acceptee/matriculant stat medians and hardest to get into/most selective. These schools are research powerhouses and expect some research experience.

 

[aldol16]

The top 20 research schools will obviously like to see some research. But what is most important is in-depth commitment to something you are passionate about, whether that is research, community service, or teaching. Being passionate about something is one thing I noticed in applicants on my interview trail and one could say the same about acceptees. What each individual school likes is obviously different but you can browse the school-specific forums on here and figure out what any particular school thinks is important in its students. For instance, Columbia seems to like artsy people (they do have a theater group that puts on several shows a year), Stanford loves the research type, and Duke seems to like athletes. These are, of course, stereotypes and not exact characterizations.

 

[efle]

It can't be that emphasized, as research is listed as being of only medium importance by private schools and of low importance by public schools. I'm sure if you're applying to a research powerhouse, then it will be expected that you have some research experience. Maybe that's what you meant.

"Private schools" is a big enough category that the group I'm talking about gets drowned out a lot, I think. I do mean the research powerhouses, which also tend to have high stats

 

[Goro]

Are all activity categories equal on AMCAS, or are some more highly valued than others? I am making this a thread so that multiple people can discuss as there are so many different schools.

C'mon Gauss, with all the time you've been on SDN, you really have to ask this????

And yes, I know it's an anxiogenic process.

Rule #1: Take a deep breath.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

"Private schools" is a big enough category that the group I'm talking about gets drowned out a lot, I think. I do mean the research powerhouses, which also tend to have high stats

That's what I figured.