Will adcoms notice putting in many hours 2-3 months before applying? And does it look bad?

[Icy14]

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I am planning to apply this cycle, and graduating this May, so I will be taking a gap year. I ended up doing the gap year because last year at this time, I came to the realization that my application wasn't where I wanted it to be as far as ECs, volunteering & shadowing hours, etc. So I took an extra year to improve all of that. However, as I get ready to apply in June, I feel an increasing need to get in as many more hours as possible, just to do anything I can to better my application.
My question is, will adcoms notice that I did a good chunk of my shadowing and volunteering in the 2-3 months right before applying, and will that look bad? The organizations that I'm volunteering with are ones that I've been with for over a year already, so if I put in a bunch of hours at this point, it won't be obvious exactly when I did them, right?

 

[RinShanKaiHo]

Just be honest with your activities in essays and during interviews. What else can you do? Travel back in time and do volunteering in freshman year?
Or you can come up with a good reason for that, like this opportunity only opened up when xxx, or you were working on your thesis/your senior design project/or whatever thing you focused on? Try to give a genuine, and professional answer if you are asked about it during interview.

 

[pewpew95]

If the start date for your activity is not in the upcoming 2-3 months, then no, they will not know that you put in a bunch of hours in the next 2-3 months. BUT if you were completely inactive for a period of time, then you would need to indicate on AMCAS multiple start and end dates. I've attached a screenshot from my app as an example of how you would enter it. For shadowing, I had sporadic hours/dates that lasted about a month but totaled up to ~100 altogether.