Great tips for entering your "Work/Activities" for AMCAS

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secants said:
Hey guys,

Sorry if this has been asked before but for hobbies, would going to the gym to workout count? I only ask because I go for about an average of 1-1.5hrs a day 6 days a week and it's something that takes time out from my day and I love doing so I just wanted to know if it's worthwhile to add it or not.


Thanks and GL
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I wouldn't waste a slot to talk about that. If they ask more specifically about hobbies in secondaries you can always talk about it then.

Now if you were a personal trainer, a group fitness teacher, or something of that nature I'd put it on there. I know a few people who were group fitness teachers when I was in school in ugrad. So that's something I'd list but not just standard working out. That is like listing shooting a few hoops by yourself in your driveway.

Not that it is insignificant to your life but just not worth putting a space on AMCAS for such.
 
gujuDoc said:
well as long as it is not drag racing on the main roads where it could kill someone I'm sure it won't be viewed negatively if you put the positive spin on it that you describe above. its like penalizing someone for being a fan of racecar shows like Nascar.
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ah good call. Nope, I definitely race on a track in a controlled environment...and I can really play up what I've learned from racing.

I think everyone has the traditional EC's - volunteering, clinical work, research etc...I think applicants are looking for one or two things to make them stand out from the rest...

Hopefully some adcom will remember me as "the girl who races a motorcycle"...maybe not significant, but how many applicants can say that? 😀

/my $.02
 
Oxygen206 said:
ah good call. Nope, I definitely race on a track in a controlled environment...and I can really play up what I've learned from racing.

I think everyone has the traditional EC's - volunteering, clinical work, research etc...I think applicants are looking for one or two things to make them stand out from the rest...

Hopefully some adcom will remember me as "the girl who races a motorcycle"...maybe not significant, but how many applicants can say that? 😀

/my $.02
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Wow a girl racer?? Yah that's even more unique. :laugh: :laugh:

Yes if you play up the positives of what you learned and show that you are not doing this in a dangerous illegal atmosphere but a legal controlled atmosphere and what not and talk about the sorta positive points you mentioned and why you enjoy it, it will catch the attn of some adcom and maybe make good conversation in the interviews to hit it off with an interviewer as well. So I'd definitely put it on there.
 
Hello all,
I have a quick question, if anyone can help...

I have been working full time as an engineer and I have A LOT to write about all the things I have done, such as projects I've worked on, things I've designed, seminars I've taught, conventions, etc..
I just realized that if I write all of it in the detail I want, it will not fit in the allocated 1325 characters given for a single 'experience'.

do you think it is OK to split an experience? ..something like "Engineer part I", and "Engineer part II" ? or should I just compress the whole thing so it fits in 1325 characters not to piss off any adm. committee reader?

Any comment will be greatly appreciated.. thanks!😀
 
elBato18 said:
Hello all,
I have a quick question, if anyone can help...

I have been working full time as an engineer and I have A LOT to write about all the things I have done, such as projects I've worked on, things I've designed, seminars I've taught, conventions, etc..
I just realized that if I write all of it in the detail I want, it will not fit in the allocated 1325 characters given for a single 'experience'.

do you think it is OK to split an experience? ..something like "Engineer part I", and "Engineer part II" ? or should I just compress the whole thing so it fits in 1325 characters not to piss off any adm. committee reader?

Any comment will be greatly appreciated.. thanks!😀
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You could probably split it. I'm sure you could probably list some of the projects separately as a leadership thing esp. if you are a project manager like my dad is.
 
Hi, I have one space left on the activities section. I graduated a year early and am taking a year off before med school and I am planning on traveling for most of the year.
Should I list "Travel" as my 15th spot and just give a summary of some of the things I will be doing over my year off? Is there a space for that in most secondaries / interviews?
Thanks.
 
runie46 said:
Hi, I have one space left on the activities section. I graduated a year early and am taking a year off before med school and I am planning on traveling for most of the year.
Should I list "Travel" as my 15th spot and just give a summary of some of the things I will be doing over my year off? Is there a space for that in most secondaries / interviews?
Thanks.
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I believe there was space in the Fl. secondaries for talking about what you will be doing if you are not in school. I'm sure others of my secondaries had it but I don't really remember the other secondary apps as well as I remember my Fl. ones. I know most give a place to talk about things not elsewhere on your app or other miscellaneous info you wanna give them. Some do have space designated for what you are doing if you are not in school for a year. So it is interesting.
 
When writing Work/Activity section, is it better to group things?

For example, just have one entry titled "Sports" and include swimming, soccer, kendo, blah blah blah in the description? Or like.. "Awards" and include every award that I've gotten?

This will allow me to enter a lot more ECs but then I'd have problem with the verifier.. since I can only have one verifier for one entry.. hm..
 
I'd go with yes on the sports (especially if you're hurting for space), and no on the awards (but use your discretion). Some awards can probably be grouped, but I'd separate out anything important to draw attention to big things. So, something like dean's list can get lumped in with a bunch of other small things, but if you won an Oscar for your work on Benjamin Button or something, that should probably be it's own category 🙂
 
Is it safe to "cut and paste" the PS from a Word document this year? Reading about this in recent years, there was a problem with formatting. Just curious if anybody knows if this has been corrected, or if it is still a problem.

If still a problem, what is suggested?
 
flip26 said:
Is it safe to "cut and paste" the PS from a Word document this year? Reading about this in recent years, there was a problem with formatting. Just curious if anybody knows if this has been corrected, or if it is still a problem.

If still a problem, what is suggested?
Click to expand...

I cut and pasted but I made sure to check the formating was done right after I pasted. I printed the page out.
 
Homoochan said:
When writing Work/Activity section, is it better to group things?

For example, just have one entry titled "Sports" and include swimming, soccer, kendo, blah blah blah in the description? Or like.. "Awards" and include every award that I've gotten?

This will allow me to enter a lot more ECs but then I'd have problem with the verifier.. since I can only have one verifier for one entry.. hm..
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well that depends. Is this sports just things you do for fun or are any of them things you are competitive in? If it is just a bunch of sports you like to do for fun and you really feel the need to put in your app then you could put it. But again i'd put hobbies only if there is space. otherwise it is more important to list your accomplishments and realize the activities section is sorta like a resume. you need to pick the most relevant and important aspects and put them in your 15 spots and use the secondaries to expand upon other things later on. Now if you have space or if those sports activities are done competitively or as part of a team or group or like you are teaching or coaching them or something like that I'd list it. I just think like any resume that it is first most important to list the most relevant things and things you've done competitively and then list the hobbies if they are just general hobbies.

I'd also list only awards that are not given to like half the university but the more selective awards i.e. not things like deans list or the florida bright futures scholarship given to all people maintaining a certain GPA and MCAT. Rather things that are like only a handful of people get are what's important to list or things like research awards.
 
flip26 said:
Is it safe to "cut and paste" the PS from a Word document this year? Reading about this in recent years, there was a problem with formatting. Just curious if anybody knows if this has been corrected, or if it is still a problem.

If still a problem, what is suggested?
Click to expand...

Yes but remember no indentations, no double spacing and if you included a blank line between paragraphs each of those count as a character in AMCAS so make sure the format is same as AMCAS because those blank lines don't count as characters used in word but do in amcas
 
Mattabet said:
I'd go with yes on the sports (especially if you're hurting for space), and no on the awards (but use your discretion). Some awards can probably be grouped, but I'd separate out anything important to draw attention to big things. So, something like dean's list can get lumped in with a bunch of other small things, but if you won an Oscar for your work on Benjamin Button or something, that should probably be it's own category 🙂
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LOL at the oscar comment but yes this is what I agree with.
 
At the very first post, they said to include HS activities only if you continued in college (i.e. orchestra)

What if I have been swimming since 12 and continued throughout HS (varsity swimming), and college (varsity swimming)?

Include only college? both HS and college?

Thanks

Another thing, if including studying abroad, would it fall into the category of "other?"
 
hey guju, do you think it will be okay if I write an activity about working and helping out at my parent's convenience store? Adcoms won't care about my parents' occupation, will they?
 
anyone else think this is the most daunting thing on the app? i have yet to start...it just looks so evil.
 
i'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but can someone please post some sample entries for the descriptions of activities, and is written in a format that has proven to be good 😛
 
hello all
just started entering the work/activity experience column and i already have a 100 doubts...would really appreciate if someone can throw some light..

1. i worked at UCSF as a research associate for about 18 months and during that time worked in 4 different projects, contributing to two of them significantly.although all of them were under a single P.I I had different teams to work with. I prefer to enter my experience in each project as a separate activity since each requires some explanation and more importantly i learned totally new things from each project. can i do that? any thoughts?

2. after UCSF, i started a biotech company with my brother and father and have gained tremendous experience in research, business and management. can i write each one of them as seperate activity.

3. apart from there, i have 4 different summer research activities which i believe i can write down as seperate activities... any thoughts.

any ideas and advice would greatly help. thanks a lot folks..

cheers
trinka
 
maybee said:
i'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but can someone please post some sample entries for the descriptions of activities, and is written in a format that has proven to be good 😛
Click to expand...


Yes please!! that was just the next thing i was gonna request.
can someone please cut n paste the entire activities section of your application which in your opinion appears acceptable.

also could some successfully admitted medical student do the same. it is always helpful to see something than be told about it.
 
Hi.
I was a well paid SAT coach the summer before college. I made many thousands of dollars out of this.
I am debating whether to put this on the application because although it does show that multiple people deemed me worth their money, it makes me look like a person who are just very good at taking tests.
Any thoughts?
 
Hi.
I was a well paid SAT coach the summer before college. I made many thousands of dollars out of this.
I am debating whether to put this on the application because although it does show that multiple people deemed me worth their money, it makes me look like a person who are just very good at taking tests.
Any thoughts?
 
Hi,

Due to the 15 slots limited, do you think I should put down the awards such as university honors and scholarship or personal hobbies or clubs that I've joined? Thanks.
 
When it comes to putting in how many hours you spent on a certain activity, what do you do when you're not sure?

I've been involved with my Muslim Student Association for 3 years. As President my 3rd year I had to put a lot of time outside of the regular events and meetings to kick start the club (there are maybe 10 Muslims at my school, so before I became President it basically didn't exist). I guesstimated that I spent about 3 hours a week on MSA, and 250 overall for the 3 years. Does that sound fair?
 
MDtobe31311 said:
When it comes to putting in how many hours you spent on a certain activity, what do you do when you're not sure?

I've been involved with my Muslim Student Association for 3 years. As President my 3rd year I had to put a lot of time outside of the regular events and meetings to kick start the club (there are maybe 10 Muslims at my school, so before I became President it basically didn't exist). I guesstimated that I spent about 3 hours a week on MSA, and 250 overall for the 3 years. Does that sound fair?
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Yah just put a guesstimate and you'll be good.
 
longhorn09 said:
Hi,

Due to the 15 slots limited, do you think I should put down the awards such as university honors and scholarship or personal hobbies or clubs that I've joined? Thanks.
Click to expand...

personal hobbies are of least important when you have no room and need to list honors and scholarships and student organizations that demonstrate leadership etc. unless you've used your hobby to do something significant. Secondaries will give you ore space to talk about yourself as a human and a person and not just as a student and applicant. They will ask for your hobbies, list them then. Or otherwise ask for extra information. List it there.
 
Last edited:
How much detail are we supposed to go into for these? I feel like I'm leaving nothing new to talk about in interviews.
 
elftown said:
How much detail are we supposed to go into for these? I feel like I'm leaving nothing new to talk about in interviews.
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The answer to this is largely subjective. I know this isn't too specific like you'd want but as much detail as you need to sell yourself to an adcom and show what it is you want the adcoms to know and that allow you to present your activities in a way that could get them interested in you.

In other words say as much as you think you need to market yourself to the best of your ability. If you feel this is done by just listing what you did to the best of your ability do that. If you can do this only if you are more detailed i.e. what you learned and why you did it, then do that. Do what you feel is best to market yourself the best. that's the general rule of thumb. Which style you use and how much details you use is up to what you feel is best for your case.

Also don't feel like you don't want to add details because you will have nothing left to say at interviews. There will always be more to say then can be listed in 1325 characters. For instance if you do research you would write the general gist in the amcas or secondaries but speak in detail of the procedures you used, what you gained out of it in interviews. If you volunteer you won't be able to list every example that impacted you. If you are in a sport you won't be able to talk about every match, your heroes in sports, etc. all in your little space on amcas or secondaries. so my point is there is always more to talk about then you can write. So write what you need to.
 
sorry to push for a response but i just need a hint from someone experienced in this...thanks a lot folks..

1. i worked at UCSF as a research associate for about 18 months and during that time worked in 4 different projects, contributing to two of them significantly.although all of them were under a single P.I I had different teams to work with. I prefer to enter my experience in each project as a separate activity since each requires some explanation and more importantly i learned totally new things from each project. can i do that? any thoughts?

2. after UCSF, i started a biotech company with my brother and father and have gained tremendous experience in research, business and management. can i write each one of them as seperate activity.



cheers
trinka[/QUOTE]
 
yetanother said:
sorry to push for a response but i just need a hint from someone experienced in this...thanks a lot folks..

1. I worked at ucsf as a research associate for about 18 months and during that time worked in 4 different projects, contributing to two of them significantly.although all of them were under a single p.i i had different teams to work with. I prefer to enter my experience in each project as a separate activity since each requires some explanation and more importantly i learned totally new things from each project. Can i do that? Any thoughts?

2. After ucsf, i started a biotech company with my brother and father and have gained tremendous experience in research, business and management. Can i write each one of them as seperate activity.

Yah you can seperate them out since they were separate research projects within the same lab. Esp. If you have different posters or publication for different projects. They are all not part of the same project so it is probably better to distinguish it out.

The biotech thing can be split up into different categories of leadership, employment, and research.

You can also pm LizzyM for her opinion but this is mine.

Cheers
trinka
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[/quote]
 
yetanother said:
sorry to push for a response but i just need a hint from someone experienced in this...thanks a lot folks..

1. i worked at UCSF as a research associate for about 18 months and during that time worked in 4 different projects, contributing to two of them significantly.although all of them were under a single P.I I had different teams to work with. I prefer to enter my experience in each project as a separate activity since each requires some explanation and more importantly i learned totally new things from each project. can i do that? any thoughts?

2. after UCSF, i started a biotech company with my brother and father and have gained tremendous experience in research, business and management. can i write each one of them as seperate activity.



cheers
trinka
Click to expand...

I'd suggest that you call #1 "Research" and give the inclusive dates for all 4 projects and briefly describe the skills used in each of the 4 projects in the free text field. Splitting into 4 items looks like padding

I'd suggest that you call #2 Employment, non-military" (unless there is a category called "Entrepreneur") and describe in the free text section the areas in which you were involved. Most jobs require more than one activity and it doesn't make sense to split it out particularly if the dates are the same for each sub-activity.
 
A few questions:

1)I taught myself digital photography and photoshop by browsing the internet and lots of practice. Since then I have gotten many request do to personal portraits and photo editing. I frequently do photo shoots for friends or people from the church, most of the time for free but occasionally people pay me (I let them pay whatever they're comfortable with). It was something that I was passionate about and devoted a lot of time into. Is that something worth putting in?

2)With photography skills I learned on my own, I started working at a photography shop as a photo editor. If I were to have this activity as well as the previous one, should they be lumpped together or separate?

3)I took guitar lessons for one semester, but I'm by no means good at it. Only know the basics right now. I also have been playing piano, but just leisurly and never did any performance. Should I just leave them out?

4)I've been going to church meetings since 2005, every Friday night and sometimes Sunday morning meetings as well as bible studies. I play guitar at the meetings and sometimes provide rides to people and desert for the meeting. It has been an important part of my personal life and has taught me many things. Does this count as an EC activity?

5) How long exactly should the description be? I wrote brief discriptions of the acivities, and they usually come to about 300-500 characters.. 🙁 Too short?

Thank you~!
 
maybee said:
A few questions:

1)I taught myself digital photography and photoshop by browsing the internet and lots of practice. Since then I have gotten many request do to personal portraits and photo editing. I frequently do photo shoots for friends or people from the church, most of the time for free but occasionally people pay me (I let them pay whatever they're comfortable with). It was something that I was passionate about and devoted a lot of time into. Is that something worth putting in?

2)With photography skills I learned on my own, I started working at a photography shop as a photo editor. If I were to have this activity as well as the previous one, should they be lumpped together or separate?

3)I took guitar lessons for one semester, but I'm by no means good at it. Only know the basics right now. I also have been playing piano, but just leisurly and never did any performance. Should I just leave them out?

4)I've been going to church meetings since 2005, every Friday night and sometimes Sunday morning meetings as well as bible studies. I play guitar at the meetings and sometimes provide rides to people and desert for the meeting. It has been an important part of my personal life and has taught me many things. Does this count as an EC activity?

5) How long exactly should the description be? I wrote brief discriptions of the acivities, and they usually come to about 300-500 characters.. 🙁 Too short?

Thank you~!
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1./2. Yes put the photography stuff. That is a noteworthy hobby to talk about and you can also put a spin on it how it taught you things about precision and angling with pictures to get the right image. I have often found that many surgeons esp. plastic surgeons and many dentists have been people also good at photography or art i.e. painting. they've been people with visual spatial skills like the portion of the DAT that tests that. This is something that you can relate to medicine. i.e. that you've learned certain precision/visual/spatial skills and what not as well other skills found in medical professionals like sugeons such as possessing steady hands and the importance of such.

Furthermore, photography is a noteworthy hobby because it gives you something interesting to talk about at interviews and shows something you are highly passionate about and goes to some degree along the same lines as artistic endeavors done via sculpting or painting because many use their photography skills to create artistic images that they want to portray. So you can approach it with this angle.

Separating or lumping both photography related activities is up to you. do what you feel works the best for you.

4. Put your church activities in there and if you've done community service with the church i.e. helping out at the church itself with leading music, or leading a choir, or teaching bible classes, or helping with little things in the church or for church members then this is good community service stuff. Also other church activities show your dedication to your community and your church. You can also talk about the bible studies classes and emphasize on the different sort of people you've met there i.e. if you have a multicultural group of people attending the same church or people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, or other sorts of diversity. You can show it brings a bunch of people together for a common interest.

5. I'll repeat myself for the upteenth time on here. Put only as much as you need to put to sell yourself and market yourself the best to adcoms. If this can be done in less characters then do so. If not then expand upon it.

And don't list your music stuff if it is insignificant. Just list it within the church stuff but not as a separate entry. Talk about it in a separate entry if secondaries ask more elaborate questions about your hobbies.
 
GoBeers said:
Is it ok if I have one big miscellaneous box?

Like lump all of my activities of short duration, ie) speaking at Oakland schools about college admissions, pen-pals with oakland students, creating a team for Relay for Life, etc. ???
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YES!!! A big resounding yes!!! I did this for one of my things cuz I had random volunteer activities I did that were 1 time things.
 
LizzyM said:
I'd suggest that you call #1 "Research" and give the inclusive dates for all 4 projects and briefly describe the skills used in each of the 4 projects in the free text field. Splitting into 4 items looks like padding

I'd suggest that you call #2 Employment, non-military" (unless there is a category called "Entrepreneur") and describe in the free text section the areas in which you were involved. Most jobs require more than one activity and it doesn't make sense to split it out particularly if the dates are the same for each sub-activity.
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Thanks. I wasn't sure that is why I told them to PM you. Thanks for answering on here. 🙂
 
I work out frequently for around 5 years now. I got my friend into the gym and helped him lose over 50 pounds. Would it be good to list this experience? It will be much more detailed of course 😀
 
probably a dumb question, but does it matter what order we list our activities in? is there a general consensus of how to or how NOT to list them?


Also, I did research in high school, but then continued it over the summer after graduation (so technically college), during which I spent the whole time working on an independent project that got published about 1.5 years later... since I really only dedicated one summer (aside from high school) to the project, I was just thinking of listing the entry as "Publication" and then descrbing both the publication and the research in the description. I would really like to separate them out, but I dont have enough space to do that. Would this be acceptable?
 
Prodromo said:
I work out frequently for around 5 years now. I got my friend into the gym and helped him lose over 50 pounds. Would it be good to list this experience? It will be much more detailed of course 😀
Click to expand...

Put it only if you have space left over.
 
junkct said:
probably a dumb question, but does it matter what order we list our activities in? is there a general consensus of how to or how NOT to list them?
Click to expand...

Nope, AMCAS reorders them by dates, so it doesn't matter.
 
Prodromo said:
I work out frequently for around 5 years now. I got my friend into the gym and helped him lose over 50 pounds. Would it be good to list this experience? It will be much more detailed of course 😀
Click to expand...

I would only put this if you were a personal trainer. Doesn't seem like it seems like something you'd put in there. but that's my opinion. Just seems like a general hobby.
 
guju, I always wonder why you aren't a moderator, already?🙂
 
Elijah05 said:
serious always so helpful! shes my hero😉 lol
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cuz I once stated I don't want to be a mod. I like to help advise and what not but I don't like the responsibility of having to move threads, mediate fights between posters, having to put people on probationary status or acct hold status on here, banning people. that kinda stuff is not my thing.

That is why i said i never wanted to be a mod. Its easier to help behind the scenes then have that extra responsibility.
 
Elijah05 said:
serious always so helpful! shes my hero😉 lol
Click to expand...

awww. 🙂. Well and people like you and a friend I've been talking to who have come from ground up and proven yourself not to be some rich doctor's kid whose not had much to struggle about but whose been there from bottom up are my heros. I love to see when people can rise above from the very bottom and having nothing. It shows that anything is possible.
 
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