*~*~*~*Official AMCAS Work/Activities Tips Thread 2017-2018*~*~*~*

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When you work freelance, you don't have a lot of options, unless you had a client that used you repeatedly or someone who referred work to you over and over. Is there perhaps a university official aware of this endeavor?

No, no university official. I pretty much stopped doing it after we moved back to the US and I started school again so I could focus on my studies.

I did have some repeat customers, but nothing super extensive. Most of the my clients were digital marketing agencies. They would typically hire me when their writers were either overwhelmed with looming deadlines, couldn't write social media posts that were engaging enough according to the boss's taste, or needed the grammar and spelling changed from Indian English to US or UK English. A friend of mine who's a copywriter there did refer a client to me once right before we left Dubai, but there wasn't an opportunity after that for it to happen again.

EDIT: Is any of what's in italics above worth saying in my activities description of this? I haven't included any of that, and I just realized it's sort of a nice summary of my role within the digital marketing market.

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When you work freelance, you don't have a lot of options, unless you had a client that used you repeatedly or someone who referred work to you over and over. Is there perhaps a university official aware of this endeavor?

The other thing is, is it OK to estimate hours if I do it conservatively? I only started making invoices towards the end of that period, so I don't have an easy way to tell how many hours I actually worked. Since I was on the freelancer's feast or famine cycle, some weeks I worked a ton, others I didn't at all. I was thinking of estimating about 5-10 hours a week for two years, which is probably about right and on the conservative side. What do you recommend?
 
No, no university official. I pretty much stopped doing it after we moved back to the US and I started school again so I could focus on my studies.

I did have some repeat customers, but nothing super extensive. Most of the my clients were digital marketing agencies. They would typically hire me when their writers were either overwhelmed with looming deadlines, couldn't write social media posts that were engaging enough according to the boss's taste, or needed the grammar and spelling changed from Indian English to US or UK English. A friend of mine who's a copywriter there did refer a client to me once right before we left Dubai, but there wasn't an opportunity after that for it to happen again.

EDIT: Is any of what's in italics above worth saying in my activities description of this? I haven't included any of that, and I just realized it's sort of a nice summary of my role within the digital marketing market.
I think it's a nice summary, too.

If you use Artistic Endeavor as your tag for the space, instead of Employment, no one will question your using yourself as the Contact.
 
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The other thing is, is it OK to estimate hours if I do it conservatively? I only started making invoices towards the end of that period, so I don't have an easy way to tell how many hours I actually worked. Since I was on the freelancer's feast or famine cycle, some weeks I worked a ton, others I didn't at all. I was thinking of estimating about 5-10 hours a week for two years, which is probably about right and on the conservative side. What do you recommend?
I think that will be fine.
 
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I was part of an honor society that participated in several community service events throughout the year such as: trips to a soup kitchen, working with youth in the local community, and fundraising. I also held a leadership position in the honor society.

I am choosing this as one of my most meaningful experiences. So my question is because the honor society is technically an honor/award/recognition but the significance of it pertains to community service, should I list them separately? Also, it is kind of tough to put a specific number of hours from all these events together. Maybe I am worrying about the number of hours more than I should but just curious for some advice.
 
I was part of an honor society that participated in several community service events throughout the year such as: trips to a soup kitchen, working with youth in the local community, and fundraising. I also held a leadership position in the honor society.

I am choosing this as one of my most meaningful experiences. So my question is because the honor society is technically an honor/award/recognition but the significance of it pertains to community service, should I list them separately? Also, it is kind of tough to put a specific number of hours from all these events together. Maybe I am worrying about the number of hours more than I should but just curious for some advice.
Belonging to the honor society makes it possible to tag it as an Extracurricular, if you want to talk about the honor of being invited to join, general membership, community service, and leadership all under one tag. If you want to only talk about the recognition that allowed you to join, you'd tag it as Awards/Honors. If you want to focus only on the leadership, but not on the general membership and community service, you could designate it as Leadership. Alternatively, you could break it into its separate components and split the hours up, if they are substantial enough to stand on their own.

First, decide how you want to list it. Then worry about the hours.
 
What category would paid mentoring of a group of 5 freshmen fall under? Leadership? Paid-nonclinical (I don't have an activity here)? Teaching/TAing? Thanks!
 
Sorry if this is repetitive given that this thread is long and extensive and I don't have time to sort through all of it

1. I major in the humanities and have two poems published in a very small/local book and magazine. Is it worth mentioning? What category would it fall under if it is (hobby for writing or publication)? One of those publishings was a product of volunteering for a small poetry event. How should I split this up?
2. Does hospital volunteering need to be described or should it be described the way shadowing is in the first post on this thread (assuming that adcoms already know what goes on)? If I mark it as a most meaningful activity (which I most likely will), is a quick sentence on how it positively impacted me sufficient or is there a better way to go about it?

And as a general question:
3. Are we allowed to update this section or is it set in stone once AMCAS is submitted? If by the graces of the universe I get an interview somewhere, is it fair to bring up any new extracurricular activities since submitting AMCAS?
 
Question 1: I separated my military service into 3 separate entries:
  • Military Service- I talk broadly about my military service as a whole
  • Shadowing- I focus on the clinical aspects of my service and how I shadowed MDs, DOs, and PAs (all unofficially)
  • Leadership- I focus on the leadership positions I held while serving
Is that too much? I almost feel like I'm making my service a bigger deal than it is.

Question 2: I participated in research during my senior year in high school that resulted in a publication. I'm like 8th author or something. Is it worth giving the citation its own entry or should I just include it with the research entry?
 
1. I major in the humanities and have two poems published in a very small/local book and magazine. Is it worth mentioning? What category would it fall under if it is (hobby for writing or publication)? One of those publishings was a product of volunteering for a small poetry event. How should I split this up?
2. Does hospital volunteering need to be described or should it be described the way shadowing is in the first post on this thread (assuming that adcoms already know what goes on)? If I mark it as a most meaningful activity (which I most likely will), is a quick sentence on how it positively impacted me sufficient or is there a better way to go about it?

And as a general question:
3. Are we allowed to update this section or is it set in stone once AMCAS is submitted? If by the graces of the universe I get an interview somewhere, is it fair to bring up any new extracurricular activities since submitting AMCAS?
1) I'd call it an Artistic Endeavor since your writing hobby has reached a wider audience. You could explain the poetry-event volunteering in the same space if you like, as part of the back story. Or alternatively, you might group it with other short-term volunteering, as it may not have required enough hours to be worth listing it in its own space.

2) Hospital volunteers can take on so many distinct roles that it's best to describe what you did. You have 1325 additional characters to describe how the activity was meaningful to you. This can include anecdotes, impact, insights, future direction, or whatever else you have to say on the subject. If one sentence is all you have to relate, it's OK to stop there instead of fluffing it up with unimportant commentary.

3) Once submitted, the Work/Activities section is set in stone. Even egregious errors will not be corrected by AMCAS. If new relevant experiences occur, your recourses are to mention them in Secondaries, update letters (where allowed), or during interviews, if given the opportunity.
 
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Question 1: I separated my military service into 3 separate entries:
  • Military Service- I talk broadly about my military service as a whole
  • Shadowing- I focus on the clinical aspects of my service and how I shadowed MDs, DOs, and PAs (all unofficially)
  • Leadership- I focus on the leadership positions I held while serving
Is that too much? I almost feel like I'm making my service a bigger deal than it is.

Question 2: I participated in research during my senior year in high school that resulted in a publication. I'm like 8th author or something. Is it worth giving the citation its own entry or should I just include it with the research entry?
1) It's not too much. Some might also have subdivided further into Awards and Teaching.

2) Give the citation its own space under Publications and then consider describing the research in the same entry, unless you also had research during college, in which case, you might add another Research entry.
 
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Hello! I would appreciate your advice on a question I had about listing future activities. My app is currently weak on non-clinical volunteering. I am prepared to submit my app within the next few days. However, on July 22, I'm going to begin a significant non-clinical volunteering experience. I would really love to be able to include this in my app, but I also don't want to wait until July 22 to submit. What would you recommend?

Thank you!
 
Hello! I would appreciate your advice on a question I had about listing future activities. My app is currently weak on non-clinical volunteering. I am prepared to submit my app within the next few days. However, on July 22, I'm going to begin a significant non-clinical volunteering experience. I would really love to be able to include this in my app, but I also don't want to wait until July 22 to submit. What would you recommend?
Do you have any other nonclinical volunteering? Or any other experience even loosely related to the activity you're planning to start? Is there any experience that might have led you to plan this new endeavor that was mentioned in the PS?
 
Do you have any other nonclinical volunteering? Or any other experience even loosely related to the activity you're planning to start? Is there any experience that might have led you to plan this new endeavor that was mentioned in the PS?

I do have some other non-clinical volunteering, but it's very minimal. This new experience will not be related to any of my other activities or in my PS. Do you think I should just wait until July 22 to submit? Will this put me at a significant disadvantage compared to a July 15 submission date?

Thank you again for your help!
 
I do have some other non-clinical volunteering, but it's very minimal. This new experience will not be related to any of my other activities or in my PS. Do you think I should just wait until July 22 to submit? Will this put me at a significant disadvantage compared to a July 15 submission date?
Looking back at your WAMC post, I really don't think you need to worry about whether this will make a difference in your excellent application, but, if you really want to sneak it into the application, make one of the other non-medical volunteer spaces into a more general slot with a name change that will cover two unrelated, short-term activities. At the end of the narrative of the first activity add an addendum, like, "On July 22 I begin a position as [XXX] at [organization YYY] which I plan to engage in for Z hours weekly until 9/1/17 for a total of BB hours, not included above."

Alternatively, you can save it for Secondaries, update letters (where allowed), and interview conversations.
 
Hello! I would love to get some advice on listing shadowing experiences. I shadowed total three physicians. I already put two shadowing experiences in separate entries (did not combine into one experience), and now I am debating whether I want to put another one. Two experiences I put were very meaningful and have lots to talk about. But for the last one I don't think I have a great story to tell. So would it be better to just leave the last one out?

Thank you so much for your help!
 
I would love to get some advice on listing shadowing experiences. I shadowed total three physicians. I already put two shadowing experiences in separate entries (did not combine into one experience), and now I am debating whether I want to put another one. Two experiences I put were very meaningful and have lots to talk about. But for the last one I don't think I have a great story to tell. So would it be better to just leave the last one out?
It depends. How many hours and what specialties did each of the three entail?
 
It depends. How many hours and what specialties did each of the three entail?

I did pediatric neurologist (55hrs), general neurologist (48hrs), and cardiologist (70hrs). Ones that I put are pediatric neurologist and general neurologist.
 
I did pediatric neurologist (55hrs), general neurologist (48hrs), and cardiologist (70hrs). Ones that I put are pediatric neurologist and general neurologist.
You have sufficient shadowing hours with the two neurologists to satisfy the pickiest med school, especially since neurologists may act as longitudinal healthcare providers for certain conditions. I think you're fine to omit the cardiologist hours, if you prefer.
 
You have sufficient shadowing hours with the two neurologists to satisfy the pickiest med school, especially since neurologists may act as longitudinal healthcare providers for certain conditions. I think you're fine to omit the cardiologist hours, if you prefer.

Thank you SO much! I really appreciate your advice.
 
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Looking back at your WAMC post, I really don't think you need to worry about whether this will make a difference in your excellent application, but, if you really want to sneak it into the application, make one of the other non-medical volunteer spaces into a more general slot with a name change that will cover two unrelated, short-term activities. At the end of the narrative of the first activity add an addendum, like, "On July 22 I begin a position as [XXX] at [organization YYY] which I plan to engage in for Z hours weekly until 9/1/17 for a total of BB hours, not included above."

Alternatively, you can save it for Secondaries, update letters (where allowed), and interview conversations.

Thank you so much for the advice! In the end, I managed to schedule an earlier shift and will be able to include the activity by the time I submit. I was only so neurotic about trying to get it in because I wanted something to fill up that 15th activity spot on the application. Thanks again for everything, @Catalystik !
 
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1) Would you consider planning, organizing, running a bone marrow donor registry drive to be clinical or non-clinical volunteering? I'm leaning toward non-clinical.

2) Also, for the name of the activity is "Bone Marrow Donor Drive" ok?

3) Also, for the dates, would I put the dates from when I began planning to the day of the drive, or just the day of the drive?

4) Also, to run the drive I reached out to DKMS Americas and they helped me with everything. Would I list them as the organization?

5) Also, would I include the hours that went into planning it?

THANK YOU
1) Nonclinical is appropriate.

2) Add "Organizer" to those words.

3) Include the planning dates.

4) Yes. Hopefully you have the name of a staffer to enter in the Contact space.

5) Yes.
 
If I want to write about an experience in which I successfully performed CPR and defibrillated on the Fourth of July in the middle of fireworks, is there any chance that an adcom might read that as being too Hollywood and simply not believe it?
It's fine to include anecdotes in the Activities section, but for something like this it probably wouldn't be good as a stand alone experience. Are you an EMT or do you have clinical experience that prepared you to assess this situation, do CPR, and use an AED properly? If so, that would be a suitable backdrop for describing your actions and the impact of your success. But, ya, don't make it too Hollywood.
 
Would you suggest using an initial when naming patients in the description or essays? Like "I helped R understand..." instead of "I helped Rose understand..." etc.
 
Yes, or two initials. They needn't be the true initials of the person to whom you refer.

What if I change the name? Should I still use initials? It sounds weird to use initials throughout my personal statement too...I'm just worried adcoms won't make the connection when reading and might confuse it for a grammatical error. Otherwise, I have no problem.
 
What if I change the name? Should I still use initials? It sounds weird to use initials throughout my personal statement too...I'm just worried adcoms won't make the connection when reading and might confuse it for a grammatical error. Otherwise, I have no problem.
Changing the name to one with 2-3 letters is fine, too (Al, Vi, Tom, Sal).
 
Hi all, I have a question about how to list an activity or if I should list it at all. I finished my master's degree in May and the program is specifically geared towards prepping you for medical school. It is a well known program and I did very well overall. I completed a semester long (40+ hours per week for 16 weeks) cadaver dissection with 3 other people (4 of us total for the cadaver). I would really like to talk about this because it was such a great experience and I learned a lot. Is this something that I can put down in my work/activities section? I could talk about this experience or my master's degree as a whole. If so, what should I classify it as?
 
Hi all, I have a question about how to list an activity or if I should list it at all. I finished my master's degree in May and the program is specifically geared towards prepping you for medical school. It is a well known program and I did very well overall. I completed a semester long (40+ hours per week for 16 weeks) cadaver dissection with 3 other people (4 of us total for the cadaver). I would really like to talk about this because it was such a great experience and I learned a lot. Is this something that I can put down in my work/activities section? I could talk about this experience or my master's degree as a whole. If so, what should I classify it as?
You would use the "Other" tag from the pull-down menu. (Is that what you meant?)
 
Hi all, I've been learning a foreign language (Japanese) for some time and was hoping to add it in the activities section since its something I really enjoy. I self-taught myself in high school, and now in university I am minoring in it (which involves taking 24 credits). Outside of class I do some self-studying to learn casual and conversational Japanese, including reading children's books, watching simple shows, and going through other textbooks to learn new grammar and vocabulary.

I would combine this with the fact that I joined my university's Japanese student association to practice speaking japanese and have volunteered in related events. I also intent to study abroad after graduating.


My main concern is - can I still mention it in the activities section (as a hobby) if I am also earning credits/minoring in it? And considering I've been working on this for about 4 years now and plan to achieve fluency in the future, would it be worth spending one of my most meaningful experiences on it?
 
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Hi all, I've been learning a foreign language (Japanese) for some time and was hoping to add it in the activities section since its something I really enjoy. I self-taught myself in high school, and now in university I am minoring in it (which involves taking 24 credits). Outside of class I do some self-studying to learn casual and conversational Japanese, including reading children's books, watching simple shows, and going through other textbooks to learn new grammar and vocabulary.

I would combine this with the fact that I joined my university's Japanese student association to practice speaking japanese and have volunteered in related events. I also intent to study abroad after graduating.


My main concern is 1) - can I still mention it in the activities section (as a hobby) if I am also earning credits/minoring in it?

2) And considering I've been working on this for about 4 years now and plan to achieve fluency in the future, would it be worth spending one of my most meaningful experiences on it?
1) Yes, you can justify it being a Hobby, as you"self-taught" the language long before you started taking classes to refine your skill and you continue to engage in related activities outside the classroom requirements. You could just as equally enter it in the Other category, where most curricular entries belong. Your choice.

2) If it is meaningful to you and you have lots to say about it, of course you can make it MM.
 
If I shadowed a "PM&R physician", can I say exactly that or should I write it out? Or does physiatrist work? (Although it doesn't sound as cool lol)
 
For this, you could use the abbreviation so long as your essay suggests the type of doc.

Are you referring to my activity description? I was planning on describing what I learned from all of my shadowing experiences (5) collectively. Does that work?
 
Are you referring to my activity description? I was planning on describing what I learned from all of my shadowing experiences (5) collectively. Does that work?
In that case, maybe use Physiatrist instead as it would be harder to associate a comment about rehab with PM&R if it's among comments about the collective experience.
 
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Is there evidence through experiences you can cite that you've been considering medicine as a career for a year or more? Adcomms want to know you aren't making an impulsive decision about a career move.

Sorry for the late reply.
If I take an honest look at my background there is circumstantial evidence but no smoking gun. While my decision to enter medicine was not by any means impulsive or briefly considered I am worried that is how it will look on paper. All of my "clinical" experiences involve the dead because that is how I became involved with medicine. (Shadowing in Pathology, working in a pathology lab, etc.)

Is this bad enough to delay a year and gain more clinical hours with live patients?
 
Sorry for the late reply.
If I take an honest look at my background there is circumstantial evidence but no smoking gun. While my decision to enter medicine was not by any means impulsive or briefly considered I am worried that is how it will look on paper. All of my "clinical" experiences involve the dead because that is how I became involved with medicine. (Shadowing in Pathology, working in a pathology lab, etc.)

Is this bad enough to delay a year and gain more clinical hours with live patients?
In my opinion, yes. You'd do well to start to getting in some active patient experience as soon as possible, as well as using your contacts to arrange other physician shadowing. Non-medical community service would also strengthen your application.
 
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Hello,

I am in the process of applying to MD/PhD programs and have a question about the research descriptions in the work/activity section. Because I have 10,000 characters later in the application to explain my research, must I list my techniques and specifics about my project in the work/activity section? Further, can I write "see research essay for techniques learned and projects undertook" or something like that?

Thank you
 
I am in the process of applying to MD/PhD programs and have a question about the research descriptions in the work/activity section. Because I have 10,000 characters later in the application to explain my research, must I list my techniques and specifics about my project in the work/activity section? Further, can I write "see research essay for techniques learned and projects undertook" or something like that?
Every school isn't the same, but many have a separate process for MD application review and PhD program consideration, thus you cannot assume that the same reviewers will have access to all parts of your application. So don't refer to other parts of the application, which will only frustrate many screeners. And in the much more limited space available in the AMCAS Work/Activities section, you'll need to outline your research involvement in a succinct manner that still gives the overall flavor of it.
 
Hello,

I am in the process of applying to MD/PhD programs and have a question about the research descriptions in the work/activity section. Because I have 10,000 characters later in the application to explain my research, must I list my techniques and specifics about my project in the work/activity section? Further, can I write "see research essay for techniques learned and projects undertook" or something like that?

Thank you

What else would you write in your research activity description if not for a brief overview of your role and techniques used? You can mention all the minute details in your essay, but it's not necessary in the activities description. Also, you cannot assume that the same person will read or have access to your work/activities section and your research essay. Try to avoid referring to other parts of your application.

Edit: Looks like my page didn't update and Catalystik had already answered :)
 
Every school isn't the same, but many have a separate process for MD application review and PhD program consideration, thus you cannot assume that the same reviewers will have access to all parts of your application. So don't refer to other parts of the application, which will only frustrate many screeners. And in the much more limited space available in the AMCAS Work/Activities section, you'll need to outline your research involvement in a succinct manner that still gives the overall flavor of it.
Thank you!
 
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I am a non-trad who returned to college and graduated 7 yrs ago, and I have been working in healthcare since then.

I included some of my college years activities (TA, research X2 yrs, club vice president) as these experience help my personal growth. So far I already have 10 entries.

However, I wonder if should include hospital volunteer (60 hrs) and part time job(1040 hrs) as "others". As compared w/ my activities above, these aren't my "best experience" so I don't want the ADCOM see it as "fillers", at the same time I don't want to write off the fact that I worked throughout college (school cafeteria) to continue support myself while handling course work. It was a way to polish my speaking English too.

Please advice. Thanks!
 
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