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

[Catalystik]

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.

1) However, I wonder if should include hospital volunteer (60 hrs) and
2) 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.

1) If you have nothing else under Community Service/Volunteer, include it anyways. If you are sparse on community service, include it anyways. If you have a space with short-term volunteering in it, you could add it to that space. But if none of these apply, I agree it probably won't hurt your application to exclude it. Sixty hours isn't insignificant, though, and I wouldn't blame you for including it somewhere, if even only in the PS as part of your path to medicine.

2) Definitely give this its own space under Employment. It's hard to keep your GPA up while working and getting in ECs, and you want adcomms to know you're a good multi-tasker. Also, if using people skills was involved, that's good to mention, too.

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[TheBiologist]

I have an activity I started junior year and did 100 hours with; but, the date range I put included senior year until I graduate, and I anticipate doing another 100 hours.

the total hours then would be 200, but I only wrote in 100 because that's what I had done at the time of submitting my application. was this correct or should I have put 200? Is it worth emailing school to clarify that I will be doing another 100 this year for that activity?

 

[Catalystik]

I have an activity I started junior year and did 100 hours with; but, the date range I put included senior year until I graduate, and I anticipate doing another 100 hours.

the total hours then would be 200, but I only wrote in 100 because that's what I had done at the time of submitting my application. was this correct or should I have put 200? Is it worth emailing school to clarify that I will be doing another 100 this year for that activity?

Ideally you would have clarified the difference between current vs future hours, in some way. Since you didn't do that, whether you need to clarify depends on the importance of this activity to the success of your application. What category does the activity fall under. And, does another space have the same tag?

 

[Neuro244]

If you started your own blog and you write a lot, would that be considered a hobby or an artistic endeavor on the work/activities section?

Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

If you started your own blog and you write a lot, would that be considered a hobby or an artistic endeavor on the work/activities section?

Are you generating income from this activity? Do you have a way to measure your readership? How wide is it?

 

[Neuro244]

Are you generating income from this activity? Do you have a way to measure your readership? How wide is it?

Not generating income from it. It's fairly new however so I'm not measuring the readership/subscribers quite yet, but I imagine once I apply to med school, It'll be much more established. It's not too wide right now as I am still working on its design and on new posts.

 

[Neuro244]

If I did volunteer work at Kaiser Permanente and I had a particular title such as Care Partner, is it better to name it that under "Experience Name", or should I list it as "Hospital Volunteer"?

 

[Catalystik]

Not generating income from it. It's fairly new however so I'm not measuring the readership/subscribers quite yet, but I imagine once I apply to med school, It'll be much more established. It's not too wide right now as I am still working on its design and on new posts.

So for right now, I'd call it a Hobby.

 

[Catalystik]

If I did volunteer work at Kaiser Permanente and I had a particular title such as Care Partner, is it better to name it that under "Experience Name", or should I list it as "Hospital Volunteer"?

While you could use your actual title or a bare-bones descriptor, something in between those two options might be better. I have no idea what a Care Partner does, and neither will many of your readers. So something more descriptive would be helpful. As an example, (assuming a Care Partner assists the nursing staff in hands-on patient care) Patient Comfort Care Volunteer in Post-Operative Unit.

 

[Neuro244]

While you could use your actual title or a bare-bones descriptor, something in between those two options might be better. I have no idea what a Care Partner does, and neither will many of your readers. So something more descriptive would be helpful. As an example, (assuming a Care Partner assists the nursing staff in hands-on patient care) Patient Comfort Care Volunteer in Post-Operative Unit.[/QUOTE

I see what you mean. In this case yeah, I facilitated the nursing staff in the medical-surgical unit with any of the patients' non-medical needs (blankets, food, water wheelchairs, and clerical duties as well). I also went on to do volunteer work at the 24-hour pharmacy at the same hospital, so I'm wondering what kind of name I could put that would cover both of those, or is it just better to put one name and then go on to describe the pharmacy stuff in the description?

 

[Neuro244]

So for right now, I'd call it a Hobby.

Do you think it's worth mentioning? As in would it stand out to the adcom members and make me more memorable as someone such as a writer, or someone more on the creative side?

 

[Catalystik]

Do you think it's worth mentioning? As in would it stand out to the adcom members and make me more memorable as someone such as a writer, or someone more on the creative side?

IMO, hobbies are always worth dedicating a space to. Adcomms want to know that you have leisure-time, stress-relieving activities.

 

[Catalystik]

I see what you mean. In this case yeah, I facilitated the nursing staff in the medical-surgical unit with any of the patients' non-medical needs (blankets, food, water wheelchairs, and clerical duties as well). I also went on to do volunteer work at the 24-hour pharmacy at the same hospital, so I'm wondering what kind of name I could put that would cover both of those, or is it just better to put one name and then go on to describe the pharmacy stuff in the description?

The problem here is that most adcomms won't view pharmacy volunteering as "clinical," and you will have already designated the space with Volunteer/Community Service-Medical/Clinical. You could try to spin it that way, if you spent most of the time counseling to folks at the pharmacy window and most of them were patients instead of being the walking-well come to pick up routine meds, but my guess would be that probably didn't happen. Did you have enough hours with each department to split the experience at that hospital and list each department in its own space? Or alternatively, you might group the pharmacy volunteering with another nonmedical community service activity.

 

[Neuro244]

The problem here is that most adcomms won't view pharmacy volunteering as "clinical," and you will have already designated the space with Volunteer/Community Service-Medical/Clinical. You could try to spin it that way, if you spent most of the time counseling to folks at the pharmacy window and most of them were patients instead of being the walking-well come to pick up routine meds, but my guess would be that probably didn't happen. Did you have enough hours with each department to split the experience at that hospital and list each department in its own space? Or alternatively, you might group the pharmacy volunteering with another nonmedical community service activity.

I'm not 100% sure on that, I'd have to check my hour's sheet which I don't have access to at the present moment. The only other nonclinical community service that I can think of is when I did volunteer work at a homeless shelter. Are you suggesting to clump those two together under one space since they're both non-clinical?

 

[Neuro244]

IMO, hobbies are always worth dedicating a space to. Adcomms want to know that you have leisure-time, stress-relieving activities.

I will make sure to include it then. Thanks

 

[Neuro244]

I've got a few questions in regards to listing 2 poster presentations that come from the same data/experiment on the work/activities section.

1. When listing poster presentations (for both of them), under experience name, what would you suggest labeling it as? Would it still be considered Undergraduate Research Assistant if that's what I was at the time of the presentation, or should I list it as something else?

2. For organization name, I presented at two different places. More specifically, the first one is the following: CSUN 17th Annual Student Research & Creative Works Symposium. Should I leave it as that, or take out the CSUN in there? For the second one, I currently have it as the following: Ninety-Third Annual Convention of the Western Psychological. Should I change it to the following: Western Psychological Association Convention?

3. The total hours is the amount of time you actually stood by your poster and presented it correct?

4. If in the symposium our team members took turns presenting the poster to judges/students, do you mention this, or just simply talk about how you presented the poster during these events?

Thanks

 

[Neuro244]

I'm not 100% sure on that, I'd have to check my hour's sheet which I don't have access to at the present moment. The only other nonclinical community service that I can think of is when I did volunteer work at a homeless shelter. Are you suggesting to clump those two together under one space since they're both non-clinical?

I went ahead and tallied up the hours for the volunteer work I did while I was at Kaiser. There's a total of ~ 623 hours with the following break down:

A. Novel companion (essentially I would interview patients and their family members about their life history and type it up for them, so it's considered medical)- 160 hours.
B. 24 hour Pharmacy volunteer- 190 hours
C. Pulmonary sleep Department-This was non-clinical just like pharmacy, I didn't interact with any patients- 76 hours.
D. Care Ambassador- I would greet patients and their family members when they would get dropped off. I would find wheelchairs for patients and escort them to certain buildings, departments, meetings, or anywhere they needed to go. Would this responsibility count as clinical or non-medical? Technically I could smell them as that saying goes if you can smell them then it's medical lol-77 hours
E. Care Partner-This was in the medical surgical department as I was telling you earlier. Here I helped patients with non-medical needs, talked with them and their family members in their rooms, etc- 120 hours.

Now the tricky part is breaking these down into their respective categories since they make you get so specific in the application. What are your opinions on breaking these down accordingly based on the descriptions and the amount of hours I have done in each one?

Thank you very much.

 

[Catalystik]

I'm not 100% sure on that, I'd have to check my hour's sheet which I don't have access to at the present moment. The only other nonclinical community service that I can think of is when I did volunteer work at a homeless shelter. Are you suggesting to clump those two together under one space since they're both non-clinical?

Grouping it was just one suggestion, made in case you had, say, only 25 hours in the pharmacy. As it happens, you were there for a lot longer from the information you gave in another post.

 

[Catalystik]

I've got a few questions in regards to listing 2 poster presentations that come from the same data/experiment on the work/activities section.

1. When listing poster presentations (for both of them), under experience name, what would you suggest labeling it as? Would it still be considered Undergraduate Research Assistant if that's what I was at the time of the presentation, or should I list it as something else?

2. For organization name, I presented at two different places. More specifically, the first one is the following: CSUN 17th Annual Student Research & Creative Works Symposium. Should I leave it as that, or take out the CSUN in there? For the second one, I currently have it as the following: Ninety-Third Annual Convention of the Western Psychological. Should I change it to the following: Western Psychological Association Convention?

3. The total hours is the amount of time you actually stood by your poster and presented it correct?

4. If in the symposium our team members took turns presenting the poster to judges/students, do you mention this, or just simply talk about how you presented the poster during these events?

Thanks

1) No, that sounds more like the name of a Research space. I'd call it something like maybe, Co-Authored Posters on [XXX Subject].

2) Only put the name of the more prestigious meeting in the Organization space, which would be 93rd Western Psychological Association Convention. In the narrative space, you can insert the name of the local symposium (which I'm assuming is your school) after you cite the poster. You should spell out what the abbreviation stands for the first time you use it, followed by (the acronym). After that you can use the abbreviated version.

3) Yes.

4) Research is a team sport. It reflects well if your description supports that you are a team member. There is no need to elaborate excessively on what others did, however. Just be sure it's clear that you were present.

 

[Catalystik]

I went ahead and tallied up the hours for the volunteer work I did while I was at Kaiser. There's a total of ~ 623 hours with the following break down:

A. Novel companion (essentially I would interview patients and their family members about their life history and type it up for them, so it's considered medical)- 160 hours.
B. 24 hour Pharmacy volunteer- 190 hours
C. Pulmonary sleep Department-This was non-clinical just like pharmacy, I didn't interact with any patients- 76 hours.
D. Care Ambassador- I would greet patients and their family members when they would get dropped off. I would find wheelchairs for patients and escort them to certain buildings, departments, meetings, or anywhere they needed to go. Would this responsibility count as clinical or non-medical? Technically I could smell them as that saying goes if you can smell them then it's medical lol-77 hours
E. Care Partner-This was in the medical surgical department as I was telling you earlier. Here I helped patients with non-medical needs, talked with them and their family members in their rooms, etc- 120 hours.

Now the tricky part is breaking these down into their respective categories since they make you get so specific in the application. What are your opinions on breaking these down accordingly based on the descriptions and the amount of hours I have done in each one?

I'd call B & C nonclinical and put the rest together under clinical. D is definitely clinical. All have a substantial number of hours. Well done.

 

[Neuro244]

I'd call B & C nonclinical and put the rest together under clinical. D is definitely clinical. All have a substantial number of hours. Well done.

Do you think I should place B and C with doing volunteer work at the homeless shelter under nonclinical, or should I give that experience its own slot?

 

[Neuro244]

Do you think I should place B and C with doing volunteer work at the homeless shelter under nonclinical, or should I give that experience its own slot?

Also, if you clump let's say 3 experiences under one slot such as "clinical/medical", then that makes it even trickier. This is because once you do this, the majority of your characters (limited to 700) are being taken up by talking about contacts name, email, hours completed, time start date and end date etc. This doesn't really leave you any room to talk about these experiences in depth, so what is the best move then? Is it best to just create separate entries/slots for each one of these experiences?

 

[Catalystik]

Do you think I should place B and C with doing volunteer work at the homeless shelter under nonclinical, or should I give that experience its own slot?

How many hours did you spend at the homeless shelter?

 

[Neuro244]

How many hours did you spend at the homeless shelter?

72

 

[Catalystik]

Also, if you clump let's say 3 experiences under one slot such as "clinical/medical", then that makes it even trickier. This is because once you do this, the majority of your characters (limited to 700) are being taken up by talking about contacts name, email, hours completed, time start date and end date etc. This doesn't really leave you any room to talk about these experiences in depth, so what is the best move then? Is it best to just create separate entries/slots for each one of these experiences?

Isn't there one office or one coordinator you could list that could confirm all your dates/hours? Recall that the purpose of the contact is not to provide a reference.

If not, you have the option of giving each location it's own space, or of putting 1-2 of them in two spaces.

 

[Catalystik]

72

These are enough hours to list them on their own.

 

[Neuro244]

Isn't there one office or one coordinator you could list that could confirm all your dates/hours? Recall that the purpose of the contact is not to provide a reference.

If not, you have the option of giving each location it's own space, or of putting 1-2 of them in two spaces.

Oh, I see what you're saying. So essentially they just call your supervisor to confirm that you simply did the hours, not to ask how that person performed in that particular department?

 

[Neuro244]

If I did volunteer work at a hospital on the following dates: March 2013-September 2013, December 2013-February 2014, July 2014-November 2014.

Since there are some gaps in activity here (for this particular role at this particular hospital), would you choose the "Repeated" button and list these different time frames, or would this still be considered to be a continuous activity and only be listed once for "March 2013-November 2014"?

I also have the same thing at a different hospital that I volunteered at, so I'd really like to know the answer to this.

Thank you.

 

[Neuro244]

I have a few questions in regards to listing my honors/academic achievement certificates/awards I've received.

1. If I have received multiple certificates from multiple colleges and I am planning on incorporating all of them, do you actually have to list a contact for it or would you simply list the contact in the beginning of the entry and then not list the contact anymore in the space where you say Also: Received this and this here...etc? What if the awards are from different schools, would you then have to list different contacts such as different admissions offices from different schools?

2. Would you really go into details with receiving certificates, or simply if they were actual medallions or receptions you attended, then you can explain a bit?

3. If there are lots of things that I have grouped under Honors/Awards/recognitions, how would I go about fitting them with a limit of only 700 characters? For instance, a bunch of them are certificates, but the last two that I have are an Honors Convocation and a President's List Honor Reception. I'm thinking of explaining these a bit, but not so much the certificates since those can also be seen listed on my transcripts under each semester.

Here is an example of how my list starts out to give you a better visual (this is not the entire list):

Experience Name- Full Time Dean's List Scholar
Award Date- December 2013
Organization Name- Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact-*Not sure of this yet*

**This part below would be listed in the space given for 700 characters**

Also:

Full Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2008, June 2007
Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

Full Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2013, December 2008, June 2007
Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

Part Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2013, June 2009, June 2008, December 2007
Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

 

[Catalystik]

Oh, I see what you're saying. So essentially they just call your supervisor to confirm that you simply did the hours, not to ask how that person performed in that particular department?

Correct.

 

[Catalystik]

If I did volunteer work at a hospital on the following dates: March 2013-September 2013, December 2013-February 2014, July 2014-November 2014.

Since there are some gaps in activity here (for this particular role at this particular hospital), would you choose the "Repeated" button and list these different time frames, or would this still be considered to be a continuous activity and only be listed once for "March 2013-November 2014"?

I also have the same thing at a different hospital that I volunteered at, so I'd really like to know the answer to this.

Thank you.

Keeping in mind that you want your entry to match whatever a Contact will say about your timeframe of involvement, using the Repeated feature is ideal, but if you don't have the patience to enter four timespans, you could add to the name you gave the activity a word that suggests intermittency, like Intermittent . . . .

 

[Catalystik]

I have a few questions in regards to listing my honors/academic achievement certificates/awards I've received.

1. If I have received multiple certificates from multiple colleges and I am planning on incorporating all of them, do you actually have to list a contact for it or would you simply list the contact in the beginning of the entry and then not list the contact anymore in the space where you say Also: Received this and this here...etc? What if the awards are from different schools, would you then have to list different contacts such as different admissions offices from different schools?

2. Would you really go into details with receiving certificates, or simply if they were actual medallions or receptions you attended, then you can explain a bit?

3. If there are lots of things that I have grouped under Honors/Awards/recognitions, how would I go about fitting them with a limit of only 700 characters? For instance, a bunch of them are certificates, but the last two that I have are an Honors Convocation and a President's List Honor Reception. I'm thinking of explaining these a bit, but not so much the certificates since those can also be seen listed on my transcripts under each semester.

Here is an example of how my list starts out to give you a better visual (this is not the entire list):

Experience Name- Full Time Dean's List Scholar
Award Date- December 2013
Organization Name- Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact-*Not sure of this yet*

**This part below would be listed in the space given for 700 characters**

Also:

Full Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2008, June 2007
Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

Full Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2013, December 2008, June 2007
Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

Part Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2013, June 2009, June 2008, December 2007
Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

I hope my comments aren't overly confusing or angst-causing. Ask for clarification if need be:

1) You could use "College" and "Registrar" for the first and last names of a Contact for an Awards space. Just enter the phone or email for one of them in the header, with the others in the narrative space, once per grouping of awards.

2) Skip the receptions. Just list awards, recognitions, and certificates (if the certificate is related to another activity, you could also mention it in that same space). Only give details about the selectivity/criteria for an award if it isn't commonly known.

3) To be honest, if you want to save a lot of space, you can skip the Deans List entries completely, as your GPA will speak for itself. Or, you can save characters by using 12/2013 instead of December 2013 and by cutting out all the words except for "Deans List." (BTW, the date in the header should be the date of the last received award, by which time you will have gotten all of them.)

 

[Neuro244]

Keeping in mind that you want your entry to match whatever a Contact will say about your timeframe of involvement, using the Repeated feature is ideal, but if you don't have the patience to enter four timespans, you could add to the name you gave the activity a word that suggests intermittency, like Intermittent . . . .

I can go ahead and used the repeated feature if you say that that's ideal, but for one of them, there are 5 different times. The repeated function only lets you go up to 4 times. Would I list the 5th time frame under the space where I explain the actual activity?

Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

I can go ahead and used the repeated feature if you say that that's ideal, but for one of them, there are 5 different times. The repeated function only lets you go up to 4 times. Would I list the 5th time frame under the space where I explain the actual activity?

Thanks

Yes. Or alternatively, put the earliest two timeframes together into one longer span and mention the gap in the narrative.

 

[Neuro244]

Yes. Or alternatively, put the earliest two timeframes together into one longer span and mention the gap in the narrative.

What do you mean by this exactly? Currently, this is what the entire entry would look like (keep in mind I haven't edited it yet based on your previous comments):

Main Header:

Experience Name- Full Time Dean's List Scholar
Award Date- December 2013
Contact: College Registrar
Organization Name- Los Angeles Pierce College

Narrative Space:

Also:

Full-Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2008, June 2007
Organization Name-Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact: College Registrar

Full-Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2008, June 2007
Organization Name-Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

Part Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2013, June 2009, June 2008, December 2007
Organization Name-Los Angeles Pierce College
Contact:

Part Time Dean's List Scholar- December 2013, June 2009, June 2008, December 2007
Organization Name-Los Angeles Valley College
Contact:

Certificate of Achievement for Academic Excellence December 2012, December 2011
Organization Name-California State University Northridge
Contact:

President's List Scholar- June 2009, December 2008, June 2008
Organization Name-California State University Northridge
Contact:

President Honor List Reception- May 2009
Los Angeles Pierce College
Description:
Contact:
Total Hours: 4

Honors Convocation- May 2013
California State University Northridge
Description: An award and medallion that is given to graduating individuals for outstanding undergraduate academic performance by maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better. My cumulative GPA was a 3.87.
Contact:
Total Hours: 4

 

[Catalystik]

If I did volunteer work at a hospital on the following dates: . . . .

Since there are some gaps in activity here (for this particular role at this particular hospital), would you choose the "Repeated" button . . . ?

I also have the same thing at a different hospital that I volunteered at, so I'd really like to know the answer to this.

Keeping in mind that you want your entry to match whatever a Contact will say about your timeframe of involvement, using the Repeated feature is ideal . . .

I can go ahead and used the repeated feature if you say that that's ideal, but for one of them, there are 5 different times. The repeated function only lets you go up to 4 times. Would I list the 5th time frame under the space where I explain the actual activity?

Yes. Or alternatively, put the earliest two timeframes together into one longer span and mention the gap in the narrative.

What do you mean by this exactly? Currently, this is what the entire entry would look like: [Awards space content redacted]

I thought we were talking about volunteering at a healthcare facility during five separate timeframes. Was this a mistaken assumption? You would not use this approach for an Awards space. Sorry if I misunderstood.

 

[ClamChowderrr]

Just curious:

1) If a ran my own personal training company, should I list a past client for the activities section? Would it be considered paid non clinical or teaching?

2) If you competed in a fitness competition (NPC) .. would you post this in the activities section as well?

 

[Catalystik]

.

1) a. If a ran my own personal training company, should I list a past client for the activities section? b. Would it be considered paid non clinical or teaching?

2) If you competed in a fitness competition (NPC) .. would you post this in the activities section as well?

1) a. You could list yourself (as the owner), or perhaps your accountant or another employee. A long-term happy customer would be another option. b. You have the choice of Employment - Not medical/Clinical, or Teaching, or even Leadership if you manage multiple other employees, whichever you feel balances your application best.

2) If you have Fitness listed as a Hobby or Extracurricular, you might mention a competition in the same space (to keep it in context). Or, if you won it, it could go in an Awards/Honors space.

 

[Neuro244]

I thought we were talking about volunteering at a healthcare facility during five separate timeframes. Was this a mistaken assumption? You would not use this approach for an Awards space. Sorry if I misunderstood.

My mistake, I accidentally posted that up under the wrong conversation thread between you and me. Let me go ahead and repost that but under the awards discussion, we were having.

 

[Neuro244]

I hope my comments aren't overly confusing or angst-causing. Ask for clarification if need be:

1) You could use "College" and "Registrar" for the first and last names of a Contact for an Awards space. Just enter the phone or email for one of them in the header, with the others in the narrative space, once per grouping of awards.

2) Skip the receptions. Just list awards, recognitions, and certificates (if the certificate is related to another activity, you could also mention it in that same space). Only give details about the selectivity/criteria for an award if it isn't commonly known.

3) To be honest, if you want to save a lot of space, you can skip the Deans List entries completely, as your GPA will speak for itself. Or, you can save characters by using 12/2013 instead of December 2013 and by cutting out all the words except for "Deans List." (BTW, the date in the header should be the date of the last received award, by which time you will have gotten all of them.)

2. So for instance, if I have the following, you're suggesting I don't mention this:

Honors Convocation- 5/2013

California State University Northridge

Description: An award and medallion that is given to graduating individuals for outstanding undergraduate academic performance by maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better. My cumulative GPA was a 3.87.

Contact:

Total Hours: 4

3. If I take out all of the words except for "Dean's List" wouldnt that defeat the whole purpose of distinguishing part-time from full-time Dean's List Honor?

 

[Catalystik]

.

2. So for instance, if I have the following, you're suggesting I don't mention this:

Honors Convocation- 5/2013

California State University Northridge

Description: An award and medallion that is given to graduating individuals for outstanding undergraduate academic performance by maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better. My cumulative GPA was a 3.87.

Contact:

Total Hours: 4

3. If I take out all of the words except for "Dean's List" wouldnt that defeat the whole purpose of distinguishing part-time from full-time Dean's List Honor?

I was suggesting things you might consider pruning if you are over the 700 character limit. You might start by getting a character count for what you posted above in post #1291. Get an idea of how much needs to go.

2) Wouldn't you have gotten the honors medallion even if you couldn't attend the convocation? I'm suggesting that you should concentrate on the honor received and the criteria for the honor, not the gathering at which you acquired it.

3) Many schools don't allow part-time students to qualify for the deans list. Making the distinction will be confusing. JMO. But again, first see what space you have before deciding.

 

[Neuro244]

.
I was suggesting things you might consider pruning if you are over the 700 character limit. You might start by getting a character count for what you posted above in post #1291. Get an idea of how much needs to go.

2) Wouldn't you have gotten the honors medallion even if you couldn't attend the convocation? I'm suggesting that you should concentrate on the honor received and the criteria for the honor, not the gathering at which you acquired it.

3) Many schools don't allow part-time students to qualify for the deans list. Making the distinction will be confusing. JMO. But again, first see what space you have before deciding.

I went ahead and took off "Dean's List since I am in fact low on space, you're right. I'm not sure if I would still receive the medallion, but perhaps I might of. This is what I currently have, what's your opinion on what I should further prune?

.
I was suggesting things you might consider pruning if you are over the 700 character limit. You might start by getting a character count for what you posted above in post #1291. Get an idea of how much needs to go.

2) Wouldn't you have gotten the honors medallion even if you couldn't attend the convocation? I'm suggesting that you should concentrate on the honor received and the criteria for the honor, not the gathering at which you acquired it.

3) Many schools don't allow part-time students to qualify for the dean's list. Making the distinction will be confusing. JMO. But again, first see what space you have before deciding.

I went ahead and edited some of the things as you suggested since my room was limited. This is what I have now, and I'm at 694 characters (I couldn't explain the award too much). How does this look now?

Also:

Dean's List Scholar- 12/2008, 6/2007
Los Angeles Pierce College

Dean's List Scholar- 6/2009, 6/2008, 12/2007
Los Angeles Pierce College

Dean's List Scholar- 12/2013
Los Angeles Valley College
Admissions and Records, (818) 947-2553

President's List Scholar- 6/2009, 12/2008, 6/2008
Los Angeles Pierce College

Certificate of Achievement-5/2013, 12/2012, 5/2012, 12/2011
California State University Northridge
Admissions and Records, (818) 677-3700

Honors Convocation- 5/2013
California State University Northridge
Admissions & Records, (818) 677-3700
I received an award for outstanding undergraduate academic performance by having a cumulative GPA of 3.87.

 

[Neuro244]

I have another question in regards to listing Honor Societies that you are/were a part of.

1. When we list them, who would we list as the contact for that? Would it simply be the Admissions and records office of the university/college along with their respective phone number?

2. How would you list total hours for that if you didn't go to any events/gatherings through the honor society? Would you simply list how long you were at the ceremony where they inducted you in that case? What if you didn't go into a ceremony in person, and did it via mail/online?

3. What do people usually list for what they did at these societies if they didn't go to social events or anything similar while a member?

 

[Neuro244]

I got a couple of questions in regards to clumping similar activities under one slot.

1. When clumping let's say 3 similar activities under one slot, does the most recent of them have to be listed on the main header, or does it not matter?

2. When we list the similar activities in the narrative space, do those have to go from oldest to newest, or newest to oldest? I noticed in the main thread for this with your example, you went from oldest to newest (Starbucks barista example), so I'm wondering.

 

[Catalystik]

I went ahead and edited some of the things as you suggested since my room was limited. This is what I have now, and I'm at 694 characters (I couldn't explain the award too much). How does this look now?

I rearranged it a bit to give you more space for explanation. You listed President's List Scholar in a different place in two posts, so I highlighted it in red to remind you to put it in the correct place. I also added in the part-time designation.

Also:

Los Angeles Pierce College
Dean's List Scholar- 12/2008, 6/2007
Part-Time Dean's List Scholar- 6/2009, 6/2008, 12/2007
President's List Scholar- 6/2009, 12/2008, 6/2008
President Honor List Reception- May 2009

Los Angeles Valley College
Admissions and Records, (818) 947-2553
Part-Time Dean's List Scholar- 12/2013

California State University Northridge
Admissions and Records, (818) 677-3700
Certificate of Achievement-5/2013, 12/2012, 5/2012, 12/2011
President's List Scholar- 6/2009, 12/2008, 6/2008
Honors Convocation- 5/2013 I received an award for outstanding undergraduate academic performance by having a cumulative GPA of 3.87.I rearranged it a bit to give you more space for explanation. You listed President's List Scholar in a different place in each post, so I highlighted it in red to remind you to keep it in the correct place.

 

[Catalystik]

I have another question in regards to listing Honor Societies that you are/were a part of.

1. When we list them, who would we list as the contact for that? Would it simply be the Admissions and records office of the university/college along with their respective phone number?

2. How would you list total hours for that if you didn't go to any events/gatherings through the honor society? Would you simply list how long you were at the ceremony where they inducted you in that case? What if you didn't go into a ceremony in person, and did it via mail/online?

3. What do people usually list for what they did at these societies if they didn't go to social events or anything similar while a member?

1) A faculty advisor or an officer would be a good choice.

2) Put in the hours for the ceremony, or a zero.

3) List the criteria for induction.

 

[Catalystik]

I got a couple of questions in regards to clumping similar activities under one slot.

1. When clumping let's say 3 similar activities under one slot, does the most recent of them have to be listed on the main header, or does it not matter?

2. When we list the similar activities in the narrative space, do those have to go from oldest to newest, or newest to oldest? I noticed in the main thread for this with your example, you went from oldest to newest (Starbucks barista example), so I'm wondering.

1) The most recent or the most impressive. Most recent is generally picked as a Contact is more likely to remember you, but that doesn't always matter.

2) It doesn't matter. I prefer most recent to be first, personally. I didn't write all the FAQ, so they don't always reflect my opinion.

 

[Catalystik]

The experience type "Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere" is giving me concern, specifically the "not listed elsewhere" part. I have two leadership activities I would like to list, one where I was the vice president of a volunteer organization and organized several successful fundraisers, and another where I produced a radio show with live DJs (involved finding/hiring local DJs and running the show). These would also fall under non-clinical volunteering and artistic endeavors respectively, does the "not listed elsewhere" tag mean I have to place these activities under the latter categories? That would mean I have no activities under the "Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere" category.

Many leadership roles grow from general membership or another activity and it's easier to keep the two together in one entry so the context is clear, and so the dates of the space can include all levels of involvement. The leadership in that case is made clear by what one includes in the activity Name and by one's description. OTOH, if the activity and dates included in a space are solely about a leadership role, then "Leadership - Not Listed Elsewhere" can be the most appropriate tag to use.

"Leadership" isn't always the best choice. One may prefer to highlight one's Teaching, Artistic Endeavor, Research, Volunteerism, Employment, etc, so as to have a balanced application, and would thus pick one of those tags instead, especially if they are running out of spaces. If the choice were between Leadership and Extracurricular, I'd tend to lean in the direction of picking Leadership, but that choice might force one to minimize one's earlier involvement in an activity and that isn't always the best option, as demonstrating one's growth is good, too.

Some schools value evidence of leadership more than others (particularly the highly-selective, research-oriented schools). Whereas others like to see how you have grown in responsibility over time. I feel it's desirable to use as many of the provided tags from the drop-down menu as possible, since one generally wants to have broad appeal to many schools. So, what to do if you have a strong leadership activity that you want to highlight? Some would split the leadership dates and role out and list them separately, but also have another dedicated space to the activities that came before. Alternatively, one can refer to the backstory that led to the leadership role briefly in their Leadership narrative, eg "after two years of general membership in AED, I saw that [XXX] and felt it would be beneficial to [YYY] so I ran for and became [ZZZ]."

In your case, you might list any hands-on Community Service from the volunteer organization on its own and split out the dates of the VP role, duties, and contributions into another space tagged Leadership, if the hours involved with each component were sufficiently substantial (taking care not to double count the hours). The DJ role as you describe it seems more like it was all leadership, since you don't mention years acting as a DJ yourself prior to that time. If you do have a history as a radio personality, that would be fine to list on its own under Artistic Endeavor.

 

[Neuro244]

1) A faculty advisor or an officer would be a good choice.

2) Put in the hours for the ceremony, or a zero.

3) List the criteria for induction.

Criteria for induction is pretty long for one of the honor societies, check this out:

Phi Kappa Phi membership is only earned through an invitation and has the following requirements for admission:

• Juniors must have completed at least 72 credit hours, with at least 24 semester hours at their current institution, and rank in the top 7.5 percent of their class.
  
  
• Seniors must have completed at least 90 credit hours, with at least 24 semester hours at their current institution, and rank in the top 10 percent of their class.
  
  
• Graduate students must have completed at least 18 graduate hours or the equivalent at their institution and rank in the top 10 percent of their class.
  
  
• Faculty, professional staff and alumni who achieve scholarly distinction may also be eligible.
  

This is essentially taking up almost the entire 700 characters so I'm wondering how to alter it so that it fits along with my other honor society which I still have to explain.

 

[Catalystik]

Criteria for induction is pretty long for one of the honor societies, check this out:

Phi Kappa Phi membership is only earned through an invitation and has the following requirements for admission:

• Juniors must have completed at least 72 credit hours, with at least 24 semester hours at their current institution, and rank in the top 7.5 percent of their class.
  
  
• Seniors must have completed at least 90 credit hours, with at least 24 semester hours at their current institution, and rank in the top 10 percent of their class.
  
  
• Graduate students must have completed at least 18 graduate hours or the equivalent at their institution and rank in the top 10 percent of their class.
  
  
• Faculty, professional staff and alumni who achieve scholarly distinction may also be eligible.

This is essentially taking up almost the entire 700 characters so I'm wondering how to alter it so that it fits along with my other honor society which I still have to explain.

Only one of those criteria applied to you, though. No need to include them all.