*~*~*~*Tips for Entering your "Work and Activities" in AMCAS*~*~*~*

[rpdnathan]

You add the degree to your colleges section of "Schools Attended"

I did but that still doesn't say i'm on this dual degree track...

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[sector9]

I did but that still doesn't say i'm on this dual degree track...

Well I'm not sure what else you're looking for then. It sounds like it's on your application. There's no where else to add this information to your app. What else do you want to say about it? Med schools don't really care about master's degrees anyway

 

[Frazier]

Are people still filling out their AMCAS???

 

[Hotshy]

Are people still filling out their AMCAS???

I'm submitting on june 1st 2012, I plan on writing all the descriptions and my personal statement during winter break. Just trying to get much info as I can in advance

 

[JeTeVu]

Are you trying to say that this is research? Or are you just asking how to list the class in your coursework? You stated that people could stay longer in the field. Did you stay longer in the field?

Well no, you had to be digging the pits for three hours. If you stayed longer, it was considered volunteer work. I stayed for ten hours. Also, during the summer I did go back there with my professor to do some more work. We also taught some of the locals about the archaeology findings.

 

[RSum]

1) I would use bullets.

2) You don't need much description for shadowing, as everyone knows what it entails. For each, list date span, total hours, name, specialty, and contact info. Give a grand total at the end of the box.

3) a. List what you did. I doubt you will have much space for reflection, but that's OK to do too.
b. That is what AMCAS suggests, however feel free to be creative as this "Most Meanigful" designation is new and you don't have to follow the guideline.
c. Succinctness is always appreciated by the adcomm reader. Say what needs to be said, without fluff, and then stop, even if space remains.

So for shadowing, I can simply just list bullets with the:
-Organization name
-Date Span
-Hours
-Name of doctor
-Specialty
-Contact Info

And for the grand total, I can say "approximately --- hrs?"

 

[Catalystik]

1) So for shadowing, I can simply just list bullets with the:
-Organization name
-Date Span
-Hours
-Name of doctor
-Specialty
-Contact Info

2) And for the grand total, I can say "approximately --- hrs?"

1) You don't need the organization name, unless it covers all or many of the the docs and provides a common contact person.

2) Yes.

 

[Catalystik]

Well no, you had to be digging the pits for three hours. If you stayed longer, it was considered volunteer work. I stayed for ten hours. Also, during the summer I did go back there with my professor to do some more work. We also taught some of the locals about the archaeology findings.

So you're thinking that 10 volunteer hours would enhance your application in some way?

 

[JeTeVu]

So you're thinking that 10 volunteer hours would enhance your application in some way?

No, but I did do it every week for an entire semester plus the summer. I get to continue this activity every spring. I already have roughly 150 hours of volunteering work.

 

[Catalystik]

No, but I did do it every week for an entire semester plus the summer. I get to continue this activity every spring. I already have roughly 150 hours of volunteering work.

Rather than listing all this and the "teaching the locals" under community service, I suggest you put it under Other, describing the global experience. Try to invest the description with some of your excitement in being involved in a dig.

 

[JeTeVu]

Rather than listing all this and the "teaching the locals" under community service, I suggest you put it under Other, describing the global experience. Try to invest the description with some of your excitement in being involved in a dig.

Thank you Catalystik, I really appreciate your help!

 

[purplelightning]

I've heard here and there that you shouldn't put high school EC's on AMCAS. I worked in retail the summer right before college. Is that worth putting on there?

 

[Catalystik]

I've heard here and there that you shouldn't put high school EC's on AMCAS. I worked in retail the summer right before college. Is that worth putting on there?

If you worked there after HS graduation then it would be considered "in the college years." If you don't feel it enhances your application, there is no need to include it. If it gave you the opportunity to exercize your problem-solving abilities and people skills, then feel free to list it.

 

[Hotshy]

I need help clarifying one of the activities that I'm involved. I'm sure many of the School Admins on here know What Collegiate Health Services Corps is and I wanted to seek some clarification on how I should list it.

So essentially its more of a public health program, educating, referring ect. For Example last semester I taught a disaster preparedness program at a federally funded housing complex for elderly. This semester I may be volunteering at a clinical for under served populations. My duties would mainly be educating them about their own health in the waiting room and conversing to keep the patients from leaving the clinic before they are seen.

1) My question is how should I list this activity on AMCAS? I feel like it is non-medical community service, especially considering when I taught the disaster preparedness program. But those duties I have as part of the clinic how will they be viewed, medical or non-medical?

I would really like to list is non-medical community service as I already have 200+ hours as an Emergency Dept. volunteer and I want something in the area of non-medical community service that is off-campus. Let me know what you think this type of experience qualifies as.

 

[Catalystik]

I need help clarifying one of the activities that I'm involved. I'm sure many of the School Admins on here know What Collegiate Health Services Corps is and I wanted to seek some clarification on how I should list it.

So essentially its more of a public health program, educating, referring ect. For Example last semester I taught a disaster preparedness program at a federally funded housing complex for elderly. This semester I may be volunteering at a clinical for under served populations. My duties would mainly be educating them about their own health in the waiting room and conversing to keep the patients from leaving the clinic before they are seen.

1) My question is how should I list this activity on AMCAS? I feel like it is non-medical community service, especially considering when I taught the disaster preparedness program. But those duties I have as part of the clinic how will they be viewed, medical or non-medical?

I would really like to list is non-medical community service as I already have 200+ hours as an Emergency Dept. volunteer and I want something in the area of non-medical community service that is off-campus. Let me know what you think this type of experience qualifies as.

It's hard to imagine you would be giving personalized health education for a patient's individual health problem in a crowded waiting room (due to privacy violations). Educating on general health topics would better fit under nonmedical community service.

 

[Hotshy]

It's hard to imagine you would be giving personalized health education for a patient's individual health problem in a crowded waiting room (due to privacy violations). Educating on general health topics would better fit under nonmedical community service.

Thank you, and yes this would be educating about general health topics.

 

[Hotshy]

It's hard to imagine you would be giving personalized health education for a patient's individual health problem in a crowded waiting room (due to privacy violations). Educating on general health topics would better fit under nonmedical community service.

Thank you, and yes this would be educating about general health topics and preventative measures.

 

[MochaLatte]

I'm stumped on listing contacts for some of my work/activities section.

For instance, I've participated in Relay for Life two years running (going on 3 years) but who could I put down as a contact for that? My team leader is just an undergrad student like myself, and anyone higher up who's responsible for actually organizing the event/collecting donations/etc. definitely would not know me personally since it's such a large event.

I'm also putting down co-founding and being treasurer of a campus organization under Leadership, but again, who would be the appropriate contact to list for this? I co-founded the club so technically that would be...myself? Or the other co-founder? Or the Student Activities Committee of my school, who, once again, definitely do not know me personally?

 

[Catalystik]

1) For instance, I've participated in Relay for Life two years running (going on 3 years) but who could I put down as a contact for that? My team leader is just an undergrad student like myself, and anyone higher up who's responsible for actually organizing the event/collecting donations/etc. definitely would not know me personally since it's such a large event.

I'm also putting down co-founding and being treasurer of a campus organization under Leadership, but again, who would be the appropriate contact to list for this? I co-founded the club so technically that would be...myself? Or the other co-founder? Or the Student Activities Committee of my school, who, once again, definitely do not know me personally?

1) List the team leader, or a friend you ran with.

2) Use the co-founder, or another officer of the organization.

 

[MochaLatte]

Catalystik, thank you for the answer. It is safe to assume that contact info isn't as formal for these kinds of activities as they would be for work/volunteer/research activities?

Also, the summer before my freshman year of undergrad I worked briefly in a hospital in a foreign country. The contact info would be for the person I worked under in that hospital. Should I be concerned at all that they're on the other side of the globe and may or may not respond to a phone call/email from an adcom person in the States if adcom decides to attempt to contact them?

 

[Catalystik]

1) It is safe to assume that contact info isn't as formal for these kinds of activities as they would be for work/volunteer/research activities?

2) Also, the summer before my freshman year of undergrad I worked briefly in a hospital in a foreign country. The contact info would be for the person I worked under in that hospital. Should I be concerned at all that they're on the other side of the globe and may or may not respond to a phone call/email from an adcom person in the States if adcom decides to attempt to contact them?

1) never assume, but sometimes there is no choice. As long as you have formal contacts for many activities, a few without won't attract attention (hopefully).

2) If a med school.edu email address shows up in their inbox, it will probably be looked at. You might put a warning in the narrative if the contact doesn't speak English.

Hopefully you have more recent clinical experience in the US that would be more likely to get such a contact, anyway.

 

[MochaLatte]

1) never assume, but sometimes there is no choice. As long as you have formal contacts for many activities, a few without won't attract attention (hopefully).

2) If a med school.edu email address shows up in their inbox, it will probably be looked at. You might put a warning in the narrative if the contact doesn't speak English.

Hopefully you have more recent clinical experience in the US that would be more likely to get such a contact, anyway.

I do. Thanks for answering my questions. You've been very helpful.

 

[firstborn]

Hey everyone,
Is it necessary that your 3 most meaningful activities exemplify different parts of your application? At first, I was thinking about listing 3 activities that show research, service, and leadership, but then I realized that 2 of those were not actually my most meaningful activities.
Would it be okay if I were to list 3 activities that each have a research component? They are all different kinds of research, one being bench/lab, one being community, and one being part of my humanities major thesis. They also includes aspects of service work (a large part in one case), but are predominantly research activities.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Catalystik]

Hey everyone,
Is it necessary that your 3 most meaningful activities exemplify different parts of your application? At first, I was thinking about listing 3 activities that show research, service, and leadership, but then I realized that 2 of those were not actually my most meaningful activities.
Would it be okay if I were to list 3 activities that each have a research component? They are all different kinds of research, one being bench/lab, one being community, and one being part of my humanities major thesis. They also includes aspects of service work (a large part in one case), but are predominantly research activities.
Thanks for the help!

You can be strategic and make choices that you think adcomms want to see (and maybe be wrong half the time). Or you can choose "Most Meaningful" Experiences "from the heart." It's up to you.

 

[firstborn]

You can be strategic and make choices that you think adcomms want to see (and maybe be wrong half the time). Or you can choose "Most Meaningful" Experiences "from the heart." It's up to you.

Thanks for the quick reply. I suppose looking at it like that, I might as well go from the heart and hope the adcomms can see that too.

 

[Shawn14]

I am having some trouble coming up with a description for tutoring. I was a tutor for 3 years (~12 hours/week) and tutored General Bio, Inorganic Chem, and College Physics. I am wondering if anyone else here has tutoring in their employment non-military and what they put for description. I am stuck on this one.

 

[Catalystik]

I am having some trouble coming up with a description for tutoring. I was a tutor for 3 years (~12 hours/week) and tutored General Bio, Inorganic Chem, and College Physics. I am wondering if anyone else here has tutoring in their employment non-military and what they put for description. I am stuck on this one.

Describe the setting in which you tutored, how you got clients, and what you did to help others learn. Include any impact it had on you if you have space. Adcomms will have a general understanding of what tutors do, so don't feel it's necessary to be overly detailed.

 

[Shawn14]

Describe the setting in which you tutored, how you got clients, and what you did to help others learn. Include any impact it had on you if you have space. Adcomms will have a general understanding of what tutors do, so don't feel it's necessary to be overly detailed.

Thank you Catalystik- that definitely helps!

 

[Cat Woman]

Hi everyone! I am having a hard time deciding what to include in my most meaningful experience essay. Anyone have any tips?

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone! I am having a hard time deciding what to include in my most meaningful experience essay. Anyone have any tips?

Use the guidelines included in the AMCAS instructions as a springboard to other ideas. There are no "rules", and you can use the space as you wish, since this designation has never been included before, and even adcomms aren't sure what they want to see. Feel free to be creative, or to just stick to what is suggested. It is not necessary to use all the space provided.

 

[iceman132]

I believe this has been mentioned....

But you can just add ALL your hospital volunteer experience under Hospital volunteer in the description correct? (Put different hospitals you volunteered in the descriptions instead of making a whole new one)

 

[Catalystik]

I believe this has been mentioned....

But you can just add ALL your hospital volunteer experience under Hospital volunteer in the description correct? (Put different hospitals you volunteered in the descriptions instead of making a whole new one)

Yes, you can do that, but you'll need to squeeze the same information from the header for the first one into the narrative about the rest. And make sure it's not confusing.

 

[firstborn]

Sorry to keep hampering around this point guys, but I just need a last quick piece of advice. Do you think it would be frowned upon if I listed 3 activities as 'most meaningful,' but none included a direct clinical aspect. One is bench research, one is a global internship, and the last is a long term community service involvement. Truth be told, these truly are my most meaningful activities, and i feel I can elaborate well on the reflections in the extra space. However, my primary concern is that this may show a lack of commitment to the practice of clinical medicine. Thanks for the responses again everyone!

 

[sector9]

Sorry to keep hampering around this point guys, but I just need a last quick piece of advice. Do you think it would be frowned upon if I listed 3 activities as 'most meaningful,' but none included a direct clinical aspect. One is bench research, one is a global internship, and the last is a long term community service involvement. Truth be told, these truly are my most meaningful activities, and i feel I can elaborate well on the reflections in the extra space. However, my primary concern is that this may show a lack of commitment to the practice of clinical medicine. Thanks for the responses again everyone!

The hardest part of answering this question is that the "most meaningful" section is brand new. You and I are in the first applicant pool with this conundrum, so we don't have the benefit of input from years of experience of various adcom members gleaned from SDN and applicant workshops and anecdotal stories. I have yet to see any posts by the adcom members on this board saying that everyone should have a clinical experience marked as "most meaningful." It would probably be a little unfair if they did at this point, TBH, since a lot of people have submitted already.

My own personal opinion is the following: Your personal statement should show your understanding and enthusiasm for the "practice of clinical medicine." If it doesn't, then you should probably work on it a little more. (This is my favorite thread on PS ideas http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=536199) So I think that if you want to "pick from the heart" as Catalystik suggested earlier, following the AMCAS prompt, then you will be fine. That's what I did anyway, so I guess we'll see if it works or not!

 

[MD2behopefully]

I want to lump several things together in my honors/awards as well as volunteering. As far as honors/awards, I want to include Beta Beta Beta scholarship, a sholarship for excellence in Biology, being named the Davis-Merritt research scholar (at a separate institution where I did my research) as well as deans list ect... So... Who do I list as my contact info?

I also have a lot of volunteer work, some of it is stuff that I have continued to praticipate in over the past 3-4 years, but some of it is relief effort stuff. Could I group this together? Again, who do I put at contact?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I want to lump several things together in my honors/awards as well as volunteering. As far as honors/awards, I want to include Beta Beta Beta scholarship, a sholarship for excellence in Biology, being named the Davis-Merritt research scholar (at a separate institution where I did my research) as well as deans list ect... So... Who do I list as my contact info?

2) I also have a lot of volunteer work, some of it is stuff that I have continued to praticipate in over the past 3-4 years, but some of it is relief effort stuff. Could I group this together? Again, who do I put at contact?

1) You school's Registrar would be able to attest to all of these. I'd put the most prestigious in the header. Don't mention dollar amounts unless they are significant.

2) If you did it through a campus organization, then list one of the officers. If you did it on your own, you'll need to list a contact with each organization or a friend you participated with: put the best in the header and the others in the narrative of the activity where you mention the organization name, hours, date span, and what you did. You may need to use more than one space, or choose not to list something where you had few hours, so that the most important ones can fit in. Ideally, you would not do much grouping so as to have enough space to say what needs to be said.

 

[theblackmamba]

1) i have a nursing degree and am wondering how to list my clinical experiences during schooling, it was not really volunteer work however it was unpaid clinical hours working in the hospital/community. so far i have put 2 of my more meaningful ones (the ones that i did in 4th year that each lasted a full semester with >20hrs a week of work in the clinical setting). now do you think that i should just leave all the rest off of here because it may be seen as "fluff" or perhaps just use 1 more box and list all of the other places that i had my clinicals grouped into 1?
2) as for high school activities would high school sports be important? or being a gym member? i have already listed university intramurals and dont know if i want to overload the app with sports activities, however they do take up a fair bit of my time on a weekly basis.
3) one of my most time consuming hobbies is personal investing. i spent probably 4-5hrs a week researching companies, looking through charts, reading books on the stock market and economics, would this be a worthy EC? i am worried someone would look at it and perhaps frown upon this as a "gambling" type of activity

any input would be appreciated

 

[sector9]

1) i have a nursing degree and am wondering how to list my clinical experiences during schooling, it was not really volunteer work however it was unpaid clinical hours working in the hospital/community. so far i have put 2 of my more meaningful ones (the ones that i did in 4th year that each lasted a full semester with >20hrs a week of work in the clinical setting). now do you think that i should just leave all the rest off of here because it may be seen as "fluff" or perhaps just use 1 more box and list all of the other places that i had my clinicals grouped into 1?
2) as for high school activities would high school sports be important? or being a gym member? i have already listed university intramurals and dont know if i want to overload the app with sports activities, however they do take up a fair bit of my time on a weekly basis.
3) one of my most time consuming hobbies is personal investing. i spent probably 4-5hrs a week researching companies, looking through charts, reading books on the stock market and economics, would this be a worthy EC? i am worried someone would look at it and perhaps frown upon this as a "gambling" type of activity

any input would be appreciated

Well I'll give my input before the real expert shows up (Catalystik of course)
1) Why not use "Other" instead? I would think you could group all of them together but I'm not that familiar with nursing education
2) You shouldn't have any high school activities except in special circumstances. If you continued the activity from high school through college, then that's a different story and you could include it. Once again, all of these should be grouped together so they shouldn't be "overloading" your app
3) Sounds like a hobby, and potentially interesting depending on how you present it. I'll wait for Cat to handle this one but it sounds acceptable to include to me

 

[Catalystik]

1) i have a nursing degree and am wondering how to list my clinical experiences during schooling, it was not really volunteer work however it was unpaid clinical hours working in the hospital/community. so far i have put 2 of my more meaningful ones (the ones that i did in 4th year that each lasted a full semester with >20hrs a week of work in the clinical setting). now do you think that i should just leave all the rest off of here because it may be seen as "fluff" or perhaps just use 1 more box and list all of the other places that i had my clinicals grouped into 1?
2) as for high school activities would high school sports be important? or being a gym member? i have already listed university intramurals and dont know if i want to overload the app with sports activities, however they do take up a fair bit of my time on a weekly basis.
3) one of my most time consuming hobbies is personal investing. i spent probably 4-5hrs a week researching companies, looking through charts, reading books on the stock market and economics, would this be a worthy EC? i am worried someone would look at it and perhaps frown upon this as a "gambling" type of activity

any input would be appreciated

1) Since your nursing clinicals are already listed on your transcript, and because they were required for your course of study, they do not belong under "Volunteer/Community Service" and certainly are not "Employment." I agree that "Other" is a good place for it if you want to discuss it further. Don't feel it is necessary to list every scrap of patient contact. Adcomms know what nursing students do. Sticking with the highlights is fine, or you can decrease the description so it all fits, or you can designate the activity as "Most Meaningful" so you have lots more space to expound on the experience and its impact on you.

2) Agree with don't list HS activities unless they continued into the college years, in this instance. Rather than listing gym membership, include mention of whatever exercise regimen you engage in. The gym owner could be used as a contact if that's where you do most of it. This could be worthy of its own space under "Hobbies" or could be grouped with all your hobbies, like intermural sports.

3) I think this is a great Hobby to list, being more unique for the traditional applicant and something many older adcomm memberrs will be knowledgeable about (so be prepared for probing questions). I'd look at it as mastering the discipline of Finance, and definitely not on par with playing internet poker.

 

[wackzack]

I was wondering how many work/activities I should include in my application. I currently have 7 really good ones. Is that enough? I don't think I have contact information for others.

Also, can I put my traveling experience in? I obviously do not have any contact or organization info for that but it definitely opened my eyes and allowed for cultural exchange.

thanks

 

[firstborn]

Hey guys. Another quick question here. I spent a total of 15 weeks abroad, and the work I did was split but sort of together. Close to 10 weeks were spent on community based development work, and then 5 weeks of working with a different, yet connected, organization. It was the first work that led to the second, although the work itself is mostly unrelated. I am wondering if I should combine them or make them 2 entries.
Let me know if that made sense or if it was too cryptic and thanks for the help!

 

[Catalystik]

I was wondering how many work/activities I should include in my application. I currently have 7 really good ones. Is that enough? I don't think I have contact information for others.

Also, can I put my traveling experience in? I obviously do not have any contact or organization info for that but it definitely opened my eyes and allowed for cultural exchange.

The average applicant uses 9-10 spaces. Don't feel compelled to fill them all up. Is is OK to list yourself, a parent, or a friend with whom you participated in an activity if there was no formal contact. Don't forget Hobbies, sports, and Artistic Endeavors.

A travel experience is fine to list and would best be placed under "Other" if it was recreational/vacation.

 

[Catalystik]

Hey guys. Another quick question here. I spent a total of 15 weeks abroad, and the work I did was split but sort of together. Close to 10 weeks were spent on community based development work, and then 5 weeks of working with a different, yet connected, organization. It was the first work that led to the second, although the work itself is mostly unrelated. I am wondering if I should combine them or make them 2 entries.
Let me know if that made sense or if it was too cryptic and thanks for the help!

It would be best to use two spaces since the organization and contact are different and the actual activities were unrelated and need two descriptions.

 

[firstborn]

It would be best to use two spaces since the organization and contact are different and the actual activities were unrelated and need two descriptions.

Thanks!

 

[Appoggiatura]

I have a few questions about categorizing some of my activities for the application next year.

1) I can't decide whether to put "Crisis Helpline Volunteering" under medical or non-medical volunteering. Does that activity even count as clinical?
a) I have two slots used up for medical volunteering (Hospital and Free Clinic). Should I combine those to save space?
b) I have one slot for non-medical volunteering (mentoring adopted kids)...it looks like a weak activity because the time commitment is quite low (~3 hours total a month) even though this is my third year doing it.

2) Should I mention a research publication that I got in junior year high school if I technically stayed on in that lab through the summer before I started college (3000 miles away)?

 

[Catalystik]

1) I can't decide whether to put "Crisis Helpline Volunteering" under medical or non-medical volunteering. Does that activity even count as clinical?
a) I have two slots used up for medical volunteering (Hospital and Free Clinic). Should I combine those to save space?
b) I have one slot for non-medical volunteering (mentoring adopted kids)...it looks like a weak activity because the time commitment is quite low (~3 hours total a month) even though this is my third year doing it.

2) Should I mention a research publication that I got in junior year high school if I technically stayed on in that lab through the summer before I started college (3000 miles away)?

1) If you did at least 50% mental health counseling of some sort, it would be legit to call it clinical, even though you were not face-to-face with the patient. If it was less than 50%, it would still be good to mention the percent time you dealt with mental health issues in your description of a nonmedical community service. One often makes such a choice based on which of the two designations would balance the application better. As long as you have a good description of the activity, your choice won't be wrong.

a) I would keep them separate so as to highlight each experience and have more space for detail.

b) Nice longevity. It won't look weak.

2) You may. If you need to save space, perhaps cite the publication in the same space as the Research description.

 

[6svette]

hey guys,

need a bit of advice. I am an active volunteer EMT, and I volunteer for the campus ambulance, an off campus ambulance, and my agency back home.

I am also an eboard member for my campus agency and handle a lot of the secretarial stuff. Should I list my membership in all 3 agencies together? Or should I list them separately in order to allow me to talk about them more. And should I also include my e-board position in the description, or make a separate entry for that?

The number of hours I put into each varies as well.

Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

hey guys,

need a bit of advice. I am an active volunteer EMT, and I volunteer for the campus ambulance, an off campus ambulance, and my agency back home.

I am also an eboard member for my campus agency and handle a lot of the secretarial stuff. Should I list my membership in all 3 agencies together? Or should I list them separately in order to allow me to talk about them more. And should I also include my e-board position in the description, or make a separate entry for that?

The number of hours I put into each varies as well.

Thanks

If you have the space, it would be preferred that you list the three separately, as dates, hours, contact info, and description will be so different for each..

If you have other Leadership, you could include the e-board info in the same listing with the related campus agency.

 

[6svette]

If you have the space, it would be preferred that you list the three separately, as dates, hours, contact info, and description will be so different for each..

If you have other Leadership, you could include the e-board info in the same listing with the related campus agency.

Thanks! What about non medically related groups that you create in the community? Should they go under leadership or non medical community service, since it is technically both...

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks! What about non medically related groups that you create in the community? Should they go under leadership or non medical community service, since it is technically both...

It's fine to pick the category that best balances your application. Just make it clear in the title and/or description that the activity covers both.