Non-medical volunteer hours AMCAS

[chessplayer928]

<p>I am not sure how listing activities in AMCAS works, but if I do non-paid volunteering at chess camps (each camp being a week long), how would I put this on my application? I might do one this summer and maybe next summer or the summer after that. Would I just say "volunteered at chess camps", or is it something like "volunteered at 5 chess camps"? Would I list the exact number of total hours, or do I say Mon-Fri 9 am-5 pm, or do I not even mention number of hours? Also, do I need to provide the contact information of the director of the chess camp for verification purposes? (also, if I volunteer at chess camps, what would be a reasonable number? like 5 camps total? or does it not matter?) (btw, i'm assuming it will be non-paid, but in case it isn't, is it ok if it is paid?)</p>

<p>Sorry just confused about the process.</p>

[WayOutWestMom]

<p>pp. 55-56 of the AMCAS Instruction Manual for 2012 explains this–</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/182162/data/amcas_instruction_manual.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

<br>
**Experience Type **
From the drop-down list, select the Experience Type that best represents the
experience you wish to include. Because this is self-identified information, it is up
to you to decide which option best suits each particular experience.<br>
**Experience Name **
Enter the name of the experience or the title you held during the experience. If this
experience has no explicit name, choose a name that you feel best describes the
experience.<br>
Experience Dates
Include the start and end dates for each experience. Some Experience Types, such
as Presentations/Posters and Publications, require only one date. For current
experiences (those in which you are still involved and which do not have a known
end date), check “Until Present.”<br>
**Average Hours/Week **
Enter the number of hours each week that you devoted to this experience. If you
have a non-traditional schedule, you may explain in the Experience Description
field.<br>
**Organization Name **
Enter the name of the organization through which this experience occurred.
**Country and City **
Select the country and state/province, then enter the name of the city in which the
organization is located or where most of your time was spent during this
experience.<br>
Contact Information<br>
Indicate a person who the medical schools can contact to verify that this
experience occurred. For example, you may enter your supervisor or the individual
in charge of a particular program. If the experience was a student-organized group
and there is no advisor, you may list a staff member in the Student
Affairs/Activities Office who can verify your experience. If the contact name is not
known, you may enter the name of a person who can verify your participation,
including yourself. You are required to provide a phone number and/or e-mail
address for this contact person.
**Experience Description **
This is your opportunity to describe or summarize each experience. The space
allotted for this description is 700 characters.

</p>

<p>Regarding this particular experience, I wouldn’t use 5 slots (one for each camp) because you only have 20 total.</p>

[kristin5792]

<p>When I applied 2 years ago, I had more things that I wanted to include than I had spaces (including some experiences like yours, which were individually pretty small but together were a nice accomplishment).</p>

<p>I think it’s important to realize that really…it’s up to you. You can classify and name and describe your activities however you see fit. </p>

<p>What I opted to do was create a headline for each activity or set of activities, and report its details in the descriptions. So, instead of representing my shadowing experiences by saying “Shadowing” or “John Smith, MD” I wrote “Shadowing surgical oncologist in melanoma and breast cancer clinics, 220hr.” Then I described who I worked with and what I learned in the description box. With the headlines, I made sure the readers got the most important part of my activity even without taking the time to read the descriptions. When it came to a set of activities, I’d put them together if it made sense. For example, I mentored freshmen, athletes, sorority girls, and teen parents through 4 different appointments. Instead of making that 4 activities, I just made it 1, and listed the program director I knew best as the contact. None of the contact people listed on AMCAS was ever contacted.</p>

<p>So, if I were you, I would probably say something like “Taught children chess as camp counselor, 2008-2014, xxxx hrs” and use the description area to say that it was 5 summers, 9-5 everyday, 1600ish hours total, your specific duties, etc.</p>

<p>I would recommend that if you have something you want them to know for sure (eg that you spent 1700h teaching children something complicated), that you include it in the title of the activity. You can’t be sure they’ll read the whole entire listing of the activity, but I bet if they’re reading anything, they’re reading the titles. </p>

<p>Then again, it’s totally up to you. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer here, beyond that you should be honest with your activities in terms of your responsibilities and your time commitment.</p>

[QuietThinker]

<p>How many non-medical volunteer hours are typically expected of med school applicants? I know it may vary from school to school, but what is the minimum that is generally considered acceptable for admission?</p>

[i_wanna_be_Brown]

<p>I had 0 non medical volunteer hours.</p>

[WayOutWestMom]

<p>Brown is MD/PhD student so expectations may be different for straight MD applicants.</p>

[i_wanna_be_Brown]

<p>I had medical volunteering, just no non-medical.</p>

[trapezius]

<p>I interviewed a mstp applicant who had 0 clinical experiences/volunteering. had some decent research. the person got accepted. definitely different expectations for regular MD and MD/PhD</p>