Tag: medical school motivation

Mistakes to Avoid on Your AMCAS Work & Activities Section

Applicant preparing their Work &Activities section for their AMCAS medical school application
Be thoughtful about your Work & Activities section!

Every year, our editors at Gurufi help scores of candidates earn admission to their dream medical school. In the fifteen years I have been helping applicants, I have noticed that far too many applicants don’t put enough time or thought into their Work & Activities sections.

Crafting the Work & Activities (W&A) section of your AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) application is a crucial task that requires careful thought and precision. Unfortunately, while many people spend weeks or ever months fine-tuning their personal statement, they treat this vital section almost as an afterthought. The W&A section allows you to showcase your experiences, learning, and growth in a succinct yet comprehensive manner and provides the reader with a clear overview of your overall strengths as a candidate. Here are some essential tips to help you make the most of this opportunity.

Focus on Your Actions, Learning, and Growth

When describing your experiences, it’s important to clearly articulate what you did, what you learned, and how you grew from each activity. Admissions committees are looking for evidence of your dedication, skills, and personal development. Applicants will sometimes get this wrong by spending too much time describing what the organization does or talking too much about things that don’t relate directly to their roles or tasks.

What You Did: Describe your specific responsibilities and actions. For instance, if you volunteered at a clinic, detail the tasks you handled, such as assisting with patient intake or organizing health education workshops.

What You Learned: Reflect on the skills and knowledge you gained. Did you develop better communication skills, learn about healthcare disparities, or gain insight into patient care?

How You Grew: Explain how these experiences influenced your personal and professional growth. Did they strengthen your commitment to medicine, enhance your empathy, or inspire you to pursue a particular medical specialty? If you struggle to nail this down, think about who you were before you started and who you were afterward. How are these different people?

Highlight Promotions and Expanded Responsibilities
If you received promotions or were given additional responsibilities, make sure to mention these. They demonstrate your competence, reliability, and the trust others have placed in you. For example, if you started as a volunteer and later became a team leader, highlight this progression to show your leadership and ability to take on more significant roles.

Avoid Jargon
Medical and scientific jargon can be confusing and may not convey your experiences effectively. Moreover, individual organizations often use idiosyncratic title names or other descriptors that don’t mean anything to people outside the organization. Use clear and straightforward language to ensure your descriptions are easily understood by all readers. Instead of using technical terms, explain your activities in a way that highlights your contributions and impact and think about how you might describe what you did to a loved one who isn’t in the medical world.

Choose Strong Verbs
The verbs you use can significantly influence how your actions are perceived. Strong, active verbs convey confidence and decisiveness. For example, instead of saying you “helped with patient care,” say you “provided patient care” or “coordinated patient services.” This subtle change makes your role sound more impactful and direct.

Be Succinct but Complete
You have only 700 characters for each entry, so brevity is essential. However, being succinct doesn’t mean using incomplete sentences or resorting to “CV speak.” Write in complete sentences to ensure clarity and coherence. Focus on the most critical aspects of each experience and eliminate any unnecessary details.

Plan Your “Most Significant” Experiences Thoughtfully
Deciding which experiences to designate as “most significant” should be done in conjunction with planning your personal statement. Because you get an extra 1325 characters, you can obviously cover a lot more ground, which is a huge benefit. Taking a strategic approach ensures you provide comprehensive coverage of your strengths and avoid redundancy. Your personal statement will delve deeply into your motivations and key experiences, while the Work & Activities section can highlight a broader range of accomplishments.

Review Last Year’s Secondary Essays

Looking at the secondary essay prompts from the schools you’re applying to can provide valuable insights. Most schools reuse essay topics for multiple years before changing, so understanding what they’ve asked in the past can help you align your “most significant” selections with potential secondary essay themes. This foresight can save you time and ensure your application remains focused and relevant.

Emphasize Breadth in Your Work & Activities
While your personal statement focuses on the depth of your decision to pursue medicine, the Work & Activities section should emphasize breadth. This is your chance to demonstrate the variety of your experiences and how they collectively prepare you for a career in medicine. Highlight diverse activities such as clinical work, research, volunteering, leadership roles, and extracurricular pursuits to present a well-rounded picture of your qualifications.

Apply the Same Care as Your Personal Statement
The Work & Activities section is just as important as your personal statement, so it deserves the same level of care and attention. Meticulously proofread your entries, ensuring they are free of errors and clearly communicate your achievements. A well-crafted Work & Activities section can significantly enhance your application and leave a lasting impression on admissions committees.

Example Entry
Here is an example of how to succinctly and effectively describe an experience:

Volunteer at Community Health Clinic (June 2020 – Present): Coordinated patient intake, assisted with health screenings, and organized educational workshops on nutrition and wellness. Developed strong communication skills and a deep understanding of healthcare disparities. Promoted to team leader, overseeing a group of 10 volunteers and managing clinic operations during weekend shifts.

This entry clearly outlines the responsibilities, learning outcomes, and growth experienced, all within the character limit. Note that the above provides a 388-character breakdown of the job. From there, you could add another 312 characters where you could briefly mention something like the most important task you accomplished, how this informs your thoughts on medical school, where this fits within your journey to medicine, or where you hope to go from here.

Conclusion

 

Writing the Work & Activities section of your AMCAS application requires careful planning and thoughtful execution. By focusing on your actions, learning, and growth, using clear language and strong verbs, and strategically selecting your most significant experiences, you can create a compelling and comprehensive account of your qualifications. Remember, this section is a vital component of your application, so give it the attention it deserves to ensure you stand out in the competitive field of medical school admissions.

Our editors at Gurufi have years of experience helping people put together their W&A sections. You can check us out here if you need help revising them, including making them fit within the tight character caps!

The Myth of the “Non-Traditional” Medical School Applicant

A 30-year-old mother studying at a desk while holding her infant in one arm. She types on her laptop with a stack of medical textbooks beside her.
Medical students come form all walks of life and have a diverse array of stories

         When Gurufi first started, in 2008, the medical school application process was pretty straightforward: ace the MCAT, have killer grades as a STEM grad, and make sure that you’ve done some clinical stuff and maybe worked in a lab. It wasn’t easy, by any means, but it was far simpler. Many applicants went straight from college to medical school and there was a sense that there was a “traditional path” to medicine.

         This is no longer true. Today, fewer than 10% of admitted students go straight from college to medical school, and this number is dropping rapidly. As medical schools realize just how important maturity, experience, and a more sophisticated understanding of our healthcare system is, it naturally favors candidates that, in the past, would’ve been seen as “untraditional applicants.” Now, every year, Gurufi consultants help applicants who dropped out of school (or were even kicked out!), took work in unrelated industries, left the workforce to have kids, or otherwise came to medicine later in life.

         Whenever I have a candidate who worries that their circuitous path to medicine makes them an unappealing candidate, I stress two important things:

  • You can’t change your past, so embrace it. As the old saying goes, “what you can’t fix, feature.” Don’t be like the balding man holding onto a few threads of hair trying to fool people into thinking he actually has a luxurious Oscar Isaac-style mane of hair… shave it off, and confidently embrace that this is who you are!
  • Besides, what you view as flaws are often features that provide context and believability for your “why medicine?” argument. It’s easier to sell the “why?” and demonstrate that you are approaching this journey with open eyes and a mature mind.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that just anybody can earn admission so long as they tell a good story. The medical school admissions process has long been known for its rigorous academic standards and high expectations for applicants. However, medical schools increasingly welcome applicants with non-traditional backgrounds—those who didn’t follow the typical pre-med track.

These applicants bring unique skills, perspectives, and experiences that can enrich the medical school community and ultimately benefit patient care.

Redefining Non-Traditional Backgrounds

A non-traditional background can encompass various scenarios.

It might refer to individuals who pursued careers in different fields before considering medicine, those who earned degrees in non-scientific disciplines, or applicants who took time off for personal reasons such as travel, family, or military service. Non-traditional applicants also include those who chose to complete a post-baccalaureate program to meet medical school prerequisites or those with significant life experience outside the academic realm.

Why Medical Schools Value Non-Traditional Applicants

Medical schools are increasingly recognizing the value that non-traditional applicants bring to the table. Here’s why they are sought after:

  1. Diverse Perspectives: Non-traditional applicants often have unique life experiences that inform their perspective on healthcare. They might have worked in business, education, the arts, or technology, bringing different approaches to problem-solving and patient care. This diversity enriches the medical school environment and prepares future physicians to serve a broader population.

  1. Mature and Resilient: Non-traditional applicants tend to have more life experience, making them more resilient and adaptable. Many have faced challenges or obstacles that required determination and perseverance, traits that are valuable in the medical field.

  1. Strong Interpersonal Skills: Those who have worked in other industries or pursued non-traditional paths often have well-developed interpersonal skills. This translates into better communication with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare professionals, which is crucial in medicine.

  1. Broader Skill Sets: Non-traditional applicants bring diverse skills, such as leadership, project management, or technology proficiency, which can be beneficial in medical school and beyond. They often demonstrate creativity and innovation, which can drive progress in healthcare.

Addressing Application Challenges

While non-traditional applicants offer many strengths, they may face unique challenges when applying to medical school. Here’s how medical schools are addressing these challenges:

  1. Flexibility in Prerequisites: Medical schools are becoming more flexible with prerequisite coursework. While core science classes are still required, some schools are willing to accept alternative coursework or provide guidance on completing prerequisites through post-baccalaureate programs.

  1. Holistic Admissions Process: Many medical schools have adopted a holistic admissions process, which considers the whole applicant, not just academic metrics. This approach allows non-traditional applicants to showcase their unique experiences, skills, and perspectives in their personal statements, interviews, and letters of recommendation.

  1. Post-Baccalaureate Programs: Post-baccalaureate programs are designed specifically for non-traditional applicants who need to complete or improve their prerequisite coursework. These programs offer academic support, clinical exposure, and guidance through the medical school application process.

  1. Supportive Learning Environments: Medical schools recognize that non-traditional applicants may require additional support as they transition into the demanding environment of medical school. Schools often provide mentorship, peer support, and academic resources to help these students succeed.

Making a Strong Case as a Non-Traditional Applicant

To succeed as a non-traditional applicant, individuals should focus on the following:

  1. Highlight Unique Experiences: Use personal statements and interviews to showcase unique experiences and skills that set you apart. Emphasize how these experiences have shaped your desire to pursue medicine and how they will benefit the medical school community.

  1. Demonstrate Academic Competence: While medical schools are more flexible with prerequisites, academic competence is still crucial. Ensure you meet the required coursework and aim for competitive GPA and MCAT scores. If you have a very poor grade in a relevant course, consider retaking that class. I often work with candidates who failed, for instance, BioChem, and took that class again years later and earned an ‘A.’ This helps to support their narrative that, back then, they were immature and unprepared, but now they are capable of handling demanding work. If you do have academic (or other) missteps that you feel you need to explain, check out this video. It was made for MBA students, but the basic ideas hold true for medical school applicants as well!

  1. Gain Relevant Experience: Non-traditional applicants should seek out clinical or research experience to demonstrate their commitment to medicine. This can include volunteering at hospitals, shadowing physicians, or participating in medical research projects.

  1. Leverage Networking and Mentorship: Building relationships with mentors, medical professionals, and alumni can provide valuable guidance and support during the application process. Networking can also lead to letters of recommendation and other resources.

Medical schools are increasingly open to applicants with non-traditional backgrounds, recognizing the value they bring to the medical field. These applicants offer diverse perspectives, mature and resilient mindsets, strong interpersonal skills, and broader skill sets. While non-traditional applicants may face unique challenges, medical schools are adapting to create more inclusive and supportive pathways.

With the right preparation and approach, non-traditional applicants can make a compelling case for their place in medical school and ultimately become valuable contributors to the healthcare industry.

For more help with your personal statement, check us out at Gurufi.com. Our personal statement editors and consultants have decades of experience helping clients get into top medical schools. Our specialty is helping you craft compelling personal statements that move the needle in your admissions process! For questions, shoot us an email at service@gurufi.com. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.