Logging Your Pre-Med Experiences

Have you taken a look at the Perks section of the website? [p.s., I learned how to embed this weekend, so this post may be full of them! Sorry, not sorry!] The first perk which was a checklist of things you should be doing as a pre-med student to stay on track for the admission process. In addition to classes which are tough enough, there are a lot of extracurricular things you should be doing to make yourself the strongest applicant possible. And you need to get credit for every. single. one. of. them. I know you’re bustin’ your butt to volunteer, get medical exposure, work, do research, etc. You don’t want to accidentally leave any of that off on your AMCAS application because you forgot about it because it was sooooo long ago and has been replaced in your memory by microbiology, physics, and anatomy. Don’t worry, I have a solution; hopefully it’s one your pre-med advisor already told you about, but let’s drive the point home. 

You’ve probably heard it said: “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” Okay, maybe you haven’t heard that before but I love it and think it’s fitting for today’s post. Because that’s what we’re talking about, making you the most prepared to fill out your AMCAS application accurately because you’ve been tracking your experiences all along.

As we get closer to the AMCAS application opening (May 3) if you’re applying this cycle, you will soon find yourself knee-deep in the process of logging important activities you’ve done as a pre-med student into this application. This process is either going to be a matter of copying information from one document to another or racking your brain trying to remember everything you’ve done in the last 2-3 years that someone on an admissions committee may care to know. I personally can’t even go to the grocery store on a Sunday morning without a list and remember what I need in my house. When I do, I get home and usually realize that I don’t have granola, toilet paper, dog food, or something else important. The grocery store is literally within walking distance from my house so it’s okay if my memory fails me and I forget something, I can go back easily. It is NOT okay for you to forget important activities on your application! Your memory may be much better than mine, but let’s not rely on that. If you’re a freshman, you’re in luck- you just started this journey so start logging now and keep track of everything over the next few years. If you’re a junior or senior and applying in this cycle, don’t freak out- you still have some time to think about things you’ve done the last few years and get them down before the application opens. 

The AMCAS application is major (I’ll break it down in the next post). The last thing you want is to be thinking of activities on the fly when you’re already a little bit overwhelmed by the process. You also want to get it completed and submitted as soon as possible in order to maximize your chances of getting interviews. But it needs to be complete before you turn it in, not just rushed through to say you’re done.

Here are some tips to logging your activities. 

Sort your experiences into sections

On section 5 of the AMCAS, you’ll include information about your experiences. There will be a drop down of experience types that you will choose from. They are listed below. It may be a good idea to start organizing your experiences into these categories to make the transition to your application easier in the future.

I’m considering making a template for this that you can enter information into and that will be the next perk. That will require me to be a little more savvy with technology than I currently am, but I’m working on it. Stay tuned!

Include some information about the experience

You’ll need to include the experience name, start and end date, average hours/week, the organization name, the location, and the name of a contact person on the application. It’s best to include all of that in real time so you’re not scrambling later. And don’t just jot down what you did but also include a description. What did you learn? What impact did you have? Will anything about the experience make you a better person, medical student, or physician? In the application, you’ll be asked to designate experiences you find the most meaningful and you’ll have space (1325 characters) to describe these experiences; you don’t want to be making up stuff because you can’t remember what actually happened, so write it down to jog your memory for later. 

Update it regularly

You should add new events as you do them, that’s the best way to not forget them later. At a minimum, go back at least once a month and review everything you have down and make sure you haven’t left anything off. If you do this often enough, you won’t have to second-guess yourself at all when it comes time to actually fill out the application. 

Consider what it important and what is not important for you application

Remember that medical schools are interested in quality over quantity. This isn’t a contest of how many lines you can fill on the application. Everything you do doesn’t belong on your application. Remember the earlier post about meaningful experiences, that’s what you need to include in your application. As you start out, you may find it easier to include everything and then you can go back later and decide with your pre-med advisor or mentor what should be included. *Keep in mind that everything you do (especially if it’s something you do for others) is important. It just may not have a place on your application.

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I’m one of those people on the admissions committee who reads every word of every letter of recommendation. It blows my mind how often I read about these amazing things the applicant did that the letter writer included but the student didn’t even mention in their application. What if you happen upon a reviewer who only skims the LORs and misses something great that you did because you forgot to include it in your application?? Don’t leave that to chance. Start keeping track of your experiences early and update it often. If you do this, when the times comes to complete your AMCAS, I think you’ll be very very glad you did. 

Have you been logging your pre-med experiences? Do you have any suggestions for others on a way to track this? If so, please include in the comments below. As always, I’m happy to answer any questions you may have! Feel free to email me!