The AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experiences are essentially the most significant experiences that stand out among the other activities you add in your AMCAS application (required for all medical school applications in the US, except Texas). In your AMCAS Work and Activities, you are asked to provide up to 15 employment, research, volunteer, and extracurricular activities. You can identify a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 as “most meaningful experiences.” We discuss the fundamentals of the AMCAS Work and Activities section elsewhere, so in this article, we pay special attention to these “most meaningful experiences.” While all of the AMCAS Work and Activities entries are significant in the overall evaluation of your application, the most important aspect of the Work and Activities section are these “most meaningful experiences.”
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What is a “Most Meaningful” Experience?
You can add up to three AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experience entries in your medical school application. What differentiates these "most meaningful experiences" from the other AMCAS Work and Activities entries? These are experiences that had a particular impact on your growth, development, and professionalization, or that were particularly transformative or impactful.
While each entry is given 700 characters (including spaces), these “most meaningful experiences” are allotted an additional 1325 characters (again, including spaces). This area is not intended to be used to simply describe more details of the position or activity; rather, it is meant to be a more reflective, contemplative narrative that highlights the ways in which these experiences enriched your life, the lives of others, and your overall perspective on your journey to becoming a doctor. These experiences can range from paid hospital work experience and medical research hours to non-medical volunteer experience and hobbies suitable for your AMCAS application. Just remember, this isn’t the place for an expanded CV; it’s a place to demonstrate the key qualities you’ve developed and how they have contributed to your suitability for the profession.
Interested in seeing the BEST AMCAS work and activities description examples?
Reflect on each individual experience to determine which is the most meaningful. In particular, you should consider these experiences in light of the AAMC Core Competencies and the general qualities and non-cognitive skills sought in aspiring medical professionals. Such qualities in applicants include social responsibility, cultural sensitivity, leadership, management, compassion, altruism, initiative, cooperation, collaboration, professionalism, empathy, communication skills, and so on.
You should also think through the common question, "Why do you want to be a doctor?" and consider how the above qualities connect to your own goals as a future professional. You can begin narrowing down your list of experiences based on this, to come up with a “short list” of potential “most meaningful” experiences.
What qualifies as meaningful is subjective – which experiences were “most meaningful” to you? While you want to think strategically, so that you’re clearly articulating experiences that reflect the kinds of qualities medical programs are seeking, you also need to be authentic. The reviewers will be able to tell if you are inflating a particular entry simply because it “looks good.” Think honestly about where you’ve gone, what you’ve done, and what you’ve learned.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself:
- Which experiences left you feeling transformed (either immediately, or in retrospect)?
- Which experiences genuinely made you feel like you were making a difference or contributing in a meaningful way?
- Which experiences radically shifted your perspectives or priorities?
- Which experiences have truly made you who you are today?
If you’re speaking from a place of authenticity and effectively conveying these ideas, it will be very clear why those are the experiences you’ve chosen to isolate as “most meaningful.” In many cases, the most impressive-sounding roles may not be the “most meaningful.” Maybe you were president of a large club on campus, or a member of the Model UN. That’s great! However, it’s entirely possible that a position handing out meals at a free kitchen, or volunteering to run weekly activities at a retirement community, had a much more deep and meaningful impact on who you are as an aspiring med school student and as a person.
What Criteria Should You Use When Selecting the “Most Meaningful Experiences”?
Many applicants struggle with deciding what experiences are the most meaningful. Either they have too many ideas and aren’t sure which will make the greatest impact, or they’re concerned that they don’t have any relevant experiences. It’s important to highlight that there’s really no such thing as a wrong most meaningful experience. There is, however, such thing as an optimal choice. Consider the following rubric to help make your selection easier:
AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #1: Stand Out From the Crowd
The experiences that you list can be of all sorts – health care-related positions, scholarship activities, experiences abroad or overseas, volunteer efforts, leadership opportunities, extracurricular or artistic pursuits, etc. – and the experiences designated “most meaningful” can also be in any category. Consider the following to help you stand out from the crowd:
The experiences that you list can be of all sorts – healthcare related positions, scholarship activities, experiences abroad or overseas, volunteer efforts, leadership opportunities, extracurricular or artistic pursuits, etc. – and the experiences designated “most meaningful” can also be in any category. It’s not necessarily best, for example, to devote all three “most meaningful” experiences to paid employment in a healthcare setting, simply for the sake of demonstrating that you’ve worked in a medical environment in multiple contexts, because you think that will stand out to the admissions committee. While at least one or two of these experiences can be related to the field of medicine, it’s important to note that they do not all need to be healthcare-related. You can highlight non-medical activities if you want to show depth and breadth and to highlight your well-roundedness as a candidate. You should be able to articulate the meaning behind your experiences in a concise and compelling manner.
Remember, most applicants will have strong academic accomplishments, experience in a healthcare setting, volunteer experience, etc. – it is well-known that these things are all necessary for a competitive application. So, you need to think about what is going to make you stand out in a vast sea of similarly or equally qualified applicants. What is key is that you develop a compelling narrative that demonstrates what you’ve learned, how you’ve grown, and what impact you made in each experience, and that you do so in a way that highlights the qualities sought in future medical professionals.
AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #2: It’s a Story, Not a List
One great way to demonstrate the meaningfulness of your experience is to create a vignette – a brief illustration or description that captures a particularly poignant, representative moment or experience. First, let’s look at a sample entry of 700 characters (with spaces), which we’ll explore as a “most meaningful experience” later:
Title: Volunteer Resident Attendant, XYZ Retirement Community
Description: XYZ Retirement Community aims to provide varying levels of care for residents in their retirement. With Assisted Living, Independent Living, and Intensive Care units, they offer a dynamic model that cares for residents throughout their senior years. For 3 years, I acted as a Resident Attendant, helping residents to daily meals, providing transport to events within the facility, running small errands, and providing companionship to residents. In this position, I was able to provide support to nurses’ aides during busy times of the day and encourage residents to stay active and social by attending communal meals, games of Bingo, afternoon movies, and other recreational activities. (687 characters, with spaces)
This is a pretty standard AMCAS Work and Activities entry. Now, let’s look at how we can expand this as a “most meaningful experience.”
1. Avoid being too literal
One of the biggest mistakes students make in composing their “most meaningful” entries is to approach the discussion of qualities in a very literal way. For example, many first drafts will be full of statements like this:
In my Volunteer Resident Attendant position at XYZ Retirement Community, I learned to be compassionate, mature, and professional. My communication skills were also highly valued by my peers and superiors. This experience truly transformed me in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined.
While it is clear that this individual developed (or, at least, believes they developed) compassion, maturity, professionalism, and communication skills in this transformative position, such a passage doesn’t actually demonstrate such qualities at all, let alone in a way that will make an impression on the reader. In essence, it is merely saying, “Trust me, I have these qualities,” and that is, quite simply, not good enough.
2. Craft a story
A much more effective (and engaging!) tactic is to craft a story about your experience. Most people love a good narrative and working this into your “most meaningful” experiences is possible, even with the small amount of space you’re given. Every good story needs a clear beginning, middle, and end. If you’re describing a clinical experience, discuss a patient whom you found memorable, or a clinical case you thought was interesting. A good story also needs stakes and emotional consequences. Meaningful experiences should show transformation and learning, and that you gained a perspective or skill relevant to your medical school journey and life in general.
3. Get feedback early
Start early and get expert feedback. Saying so much in so few words takes a lot of time (as Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”), and it requires a professional eye to ensure your meaning is effectively articulated. Using brief stories of real-life experiences through descriptive prose that show the readers how you developed the qualities you’re highlighting will both ensure that you are maximizing the potential of these entries and providing a pleasant reading experience for the application reviewers. Remember, they will review hundreds, if not thousands, of these; a genuinely engaging, well-written, and thoughtful reflection on meaningful experiences will help them appreciate your application on multiple levels.
Want more tips on writing your AMCAS Work and Activities section?
AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #3: Show, Don’t Tell
Just as you must avoid simply listing qualities, you must also avoid assuming that the person reviewing your entries will automatically understand the significance of an experience, interaction, or event – let alone understand this significance in the same way as you. To demonstrate your strengths through your narrative, you’ll want to employ the “show, don’t tell” strategy. That is to say, don’t just “tell” the reviewer that you developed a particular quality, skill, or characteristic; rather, “show” them how that development took place. Let’s look again at the passage above:
In my Volunteer Resident Attendant position at XYZ Retirement Community, I learned to be compassionate, mature, and professional. My communication skills were also highly valued by my peers and superiors. This experience truly transformed me in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined.
Let’s review what makes this a BAD example:
- Nothing has been shown: you need evidence that you developed traits like compassion and maturity. Why should anyone believe you otherwise? Your goal should be to imply these traits through the description of explicit actions you took in each setting or scenario.
- No narrative structure: there’s no beginning, middle, or end to this entry. How did you begin this experience? What significant moments did it entail, and what did you learn from them?
- There are more questions than answers: when medical schools process the most meaningful experiences, they’re really looking for answers to the question, “what makes this experience meaningful and how is this relevant to your professional development?” Currently, there’s nothing in the above description that suggests an answer to this question.
Now, let’s consider a GOOD example with a “show, don’t tell” approach:
I still recall the cool morning of April 10. I arrived for my shift at XYZ Retirement Community 30 minutes early, so I could visit Agnes as I had every Friday for 2 years. Despite our age difference, we forged a deep friendship, which we nurtured with morning tea each week. She was a great storyteller and her age gave her wisdom and perspective; she always emphasized the importance of kindness, reminding me of the struggles all people face. Looking forward to another chat, I tapped on her door that April morning. As I entered, I saw Agnes still in bed and clearly unwell. I wanted to fall apart, but I knew I needed to pull through for her. I quickly called the nurses and aides and carefully detailed what I’d seen; with this information, they quickly assessed her and arranged her transport to the hospital. We never got to have our final tea that day, but there was love in her eyes as she was whisked away. I realized, in that moment, both the strength and fragility of those who will rely on my care. I also learned that in moments when I may want to panic or get swept up in emotion, I can stay even-headed and help other experts perform effectively. In the end, Agnes taught me so much about the world and my responsibilities to others, and I hope to share her kindness in my role as a future physician. (1324 characters, with spaces)
What makes this example good?
- It makes better use of space: note that the standard description of the position at XYZ Retirement Community has been provided in the initial 700 characters, so the extra 1325 characters provides space to really bring the evaluator into the applicant’s experience, to help them see how such key characteristics developed.
- Context is given: in this extended example, compassion, maturity, professionalism, and skillful communication are all highlighted effectively via a contextual narrative that is genuinely engaging to read.
- Actions speak for themselves: the entry takes one meaningful set of interactions and allows this to speak for a wealth of important qualities sought in medical school applicants. It is clear to the reader that this was a truly transformative experience, without directly reading the words, “This experience truly transformed me in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined.” Through a story of a meaningful friendship cut unexpectedly short, this narrative shows the applicant’s transformation, rather than just telling the reader that there was a transformation.
AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #4: Don’t Delay - Complete a Draft and Then Walk Away
Crafting a compelling narrative takes time; there’s no easy way around that. The extended description provided above took a couple of hours, walking away at the end of one day and returning to it again the next -- and I do this for a living! In that time, it went through several edits and re-writes, with the language, tone, pace, and even terminology carefully considered for maximum impact.
AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #5: Get Expert Feedback
Our fifth best writing tip is to get expert feedback, and to do so early, so that you have time to make any necessary corrections. Again, when reading your own words, it’s easy to skip over little grammatical inconsistencies, but an expert will spot them immediately and give you feedback on how to correct them.
Consider the benefits of having an expert provide feedback on your most meaningful experiences:
This is why we offer application review packages that include review of your AMCAS Work and Activities entries, and medical school personal statement, as well as strategy sessions with our admissions experts to ensure your examples and experiences are as impactful as possible before you dedicate hours to composing them and editing them, with us providing feedback and reflection along the way!
AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences Samples
Sample #1
Experience Type: Community Service/Volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical
Experience Name: Volunteer Tutor
Contact Name & Title: Mrs. Sally Mendoza
Contact Email: [email protected]
Contact Phone: 478024849
Organization Name: New Hope Education
City/State/Country: San Francisco / California / United States
Most Meaningful Experience: Yes
Dates: 10/20XX – 02/20XX
Total Hours: 3000
Experience Description: The New Hope Education organization seeks to provide expert tutoring to at-risk children from underserved communities, with the aim of helping them earn their high school diplomas. I taught Math, English, and Biology to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. After a year of tutoring, I was also given the opportunity to customize my own curriculum and create individual lesson plans. (394 characters, with spaces)
Most Meaningful Experience Remarks: I joined New Hope Education because I am passionate about ensuring equal access to quality education for students from different backgrounds and communities. In all my classes, over 80% of students struggled with some form of learning disability or mental illness and had no idea how to deal with it. Initially, it was extremely challenging to work with young people with such different requirements, who were understandably resistant to learning based on their previous negative experiences. I experimented with different ways to get through to the students. One of my most effective techniques was to set aside some time after every class to talk through students’ personal struggles, so that they could feel safe and comfortable in the classroom. For me, this was an enlightening and humbling experience that helped me build my empathy, communication, and problem-solving skills. In 2018, I ran a corporate fundraising campaign that added 30,000 USD to the annual budget of New Hope Education. One of my proudest moments was when 100% of the students in my last class earned their high school diplomas, and a few even chose to return to New Hope Education as volunteer tutors. This experience cemented my desire to continue to build my talents, skills, and empathy to better help underserved communities. (1306 characters, with spaces)
Sample #2
Experience Type: Research/Lab
Experience Name: Research Assistant at Francis Labs
Contact Name & Title: Dr. Martin Francis, Principal Investigator
Contact Email: [email protected]
Contact Phone: 38299011
Organization Name: Biochemistry Department, SCTP
City/State/Country: San Francisco / California / United States
Most Meaningful Experience: Yes
Dates: 09/20XX – 03/20XX
Total Hours: 2050
Experience Description: The aim of the project was to develop a new drug to treat viral infections by introducing chemical enzymes. I was involved in different stages of the project from in vitro experimentation to clinical trials. We tested the efficacy of the treatment on human tissue cells as well as mice tissue cells. I developed a solution that enabled the enzyme to dissolve and be carried to target receptor cells. Additionally, I was in charge of maintaining project results and protocols and training new staff members. (506 characters, with spaces)
Most Meaningful Experience Remarks: This project was crucial to helping me identify my career goal of pursuing an MD/PhD. Working on the initial in vitro experimentation stage, I had to analyze, synthesize, and communicate my findings. I was quickly recognized as the most skilled sub-investigator from the team; I also discovered that I derived great satisfaction from medical research. As the project progressed, more challenges came my way, and the pressure also increased. When put in charge of testing different enzyme carrier solutions, I eagerly took up the task, as I wanted to try out my new skills in a leadership role. What followed was a period of intense challenge and daily struggles as our team faced failure more often than success. Looking back, I consider this a formative period of my life because I gained a true understanding of the medical research process. Though faced with doubts and confusion, I eventually realized that in medical research, both positive and negative results are inevitable and equally important sources of information. I then decided to diversify my diagnostic methods and applied new glucose synthesis techniques I had read about in the New England Journal of Medicine. By the end of the 5th semester, we gained the meaningful results we sought. I consider this one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. (1321 characters, with spaces)
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Sample #3
Experience Type: Extracurricular Activities
Experience Name: Debate Club at X University
Contact Name & Title: Dr. Jared Shiller
Contact Email: [email protected]
Contact Phone: 2231133445
Organization Name: Philosophy Department
City/State/Country: Waterloo / Ontario / Canada
Most Meaningful Experience: Yes
Dates: 09/20XX-04/20XX
Total Hours: 300
Experience Description: Debate club was comprised of approximately 25 undergraduate students. Members of the club would meet twice a week when we weren’t preparing for a competition, and up to five times a week at one-hour intervals when we were competing. The National Tournament is a yearly event hosted by our university, in which the top schools from all over the country compete. Last year, when our team placed third overall, I was part of the nominated group of four to represent the team. (469 characters, with spaces)
Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks: When I joined the debate club, my goal was to improve my communication and public speaking skills, as I’ve always been incredibly nervous standing in front of my classmates for presentations. In one of my first sessions, the coach asked me to argue the affirmative case for moral realism. I took the stage and in a tremulous, hesitant voice, made my case. When I left the stage and the sound of chatter resumed, the coach took me aside and expressed how impressed he was with my performance. He asked if I would want to try out for the main team; not knowing how to say no, I agreed, even though I was worried I’d be too anxious to compete. I went to the student wellness centre the next day; the counsellor gave me a few strategies to help me overcome my presentation anxiety. The first was to transfer my nervous energy into enthusiasm, and the second was to prepare my material so I can be confident. During one of our first events, I was so nervous sitting in front of an audience, waiting my turn to make our team’s secondary argument. I had the final word on the negative of “does vandalism have a place in public protest?” When I felt the anxiety start to rise, I remembered what the counsellor said: “embrace the anxiety, and turn it into enthusiasm.” After my turn, they announced that “X university” had won. From this experience, I learned that it’s okay to rely on other people in times of need, and that strong preparation is the best way to be confident in uncertain situations. (1493 characters, with spaces)
Sample #4
Experience Type: Intercollegiate Athletics
Experience Name: Track & Field Team
Contact Name & Title: Coach Janice Davis
Contact Email: [email protected]
Contact Phone: 9092371109
Organization Name: X University Athletics
City/State/Country: Thunder Bay / Ontario / Canada
Most Meaningful Experience: Yes
Dates: 03/20XX-08/20XX
Total Hours: 115
Experience Description: I’ve been an athlete for most of my life, but running was new for me. I used to compete as a speed skater throughout elementary and high school, but when I broke my ankle in training, I was forced to give up the sport indefinitely. Years after I recovered and desperate to scratch that competitive itch, my roommate suggested I try track and field sprinting. After practicing on my own for a few months, I decided to try out for the university team. (463 characters, with spaces)
Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks: Coming back from an injury was the most difficult part of returning to athletics. I was also a skater, not a runner, and the skills weren’t as transferrable as I thought they would be. I made the team that season, but I was one of the slowest runners in my heat. I was nervous about injuring myself again or pushing myself too hard when I had so much to lose. Being last in most of our team practices was initially humiliating, but I eventually learned to take the experience in stride. I started training more and working on my mechanics after everyone had left practice. I was the first to show up and the last to leave. I started completing my coursework more efficiently and scheduling classes to optimize my training. In my very first competition, in which I was competing in the 50, 100, and 200 m dash, I placed 5th, 6th, and 3rd, respectively. Even though the results weren’t what I’d hoped, I was proud of my ability to persist and learn from my mistakes and failures. As a prospective medical doctor, there will be times of frustration and conflict. In these moments, it will be important to focus on improving and being resourceful to persevere. (1157 characters, with spaces)
Sample #5
Experience Type: Paid Employment – Not Medical/Clinical
Experience Name: Children’s Dance Instructor
Contact Name & Title: Ms. Stacy Spencer
Contact Email: [email protected]
Contact Phone: 3348766564
Organization Name: Reset Dance Academy
City/State/Country: Pittsburgh / Pennsylvania / United States
Most Meaningful Experience: Yes
Dates: 1/20XX-05/20XX
Total Hours: 2500
Experience Description: I started dancing when I was nine, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. I was hired at Reset Dance Academy as a dance instructor for girls between the ages of 8–16 competing in ballet, musical theater, and contemporary dance. As an instructor, it was my job to coordinate large classes of up to 20 students of advanced and amateur levels and work with them on drills, stretches, mechanics, and choreography for competitions and academy performances. For the younger groups, I was also in charge of costume design and event planning. (537 characters, with spaces)
Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks: A challenging aspect of being a dance instructor was synchronizing my dancers, especially when I was working with younger, distractable children. For one non-competitive group, I recall a young dancer named Kyla who was struggling to get the moves right in a particular sequence for an upcoming show. After multiple sessions of trying to demonstrate how the move should be performed, she still wasn’t finding success. Despite my encouragement, she felt frustrated and wanted to drop out of the competition. Determined to motivate and show her that she was capable of performing, I had her stay after group classes to practice; but, instead of working on the sequence she was having trouble with, we “just had fun” and freestyled to her favorite songs. When we returned to the choreography we had to practice a few days later, she landed and finished the entire sequence with ease. What I realized was that not everyone learns the same way, and sometimes, a new perspective is all you need. This experience taught me to appreciate the diversity of thought and to always look for individualized learning models, as opposed to generalized ones. Seeing my future patients as individuals is an approach I want to refine and apply throughout my learning. (1,249 characters, with spaces)
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FAQs
1. What is the word limit for the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences entries?
You have 700 characters to complete the Experience Description for each activity you add in the AMCAS Work and Activities section. For the “most meaningful” activities, you get an additional 1325 characters to write the Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks.
2. Is the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences section important?
Yes, the AMCAS Work and Activities Most Meaningful Experiences section is a crucial part of your med school application. In fact, this section is placed ahead of your medical school personal statement essay, which means most admissions committees view your extracurricular activities and meaningful experiences before they see your essay. Your meaningful experiences should help the admissions committee members better understand your motivations to study medicine, and what makes you uniquely suited to it.
3. How to select my AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences?
In your AMCAS Work and Activities section, you can add up to 15 entries to document all your extracurricular activities, experiences, and achievements. Out of these, up to 3 can be identified as Most Meaningful Experiences. To identify the “most meaningful” activities, you should take the time to reflect and identify which of the activities means the most to you, personally, and how they might have impacted your journey to med school. You should also consider the AAMC Core Competencies as well as the personal qualities and skills that future doctors should demonstrate, such as commitment to learning, cultural awareness, teamwork and collaboration, empathy, communication skills, and so on. Which of your experiences helped you learn one or more of these competencies? Which of your activities best demonstrates your commitment to medicine? Which of them makes you stand out from the crowd and show your unique suitability for medical school? Take the time to reflect and identify the most impactful experiences and select them accordingly. You can add both medical and non-medical activities in the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences section; but you should ensure that even when writing about non-medical experience, the connection to your medical school journey is clearly communicated.
4. How to write my AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences?
Medical school admissions committees go through thousands of applications every year. To truly stand out, you need to not only have impressive extracurriculars, but you should also be able to describe them effectively in your application. Your AMCAS “most meaningful” experiences should tell a story that grabs the attention of the reader and builds a consistent narrative about your passion for medicine, responsibility, leadership, initiative, empathy, cooperation, and commitment to service. Don’t write your entries in a dry, factual style. This isn’t a resume. Instead, you should include your personal reflections and demonstrate your growth through each experience. Also, add examples of real incidents to explain what you mean, rather than just adding a list of skills or achievements you picked up. Make the connections between your experiences and your motivation to apply for med school. Most importantly, write authentically about experiences that significantly changed your life. Admissions committees can see through pretension, and they value honesty and integrity in applicants. You can check the Samples section of this blog to see some examples of well-written AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences.
5. In what order will the experiences appear in the AMCAS Work and Activities section?
Your experiences are automatically arranged in chronological order. However, if required, admissions committees can rearrange them as per their own preference.
6. Can I include the same activities in my AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences section as I cover in my personal statement essay?
Yes, it’s acceptable to talk about the same experiences in both your personal statement essay and AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences section. In fact, it might look odd if you’ve mentioned a specific experience as life-changing in your personal statement but its not covered at all in the Most Meaningful Experiences section. However, that does not mean you can simply add identical content in both these sections. You’ll have to be briefer and more to the point in the AMCAS Work and Activities section. Focus on highlighting the responsibilities, achievements, growth, and learning you experienced for each experience, and think of a different angle than the one you used in your personal statement. This demonstrates your adaptability and reflective thinking while also building a consistent narrative.
7. How many meaningful experiences do I need to add in the AMCAS Work and Activities section?
You can add a maximum of 15 experiences or activities in the AMCAS Work and Activities section, and for each of them you can add up to 4 occurrences. Out of these 15, you can identify up to 3 experiences as “most meaningful”. However, adding 15 experiences and identifying 3 as “most meaningful” isn’t mandatory. Quality is more important than quantity. If you have only 4-5 experiences, then don’t try to come up with filler entries just to meet the “15” mark. Rather, focus on the existing 5 experiences and talk about them meaningfully and in-depth. If you add more than one experience, you must rank at least 1 of them as “most meaningful”.
8. For the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences, should I list all similar types of entries separately or club them together?
To answer this question, let’s consider an example of hospital volunteer work. If you have completed multiple stints of volunteer work either at the same hospital or in different hospitals, you should ideally combine them into one entry, listing the brief details of each experience along with what you learned. The only reason to add separate entries is if you had an individual volunteering experience that was significantly different in terms of what you learned, your feedback, your achievements etc. If there was one such experience that was special and more meaningful than others, you can add a separate entry and mark it as “most meaningful”. However, if you basically have the same talking points for each of your volunteer experiences, just combine them as one entry. Otherwise, separating them out will just make it look like you are trying to fill up space.
9. Can I include awards/achievements as “most meaningful” experiences in the AMCAS Work and Activities section?
You can mark any of your entries as most meaningful. It’s really up to you. Just make sure you explain clearly why that award or achievement is so meaningful to you. Don’t just add it like a line in your resume. For example, if you were awarded a merit-based research grant in recognition of your innovative research work, don’t just talk about the award criteria and your research. You also need to talk about why the award, specifically, meant so much to you, if you learned something from the entire journey, and how you grew from it. If there’s no significant story behind what the award meant to you, it’s better not to highlight it separately as a “meaningful experience”.
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4 Comments
Samantha Greenblatt
Great article! This was very helpful.
ReplySarah W.
Would you say there is enough space in the regular activities section to use storytelling and "showing"/ interpretation of the event or should these be more summaries / descriptions?
ReplySarah W.
Good afternoon, are weekly draws still occurring?
ReplyAmanda Lopez
Well written examples are hard to come by. Thanks for the detailed advice!
Reply