<p>I have noticed some students with impressive applications or resumes at first glance. That is, the length of their resumes are superior and the amount of activities they hold are vast. Do admission committees notice this kind of trick? These activities do sound legitimate to some degree. For example:</p>
<p>Andrew M. Sands Memorial Student Emergency Loan Coordinator
International Mentors</p>
<p>Volunteered for Alternative Spring Break, BEST Robotics, Central United Methodist Church Soup Kitchen, Into the Streets; each of these was done only once…not a regular thing but you can certainly make it seem like it is a regular committment atleast at first glance on resumes/CVs</p>
<p>When you fill out your AMCAS application, you have to list the duration and approx number of hours devoted to each activity. (And contact person so your involvement can be verified if necessary.) So that kind of padding becomes rather obvious.</p>
<p>You also only have 20 slots list everything you’ve done in the past 4+ years (research, shadowing, paid employment, clinical experiences volunteering, etc). Having only 20 slots is fairly restrictive. I would think that unless one’s resume is weak, alot of those puffery kinds of things disappear into the aether instead of getting listed.</p>
<p>It’s hard to see “superior” and “trick” in the same light. A superior resume includes a variety of legit med-related commitments. Ime (and only that,) while there are many activities can show compassion and willingness to contribute, hands-on work that brings health services to the needy, research into health-related issues, work with medical staff, or that at least falls into that sort of experience, is needed. A commitment to those speaks to your commitment to the med profession, shows that you have experienced the context, needs, decision-making, teamwork, etc. And, implies you have done so, successfully, shoulder-to-shoulder with those professionals.</p>