What Reviewers Look For in the AMCAS Work and Activities — MD
This rubric looks at whether each entry clearly explains your own role, task, observation, qualification, or award basis with specific, supportable details. It also checks that the description fits the kind of experience, uses the available space for useful information, and can stand on its own alongside the other entries.
What We Check
Whether each applicable entry makes the applicant's part identifiable.
Whether each applicable entry supports its central claim with evidence suited to its entry kind and field.
Whether each response unit performs the exact job shown in its supplied experience type and field instruction.
Contradiction, repeated information, and division of work within the submitted response set only.
Mistakes We Flag
- Letting a title do all the work
- A role title, organization, or award name does not show what you actually did or why you received recognition. Name a concrete responsibility, action, observation, qualification, selection basis, or citation when applicable.
- Making broad impact claims
- Phrases such as "made a difference" or "helped many" are too general without a task, recipient, method, or limited consequence. Show the specific work behind the claim.
- Taking credit for a team result
- Do not present an organization’s or group’s outcome as your individual accomplishment. Describe your contribution while keeping other people’s roles clear.
- Using the description to repeat form details
- A standalone total of hours, date range, city, or contact detail uses space that is already covered elsewhere. Keep schedule explanations, grouped-site details, and award nature or frequency when they help answer the description field.
- Turning an entry into a mini essay or school pitch
- These entries need to describe the experience rather than replace that description with a lesson, a why-medicine statement, or an argument for a particular school. The same set of entries is sent to every school you designate.
How this rubric reads your essay
- Built from published reader guidance — the sources are listed below.
- Scored per section against defined criteria, not general impressions.
- Calibrated for consistent scoring, so a better draft shows up in the score.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all of my activities need to relate to medicine?
No. Experiences without a connection to medicine are a normal part of this section.
What should I include in a shadowing or clinical observation entry?
Include what you observed, where you observed it, and the focus of the observation. Naming only the physician and specialty does not explain the experience.
How much space does an AMCAS activity description have?
For the 2027 cycle, each experience description has a maximum of 700 characters, including spaces. If a current limit is shown with a pasted entry, that limit governs that entry.
Can I combine several sites, physicians, or roles in one entry?
Yes. An entry that gathers several sites, physicians, or roles is treated as one account. A per-site or per-role schedule explanation can be useful in a grouped entry.
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