© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 1 of 7
2025 Work and Activities Guide for Applicants
This guide reviews the Work and Activities section of the American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®)
application for the 2025 cycle and provides instructions for entering “Completed” and “Anticipated” experience
hours. Information for first-time applicants and reapplicants, as well as examples, are included.
Overview
The Work and Activities section is designed to give applicants the opportunity to include any work or
extracurricular activities that they would like to bring to the attention of the medical schools where they are
applying. Applicants can add up to fifteen (15) entries and will be prompted to summarize each experience in
700 characters.
Applicants are asked to identify up to three (3) experiences that they consider the “most meaningful.” If
applicants have two or more entries, they must identify at least one as the most meaningful. When
considering which experiences are the most meaningful, applicants might consider the transformative nature
of the experience: the impact they made while engaging in the activity, what they learned, and the personal
growth they experienced as a result of their participation.
Applicants may also separately list experiences they have not completed yet and indicate the number of
hours they anticipate spending on these activities.
Work and Activities for the 2025 Application Cycle
The Work and Activities section of the AMCAS application enables both "Completed” and “Anticipated”
experiences and related hours to be recorded separately. This feature allows applicants to distinguish
previous, ongoing, and planned new activities in their applications.
Within the Work and Activities section of the AMCAS application, applicants will see separate data entry
sections for “Completed Hours” and “Anticipated Hours.”
Guidance for Work & Activities Entry
• You can add up to 15 entries
• You will need to enter the start and end date for each experience
• You will need to enter the total hours for each experience
• You will be asked to identify up to 3 entries as most meaningful
• If you have two or more entries, you are required to designate at least one as the “most meaningful”
• You can enter 3 additional date ranges for repeated activities
Completed vs. Anticipated Work/Activities
*Note: “Current month” in the instructions below is defined as of the month/year that you complete and
submit your application.
• “Completed” experiences are activities that you have finished
o A “Completed” activity cannot have a start or end date in the future – the end date must be
the current month* or earlier
© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 2 of 7
• “Anticipated” experiences are activities that you have not yet started but plan to participate in; they
will begin after you have submitted your application
o An “Anticipated” activity could be:
▪ An entirely new future experience
▪ An upcoming, planned experience that is a continuation of a “Completed” experience
o An “Anticipated” activity cannot have a date in the past – the start date must be the current
month* or later and the latest end date can be August of the matriculating/following year
(August 2025)
o Note:
▪ You cannot input anticipated hours for the following experience types (they are not
options for these experience types):
• Honors/Awards, Conference, Publications, Presentation
▪ An anticipated experience cannot be a most meaningful experience
Entering Work and Activities
Note: There are three (3) ways your experiences can be recorded within the Completed and Anticipated
categories.
How do I enter Completed Experiences?
• Enter your completed experience information under the “Completed Hours” section
o Enter the month and year you started the experience for the “Start Date”
o Enter the month and year you concluded the experience for the “End Date”
o Note: date ranges cannot have future dates
▪ Start date must be the current month* or earlier
▪ End date cannot go beyond the month and year the information is entered (the
month/year that you submit your application)
o Enter the total hours completed during the date range entered in the “Completed Hours” field
• If you participated in an experience more than once, select “Yes” under the “Repeated” field for that
particular entry
• You may enter up to three (3) additional date ranges and you must include the number of hours
completed for each of those date ranges
© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 3 of 7
Figure 1: Completed Work/Activity, Including Repeated
How do I enter Anticipated Experiences?
You will need to complete both the Completed and Anticipated Hours sections to indicate an Anticipated
experience that is either a) a continuation of a current experience (an existing/ongoing experience), or b)
an entirely new experience.
How do I indicate an upcoming experience that is a continuation of a completed experience vs. a new
future experience?
Existing/Ongoing Experiences – activities you have already started and will be continuing during your
application cycle (existing experiences for which you plan to complete additional hours in the future – i.e.,
continuation of a current or completed experience)
• Hours will be divided within the same experience entry to indicate which hours have been completed and
which hours are anticipated as future hours (you will need to fill out both the “Completed Hours” and
“Anticipated Hours” sections)
© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 4 of 7
• Under the “Completed Hours” section, enter your completed experience information (note: date ranges
cannot have future dates)
o Enter the month and year you began the experience for the “Start Date”
▪ Start date must be the current month* or earlier
o Enter the month and year you concluded the experience for the “End Date”
▪ End date cannot go beyond the month and year the information is entered (the
month/year that you submit your application)
o Enter the total hours completed during the date range entered in the “Completed Hours” field
• Select “Yes” for “Do you anticipate completing any hours for this experience in the future?”
• Under the “Anticipated Hours” section, enter your anticipated experience information
o Enter the month and year you plan to begin the experience for the “Start Date”
▪ The start date must be the current month* or later
o Enter the month and year you plan to conclude the experience for the “End Date”
▪ The latest end date must be no later than August of the matriculating/following year
(August 2025)
o Enter the total hours you plan to engage in this activity during the date range entered in the
“Anticipated Hours” field
© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 5 of 7
Figure 2: Anticipated Work/Activity for a Continuation of a Completed Experience (Not a New Future Experience)
How do I enter a planned experience I have not yet started?
Experiences Not Yet Started – a planned new activity that is not a continuation of an existing activity
• To access the “Anticipated” section, you must first enter a date range (cannot be future dates) and zero
(0) hours under the “Completed” section
• Under the “Competed Hours” section
o Enter the current month* for both the start and end dates in the “Completed” section
o Enter 0 (zero) in the “Completed Hours” field
▪ By filling out the “Completed” section this way, you are communicating that the
experience will begin after the current month*. Then, the “Anticipated” section will be
available to fill out as follows
• Select “Yes” for “Do you anticipate completing any hours for this experience in the future?”
• Under the “Anticipated Hours” section
o Enter the current month* and year or later for the “Start Date” (cannot be a date in the past)
o Enter the month and year you plan to conclude the experience for the “End Date”
▪ The latest end date must be no later than August of the matriculating/following year
(August 2025)
o Enter the total hours you expect to fulfill for this activity in the “Anticipated Hours” field
© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 6 of 7
Figure 3: Anticipated Work/Activity for a New Future Experience (a Planned Experience Not Yet Started)
What do I do if I’m a reapplicant?
• Reapplicant work/activities will roll over from the previous application cycle into the “Completed” section
• Review and edit all the rolled over work/activities entries to ensure they are categorized correctly
o Separate “Completed” and “Anticipated” date ranges and hours as needed (to reflect changes
since your previous AMCAS application)
© 2024 AAMC. May not be reproduced without permission
Page 7 of 7
• Entries requiring correction will have an orange icon indicator, as shown in the screenshot below
• Click on the “Edit” icon to review and update the entries for each work/activity
• Update the date ranges in the “Completed Hours” section
• Select “Yes” or “No” for the new Anticipated Hours prompt (“Do you anticipate completing any hours for
this experience in the future?”)
• Complete the “Anticipated” section per the instructions above
Figure 4: Reapplicant Work/Activity Entries Requiring Correction (Noted via Orange Indicator)
Reference the 2025 AMCAS Applicant Guide for additional information.
