Have I been misinformed about projected hours?

[dihedralsymmetry]

I was told as a young naive premed by a medical student at a T20 that projected hours were fine, especially for clinical hours if I had a hard time getting them during undergrad, and to focus on my grades/MCAT/research while in school. They said "you can easily rack up 2000 hours during your gap year, and can project those on your application, so don't worry about them as much until then," especially in the wake of the pandemic. I've been hearing more recently though that projected hours are meaningless and that adcoms barely consider them or ignore them altogether, so I would love to get a true answer if anyone knows. Thankfully, I have ~250 completed clinical hours which should be enough, but I don't want to incorrectly advise any young premeds that come to me for help.

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[GoSpursGo]

Yes, you were profoundly misinformed. Projected hours are almost meaningless, because even if most applicants are being honest and actually do the things that they say that they're going to do in a gap year, enough have plans change that it becomes frustrating if you invite someone to interview based on projected experiences only to find that they did something totally different.

Applicants should not apply until they have accumulated all of the requirements for admission, and that includes relevant clinical experience.

 

[DPTtoMD23]

I believe the old AMCAS application used to let you extend the end date of any activity, allowing you to 'project' hours in the future and thereby bulking up the number of total hours. Since the previous cycle, the application does not allow you to project the end date beyond the day you are applying, so you will enter the number of hours you have completed as of that date. You can then add expected continued hours in that activity, but I'm guessing those aren't as impactful on admissions decisions. To be honest, no admissions committee will 100% trust that an applicant will complete 2k hours of an activity that you have only done 250 hours in.

 

[GoSpursGo]

What about projected hours on an activity I'm currently doing?

You could hit submit one day and get fired the next day, or just stop doing the activity because you got busy writing your secondary essays, or any number of things. If you're fishing for reassurance that continuing to do things during your gap year is helpful, then sure it probably carries some nominal amount of weight, but it's going to be taken with a giant fistful of salt.

Again, applicants should not apply until they have accumulated all of the requirements for admission. Anything they get beyond when they hit submit should be seen as them improving their application just in case they wind up needing to reapply

 

[a_distant_dream]

I believe the old AMCAS application used to let you extend the end date of any activity, allowing you to 'project' hours in the future and thereby bulking up the number of total hours. Since the previous cycle, the application does not allow you to project the end date beyond the day you are applying, so you will enter the number of hours you have completed as of that date. You can then add expected continued hours in that activity, but I'm guessing those aren't as impactful on admissions decisions. To be honest, no admissions committee will 100% trust that an applicant will complete 2k hours of an activity that you have only done 250 hours in.

I think this is spot-on. Projected vs completed starting with AMCAS 2023 kills all ambiguity regarding the distribution of hours. No more shenanigans like putting down 540 hours for an activity from Mar-Aug when it's really 5 hr/wk for Mar-May and projecting full-time for Jun-Aug.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your application is a snapshot of your activities at the time you submit. We won't consider future hours. Screeners and admissions committee members are not fortune-tellers or great readers of trends. We know that so many things can disrupt your plans that you might not complete your plans as you intended.

 

[jhmmd]

Your application is a snapshot of your activities at the time you submit. We won't consider future hours. Screeners and admissions committee members are not fortune-tellers or great readers of trends. We know that so many things can disrupt your plans that you might not complete your plans as you intended.

Yeah I think it's time to do away with projected hours. This is a vestige of COVID. One could write about projected hours in the "is there anything else that you would like us to know" section, but otherwise anyone can make up their entire application (or even most of it), based upon things that they're "planning" on doing in the future.

 

[dihedralsymmetry]

Thanks everyone for your input. I think the main reason was because of the old AMCAS application allowing people to get away with it, but good to know.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yeah I think it's time to do away with projected hours. This is a vestige of COVID. One could write about projected hours in the "is there anything else that you would like us to know" section, but otherwise anyone can make up their entire application (or even most of it), based upon things that they're "planning" on doing in the future.

Projected hours was always available as one could have put them in for whatever reason: otherwise, listing an ongoing or planned activity was fine. I just think it really encouraged applicants to delay submitting than it should. It also caused applicants to freak out if their plans never materialized.

I agree that you could elaborate for "anything else".

 

[RuggedShark]

Your application is a snapshot of your activities at the time you submit. We won't consider future hours. Screeners and admissions committee members are not fortune-tellers or great readers of trends. We know that so many things can disrupt your plans that you might not complete your plans as you intended.

If I'm going to participate in an organized summer research program, should I mention that in my activities? I know projected hours don't count, but I don't have a lot of research experience thus far and I want to at least get a mention of it in there.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You should mention it as a planned activity, though I am not sure you should use a W/A slot for it.

 

[RuggedShark]

You should mention it as a planned activity, though I am not sure you should use a W/A slot for it.

Thank you, it's at the same lab where I currently am though I'll be full-time and more independent instead of a day-a-week volunteer.