Updated
AMCAS Work and Activities: 2027 Rules and How to Write
For the 2027 cycle, AMCAS Work and Activities holds up to 15 entries, each with a description of up to 700 characters including spaces. You mark up to three as Most Meaningful, and each of those gets 1,325 more characters to say why. Hours and dates are entered as completed or anticipated, and nothing in the section can be changed after you submit.
The AMCAS Work and Activities rules for 2027
The AAMC's 2027 AMCAS Applicant Guide describes the section this way: “The Work/Activities section of the application gives you the opportunity to highlight your work experience, extracurricular activities, awards, honors, and publications you would like to bring to the attention of the medical schools you are applying to.” “You may enter a maximum of 15 experiences and four separate date ranges for recurring experiences.” “This section cannot be edited or updated after the original submission of your application.”
| Rule | 2027 AMCAS |
|---|---|
| Entries | Up to 15 |
| Each description | 700 characters, including spaces |
| Most Meaningful Experiences | Up to three, at least one if you have two or more entries |
| Each Most Meaningful summary | 1,325 more characters, including spaces |
| Date ranges for a repeated experience | Up to three more, with hours for each |
| Latest anticipated end date | August 2027 |
| Edits after you submit | None |
Two more things shape how readers see your entries. “Your work experience and activities will appear on your application in chronological order and may not be rearranged”, but “medical schools sort your entries and view them in a variety of different orders to suit their specific review processes.”
Formatting: plain text only
“Medical schools receive your Work/Activities descriptions as plain text; therefore, formatting options, such as bulleted lists, indented paragraphs, and bold or italic fonts, do not appear for reviewers so are not available.” The guide suggests that you “draft your information in plain text, preferably in text-only word-processing software, such as Microsoft Notepad or Mac TextEdit.”
Names, organizations and contacts
Each entry asks for a name (“Enter the name of the experience or the title you held during the experience.”), an organization, a city and a contact. “Enter the information (title, first and last names, and phone number or email) for a person whom medical schools may contact to verify that the experience occurred.” “If you don’t have information for a contact person, you may enter the name of a person who can verify your participation, including yourself.”
The 19 AMCAS experience types
You choose one type per entry. “Given that the information is self-identified, you must decide which option fits best for each experience.” New for 2027: “The Social Justice/Advocacy experience type has been updated to Community Health Advocacy.” The full list, as the 2027 AMCAS Application Workbook gives it:
All 19 experience types
- Artistic Endeavors
- Community Health Advocacy
- Community Service/Volunteer – Medical/Clinical
- Community Service/Volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical
- Conferences Attended
- Extracurricular Activities
- Hobbies
- Honors/Awards/Recognition
- Intercollegiate Athletics
- Leadership – Not Listed Elsewhere
- Military Service
- Other
- Paid Employment – Medical/Clinical
- Paid Employment – Not Medical/Clinical
- Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation
- Presentations/Posters
- Publications
- Research/Lab
- Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant
Publications go here too. The guide says “If you were an author of a publication about your research, please enter the full citation in the Work/Activities section of your application.”
Hours and dates: completed vs. anticipated
Every entry has a Completed section. Add an Anticipated section for hours you haven't done yet. All of the date rules hang on one definition: “‘Current month’ in the instructions below is defined as of the month/year that you complete and submit your application.”
Completed
“your start date must be the current month or earlier. End dates cannot go beyond the month and year the information is entered.” “Enter the total number of hours you completed for the experience during the date range you indicated.” “If you have a nontraditional schedule, use the Experience Description field for any explanation.”
Anticipated
Awards, posters and publications
“Some Experience Types, such as Awards, Presentations/Posters, and Publications, require only one date.” “You may enter 0 (zero) hours for publications and Honors/Awards/Recognitions entries. Use the description to provide more information about the nature of the award or the number of times you earned it.” And “You cannot input anticipated hours for the following experience types (they are not options for these experience types):” “Honors/Awards, Conferences, Publications, Presentations”.
An experience that continues after you submit
A new experience you haven't started
Reapplicants
“Reapplicant work/activities will roll over from the previous application cycle into the ‘Completed’ section”. Review each rolled over entry and split its hours if things changed.
The three Most Meaningful Experiences
“You may identify up to three experiences you consider to be the most meaningful. This designation will allow you an additional 1,325 characters (including spaces) to explain why the experience(s) was particularly meaningful to you.” “If applicants have two or more entries, they must identify at least one as the most meaningful.”
On what to write: “When writing your summary, you may want to consider the transformative nature of the experience, the impact you made while engaging in the activity, and the personal growth you experienced because of your participation.” The Work and Activities Guide adds what you learned to that list, pointing to “the impact they made while engaging in the activity, what they learned, and the personal growth they experienced as a result of their participation.”
Three more Most Meaningful rules
- “An anticipated experience cannot be a most meaningful experience”.
- “You may change which experience(s) you designate as Most Meaningful until the initial submission of your application.”
- “The text you entered in the Experience Summary section will be lost if you remove an experience from those you have designated as Most Meaningful.”
How to choose your AMCAS activities
Our steps, not AAMC rules.
1. List everything first
Write down every job, volunteer role, research position, award, publication and long-running hobby since college, with rough dates and hours. Cut later.
2. Sort by experience type
Put each item under one of the 19 types. AMCAS leaves the choice to you, so pick the type that best describes what you actually did.
3. Group the small items
Several awards or several short presentations can often share one entry, with the description naming each one. That keeps slots for experiences that need room.
4. Choose up to 15
Keep the experiences that show sustained commitment, patient contact, service, research or leadership in your own record. Fifteen is a maximum, not a quota.
5. Pick your Most Meaningful last
Choose from completed experiences that changed you and that you can talk about for ten minutes in an interview. You can change the picks until you first submit.
How to describe each entry
Our outline, not a full entry. Write in your own words, in plain sentences, and count characters with spaces as you go.
A regular description (700 characters)
- One line on your role and the setting, in plain words.
- What you did with your own hands and judgment, with a concrete detail.
- What came of it: a result, a responsibility you earned or what you changed.
- If your schedule was unusual, say so here, since AMCAS points you to this field for that.
A Most Meaningful summary (1,325 more characters)
- Don't repeat the description. It sits right above this text.
- One specific moment from the experience, told briefly.
- What it changed in how you think or act, with evidence from later on.
- Where that change shows up in your path to medicine.
Drafted your entries? Confetto's Essay Coach reviews AMCAS activity descriptions and Most Meaningful Experiences, along with personal statements and secondaries, and gives you a score and notes on your exact lines. It never writes for you.
Common Work and Activities mistakes
Planning to fix entries after you submit
Proofread every entry and confirm your contacts first. The section locks when you submit. (source)
Bullets and bold in the description
Write plain sentences. Formatting doesn't reach reviewers. (source)
Marking an anticipated experience as Most Meaningful
Pick your Most Meaningful entries from experiences you have already done. (source)
Unchecking a Most Meaningful entry late
Copy the summary somewhere safe before you change a pick, because AMCAS drops the text. (source)
A contact who can't verify the experience
List someone who can confirm you took part, such as a supervisor or program lead. (source)
Future dates in the Completed section
Put hours you haven't done yet in the Anticipated section. (source)
If you also apply through TMDSAS or AACOMAS
Texas and DO applications set up activities differently, so check each entry against that service's rules before you paste it in.
TMDSAS activities
“There is no limit to the amount of activities you can enter in your application.” Descriptions run to “the 300 or 500 character count” depending on the category. For top activities: “You are required to identify the most meaningful activity and may list up to three total (500 character limit, each entry).” “Activities CANNOT be changed or updated after submitting under any circumstances.”
AACOMAS experiences
“Enter only current and in-progress experiences (not planned experiences), and check your program's requirements regarding documentation.” “Enter the average weekly number of hours that you completed for this experience during the date range that you indicated.” “Note that you cannot repeat hours between experience types.” The AACOMAS Experiences help page doesn't list a character limit for descriptions (checked October 2026).
Your personal statement limits differ too. Our AMCAS personal statement character limit guide has every service's number side by side.
The 2027 AMCAS timeline for this section
All 4 dates for the 2027 cycle
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| May 5, 2026 | You can start the 2027 AMCAS application, including Work/Activities. |
| Until you first submit | You can still change which entries are Most Meaningful. After that, the section is locked. |
| After you submit | AMCAS verification may take six to eight weeks in peak season. |
| August 2027 | The latest end date for any anticipated experience. |
Be ready to talk about any entry in your interviews. Our medical school personal statement guide covers the essay that sits beside this section, and secondary essays come after you submit.
Sources: the AAMC's 2027 AMCAS Applicant Guide, 2027 Work and Activities Guide for Applicants and 2027 AMCAS Application Workbook, plus the TMDSAS and AACOMAS help pages. Quotes are exact. The steps and outlines are ours. All checked October 28, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How many activities can you list on AMCAS?
Up to 15 entries, each with a description of up to 700 characters including spaces. A repeated experience can carry up to three more date ranges inside one entry.
How many Most Meaningful Experiences can you choose?
Up to three. If you have two or more entries, you must choose at least one. Each one gets 1,325 more characters to explain why it mattered to you.
Can you list activities you haven't started yet?
Yes, as anticipated experiences ending no later than August 2027. Honors, conferences, publications and presentations can't have anticipated hours, and an anticipated experience can't be Most Meaningful.
Do you need to fill all 15 AMCAS activity slots?
No. The 2027 AMCAS Applicant Guide sets 15 as a maximum and doesn't set a minimum. Choose entries that add something, and group small items like awards where it makes sense.
Can you edit AMCAS Work and Activities after submitting?
No. The AAMC says the section can't be edited or updated after you first submit, so proofread every entry and confirm your contacts before you do.