Categorizing Your Activities in the TMDSAS Application
TMDSAS asks that each of your activities be entered in one category - here's how to do that.
Personal Biography & Activities
In the Personal Biography and Activities section, you will provide insights into the activities you've engaged in to prepare for your future in healthcare.
There is no limit to the amount of activities you can enter in your application.
You will categorize each activity based on the list to the right. You know your activities best, so use your best judgment in selecting which category corresponds to your activities based on what you would like to highlight from each activity.
Quick Links
How far back should I go in entering activities?
- Dental, Medical, and Podiatry Applicants: enter all activities since you graduated from high school (or received a high school diploma equivalent).
- Veterinary Applicants: you may include activities prior to graduating from high school.
Can I enter activities in multiple categories?
Each activity should only listed in one section of the Personal Biography section of the application. The only exceptions are:
- Healthcare and Employment: An activity may be listed in both categories if the experience was a paid position and fits under BOTH Healthcare and Employment.
- Dental Applicants may also list an activity in both Dental Experience and Employment for activities that meet these criteria.
- Leadership: Any activity that results in a leadership role may be entered in both categories.
What should I include in the description?
Unlike other application services, you do not need to enter the contact information in the activity descriptions.
WATCH the school panels to see what activities the schools look for and how to enter them so that you stand out as a competitive applicant!
Watch the EY 2024 School Panels
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The Anatomy of an Applicant from the AAMC shows how activities reflect the core competencies expected of aspiring health professionals.
Advisors/Pre-Dent/Pre-Health Experiences/Pre-Med/Pre-Vet/TMDSAS
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Activities cannot be edited after you submit your application. If anything changes, keep a log of these changes to share with the schools during your interviews. |
When Is An Activity Current vs. Planned?
Current Activities are activities you are engaged in up to the application deadline.
- Activities with a start date before November 2023 must be entered under current activities, even if you have not started the activity by the time you plan to submit your application.
- Use the the following dates to enter current activities:
- Activity Start Date – October 2023
Planned Activities are activities you plan to engage in after the application deadline through the point of matriculation (August 2024).
- Activities with a start date after November 2023 must be entered under planned activities because their start date is after November 2023.
- Estimate (but don't overinflate) the hours you expect to complete for planned activities.
- Use the the following dates to enter your planned activities:
- November 2023 – Activity End Date in 2024
Ongoing Activities
If you currently participate in activities that you plan to continue beyond the application deadline, you should enter these activities as both Current and Planned Activities using the date breakdowns shown above to show your activity is continuous.
- Estimate your expected hours. Be careful not to overinflate your total hours.
- Don't copy and paste from your current activity descriptions.
- Wondering what to enter for the description? Check out the EY 2024 School Panels!
How to Enter Ongoing Activities in the Application:
President of SNMA
August 2022 - May 2024- Enter as a Current Activity from August 2022 - October 2023
- Enter in Planned Activities from October 2023 - May 2024
Medical Scribe
January 2021 - December 2023- Enter as a Current Activity from January 2021 - October 2023
- Enter in Planned Activities from October 2023 - December 2023
Entering Asynchronous Activities
Splitting your activity between Current or Planned Activity
In some instances, you may have engaged in an activity for short periods of time but over a long time span (e.g., volunteering at a summer camp). You may enter these activities in one of two ways:
- Enter each instance individually. This is the best option if your role or the activity changed over time. Make sure the description reflects the changes in your role.
- Enter once as a single activity. This option may be best if the breaks in the activity were short, such as having a winter or summer break as a peer tutor. Be careful not to overinflate your total hours.
WATCH the school panels to see what activities the schools look for and how to enter activities with breaks in between!
Watch the EY 2024 School Panels
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Academic Recognition
List academic honors, awards, and other recognitions received since graduating from high school. (Veterinary applicants should list academic recognitions since beginning high school.)
- Indicate the award title, date received, city, country, state, and a brief description of the award (300 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record. Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add an Award] link.
Non-Academic Recognition
List non-academic honors, awards, and other recognitions received since graduating from high school. (Veterinary applicants should list non-academic recognition since beginning high school.)
- Indicate the award title, date received, city, country, state, and a brief description of the award (300 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record. Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add an Award] link.
Leadership
List any leadership roles or positions of responsibility held since graduating from high school. (Veterinary applicants should list activities since beginning high school.) Examples may include leadership roles in clubs/organizations, supervisory roles, etc. In the absence of these roles, you may list leadership qualities you have learned from other opportunities.
- Indicate the role title, start date, end date, city, country, state, and a brief description of the position (500 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Leadership Role] link.
Employment
List all jobs (paid work experience) held since graduating from high school, including military Paid healthcare activities may be listed here in addition to the healthcare activities section.
- Indicate the employer, job title, when the job was held, start date, end date, city, hours worked per week, country, state, and a brief description of the job (300 character limit). You will also identify whether the employment was contingent on your status as a student (e.g. Work-Study, Research, etc.). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- If you held a job every summer, enter each time period as a separate record.
- Additionally, if you held this job for consecutive terms, select “Other” for the question “When did you hold this job?” You will be able to provide more details if you wish.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add an Employment Activity] link.
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Veterinary Applicants: |
Research Activities
List any significant research activities (paid or volunteer) you have participated in since graduating high school. (Veterinary applicants should list activities since beginning high school.)
- Include any publications (submitted as well as published), abstracts, presentations, and posters.
- Indicate the research activity name, start date, end date, city, approximate hours worked per week, total cumulative hours, country, state, and a brief description of the research (500 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- If research culminated in any publications, abstracts, presentations, or posters, you will have the opportunity to provide details. (500 character limit)
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Research Activity] link.
Healthcare Activities
List all direct healthcare-related activities you have participated in since graduating high school. For example, these may include: shadowing, scribing, clinical research, serving or working as a patient care tech, a nurse, and any direct observation or participation in patient care in a clinic, hospital, or with a physician or podiatrist.
- Reminder: both paid and unpaid healthcare activities can be listed here.
- Multiple doctors, same location: If you shadowed multiple doctors at the same location DO NOT create multiple entries – instead, create ONE entry per location and list each doctor in the description. If each doctor you shadowed had a different specialty, you may make a separate entry per specialty.
- Indicate the activity name, start date, end date, city, hours worked per week, total cumulative hours, country, state, and a brief description of the activity (500 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Healthcare Activity] link.
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Dental Applicants: |
Dental Experience 
Dental Only
List all experiences where >50% of your time was spent interacting with, or under the direct supervision of a dentist. Dental experiences should relate to dental clinical, shadowing, or health science experiences that you have had with dentists. Include all relevant experiences, whether voluntary, paid, or academic experiences.
- The experiences reported in this section should be different from those entered for Healthcare Experiences.
- Indicate the activity name, whether it is volunteer experience or paid experience, location, dentist name, start date, end date, city, total cumulative hours worked, country, state, and a brief description of the experience (300 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Dental Experience] link.
Veterinary Supervised Experience 
Veterinary Only
List all experiences where >50% of your time was spent interacting with, or under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. Qualifying employment goes here.
- Veterinary experiences should relate to veterinary clinical, agribusiness, or health science experiences that you have had with veterinarians. Include all relevant experiences, whether voluntary, paid, or academic experiences.
- The experiences reported in this section should be different from those entered for Animal and Employment experience. Experiences gained in high school may be included. DO NOT include future expected hours of experience.
- Indicate the activity name, whether it is volunteer experience or paid experience, location, veterinarian name, start date, end date, city, total cumulative hours worked, country, state, and a brief description of the experience (300 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Veterinary Supervised Activity] link.
Animal Experience
Veterinary Only
List any animal experiences not supervised by a veterinarian, or any other general animal experiences.
- Include all relevant experiences, whether they are voluntary, paid, or academic experiences.
- Only 100 hours of pet ownership per species (with a maximum of 2 species) will count towards overall animal experience.
- Include farm and ranch experiences, 4-H membership, animal training, agility, working in a boarding kennel or other similar activities, and only if NOT under the supervision of a veterinarian.
- The experiences you report in this section should be different from those entered for Veterinary and Employment experience. Experiences gained in high school may be included. DO NOT include future hours.
- Indicate the activity name, whether it is volunteer experience or paid experience, location, supervisor name, start date, end date, city, total cumulative hours worked, country, state, and a brief description of the experience (300 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add an Animal Experience Activity] link.
Community Engagement
List any non-healthcare-related community service or volunteer activities you have participated in since graduating from high school. (Veterinary applicants should list activities since beginning high school.)
- Indicate the activity name, start date, end date, city, approximate hours per week, total cumulative hours, country, state, and a brief description of the activity (500 character limit.) Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Community Service Activity] link.
Extracurricular Activities
List any significant extracurricular, leisure activities, or hobbies you have participated in since graduating from high school. (Veterinary applicants should list activities since beginning high school.)
- Indicate the type of activity, start date, end date, city, approximate hours per month, total cumulative hours, country, state, and a brief description of the activity (500 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add an Extracurricular/Leisure Activity] link.
Manual Dexterity
Dental Only
List any significant extracurricular, leisure activities, or hobbies you have participated in since graduating from high school involving the development and attunement of manual dexterity.
- The experiences reported in this section should be different from those entered for Extracurricular Activities.
- Indicate the type of activity, start date, end date, city, approximate hours per month, total cumulative hours, country, state, and a brief description of the activity (500 character limit). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Manual Dexterity Activity] link.
Top Meaningful Activities
Here you will talk about which of your previously listed activities (from each of the [Activities] sections) were most meaningful and why.
- You are required to identify the most meaningful activity and may list up to three total (500 character limit, each entry).
- Add an identifier so the schools know what activity you are referring to.
- These should only be activities that have been completed or are on-going. Do not include activities with a future start date.
Planned Activities
Indicate future activities you plan on participating in between the application deadline and matriculation (August 2024).
- This should include any future employment as well as any future research, healthcare, community service, or extracurricular activities.
- Indicate the Activity Type, start date, planned end date, city, total projected hours, country, state, and a brief description of the activity (500 characters). Click on [Submit] to save the record.
- Additional records can be added by clicking the [Add a Planned Activity] link. Do not include activities past the point of matriculation.
- Planned activities are just that - plans. If anything changes, you can maintain a log of activities to share with the schools during your interviews.
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During a special Inside Health Education Courage Session Q&A, we asked an advisor about preparing for the application and how, exactly, applicants should take away meaning from their activities. Tune in here! |