Detailing Employment and Non-Traditional Work on AACOMAS Effectively

Most applicants ruin their AACOMAS work section by either over-polishing simple jobs or underselling hard-earned responsibilities.

If you are applying to DO schools, how you present employment and non-traditional work on AACOMAS will quietly separate a “typical” file from a compelling, grounded applicant profile. The difference is not your job title. It is the way you frame responsibility, reliability, and real-world maturity.

Let me break this down specifically.

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Understanding How AACOMAS Views Employment

AACOMAS is not just tallying jobs. It is assessing:

• Your ability to hold long-term responsibilities
• Evidence of time management and reliability
• Exposure to real-world stress and problem solving
• Socioeconomic context and resilience
• Alignment (or healthy separation) between work and your premed journey

The AACOMAS Experience Categories: Where Employment Fits

AACOMAS categorizes experiences into specific types. Employment and non-traditional work can show up in several of these, depending on context:

• Paid Employment – Not Medical/Healthcare
  Retail, food service, teaching, campus jobs, gig work, family business, etc.

• Paid Employment – Medical/Clinical
  Scribe, medical assistant, CNA, EMT, phlebotomist, patient care tech, etc.

• Volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical
  Unpaid tutoring, community centers, shelters, leadership roles in nonprofits.

• Volunteer – Medical/Clinical
  Free clinics, hospital volunteer shifts, health fairs, unpaid health education.

• Military Service
  Often its own category; work-like but distinct in expectations.

• Extracurricular Activities & Leadership
  Some entrepreneurial/non-traditional work (e.g., founding a startup or nonprofit) may straddle employment and leadership.

The key: paid work is almost always “Employment” unless it is clearly better framed as an “Extracurricular / Leadership / Organization” activity (for example, co-founding a health-tech startup where leadership and innovation matter more than the paycheck).

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What “Non-Traditional Work” Really Means on AACOMAS

Non-traditional work is not code for “old applicant.” It refers to anything outside the stereotypical premed path.

Examples:

• Full-time jobs taken during or between undergraduate years:

  • Warehouse worker, delivery driver, Amazon fulfillment, Uber/Lyft, DoorDash
  • Restaurant work: server, line cook, bartender
  • Customer service: call centers, hotel front desk

• Family and life responsibilities:

  • Acting as a primary caregiver
  • Running or helping run a family business
  • Significant work hours to support tuition or family income

• Career changers:

  • Engineer, teacher, consultant, accountant, musician, personal trainer
  • Military service followed by civilian employment

• Informal / gig / cash-based work:

  • Babysitting, private tutoring, lawn care, home repair
  • Freelance photography, web design, music gigs, content creation

Osteopathic schools tend to value life experience and resilience. Non-traditional work, when described correctly, signals that you know how to function in reality, not just in a classroom.

The problem: many applicants either hide these roles (thinking they are not “medical enough”) or describe them in vague, generic terms. Both are mistakes.

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How Many Jobs To List and How to Group Them

You do not need to list every three-week gig you ever had. You also should not lump everything into one giant “Various Jobs” entry.

Use these rules:

1. Prioritize Consistency and Responsibility

You should generally create separate entries for:

• Any job held for ≥ 6 months, or
• Any job with ≥ 10 hours/week on average during school, or
• Any job that involved supervisory or training responsibility, regardless of length

For short-term jobs (e.g., 3-month summer roles), you can:

• Combine similar positions at the same company
  • Example: “Starbucks Barista (Summer 2022, Winter Break 2022–23)” as one entry
• Combine multiple brief service jobs into “Service and Retail Employment” with clear date ranges and bullet-level explanation in the description

2. Avoid Over-Combining

Do not combine:

• Clinical and non-clinical jobs into one entry
• Jobs with very distinct responsibilities (e.g., “EMT and Uber Driver”) into a single line just to “save space”

AACOMAS allows a reasonable number of experiences. You are not penalized for having multiple employment entries, as long as each one is meaningful and clearly described.

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Writing Strong AACOMAS Employment Entries Step-by-Step

Every experience in AACOMAS has several critical fields:

1. Experience Type
2. Organization Name
3. Position/Title
4. Contact Information
5. Dates and Hours
6. Most Meaningful (Yes/No)
7. Description

Let us walk through each for employment and non-traditional work.

1. Selecting the Correct Experience Type

For paid jobs:

• Healthcare or direct patient contact → Paid Employment – Medical/Clinical
• No patient care, no medical setting → Paid Employment – Not Medical/Healthcare

For unpaid work that looks like a job:

• True volunteering → Volunteer – (Medical/Non-Medical)
• Formal roles (e.g., unpaid research assistant) may go into Research or Volunteer depending on context

Avoid trying to relabel a clearly non-clinical job as “Clinical” just to make it look relevant. Committees notice.

2. Organization Name and Position/Title

Use real titles and professional naming:

• Organization: “Target Corporation, Store #1234”
  Position: “Guest Service Advocate (Cashier)”

• Organization: “Uber Technologies, Inc.”
  Position: “Rideshare Driver”

• Organization: “Self-Employed”
  Position: “Private Tutor – High School STEM”

If your actual title is non-descriptive but your function was clear, you can tweak slightly:

• Official title: “Crew Member” → You can write: “Crew Member (Front Counter and Drive-Thru)”
• Official title: “Associate” → You can write: “Sales Associate – Electronics”

Do not invent managerial titles. If you supervised others, include that in the description, not the title, unless the promotion was formal (e.g., Shift Supervisor).

3. Contact Information When Things Are Informal

AACOMAS wants a contact person. For less formal or gig-based work:

• Use a supervisor if you had one (manager, lead, coordinator)
• For self-employment, you can use:
  • A long-term client (with permission)
  • A faculty mentor familiar with your work (for tutoring)
  • An accountant or business partner if this was more formalized

If absolutely no clear contact exists, you can still enter “Self-Employed – N/A” but try very hard to list someone who can vouch for the experience.

4. Dates and Hours: Be Accurate and Contextual

You must list:

• Start and end dates (month/year)
• Average hours per week
• Total hours (often calculated by the system or you estimate conservatively)

Be honest but systematic. Example:

• Starbucks Barista
  • 05/2021 – 08/2023
  • During semesters: 12–15 hrs/week
  • During summers: 25–30 hrs/week

Estimate an average (for AACOMAS) but clarify in the description:

Average 18 hrs/week; 10–12 hrs/week during semesters and ~30 hrs/week during summers.

Admissions committees understand variation. What they dislike is obvious padding (claiming 40 hours/week plus full-course load plus another job).

5. “Most Meaningful” Designation

You can flag some experiences as “most meaningful” and write a more extended reflection. For employment and non-traditional work, consider “most meaningful” when:

• The job significantly shaped your character, resilience, or worldview
• The work strongly influenced your path to medicine
• You managed major responsibilities (financial, supervisory, family)

A server job that paid your rent and forced you to triage eight tables at once may be just as meaningful as scribing. Do not hesitate to label it as such if you can genuinely articulate its impact.

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How To Write Descriptions That Actually Impress

The weakest employment entries sound like job postings. The strongest sound like a sober, reflective colleague describing what you actually did and learned.

You are balancing three layers:

1. Concrete responsibilities
2. Scope and context
3. Reflection and skills

A Simple 3-Part Framework

Use roughly 2–4 short paragraphs or a compact bullet-style structure within the allotted character limit.

Part 1: Overview and Scope

• What is the setting?
• Who did you serve or interact with?
• How often and in what capacity?

Example:
Worked as a server in a high-volume casual dining restaurant averaging 150–200 covers per night. Managed 4–8 tables at a time, often during evening and weekend shifts while taking a full course load.

Part 2: Specific Responsibilities and Skills

• What tasks did you own?
• Where was responsibility or trust obvious?
• Did you train others, handle money, solve problems?

Example:
Took orders, communicated dietary restrictions to kitchen staff, processed payments, and resolved service issues. Trained two new servers on table management, point-of-sale systems, and conflict de-escalation with dissatisfied guests.

Part 3: Reflection and Transfer to Medicine

• What did you learn about people, systems, stress, communication?
• How did this contribute to your readiness for medical training?

Example:
Learned to stay calm and organized when multiple demands occurred simultaneously, a skill I used to balance upper-division science courses with evening shifts. Gained experience listening carefully, advocating for customers, and maintaining professionalism with individuals who were frustrated or impatient.

Notice there is no inflated language. No attempt to make this “sound like” a clinical experience. Yet it clearly demonstrates skills that map directly onto clinical work: communication, prioritization, emotional control.

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Specific Examples of Non-Traditional Work, Done Well

To make this actionable, let us go through common non-traditional scenarios and how to frame them.

1. Uber/Lyft or Delivery Driving

Poor version:

Drove for Uber to make extra money. Drove customers around town.

Stronger version:

Worked as a rideshare driver averaging 15–20 hours per week during my junior and senior years. Completed over 1,000 rides, primarily during evenings and weekends.

Navigated unfamiliar areas, adjusted quickly to last-minute route changes, and safely transported intoxicated, distressed, or anxious passengers. Learned to maintain a calm, professional demeanor, communicate clearly with a wide range of individuals, and make quick decisions to prioritize safety. This work supported my tuition and living expenses while I completed a full academic course load.

You emphasize maturity, judgment, and social skills, not “I drove a lot.”

2. Family Business or Care for Siblings

Poor version:

Helped with family business on weekends. Watched siblings.

Stronger version:

Assisted with my family’s small grocery store from age 16 through college breaks. Responsibilities included stocking shelves, operating the cash register, handling customer questions, and closing the store. When my father underwent surgery, I took on 20–25 hours/week for two months to keep the business running.

Also acted as a primary caregiver for my younger sister on weekdays after school from my sophomore to senior year, supervising homework, preparing meals, and coordinating transportation. These responsibilities limited my ability to pursue additional campus activities but taught me to prioritize, manage time, and contribute consistently to my family’s well-being.

You are not asking for pity. You are providing context and demonstrating reliability.

3. Full-Time Job While in School

If you worked full-time while taking even a partial course load, you must spell that out.

Example:

Worked 35–40 hours/week as a pharmacy technician while completing 9–12 credits/semester. Filled prescriptions, answered patient questions about medication pick-up, and communicated with insurance companies to resolve coverage issues.

Balancing a near full-time schedule with coursework led to one semester of lower grades. Over time, I learned to set boundaries with extra shifts and develop structured study routines. This experience challenged me significantly but confirmed that I could function reliably under sustained workload and responsibility.

Now the employment section actively supports your academic explanation.

4. Career-Changer With Prior Profession

For applicants who had a career before pivoting to medicine, do not treat that work as a footnote.

Example (engineer):

Worked as a mechanical engineer at [Company] for three years, focusing on quality control for medical device manufacturing. Led small teams on root-cause analyses when defects were detected, communicated findings to cross-functional partners, and coordinated design modifications within regulatory constraints.

This role gave me exposure to the downstream impact of design decisions on patient safety and clinician workflow. While I worked primarily on the engineering side, repeated interactions with clinicians during user-testing sessions led me to pursue direct patient care rather than device development.

Now your previous career is integrated into your narrative, not simply background noise.

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Common Mistakes in Listing Employment on AACOMAS

Certain errors show up repeatedly and are worth avoiding.

Mistake 1: Trying To Make Everything Sound “Medical”

Admissions committees can tell when applicants contort “Starbucks Barista” into “frontline nutrition care provider.”

If the job was non-medical, keep it non-medical. Draw parallels in skills, not in falsely elevated content.

Mistake 2: Hiding or Minimizing Blue-Collar or Service Jobs

You might think:

“Serving tables is not impressive; I will skip it.”

Terrible idea.

• Multi-year jobs show commitment and consistency.
• Service work demonstrates real-world interpersonal skills.
• For DO schools, this often aligns well with a patient-centered, team-based culture.

If the work helped fund your education or family, say that clearly. That context matters.

Mistake 3: Overcrowding the Description With Buzzwords

Phrases like “multidisciplinary” and “synergistic approach” have their place but rarely in describing a retail shift.

Use concrete verbs:

• Managed
• Trained
• Resolved
• Coordinated
• Implemented
• Prioritized

And describe real actions.

Mistake 4: Inconsistent Hours or Timeframes

If you list:

• Job A: 30 hr/week
• Job B: 25 hr/week
• Research: 15 hr/week
• Volunteering: 10 hr/week
• Full-time coursework

For the same term, committees will question the plausibility.

You must align your hours to something physically possible and then use the description to clarify variation across semesters or seasons.

Mistake 5: Copy-Paste From Resume Bullet Points

A resume is written in fragments to fit one page. AACOMAS descriptions allow for short paragraphs.

Avoid fragments like:

“Customer service. Handle cash. Team player.”

Turn it into cohesive, narrative-style description. Still concise, but more complete and reflective.

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Integrating Employment Into Your Overall DO School Narrative

Employment entries do not exist in a vacuum. They must function as one part of a coherent picture that includes:

• Personal statement
• Clinical experiences
• Shadowing
• Volunteer work
• Letters of recommendation
• Secondary essays (e.g., “Describe a challenge” or “Describe a time you worked on a team”)

Here is how to align them.

1. Use Employment To Explain Academic Blemishes

If your GPA dipped during periods of intense work, your job entries and a brief academic addendum can work together:

• Job entry: Specify high hours/week, critical responsibilities.
• Academic explanation: Connect the change in workload, how you adjusted, and subsequent improvement.

Avoid sounding like an excuse. Frame it as context + growth.

2. Reinforce DO Values: Humility, Teamwork, Service

Osteopathic schools often emphasize:

• Grounded interpersonal skills
• Respect for every member of the healthcare team
• Service orientation

Employment in service industries—if written well—shows you understand:

• How to collaborate with staff at every level
• How to handle difficult encounters respectfully
• How to work when you are tired, hungry, and stressed

Clinical roles (MA, CNA, EMT, tech) then build on this foundation.

3. Highlight Longitudinal Commitment

Three months of shadowing and one week of volunteering will not outweigh three years of sustained work. Longitudinal employment:

• Demonstrates that others trusted you over time
• Shows you can persist through boredom or frustration
• Helps committees predict how you will behave over a 4-year training program and beyond

Lean into that.

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Strategy for Traditional vs Non-Traditional Applicants

The optimal approach shifts slightly depending on where you fall on the spectrum.

Traditional Applicant (Straight Through, Limited Work)

Priorities:

• Do not fabricate significance for minimal jobs
• Highlight any real, sustained responsibilities
• If you had minimal employment, that is acceptable, but be honest

Focus on:

• One or two substantial roles (e.g., 1.5 years as a campus tutor, 2 summers as a camp counselor)
• Clear reflection on what these roles taught you about communication, responsibility, or working with diverse groups

Non-Traditional or Career-Changer

Priorities:

• Show your prior career as a strength, not a detour
• Indicate increasing alignment with medicine over time
• Clarify any academic timeline irregularities

Focus on:

• 2–4 key roles that illustrate progressively more responsibility and leadership
• Concrete skills from your previous industry that will serve you in medicine (project management, teaching, conflict resolution, analytical thinking)

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Practical Workflow: How To Build Your Employment Section Efficiently

A structured approach keeps you from missing key details.

1. Create a master list of every job since age 16 (or high school graduation):

   • Organization
   • Title
   • Dates + estimated hours
   • Supervisor/contact

2. Mark which jobs matter most for:

   • Duration
   • Responsibility
   • Relevance to growth

3. Decide grouping vs separation:

   • Group short, similar, low-impact jobs
   • Separate long-term or high-responsibility roles

4. Draft each description using the 3-part framework:

   • Overview and scope
   • Responsibilities and skills
   • Reflection and relevance

5. Cross-check for consistency:

   • Overlapping dates
   • Total weekly hours vs reality
   • Alignment with personal statement and secondaries

6. Have a non-premed adult review:

   • Ask: “If you read only this, what would you assume about me as a colleague?”
   • Adjust where descriptions feel inflated or underdeveloped.

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FAQs

1. Should I list cash-based or informal work (babysitting, lawn care, tutoring) on AACOMAS?

Yes, if it was sustained and meaningful. For example, weekly babysitting for three years is a legitimate employment entry. List yourself as “Self-Employed” or “Independent Contractor,” provide an appropriate contact if possible, and describe the responsibility and skills clearly. That kind of work often shows trustworthiness and long-term reliability.

2. I worked to support my family and could not do much volunteering. Will DO schools see that negatively?

Not inherently. Many osteopathic schools explicitly value applicants who have worked extensively, especially to support family or pay for school. The key is to make this clear in your employment descriptions and, if appropriate, in a brief secondary or personal statement mention. You are not asking for sympathy; you are providing context that explains your activity pattern.

3. Do I need to include every short-term job I ever had?

No. Focus on roles that are: long-term, high-responsibility, or particularly formative. Short-term or low-intensity jobs can be grouped or omitted, especially if they do not add much new information. The goal is not completeness for its own sake; it is to present a coherent picture of your work history and capacity.

4. Can I mark a non-medical job as “most meaningful” on AACOMAS?

Yes, and in many cases you should. If a non-medical job was central to your growth—financially, emotionally, ethically—it may be more meaningful than limited clinical volunteering. Do not hesitate to mark it as such if you can write a strong reflection that connects your experience to qualities relevant for medical training.

5. How detailed do my hours estimates need to be?

They should be honest and reasonably precise, but admissions committees understand that you are estimating. Calculate based on typical weeks, adjust for known seasonal differences, and then explain variation in the description. What you must avoid is obviously inflated numbers or totals that exceed what a human could reasonably do alongside your coursework.

6. If my prior career was in a completely unrelated field (e.g., music, art, business), will that hurt my application?

Not if you present it correctly. Many DO schools appreciate diverse backgrounds. Your task is to show how the skills you developed—discipline, performance under pressure, client relationships, financial responsibility, creativity—translate into strengths in clinical training. Make your career transition intentional, not random, by linking specific experiences that moved you toward medicine.

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Three things matter most in detailing employment on AACOMAS effectively:

1. Be honest and concrete about what you actually did and how long you did it.
2. Use your descriptions to highlight responsibility, resilience, and interpersonal skills, not to artificially “medicalize” non-clinical work.
3. Integrate your work history into a coherent narrative that explains your path to osteopathic medicine and your readiness for its demands.