Disclaimer: This article only summarizes my own experience of writing the med application. There are no cookie-cutter ways to write the med application such that you will get in – and the purpose of this article is not to tell you what words to put on your application. Some medical schools (such as UBC) host in-person sessions to answer admission related questions. I personally attended some of these and found them really helpful!
My overall approach to the application
The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to read through the application instructions first! Not only be aware of the various deadlines (for submission, MCAT, transcripts, etc.), but also read carefully about what the application is asking in each section (marks, awards, extra-curriculars, etc.). Generally, once the application is submitted, it cannot be edited. Being careful in the first place can help you prevent mistakes on the application forms down the road. The SECOND MOST IMPORTANT thing is to be honest on your application!
With the two most important things out of the way, I want to share with you the steps I took to write my own (Canadian) med applications - specifically, the activity entries for extra-curriculars. First, I listed all extra-curricular experiences I had during the time-window specified by the application instructions. Different schools have different requirements on the cut-offs for start and end dates. For example, I applied to schools that only look at your experiences from the past 6 years, as well as school that only count experiences after Grade 10 in high school. Don’t doubt yourself about whether a certain experience is “useful” or “helpful” on your application – just write it down for now! Then, for each experience, I wrote down the specific things I did, the amount of time I committed, as well as a short reflection on that experience. From this reflection, I then shrunk it down to the word limit allowed on the application. Finally, I sent my application to a few close friends and past teachers/supervisors for edits.
In the sections below, I will go into more details about each of the above steps.
Activity Description
BE CONCISE! Some applications have really tight word limits, so it’s important that you are able to convey the most important or relevant messages in the least amount of words. For each description, I first wrote down a one-paragraph reflection, which was way above the word limit, but allowed me to get all of my thoughts down. Then, I chose the most important ideas from that paragraph and condensed it into the tiny word limit allowed on the application. While med schools are very clear on how the description should only be about things you did instead of “lessons learned”, do not let this limit you to list down only physical tasks! Learning and personal growth are important things to demonstrate. When writing these reflections, the key question I asked myself was – how did this experience change me in any way? For example, did it make me become more aware of the daily challenges faced by a certain vulnerable population? Did it improve my communication and problem-solving skills? Did it give me new aspirations? The same experience can be described dramatically differently, depending on your perception. Say your activity was volunteering or doing research for a specific vulnerable population. Was your description all about doing something technical/high level/wonderful and achieving something big in your role? Or was it about gaining insight into their daily needs and challenges, learning new techniques, trying to implement something to help relieve their struggles, with your achievement(s) listed concisely? The former description gives people the impression that this activity is all about you – you worked with this vulnerable population, you did something amazing, and you won this award. The latter one is more reflective and demonstrates what you have gotten out of this experience, while still highlighting your important achievement(s). The difference between these two examples do not lie in the diction, but in your perspective. There are no cookie-cutter ways to write the med application such that you will get in – and the purpose of this article is not to tell you what words to put on your application. Instead, I am suggesting that the description is not limited to physical tasks performed or achievements you made, but also things that are not physical but are significant – and only you know what those are!
Verifiers, dates and hours
If you are not quite at the application stage, it might be a good idea to start recording all of your activities in a spreadsheet or notebook – the organization, your supervisor’s name and contact info, and the number of hours you spent. This will come in handy when you write your application. However, if you are writing your application now and did not do that in advance – do not fear! I did not either! It took me some time digging through emails and recalling old memories, but it was doable. Before putting down a verifier on your application, contact them first to ask whether they would like to verify for you. Send along your description, start and end dates, and number of hours, etc., and ask them if they agree with what you wrote. Only submit the entry if your verifier agrees with what you wrote. Universities do contact verifiers! If there are disagreement or confusion on the hours or description, do communicate with your verifier and see if you can reach a mutual understanding. If your verifier refuses to verify for you (either explicitly or doesn’t respond to your emails or seems unwilling to verify), do not panic! It could be because this particular activity happened a long time ago and they have forgotten about you, or because they have their own reason why they are unable to do it. Try to see if you can find somebody else who can verify for you, preferably someone with a supervisory role above you and not a peer.
The clarifications/additional info box
Both UBC and OMSAS schools have another box (separate from the description) that allows you to clarify your hours. Do use this box! Is it an activity in which you spent a small amount of time per week but last over a long period of time? Or is it one that you spend lots of hours per day over a few days? This provides a more complete picture for the admissions team to evaluate your extracurricular activities.
How many entries should I submit?
There’s no magic number of entries to get into medical school. The number of entries you submit depends on the number of activities you have. There’s no doubt that quality is more important than quantity; however, don’t limit yourself to submitting less than the maximum number of entries just because you want to “prove” quality…Choose the activities that you think are more relevant and important to you within the allowed number of entries, and submit whatever number that ends up to be! Personally, I had more entries than the allowed number and had to decide on which ones to submit. As well, most of my entries were not experiences directly related to medicine. I ended up submitting experiences that were most personally meaningful and activities that were most consistent over time.
Editing
It’s up to you whether to have others look over your application. I found it useful because others can catch typos that you may not be aware of due to the fact that you’ve been staring at your own application for so long. Make sure those who edit your application have no conflict of interests with you. Supervisors who are supportive, friends not applying to med school, supportive friends already in med school are good general choices. The editing is like icing on the cake – but you have to make the cake first.
Finally, don't compare your application to anybody else's. We all have come so far and have had experiences that made each of us unique!
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