Luna Lovegood Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 How important is this section? Will it put me at a disadvantage if I literally have nothing to put in here. Do people get in without having this filled out at all? This is a major part of my application that I am worried about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CantConcentrate Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 It's fine. I got in without filling anything out for that section. You shouldn't feel pressure to fill out all of the slots they give you. Just list your activities, and it will fill the space that it fills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwnerOfTheTARDIS Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 I got in no problem and my friend just got in off the waitlist and we both left that section empty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purkinje 2016 Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 I also left the "High Performance in Human Endeavor" section blank and it wasn't an issue. I know a number of people who got an offer and left the section blank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexmonaghan Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 I don't think it's a problem to leave that section blank. I'm assuming that section is in there for the benefit of people who may have something good to put on, not to penalize those who don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jibrail Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 If it helps, I left it blank last year, got rejected, but found out my NAQ score was: 35.54. So you can definitely have a strong NAQ score without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casajayo Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 On 6/3/2017 at 4:35 PM, Jibrail said: If it helps, I left it blank last year, got rejected, but found out my NAQ score was: 35.54. So you can definitely have a strong NAQ score without it. That's an excellent score! Do you have any tips or resources that you used for writing your NAQ descriptors? I feel that my score was lower than expected (international volunteering, mental health advocacy, multiple publications, conferences, scholarships/awards, research coordination on multiple projects, student representative for program, and ended up with a 25..) so I think I'm missing something in how I'm writing the descriptions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 25 is a good score. It means amongst the very competitive medical applicant pool, you are around average. It may not be that you are "missing something" but rather just a reflection of the applicant pool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pterygoid Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 18 hours ago, casajayo said: That's an excellent score! Do you have any tips or resources that you used for writing your NAQ descriptors? I feel that my score was lower than expected (international volunteering, mental health advocacy, multiple publications, conferences, scholarships/awards, research coordination on multiple projects, student representative for program, and ended up with a 25..) so I think I'm missing something in how I'm writing the descriptions Some tips in case you haven't done some of this: - make sure you highlight tangible outcomes based on your contributions to X activity - speak in active voice..& as objectively + descriptively as possible // avoid passive // - avoid general phrases about the organization/initiative -- this cuts out a lot of the fancy intros people add that just takes up space & doesn't really get you any points imo. - try to frame your activity to highlight the category you placed it in (service ethic vs capacity to work w/ others vs leadership) - Read the CanMed competencies & then read your NAQ description -- > try to have your descriptions highlight 1 or 2 CanMed competencies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casajayo Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Pterygoid said: Some tips in case you haven't done some of this: - make sure you highlight tangible outcomes based on your contributions to X activity - speak in active voice..& as objectively + descriptively as possible // avoid passive // - avoid general phrases about the organization/initiative -- this cuts out a lot of the fancy intros people add that just takes up space & doesn't really get you any points imo. - try to frame your activity to highlight the category you placed it in (service ethic vs capacity to work w/ others vs leadership) - Read the CanMed competencies & then read your NAQ description -- > try to have your descriptions highlight 1 or 2 CanMed competencies Thanks, I appreciate the tips! I wrote mostly in passive voice so that will definitely be a big change, and will definitely go through to see if my write-ups are matching competencies or if they're spending too much time describing the place, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogoup Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 My tips for NAQ: 1. I think it's easiest to make your own template and follow that. For example, I always started activity descriptions with the length of my commitment, and ended off with any awards I received for it. 2. Described the commitment / activity using a modified "CARS" approach (you can look it up, it's used for resumes): C - challenge. Modified as description A - action. My contributions R - result. What my contributions led to, highlighting awards wherever possible 3. After doing all of this, I actually went back and deleted some activities that seemed like the commitment wasn't worthwhile / didn't fit with my overall "story". I ended up leaving some spots blank in the end (including entire high performance section). Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casajayo Posted July 15, 2017 Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 On 7/12/2017 at 1:48 PM, gogoup said: My tips for NAQ: 1. I think it's easiest to make your own template and follow that. For example, I always started activity descriptions with the length of my commitment, and ended off with any awards I received for it. 2. Described the commitment / activity using a modified "CARS" approach (you can look it up, it's used for resumes): C - challenge. Modified as description A - action. My contributions R - result. What my contributions led to, highlighting awards wherever possible 3. After doing all of this, I actually went back and deleted some activities that seemed like the commitment wasn't worthwhile / didn't fit with my overall "story". I ended up leaving some spots blank in the end (including entire high performance section). Good luck! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thank4 Posted July 15, 2017 Report Share Posted July 15, 2017 I think there was a great write up on this forum a few months back regarding how to write the NAQ. I would check it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
textbook88 Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 If you have too many things to put on your application you might as well throw your most impressive item on the high performance section to make space for others. After all, you won't be penalized for putting something in the wrong section, and it's a clever way to add more to your application, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchpress Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 3 hours ago, textbook88 said: If you have too many things to put on your application you might as well throw your most impressive item on the high performance section to make space for others. After all, you won't be penalized for putting something in the wrong section, and it's a clever way to add more to your application, eh? I don't expect you'll be able to get any extra points this way or that this would add more to your application. In fact, I think it could actually penalize you: the instructions about that section are pretty clear, so I don't know that you want to suggest to the people scoring your application that you couldn't be bothered to read the instructions carefully! Or they could just ignore anything you categorized in that section incorrectly, thus losing you valuable points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwnerOfTheTARDIS Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 20 hours ago, textbook88 said: If you have too many things to put on your application you might as well throw your most impressive item on the high performance section to make space for others. After all, you won't be penalized for putting something in the wrong section, and it's a clever way to add more to your application, eh? When they say that you won't be penalized for putting something in the 'wrong' section, I think they are referring to when one activity could genuinely belong to multiple categories. For example, an activity might be valid in both leadership and service ethic if you held a position of leadership in a non-profit organization, so you just have to pick one. However, the criteria for high performance are much more straightforward than the criteria for other categories because they specifically mention that it often involves some kind of formal ranking or high profile competition/event. If you put down an activity that obviously doesn't belong, it's going to be blatant to adcom that you are trying to beat the system and include extra entries and I doubt they would look favourably on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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