palmtrees Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Hi there! I am a returning UBC applicant currently doing my first year MSc at UBC. When I originally applied in undergrad, I was OOP and was very discouraged to see my NAQ score and was quite puzzled as to how it was so low considering I had received interviews from multiple Ontario medical schools. However, upon reflection, I felt like I definitely did not tailor my NAQs to emphasize my involvement and commitment to the activities. Going into this year's application, I really want to put my best foot forward and I was hoping for some general advice for the NAQ section. I'm not sure if there are any current UBC MD students here that could give some of their insight as to how they went about this section during their applications or previous applicants who wouldn't mind sharing their thoughts/suggestions. Anything would be greatly appreciated :-) Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excel-erate Your Breath Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Hey palmtrees, quick word of advice to delete your real name (which I won't repeat in this post) from your post - just safer/more advisable to not have any identifying info. Love your username though I can't believe no one took it before I'm a fellow applicant and just sent in my first ever application, so I'm probably not who you're looking for when it comes to NAQ advice, but I will quickly remind you (since you said you're doing your first year MSc right now?) that to enter into UBC med (should one be offered admission), you have to be done your graduate degree by July 31 of the year you will start med (so for this cycle, July 31 2021). Unless I misunderstood your post or if you're going to be really plowing through this MSc (both of which are possible and my bad if so!), I don't know if any MSc being started right now can be finished that fast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmtrees Posted August 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2020 1 hour ago, Excel-erate Your Breath said: Hey palmtrees, quick word of advice to delete your real name (which I won't repeat in this post) from your post - just safer/more advisable to not have any identifying info. Love your username though I can't believe no one took it before I'm a fellow applicant and just sent in my first ever application, so I'm probably not who you're looking for when it comes to NAQ advice, but I will quickly remind you (since you said you're doing your first year MSc right now?) that to enter into UBC med (should one be offered admission), you have to be done your graduate degree by July 31 of the year you will start med (so for this cycle, July 31 2021). Unless I misunderstood your post or if you're going to be really plowing through this MSc (both of which are possible and my bad if so!), I don't know if any MSc being started right now can be finished that fast? Hey! Thanks for the tip! Actually, I am hoping to enter the MD/PhD program and the MD application is one half of the application process so that's why Also, I don't think anyone's advice is not worth considering/listening to so I'd love to hear how you've approached the NAQ section if you're willing to share! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excel-erate Your Breath Posted August 29, 2020 Report Share Posted August 29, 2020 30 minutes ago, palmtrees said: Hey! Thanks for the tip! Actually, I am hoping to enter the MD/PhD program and the MD application is one half of the application process so that's why Also, I don't think anyone's advice is not worth considering/listening to so I'd love to hear how you've approached the NAQ section if you're willing to share! Ohhh nicenicenice and okay for sure! Well here's some concrete general tips I followed as a result of scouring these forums and also having people edit mine Also take it w a grain of salt I'm freestyling rn if you want a couple concrete examples of actual entries that I submitted then DM me - details: putting in numbers in your entry (ex. I tutored students vs I tutored 15 students) will help showcase what you did better - character count: 350 is a very small number, so I tried to generally do 1st sentence general aim of the work (ex. I worked to improve the grades of 15 chemistry students blah blah), 2nd sentence how you did that aim (ex. Tutoring sessions consisted of working through problems together etc), and 3rd sentence outcome (ex. Each student's grades improved by 20% as a result) - what entries should I put? = EVERYTHING! things that might seem normal to your life could actually be a very illuminating NAQ entry. For example, are you a member (follower? idk the right term lol even though I am one) of a religion? Do you have kids/younger siblings/cousins you cared for? Did you travel to France for 6 months and stopped a man from robbing a poor old lady on the plane? (Lol you get the point) - embellish? = might be controversial but my opinion is a strong no, I used to think embellishing would be a good tactic but honestly if you're giving enough detail about yourself and your experiences then it'll already be so good of an NAQ section, no need to act like you did more work than you actually did - verbs = vary them up a bit but not to a huge level; for example I was guilty of starting like five entries with "I worked to" so I changed it up (or changed the sentence structure) to stuff like "In collaboration with 12 undergraduates, I strove to" etc - adverbs = can be hit or miss, it won't work for all entries but I would put a couple in here and there for flavour, not at the expense of character count tho only if you have like 10-12 characters free after writing an entry and want to throw a word in - review my entries? = YES YES YES my submitted application versus my first drafts back in April/May is like night and day, you want to reread each entry plenty of times you'll catch so many things you think could be said better - full sentences? = imo, yes - but UBC does have an Admissions Blog post saying it's okay to not. I just like how it flows better with full sentences palmtrees and soccermed123 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmtrees Posted August 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2020 On 8/28/2020 at 6:43 PM, Excel-erate Your Breath said: Ohhh nicenicenice and okay for sure! Well here's some concrete general tips I followed as a result of scouring these forums and also having people edit mine Also take it w a grain of salt I'm freestyling rn if you want a couple concrete examples of actual entries that I submitted then DM me - details: putting in numbers in your entry (ex. I tutored students vs I tutored 15 students) will help showcase what you did better - character count: 350 is a very small number, so I tried to generally do 1st sentence general aim of the work (ex. I worked to improve the grades of 15 chemistry students blah blah), 2nd sentence how you did that aim (ex. Tutoring sessions consisted of working through problems together etc), and 3rd sentence outcome (ex. Each student's grades improved by 20% as a result) - what entries should I put? = EVERYTHING! things that might seem normal to your life could actually be a very illuminating NAQ entry. For example, are you a member (follower? idk the right term lol even though I am one) of a religion? Do you have kids/younger siblings/cousins you cared for? Did you travel to France for 6 months and stopped a man from robbing a poor old lady on the plane? (Lol you get the point) - embellish? = might be controversial but my opinion is a strong no, I used to think embellishing would be a good tactic but honestly if you're giving enough detail about yourself and your experiences then it'll already be so good of an NAQ section, no need to act like you did more work than you actually did - verbs = vary them up a bit but not to a huge level; for example I was guilty of starting like five entries with "I worked to" so I changed it up (or changed the sentence structure) to stuff like "In collaboration with 12 undergraduates, I strove to" etc - adverbs = can be hit or miss, it won't work for all entries but I would put a couple in here and there for flavour, not at the expense of character count tho only if you have like 10-12 characters free after writing an entry and want to throw a word in - review my entries? = YES YES YES my submitted application versus my first drafts back in April/May is like night and day, you want to reread each entry plenty of times you'll catch so many things you think could be said better - full sentences? = imo, yes - but UBC does have an Admissions Blog post saying it's okay to not. I just like how it flows better with full sentences This was super helpful! Thanks for taking the time to write all of this Will PM you! Excel-erate Your Breath 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excel-erate Your Breath Posted August 30, 2020 Report Share Posted August 30, 2020 30 minutes ago, palmtrees said: This was super helpful! Thanks for taking the time to write all of this Will PM you! No problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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