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How many of the 48 slots do people on average fill out?

 

I know that quality over quantity is better, but I'm still starting to panic that I just don't have enough!

 

Could someone give me a rough idea of what is normal or what is a good number to have?

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There's no normal for these things. I know of people who've gotten in with less than 20 things on their sketch. At the same time, I know of many people with over 40 things.

 

It's far more important to have well written items than the number of items that you have.

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Thanks for the responses!

 

Hopefully I'll be alright. I'm fairly involved with a a few organizations but it doesn't translate to looking like a lot of entries on ABS.

 

I had another question, when do you include activities up to? Like right up to when deadline is e.g. October 2012?

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Does anyone know where OMSAS defines each category of the ABS?

What goes under Volunteering Activities vs. Extracurricular Activities?

 

For example:

Volunteering - volunteer at hospital or an event

Extracurricular - in a drama production, sports team...

Where would you put being part of student or community organizations, but not in paid positions? Like a Board of Directors? or Student Government?

 

Also for Research - is that all research experience/position? or is it referring to research publications (oral, poster, abstract, articles?)

 

Thanks!

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I have the same question as above, does volunteering in a research lab count as research?

 

And one other question, would activities you do on your own count as ECs? Like learning a music instrument on your own or training for a 10k race example? And if so who would you put as verifiers?

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Sorry to double post, hope nobody minds...but I had another question about the sketch.

Essentially while I was a senior high school I was lucky to go to this month-long summer program/camp. We had a lot of lectures, lab work, we visited a lot of places (it was held in Ottawa). Basically the point of it was to take high school aged kids and teach them the importance of being able to integrate knowledge, being aware of global affairs, being a leader, to think creatively, etc etc. I learned a lot from this experience and I'm definitely including it in the sketch. It changed me as a person. But for this summer program, at the end of the month we had to design a product that would benefit the lives of Canadians with our group. So essentially we wrote up a business plan, marketing plan etc., presented our product to the other groups and our counsellors.

I'm really proud of the product my group and I made. It's still one of the things I'm most proud of in my life. Do you think I could make the creation of this product a separate entity on OMSAS? I could try to squeeze it all in one, but I feel like that wouldn't do it justice.

We didn't actually put the product on the market or anything like that, but just conceiving the idea from scratch, physically building it, and drawing up all the plans...it was and still is a huge thing for me. What do you guys think? Could I put it as something separate?

 

If you need more details please just ask :) Hopefully I explained my question well enough!

 

Edit: one more quick thing, I'm from the province of Ontario and will be applying to schools in other provinces, so for those apps I'd include it as something separate as well.

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Sorry to double post, hope nobody minds...but I had another question about the sketch.

Essentially while I was a senior high school I was lucky to go to this month-long summer program/camp. We had a lot of lectures, lab work, we visited a lot of places (it was held in Ottawa). Basically the point of it was to take high school aged kids and teach them the importance of being able to integrate knowledge, being aware of global affairs, being a leader, to think creatively, etc etc. I learned a lot from this experience and I'm definitely including it in the sketch. It changed me as a person. But for this summer program, at the end of the month we had to design a product that would benefit the lives of Canadians with our group. So essentially we wrote up a business plan, marketing plan etc., presented our product to the other groups and our counsellors.

I'm really proud of the product my group and I made. It's still one of the things I'm most proud of in my life. Do you think I could make the creation of this product a separate entity on OMSAS? I could try to squeeze it all in one, but I feel like that wouldn't do it justice.

We didn't actually put the product on the market or anything like that, but just conceiving the idea from scratch, physically building it, and drawing up all the plans...it was and still is a huge thing for me. What do you guys think? Could I put it as something separate?

 

If you need more details please just ask :) Hopefully I explained my question well enough!

 

Edit: one more quick thing, I'm from the province of Ontario and will be applying to schools in other provinces, so for those apps I'd include it as something separate as well.

 

Shad by any chance? If yes, definitely put it in (if not, still put it in) but perhaps as a single entry- better to focus on what you did/learned/experienced during the one month rather than focusing on a single project... and from what you posted, it sounds like you gained a lot from the camp as a whole rather than from one project. The project itself may not show why it's important to medicine, but you can obviously say a lot about your experiences at camp and how it ties to medicine..... or better yet, work on the product on your own and put it on the market :D

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Yes it was Shad! :D Are you a Shad Alumni as well?

 

And yes I definitely see your point. I am still so proud of the project but it was the experience as a whole that changed me and made me a better person, not just making that specific project.

 

Thanks for your help!:)

 

Np- I'm not a Shad Alumni, wasn't much of a student in high school :)

...but my sister was, and I'm well aware of the kinds of people (i.e. wow those are some crazy kids) that go there... if there's room, try to show the competitiveness of the program as well.

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Does anyone use the 'Other' category? I'm trying to think of things I could fill it with, but I'm drawing a blank. I'm a certified lifeguard (NLS), so maybe it'd go there?

 

Also, I'm having trouble categorizing some things, would anyone be willing to offer some insight?

 

- Summer Research (paid, not scholarship) (employment or research?)

- Summer Research (paid, NSERC scholarship, Inorganic Chemistry Exchange Award) (employment, research, or award? ought it be split up?)

- Academic-term Research Appointment (through scholarship) (employment, research, or award?)

 

Thanks.

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I was going to put my NLS certificate under formal education, and put summer research into the research category with a separate entry for my NSERCs under awards. I'm applying for the first time this cycle so my comment probably doesn't hold much weight, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

 

Cool. Although, from the OMSAS instructions, it seems to hint at Formal Education being post-secondary, not NLS-type things. [F: Formal Education (name of institution, dates, program, degree)]

 

Also, I thought I read somewhere that it was bad to take the same thing and put it into multiple categories. I'd like to, and I think it makes sense to (in a way), but I can see it being redundant/bloated.

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Does anyone use the 'Other' category? I'm trying to think of things I could fill it with, but I'm drawing a blank. I'm a certified lifeguard (NLS), so maybe it'd go there?

 

Also, I'm having trouble categorizing some things, would anyone be willing to offer some insight?

 

- Summer Research (paid, not scholarship) (employment or research?)

- Summer Research (paid, NSERC scholarship, Inorganic Chemistry Exchange Award) (employment, research, or award? ought it be split up?)

- Academic-term Research Appointment (through scholarship) (employment, research, or award?)

 

Thanks.

 

According to OMSAS, NSERC scholarships should be listed under awards while research as part of any training or program should be included under the research category. Personally I would do (1) research (2) awards (3) awards.

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Not sure if this has been brought up before, but I noticed that as a part of our sketch we have to mention the Geographic location. Is this just the major cities/area that the activity was partaken or do we put down the actual institutions' names (because I don't think it would fit within the character limit for that box)?

 

Also, do schools place a strong emphasis on this (like if you have traveled to distant areas etc.)? If a lot of the activities were done in the same geographic region would this influence their decisions?

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Hey wavygravy89, thanks for the link. Answered a lot of questions i had.

 

I'm still trying to get a clear answer to my question: Where do I place shadowing under? I have been shadowing/interning a neurologist for a year now. It's not volunteering, so do I put it under other?

 

Also, I've been working on a software that integrates the EMR from e-health canada... where does that fall under? other or extra-C?

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Hey wavygravy89, thanks for the link. Answered a lot of questions i had.

 

I'm still trying to get a clear answer to my question: Where do I place shadowing under? I have been shadowing/interning a neurologist for a year now. It's not volunteering, so do I put it under other?

 

Also, I've been working on a software that integrates the EMR from e-health canada... where does that fall under? other or extra-C?

 

At the moment, I have my shadowing under 'Other', but I also have the doctor on my list of verifiers. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to keep it this way, but I'll know for sure closer to the deadline.

 

Edit: The UTmed blog states to put it under 'Other' as well

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How do you guys "showcase" qualities such as leadership and etc? Do you include these words explicitly? I can hardly fit my tasks into the description!!

 

I'm trying to include them whenever possible without it being detrimental. One of my items is 'Orientation Leader', so I'm definitely not going to mention leadership unless I have extra characters.

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I'm trying to include them whenever possible without it being detrimental. One of my items is 'Orientation Leader', so I'm definitely not going to mention leadership unless I have extra characters.

 

Thanks!

 

I find it difficult to balance between describing my roles and what qualities each activity showcases without appearing to "pad' my application..

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