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48 Entries For Abs?


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I put in my high school and university (undergrad). Some people don't include high school, but I did because my high school had bilingual curriculum, so I thought it was worth mentioning. Similarly, I think AP or IB programs would also be worth mentioning. Also,include your undergrad, and any additional post-secondary education. 

 

Also, most people have about 25-35 entries. If you have less or more that's ok too, but 25-35 is about average. 

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I put in my high school and university (undergrad). Some people don't include high school, but I did because my high school had bilingual curriculum, so I thought it was worth mentioning. Similarly, I think AP or IB programs would also be worth mentioning. Also,include your undergrad, and any additional post-secondary education. 

 

Also, most people have about 25-35 entries. If you have less or more that's ok too, but 25-35 is about average. 

Thanks for the quick response!! Would you happen to also know what Geographical Location is for? Is it simply for cities or perhaps universities, building names, etc?

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Thanks for the quick response!! Would you happen to also know what Geographical Location is for? Is it simply for cities or perhaps universities, building names, etc

You're welcome! For most entires, I put the city and province. For activities outside Canada, I put the city and country. 

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Don't worry about how many other people put, just fill your entries in a way that makes sense. Some people might have very few with long-term commitments, others many have many smaller ones. And at this point it's too late for you to change anything, so no point in worrying. As long as you know and fulfill the actual expectations (ECs, volunteering, etc.) the total number of entries doesn't matter. 

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Is it frowned upon if I DO fill all 48 entries? I haven't included any short-term volunteering except for two things that I just started earlier this year (they are both ongoing). I did include a few awards I received when I graduated high school, but I feel like it's a good mix of things. Just wondering if my ABS will get a side-eye since I filled all the spots.

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Is it frowned upon if I DO fill all 48 entries? I haven't included any short-term volunteering except for two things that I just started earlier this year (they are both ongoing). I did include a few awards I received when I graduated high school, but I feel like it's a good mix of things. Just wondering if my ABS will get a side-eye since I filled all the spots.

 

 

You're probably overthinking things. 

 

I filled out all 48; many of my friends who applied and got in this cycle also had full or near-full ABSs. Clearly this wasn't an obstacle for any of our applications. And at no point was I grilled about the fact that I'd had 48 meaningful experiences over the past 4-5 years. I also included a number of items from high school that I felt were important or relevant; I wasn't questioned about those either and in fact brought them up when they felt relevant during interviews. 

 

That said, I didn't put activities that I recently started on my ABS, as I did not think those were meaningful. By "earlier this year", what exactly do you mean? If you did the activity throughout the summer and will be continuing, that's probably important. If it's a school position that you're starting now and continuing, I would view that as padding. 

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You're probably overthinking things.

 

I filled out all 48; many of my friends who applied and got in this cycle also had full or near-full ABSs. Clearly this wasn't an obstacle for any of our applications. And at no point was I grilled about the fact that I'd had 48 meaningful experiences over the past 4-5 years. I also included a number of items from high school that I felt were important or relevant; I wasn't questioned about those either and in fact brought them up when they felt relevant during interviews.

 

That said, I didn't put activities that I recently started on my ABS, as I did not think those were meaningful. By "earlier this year", what exactly do you mean? If you did the activity throughout the summer and will be continuing, that's probably important. If it's a school position that you're starting now and continuing, I would view that as padding.

Thank you, that is really helpful! :) I started volunteering at a clinic in a field that interests me in April, and have volunteered there every week since. I also started a research assistant position in January, which is still ongoing. The third (probably weakest) thing I included that I just started in February is canvassing for a charity that I am passionate about. All other things are long-term commitments that I've been doing for 2 years minimum. I didn't include one position on one of my school's senate committees that started last September, because we only met once over the whole year, so I felt that it wasn't meaningful enough to include.

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Thank you, that is really helpful! :) I started volunteering at a clinic in a field that interests me in April, and have volunteered there every week since. I also started a research assistant position in January, which is still ongoing. The third (probably weakest) thing I included that I just started in February is canvassing for a charity that I am passionate about. All other things are long-term commitments that I've been doing for 2 years minimum. I didn't include one position on one of my school's senate committees that started last September, because we only met once over the whole year, so I felt that it wasn't meaningful enough to include.

 

These are definitely both long enough commitments depending on the no. of hours. i.e. I put something in that I had started in June before the application was due last year, but had a total of 80 hours, so I definitely considered it a meaningful experience and did not have any problems. 

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I don't think its bad to include some high school stuff, but keep in mind that 99% of all high school stuff is ignored. They ask for things back to age 16 so they can gauge some longer term commitment stuff that may have preceded undergrad, but awards and other things along that line are mostly inconsequential since it was a while ago and high schools vary drastically across the country.

 

How long you have been doing something isn't a great indicator of whether or not you should include it. It is possible to have some very meaningful experiences that last only a few hours that may be worth including. Just be careful to avoid padding with things that don't contribute much to your "story". You want the review to have a clear understanding of what led you to medicine and why you think are you are a good fit for the program.

 

Like others have said, quality over quantity. However, it does look kind of bad if after so many years that you can only fill out 5-8 spots of things you've done in your life.

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You're probably overthinking things. 

 

I filled out all 48; many of my friends who applied and got in this cycle also had full or near-full ABSs. Clearly this wasn't an obstacle for any of our applications. And at no point was I grilled about the fact that I'd had 48 meaningful experiences over the past 4-5 years. I also included a number of items from high school that I felt were important or relevant; I wasn't questioned about those either and in fact brought them up when they felt relevant during interviews. 

 

That said, I didn't put activities that I recently started on my ABS, as I did not think those were meaningful. By "earlier this year", what exactly do you mean? If you did the activity throughout the summer and will be continuing, that's probably important. If it's a school position that you're starting now and continuing, I would view that as padding. 

 

How about a position starting in August? Would that be considered padding 

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How about a position starting in August? Would that be considered padding 

 

 

Honestly... I'd probably say yes. You'd have only held this position for what-- maybe max a month? by the time you're submitting this application. That demonstrates next to no commitment or dedication, and doesn't reflect positively on your ABS in any way. The one exception if it's like a culmination of something you've spent the past few years doing-- e.g. you've always been an athlete, and you became part of the national team in August. Extreme example obviously, but that showcases what I think is the only kind of last-minute EC that might benefit your profile in any way.

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How about a position starting in August? Would that be considered padding 

 

Just to give you another perspective, I had an activity in my ABS that only started on Oct 1st. It had a significant no. of hours per week and was important for my app so I felt that I should include it. I put the expected hours per week when writing my application. By the time interviews came around, I had ~300 hours so it was worth it. I did not experience any problems by including it. Also, I had a gap year between undergrad and starting med so I felt that it provided a lot more insight about what I was doing in my gap year. 

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1) How strict are they about entries being after the age of 16?

 

2) What kind of entries do people put? I've seen around the forums like languages, high school and such. To what extent will entires be considered as padding?

1. Anything in the year you turned 16 is fine in my opinion (I doubt people will actually go and calculate that you had turned 16 by the start date)

2. In the application, the categories for entries are given (ECs, research, volunteering, employment, education, awards, other). Put in anything that will give the person reading your application a good idea of who you are, what you are interested in/care about, etc. I had quite a few entries from high school since I did a lot of sports at that time (both inside and outside of school) and had some volunteering/employment from that time. 

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Just to give you another perspective, I had an activity in my ABS that only started on Oct 1st. It had a significant no. of hours per week and was important for my app so I felt that I should include it. I put the expected hours per week when writing my application. By the time interviews came around, I had ~300 hours so it was worth it. I did not experience any problems by including it. Also, I had a gap year between undergrad and starting med so I felt that it provided a lot more insight about what I was doing in my gap year. 

Hm, no offense but adding something that you STARTED just when the app was due seems like a huge no no to me lol.

At best, maybe the adcoms just didn't consider that aspect of your application in the written or interview, but i don't think they would've given weight to that at all... The whole point of the app is to include things that you did significantly PRIOR to the app is due lol. I could easily just claim I started 6 new activities and stack it on my app in that case.

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Honestly... I'd probably say yes. You'd have only held this position for what-- maybe max a month? by the time you're submitting this application. That demonstrates next to no commitment or dedication, and doesn't reflect positively on your ABS in any way. The one exception if it's like a culmination of something you've spent the past few years doing-- e.g. you've always been an athlete, and you became part of the national team in August. Extreme example obviously, but that showcases what I think is the only kind of last-minute EC that might benefit your profile in any way.

It's actually a research project I began in August (although discussions about the project with my supervisor began in July). I'm continuing with it through the entire year and I was really hoping to include it because it gives a good sense of my research interests, SIGH.

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It's actually a research project I began in August (although discussions about the project with my supervisor began in July). I'm continuing with it through the entire year and I was really hoping to include it because it gives a good sense of my research interests, SIGH.

 

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I would include it. At worst, they won't give much weight to it. The adcoms can't guess what you are up to from now until interviews, if you don't tell them... Also, similarly to you, I had begun the process of interviewing/getting the position/getting administrative things done before my position began (position started Oct 1st), I started all the "admin" stuff to actually start my position in late August. 

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Hm, no offense but adding something that you STARTED just when the app was due seems like a huge no no to me lol.

At best, maybe the adcoms just didn't consider that aspect of your application in the written or interview, but i don't think they would've given weight to that at all... The whole point of the app is to include things that you did significantly PRIOR to the app is due lol. I could easily just claim I started 6 new activities and stack it on my app in that case.

I don't think there is a downside to including something like this. At worst, they maybe didn't give it much weight. And if they wanted to confirm that I actually did this activity, they could easily contact the verifier...

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1. Anything in the year you turned 16 is fine in my opinion (I doubt people will actually go and calculate that you had turned 16 by the start date)

2. In the application, the categories for entries are given (ECs, research, volunteering, employment, education, awards, other). Put in anything that will give the person reading your application a good idea of who you are, what you are interested in/care about, etc. I had quite a few entries from high school since I did a lot of sports at that time (both inside and outside of school) and had some volunteering/employment from that time. 

Thanks! I'm curious what's considered padding. Would it be considered padding if I talk about going to the gym for resistance training and cardio or maybe how I can speak Punjabi and Dutch?

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Thanks! I'm curious what's considered padding. Would it be considered padding if I talk about going to the gym for resistance training and cardio or maybe how I can speak Punjabi and Dutch?

 

Both of those are fine. I put on recreational running/weightlifting at the gym on my app and did not have any problems from doing that. It also added up to a significant amount of hours, so it gave adcoms a sense of what I did outside of school. I think the languages are great for the other section. I didn't thinking of putting in that I speak a second language besides English, but I think it would have added positively to my app. Also, to add, I count padding as an event that you did for one day, or something with a very low commitment (i.e. somebody who volunteered once at a soup kitchen). 

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