It's taking me forever to write Western's ABS. Desperately need advice.

[alrightythen]

(for context, I'm talking about how the ABS asks you to concretely outline 3 things you have learned and how the experience will be helpful to your career in medicine)

I was reading some other threads here and many people said that they completed their entire ABS for Western in a few hours. I spent a few hours on ONE entry yesterday and it's incomplete. I'm having  a ton of trouble relating things I learned to how they can help me in my career in medicine.

I think my view of what "career in medicine" means is too narrow, I can only think of how a doctor interacts with patients or their colleagues. Am I overlooking something?

Also, should I focus on explaining the lesson learned or the connection to medicine?

[anonymouspls]

Don't stress about it. Like I said in the thread it took me a few days and im a fast writer, it took some of my friends a few weeks to finish the ABS. Its not a bad thing if its taking you some time to think things through.

to get things rolling a bit ... physicians interact with and lead multi disciplinary teams, act as mentors and teachers for patients and their families, interact with canadians from every background, work long hours under high stress situations, have to resolve conflicts with patients or coworkers, have to communicate sensitive information to patients, have to act professionally at all times as leaders in their communities, collaborate with other physicians or allied staff, etc etc

[alrightythen]

34 minutes ago, ysera said:

Don't stress about it. Like I said in the thread it took me a few days and im a fast writer, it took some of my friends a few weeks to finish the ABS. Its not a bad thing if its taking you some time to think things through.

to get things rolling a bit ... physicians interact with and lead multi disciplinary teams, act as mentors and teachers for patients and their families, interact with canadians from every background, work long hours under high stress situations, have to resolve conflicts with patients or coworkers, have to communicate sensitive information to patients, have to act professionally at all times as leaders in their communities, collaborate with other physicians or allied staff, etc etc

Thanks for those perspectives, I'll try to not stress about it but it's hard. I feel like time is running out even thought it's not crunch time yet

[alrightythen]

1 hour ago, Frederick Sanger said:

My overall impression is that writing the application is not the hardest part. It is the concrete thinking that goes underneath it that is time consuming. It is perfectly fine to allocate more hours to some entries as long as you maintain structural integrity. 

What do I mean by that? I mean:

1) You present your set of skills and align it with your personality. This will help them see why you are a fit as an aspiring physician. For example, say that you were involved in community service. It is more important to outline your rationale for joining it and being of service to others (the analytics) than a fancy detail about the work you did (the descriptives). 

2) Mastering brevity is an important task. You want to use minimal words to convey the maximum meaning. This would require, at least 3-4 drafts, until everything is polished and you are satisfied with. The essays for Western are a great place to demonstrate that skill. 

3) When you are mentioning and selecting each entry, there needs to be a grand narrative why those 3 entries were selected. They need to compliment one another and be able to rest on one another. Using the same kind of entries would certainly not be as helpful. 

 

I hope you find this helpful.

If you need additional help, feel free to send me a message. 

This is definitely helpful! Can you explain more about the difference between "the analytics" and "the descriptives?" And by "3 entries" you mean the 3 lessons/things I learned for each activity, right? Or do  you mean the 8 entries in total for the ABS?

I might send you a PM later this week... Thanks!

[Vivieeeeeee]

- I don't think it's useful to compare with others regarding how much time you spend. It took me one evening also + another afternoon for editing (however, this was still done well before the deadline) but that was because I already completed my ABS entries and knew what experiences I had in my arsenal. If you need a few hours for each entry, then so be it. There is nothing wrong with that. Take as much time as you need, and good on you for starting early so you can get ample editing from your peers. It's always better to err on the side of too much vs. too little when it comes to time spent on such things. I have a personal friend who was extremely smart and well-achieved and should have gotten in this year, but tried to be a smartass and "wing" all his essays the night before the deadline. Needless to say it did not end well for him and he has to reapply.

- As for your view of career in medicine, I think interaction with patients is definitely what first came to my mind. However, you can also expand into personal maturity, conflict management, social responsibility, empathy, ability to communicate etc. Think not only medicine, but the qualities one should have at ANY professional job. These would be required of you as a future doctor as well. When in doubt look at canmeds - best source of inspiration imo.

- "lesson learned or connection" I think they are equally important. You can't have one without the other. 50/50 is the way to go.