Family as Verifiers?

[Guest silverjelly86]

Is it all right for family (such as your mother) to verify certain activities that it would be difficult for someone else to vouch for? Examples would be reading, bike-riding, and other such hobbies/extracurricular activities.

 

Also, do things such as "like to sing" qualify as extracurricular activities?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Regarding your first question, I think it would be acceptable to have family members vouch for your past activities if you are no longer in touch with the relevant folks with whom you did those activities, etc. In fact, I did just that for my final application to the Ontario schools. UofT and Ottawa didn't seem to have a problem with it at the pre-interview stage.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest doctorinthehouse]

I also put family and friends as verifiers. There are certain things (ie. activities or sports in highschool) that no one else would remember except your mom. Also, there are people that were involved in programs when you were there, that aren't anymore. So, the only people that can really verify that you did that was friends.

I put friends and family as verifiers and got into Ottawa U this year, so it obviously doesn't matter that much

[Guest geekpunk]

Just a question about Verifiers. Are we required to have a verifier for EVERY single activity we put down? Will it look bad if we don't have verifiers for some activities? I understand that the major activities (extensive volunteer work, employment, research) should have a verifier, but even for stuff such as "playing guitar" or "reading biographies"?

 

Also, I have a verifier that can verify many of my activities. In the "comment" section in the Verifier input box, should I put in brackets the number of all the activities that person can verify?

Ex: John smith, Comment: Volunteer supervisor (4, 6, 9, 31).

 

Where (4, 6, 9, 31) would indicate the activities listed in the OMSAS autobiographical sketch that the person could verify.

 

Thanks a lot, any help is much appreciated!

[Guest spidey077]

I used verifiers for ALL activities, even the little things, reading, etc.

 

I didn't list any of the activities in the comment section since...

 

"The verifier list should not contain the description of the activity. It should contain the person’s title, first and last name, address and telephone number, and any additional comments."

 

You can use the comments section for things like listing the persons position i.e. volunteer coordinator.

[Guest DrPunjabi]

As far as family for verifiers is concerned, I called and asked about this one when I was applying to Med school last year. When it comes to organized activities, it is always better to use the names of those who were in charge of the activities (i.e. teachers, coordinators), if you have to use a family or friend's name. For every activity do put a verifier down, because it does not count if the school can not verifie the activity with someone. This does not mean they will do this, but they can exercise that right.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Yes, it's better to err on the side of submitting verifiers for all activities as opposed to skipping those for which you feel you cannot drum up verifiers. For the latter, use family or friends who can attest to your involvement in these activities as opposed to no-one at all.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest g22g]

To spidey,

When I listed each verifier I mentioned all of the activities that they could verify in the comment section.

Good luck,

g22g, MS3 U of O.

p.s. And for the guitar player? Who or where did you get the guitar from? Just kidding... Play on!