Question about EC Activities

[Guest Nana]

Hi everyone!

 

I am applying to UBC med this year and am currently thinking about what to put in my application, particularly for the non-academic section.

 

I was wondering if it's okay to put down volunteer experiences from 4-5 years ago (i.e. in high school)? I have done quite a bit of volunteering in high school and it would be a shame to leave them out.

 

Also, is it necessary to put down a contact person for every single activity? Are these contact persons called at all? I have lost contact with some of these volunteer co-ordinators, since I haven't seen them for a few years. Did anyone else have this problem?

 

 

Thank you so much for any replies!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

If you have space for older activities (especially if they're significant or highly relevant) then definitely consider adding them.

 

Yes, you should have a contact person for each activity as UBC does seem to check these. For long-lost contacts there are two possibilities: 1) contact the relevant agency and obtain a current telephone number and contact name--if UBC needs proof they may be able to obtain any additional information about your participation in the organization from them themselves; 2) if you have a friend or relative who can attest to your participation in the activity, then that could be an alternative to a contact within the organization.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest kanayo101]

A note on EC's...make sure they are well explained either in the application or in your essay. I had over 2000 hours of ECs through high school but was given no points for it as I didn't explain enough of what I did.

 

Although, for what its worth, I think that they should have at least taken the time to phone or email and ask me...I know they have x hours to process y students but the impact on one's application -- and future for that matter -- is significant. Oh well, learn for next time.

[Guest McCarey007]

Kirsteen is right. I would add significant ECs to your application, regardless of when they took place. If you did 500hrs of community service at your local community centre during high school, that's a very worthwhile accomplishment to put on your application - it shows your dedication to community service. (Hey, that's what medicine is all about anyway...serving communities) Having said this, there's probably no need to include "Grade 4 Spelling Bee Champion" on your application. Greater emphasis should be placed on more recent ECs (ie during undergrad).

 

Make sure to be concise with your EC descriptions. You don't have a lot of space, but you still want to provide a thorough description of what you did.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Make sure to be concise with your EC descriptions. You don't have a lot of space, but you still want to provide a thorough description of what you did.

I agree completely. A wee tip, in addition: there may be some activities that you may feel warrant a little extra space on the application, and with a little data entry creativity, this may be achieved.

 

I assume that this year's UBC application affords the same amount of space as did last year's? If so, (and for anyone to whom this may be relevant), in my UBC application this past year, there were two extracurricular activities on my list to which I wished to allot more space. I still made sure to describe the activities concisely, but because of the complex and diverse nature of the activities, and my feeling that including these details was important, I devoted more space to each in the application. I used two data entry boxes to house all the information by not entering contact information in the first of the two boxes, thereby allowing the two entries to abut one another in the application text. The result was that I had double the space to describe those activities, all the detail was included, and the text was easily readable.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen