application help - non academic experiences

[Guest flowers]

Hey! What's an example of outdoor experiences? Does this include, say volunteering at the calgary stampede?

[Guest Ollie]

For ourdoor experiences, I said that I liked camping and hiking. I'm not hardcore or anything, but I do enjoy the activities, and try to get outdoors as often as possible. It's basically impossible for them to verify that you do indeed participate in these activities, but you want to avoid strectching the truth, lest you get an interviewer who wants to talk at length about your hiking experiences!

[Guest physiology]

Hello Flowers,

 

I interpreted "outdoor" experiences to be more related to sports and other recreational activities (camping, etc).

 

However, it is open to interpretation.

 

Hope that helps.

[Guest flowers]

Thanks! Few more questions - what does tutoring fall under? Leadership/working with others or community service? personally i think it can fall under both! i used to tutor innercity elementary kids with math, reading.

 

Also, to save space and avoid redundancy, is it possible to avoid giving references for one activity if it was done under the same organization as another? ie. doing two different activities at one hospital under the same supervision?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

What's an example of outdoor experiences?

Other examples: biking, rock climbing, triathalons, canoeing, kayaking, etc. I had plenty of biking experiences in among my "outdoor experiences" category.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest flowers]

now that i see your responses, i feel kinda silly having asked the question about outdoor experience examples:\

[Guest threeputt]

I would try to spread my activities amongst all the categories, so it looks like you are well-rounded person. Try not to be too heavy in one area if it makes you deficient in another. Good luck!

[Guest northpole]

I'd recommend putting tutoring in the leadership/working with others category and the volunteering at the stampede (that's so cool-- by the way!!) in the community service category. Cover your bases!!

Also, I don't think it was stupid at all to think that volunteering at the stampede could be classified as outdoor experience. Everyone has different ideas of what that means anyways!

[Guest flowers]

thanks for the help! really appreciate it. i feel that coming up with the list of activities i've done is easy, but actually writing it and making it sound like more than just something i did 2 hours a week is by far the hardest part. what i really would like is a suggestion on how to describe something like tutoring in a way that shows that i've learnt something from it and imply that what i've taken from it will make me worthy for an interview. So how do i take this:

 

Tutored inner city elementary students with difficulties in reading and writing

 

into something more impressive?

(adding stuff like: supported them when they were frustrated and felt there was not point in trying)

[Guest physiology]

Hey Flowers,

 

Were you part of the Trek program?

 

If the children have specific medical conditions, you could integrate that in as well.

 

"Tutoring marginalized, First Nations inner-city school children in reading and writing, some of whom have FAS, behavioral disorders, and various other special needs."

 

If indeed some are First Nations, you can double dip and put that into the Aboriginal/Rural category as well.

 

You also have to watch the space that they give you to describe the EC. But maximize its use.

 

The evaluators use your EC sheet in conjunction with your autobiographical essay to give you a non-academic score out of 25, so, being very descriptive is to your advantage.

[Guest physiology]

Hey Flowers,

 

I private messaged you.

[Guest flowers]

hey physiology! thanks for the advice! i private messaged you! (sorry i didn't check this message until now!)