Not enough room on the darn sketch

[Guest malkastate]

I'm filling out the itemized autobio sketch but am not really able to fully express what I've accomplished as an employee, volunteer etc.

For example: with the limited space provided under employment description I am able to write....

 

University of Toronto: Research Assistant

 

In my mind this really says nothing-I'm unable to list what I accomplished, mention my project, what my responsibilities were etc. But is this all they want? How are others handling this...

 

Also-is it bad to not max out your sketch?

 

Also-wondering if anyone has any advice on how I can list some unusual accomplishments. I'm a singer with extensive experience-have toured, made 3 cds, and have also been a composer and lyricist. Should I list this all seperately? Or should I just write 'professional singer' under the catagory of employment and leave it at that?

 

thanks in advance

[Guest Jochi1543]

I would recommend you expand on your singing career as much as you can - it will really make you stand out among other applicants.

[Guest blinknoodle]

hey there,

 

I will assume you are talking about the itemized 48-item sketch from OMSAS. When I filled that out, I tried to figure out the main point I wanted to convey in the short amount of space. Is mentioning that it was at the University of Toronto worth half of your characters? Can you include that in your location box? Is it important to comment on the area of research? Which skills, accomplishments, responsibilities did you want to highlight? Each applicant will approach it differently, but the way I did it was basically assume that the reader knew that all items under "research" were about being a research assistant and highlighted what I thought was important with the 40 characters I had for the description. I did the same thing for the other categories.

[Guest scrubbed]

Hey there,

 

I think that blinknoodle gave good advice about the research assistant part.

 

If you really wish to emphasize your singing career, and how it demonstrates your aptitude to be a physician, I would mention those events separately.

 

In addition, use your essay as a cover letter for your sketch, or resume. Bring out your accomplishments that you feel the OMSAS format won't let you capture.

 

If the posting on the board is correct, U of T rates the essay and the sketch equally (10% each for the 40% pre-interview EC score), which is halved post-interview, so the sketch is a bit less of a concern.

 

That's great that you have such diverse talents. Best wishes with your application.

[Guest geekpunk]

A few more paranoid questions about OMSAS. Whaddya' expect, this is a pre-med board! :rollin

 

Should we be doing the sketch in Chronological order?

 

Also, should we do the sketch with all similar categories grouped together? For example, all activities cited as "Volunteer" grouped together. Then, all activities cites as "Employment" together. Or can they be intertwined?

 

Lastly, how far is everyone going when it comes to putting things down in the sketch. I mean, under extra-curricular activities, I'm considering adding "Reading TIME Magazine every week". Is that too far/silly? My dad has had a subscription to it for the last 8 years or so and I've consistently been reading it every week when I can. It's not exactly a huge part of my life, but I feel as if I should put it down. Are one or two random items like this acceptable?

[Guest scrubbed]

Sketch Order:

 

Put it in chronological order if the program doesn't do so already. I think it groups activities by category. Again, this makes it easier for the evaluator.

 

As for TIME magazine, I don't think that it could hurt you to put it down. I know that Queen's and Toronto have access to your sketch for the interview, so perhaps you could have a current events question as a result, to assess your depth of reading and insight into current events. Or if asked a question, you could answer and make reference to a TIME article, or another news sourse that you read, which could indicate that you read the magazine in depth . This is all hypothetical, of course, but could happen.

 

Cheers!

[Guest zippy5678]

when you start to input your sketch items, you'll notice that the omsas application will sort them out for you i.e. it will group all Formal educaiton together, all Awards together, all volunteer experiences together, and within each of thses categroies, additional sorting will be done automatically for you on chronological basis.

I personally don't think it's a good feature. I'd rather be able to group all the different types of activities together and just simply have them sorted out chronologically, but unfortunately the format doesn't allow us to do thsi

[Guest Serenity]

Hi Geekpunk,

 

OMSAS automatically groups items falling under the same category and does so in chronological order...so you can enter in your activities in any order that you want

 

As for your last question, to me it's sounds like a unique and interesting activity that will definitely stand out from the rest of the applications (how many people can claim they read a magazine religiously for 8 years?) I think it shows that you have a keen interest in what's happening outside of your own bubble. However, this question is probably best left to one of the experts on the forum since this is my first year applying.

 

S.

[Guest malkastate]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. It's great to know there are so many supportive folks out there.