No Contact Information - Should I bother?

[Jixe]

I don't have any contact information for a couple activities. I'm wondering if I should bother writing them.

 

For example: I spent an entire Christmas break at a Canadian Blood Services blood bank and no one I know is there anymore. This was about 2 years ago. Should I leave it unreferenced?

[canstowski]

i think its best to put down any experiences u have regardless of verifers. Its up to the adcom to decide whether ur experiences are worthy of points or not. Let them make the decisions for you, cos u don't wanna lose any potential points for anything.

[dr nomis]

Posting NAQ items without contact info could end up doing you more harm than good, if you do it too often. UBC uses a category called "Negative NAQ" where they subtract marks from your NAQ score in the event that you have had "lack of due care for the application" ie. leaving things blank, misspelling things, not following directions, your essay is too short, not providing verifiers.

 

Contacting the verifiers is a vital part of the application review process and everyone who is admitted has had at least 2 of their verifiers contacted by UBC, so by not including them you're painting yourself in negative light.

 

Of course, there are some things that you won't need verifiers for; I left the verifiers field blank for one of my entries, when I combined all my travel experiences into one entry (to save space).

 

However, an activity like volunteering is not one that I'd recommend leaving a verifier blank. There are some things you can do if you don't have contact info for the people you worked with.

 

First, you could try contacting the organization and seeing if they have a volunteer co-ordinator or similar position responsible for volunteer record-keeping. Even though they may not have been there with you, they might have on record that you volunteered and someone can verify that they have documented that. If they don't have you on record, they may be helpful in contacting the individual responsible for that donor clinic, should you provide them the dates.

 

Second, if that fails, you might be able to get in touch with a friend of yours who knew you were volunteering there and list them as the verifier - better someone than nobody.

 

I would make sure you have exhausted both those means before leaving a verifier blank.

[Smurfette]

You could also contact the place where you volunteered and ask them whether they could tell you the new contact information of the people who used to work there who would know you. Those people can be your verifiers even if they no longer work at that organization.

[Jixe]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I somewhat want to avoid having friends as verifiers, because it doesn't seem too "professional," but it's something I'll have to do since this was a pretty big commitment: 2 weeks full-time.

[atag]

I know this is very last minute but i still have about 20 hours to finish

could anyone clarify for me...

I went to Bamfild Marine station trip during High school, which is about 8 years...should I bother writing this in...if yes could I give myself as verifier as I don't know anyone who could verify for me...

Thanks

[Jixe]

I wouldn't verify yourself, but if you think it's significant, definitely put it in.

[avenir001]

Our high school class went to Bamfield as well and I've put it down and given the teacher's name as verifier.