toffeetree Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 Can someone explain to me the NAQ? and some strategies for getting the highest NAQ possible? I just think it's strange to quantify someone's extracurricular worth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horlicks Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 high score on naq? i personally think a big part of it depends on your luck. If the committee likes you, your score will be high. If they don't, they can find a million reasons to lower your score. ________ Vapor genie vaporizer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVP Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 Mayhaps luck is a factor, but i think the bigger factor is the way you word the descriptions of your activities/ECs on your application. With UBC they have their five (?) categories they look for (eg. leadership, high performance, service,etc) and while you may have those covered, if you aren't really explicit when stating your activity you could/will lose points. Remember that the evaluators don't know you--they only have that application you submit to go by. Someone else told me that it's also important to show integration when writing about your ECs. Most of the time one activity isn't going to be just about "service" or just about "leadership". You should write about how those elements come into play with each thing you do. (I haven't seen the application myself so I don't know if they categorize activities with these headings, in which case I am guessing integration would be somewhat hard to do.) Mind you I have not even applied once yet , but this is what I've heard over and over again Maybe read over the definitions UBC publishes for each category? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poolboy Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 The five categories they score you on are: Leadership Experience Service Ethic Experience Capacity to work with Others Diversity of Experience High Level of Performance in an Area of Human Endeavour Bonus and Negative Points Masters and PHd points They have traditionally being worth five points each, but I heard that this year and from now on the "High Level of...." category is worth 2 points and the others are now worth 6. During my feedback sessions the things they stressed were - proper wording of your activities: any leadership positions, what you contributed... - Commitment in your activities - they want to see that you have been committed to the places you volunteer (i.e. more than three years for a reasonable number of hours) - and they want to see that you are still involved in activities. - Doing activities that are outside of your comfort zone - if you a Christian, don't do all church stuff - if you work with youth a lot, mix it up and work with different age groups or ethnic groups. - If all you do is volunteer in the hospital ER, ski in your spare time, and play piano, try something new to stand out. - Really enjoy what you do - this really comes across in your interview. - Make sure you have medically related activities - again this will come out big in your interview. My academic scores were low, so I was always trying to boost up my Naq - it takes time, and some years you'll score lower than others even though you've done more (the luck factor, yes!) - but if you are gearing it towards the categories, and for your interview, and most importantly if your activities mean something to you, you should do fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microbesarecool Posted May 21, 2007 Report Share Posted May 21, 2007 I think everyone's been giving really good advice. Just to tell my story...I applied twice with basically an identical application. The only thing I changed was the way that I worded everything and that seems to have been enough to get me in! Well that and some luck. So really take the time to have a well written application. I think it makes a huuuge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horlicks Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 I think everyone's been giving really good advice. Just to tell my story...I applied twice with basically an identical application. The only thing I changed was the way that I worded everything and that seems to have been enough to get me in! Well that and some luck. So really take the time to have a well written application. I think it makes a huuuge difference. Ditto, but I still think luck plays a big part too I know some people who submitted identical applications and got accepted. ________ FORD F-SERIES PICTURE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfette Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 Ditto, but I still think luck plays a big part too I know some people who submitted identical applications and got accepted. This is definitely true. I don't doubt it at all. But luck is something that you can't control and trying to make your application better is. So the productive choice would be to focus on making your application better A few things to consider when writing your application: (1) Do you seem well-rounded? Poolboy mentionned this. If all your activities are Church activities, then maybe you should include a couple other activities EVEN if they are smaller activities that maybe weren't as important to you. I think lots of times when people write resumes or submit med applications, they put down what is meaningful to them. You've got to think about it from the reader's perspective. (2) Is it clear what you did? Obviously you know what the activity involved, but the reader doesn't. If it isn't clear to an anonymous person who knows nothing about the activity and doesn't know you at all, then the point is useless. (3) Is it cohesive? Your application should make you seem like a real person. The ad comm should be able to read it and get a sense of who you are as a person (and this should collaborate with your interview). If your application is really chunky or parts of it doesn't make sense or doesn't fit together, it probably won't score as many points. This includes not just your EC list, but also your essay and your references. (4) Essay, essay, essay. Don't neglect this. This is where everything comes together (see point 3). (5) Keep the 5 points in mind (leadership, service, capacity to work with others, diversity, and high performance). Don't worry too much about high performance since it's worth less and it's hard to control (unless you have something stellar). But make sure you hit all the other points. If you've got lots of service activities and very little leadership activities, then frame the activity that could count as both service or leadership as a leadership activity. This way you won't score very low in anything. It's hard to get very high marks. It's much easier to gain a point or two in an area that would otherwise be a low mark. (6) List out all your activities and then carefully think about them from the ad comm's perspective before cutting them from your list. This is the general theme of making sure you're thinking about writing your application from the reader's perspective rather than your own again. Last year, I applied (unsuccessfully). I went to my feedback session and was told that I could improve my service NAQ mark. I asked for some examples and they kindly gave a few examples to me - some of these very things, I had actually done! But I hadn't put them on my application, because I didn't really think much about them. They were from quite a few years ago and I didn't think they were particularly unique or special. I felt like such an idiot! But then I realized that I was writing the application from my own perspective rather than from the reader's perspective. You bet I changed that this year (although it might not have made a difference - it could have been the interview). That's all I can think of for now. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poolboy Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 Great points Smurfette - I agree that the essay is a great place to bring it all together - I rewrote my same essay four times (over four years), and I found my last time writing it was geared especially for the interview (since this is were most people seem to make it or break it generally). The two interviews that I did poorly in I realized that I was not expressing the important points that they were looking for: 1.) Motivation to be a doctor 2.) Service and Responsibility 3.) Interpersonal Skills 4.) Intergrity/Honesty 5.) Communication Skills/Raport - since the interview panel have a form with the five catagories they are marking on (different than the five for the NAQ) I geared my essay structure to answer each of the sections they were looking for, all the while making sure I emphasized my leadership roles - this way I knew I covered all my bases in case I missed saying something in my interview (which always happened). As a teacher who has marked a lot of essays and assignments I found that since I read so many of them I gave higher marks to people who made it obvious that they have the right answer - don't make me search for the answer, I don't have the time to dig or assume - I love it when students make my marking easy by following the rubric - I think it's the same with those looking at our application - make things obvious - just like Smurfette said - be coherent - by purposfull - know what they are generally looking for and use that template for your application (NAQ) and your essay, and then finally spice it up with some stories and make it personal. Sure it can be a crap shoot at times, but there are things you can do to make the odds more in your favor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toffeetree Posted May 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2007 thank you for the awesome advice. that really helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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