Verifier for Formal Education?

[Guest diencephalon]

This is going to sound so stupid but do you really have to put a verifier for your education like put the name and address of the school?

[Guest UofCMeds2005]

I am not sure what the official answer is, but I did. My philosophy was to verify EVERYTHING. For high school I listed my high school guidance counselor (I also listed her for ECs and sports etc.) Basically, everything to do with highschool went under the same person. That saved me from tracking down numbers of tons of people from my past...

 

For university I think I listed the registrars office - I don't really remember it is kind of foggy.

 

Golden rule - verify everything.

[Guest JSS02]

If you're mentioning it in an essay, then definitely yes. Otherwise, the autobiographical sketch entries require verifiers only if you apply to U of T.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

I also used verifiers for everything. For many of the High School activities though, I used a single teacher that I got in touch with who could remember all the stuff I did.

[Guest Jennifer Y]

For high school I used the counsellor; university awards I used the registrar; the rest I used people who knew that I did the activity. Just a thought though, I used someone (a peer) who was involved in the same activity and later on during the year we had a fall out and I was really uncomfortable with that. It was too late to change the info on the application forms, so be careful.

[Guest Lost in Space]

Hi

 

Just wondering do we have to start with high school stuff? I took 5 years off after high school to do lots of other things (volunteering, working etc) before University.

 

Do I have to start with stuff from when I was 16? I was thinking to start with more relevant stuff. Plus I don't want to date myself. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Guest Jennifer Y]

I don't think it is a disadvantage to be 5 years older on your application. Just be prepare to answer why and what you did for those 5 years.

[Guest me]

Hi all,

 

I'm similarly unsure about what to put on my autobio sketch. I think that I"ll ultimately take the attitude that I only want to put things on it that I really want to discuss. For me, that means cutting out stuff like high school clubs that were pretty meaningless, and things that I volunteered at for short periods, like for a day or two. I hope that the payoff in interviews will be worth the risk of not getting to the interviews because of a shorter list!!

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

Sounds like a solid approach to me. I realize now that there were a couple of things it wouldn't have hurt me to leave out-I would have looked pretty stupid if I had been asked to expand on what I had learned in 1 or 2 of the more insignificant clubs I was a part of. So be sure to include that which you are proudest of and be prepared to talk about your roles in each when it's time for your interviews!

 

Best of luck!

Timmy