Guest bruhaha Posted August 31, 2003 Report Share Posted August 31, 2003 How trivial is too trivial for the AS? And how repetitive is too repetitive? My problem right now is with putting down lifesaving quals. Should I just put down "lifeguard" or take up 5 slots for "Bronze Cross," "Red Cross Instructor's," " Lifesaving Society Instructor's," "Red Cross First Aid and CPR," and "National Life Guard certification?" Not all lifeguards have all these things, but the basic fact that I know how to swim and do CPR is contained in the job title. But will it seem like I've been wasting my life watching Oprah (I never watch Oprah) if I only fill out 30 or so? Also Highschool awards, first does anybody win half as many awards as they did in highschool in university? Putting them all down I feel like there's a huge gap in the last four years. And do they really care that you got the ambigously-titled "Chemistry award? in highschool?" grrrrrrrr....... they really don't give a shred of instruction on what they're looking for, and than they make the textboxes uber small just to test you I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bj Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 Hi bruhaha, You may not like my answer, but it is probably what you expected: In filling out your application, the decisions to include/exclude your life achievements is totally up to you. Do you think it makes sense to include all your lifeguard qualifications? Or would you be including them simply to give the appearance that you haven't been watching Oprah all day? My bias (and mine alone) is to include only those facts that are important to you and if this is "only" 30 activities then so be it. If being a lifeguard and attaining all those qualifications is important to you, then include them. Otherwise, don't. As for the awards situation, I think it is pretty common to win more stuff in high school (when you are one of maybe 200 graduates) than in university with a graduating class of 2000. The idea behind the sketch is both to get a sense of your accomplishments and to get a sense of who you are as a person--which includes how you value/downplay your accomplishments. Good luck! bj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fox Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 I would suggest, as did bj, using the things that are most important to you in the AS. However, when I applied I tried to make sure that my AS made me look like I had a diverse background. It's great if you've won 20 scholarships and have done several research projects, but med schools are looking for well rounded individuals who are not only intelligent, but also able to communicate well with others. I made a list of all the activities I had done since I was 16 (or whatever their stipulation is) and then picked the ones to which I had been most committed. I tried to have several entries under each category. As for your swimming awards, I personally think they show dedication to your sport and are important because you obviously worked hard. Maybe you can join them together under one heading instead of grouping each one separately. For example, put "National Life Guard certification, bronze cross, and lifesaving society instructor" under one heading. This will also allow you more entries in the AS for other important things you have done in your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 I totally agree with what the others have said. It's up to you to decide how you want people to read your application and what kind of picture of you your application will create. Personally, I did use multiple entries for some activities, but only if I was able to use the multiple entries to highlight different aspects of the activity. For example, I TA'd for six different courses during undergrad, but stuck them all under one entry. But for a campus organization where I had had two different and meaningful roles, I used two entries. For lifeguarding, if it were me, I'd decide how important it was to me and whether I wanted those reading my application to think it was important in my life and then use however many entries I wanted. BUT I wouldn't put the same type of thing twice - eg I wouldn't put bronze cross separately from another random swimming certification. I would do something more like: 1. Lifeguarding Certification: Bronze Cross, Second Name, etc. 2. Teaching swimming to children aged 9 - 11 3. Lifeguarding at busy local pool All my opinion, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LIPOSUCTIONATOR Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 Good to know there's another aquatics person on board! Only 5 slots???? Some lifeguards have potential for 9! You forgot about "Bronze Med", "Distinction", "AEC", and "Swim Instructor" (only if you work for Toronto and teach their "Ultra Level learn to swim program") Did you know that the lifesaving society's "lifesaving instructor" qual allows us to certify candidates in CPR? It's tempting to list it as "CPR Instructor" instead of "lifesaving instructor" to sound more impressive to the ad coms (of course that would be unethical). Personally, I only listed my aquatics experience as ONE entry: "lifeguard/swim instructor" under category E (employment). Of course if you work for private companies, you can list lifeguard and swim instructor separately. Or what the heck, list them as separate entries even if you do both under the same employer (municipal gov't/YMCAs)! The more entries the merrier!!! Only 30 entries implies we've been watching Oprah? I try to keep my sketch under 30. I could easily fill up 60 if I really used my imagination and put my "resume padding" resources to creative use, but that would be an eye sore. The more entries you have, the more "cannon fodder" the ad coms have to bombard you at the interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bruhaha Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 thanks all, I think i'm going to go with one entry, Imd hoping enough lifeguards apply that they have some familiarity with what it takes to get there. Lipo, I wasn't serious about the Oprah thing, but it is rather depressing to think that you've done only 30 things worth mentioning over the last several years. :-) cheers, all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nightrider Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 Hey there, I had a bit of the same dilemma. In the end, I decided to list the stuff separately, because I am a head guard at my current job and have invested quite a bit of time and energy in my qualifications. I am an examiner, and working on the more advanced quals now (e.g. going for my NLS Instructors in the fall). Given the amount of my life that I have invested in this, I thought it would be ok to list everything separately. As far as the high school awards, I didn't list them last year when I applied (I was waitlisted), but my bf thought that I should list them because they are from a variety of subjects and he thought it would show some "well-roundedness". Just my thoughts on stuff...hope this helps! Good luck with the OMSAS thing. I'm so glad my application's almost done...these things are a bugger to complete. Nightrider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest McCarey007 Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 Hey, i have a very simple question. For "location" what do you guys write? The city name or the name of the organization? (ie if I volunteered at a hospital, do I put "X General Hospital" or the city name?) Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest McCarey007 Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 oh nevermind, found my answer on another post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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