Destiny Gundam Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 I did this last year, so might as well do it this year... if anyone wants feedback on their EC list and/ or essay, feel free to email me at: mcat2006stuff@gmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I am just verifying this, but i am guessing you shouldn't be putting anything related to employment in the EC list (since there is another entire section for employment history). I find this frustrating since most of my health care experience is related to my employment (I am a non-trad) and a lot of the "typical" EC's that pre-meds have i carried out like 6-10 years ago (when i had no intention of ever doing medicine). Nowadays, my EC's include running a household/family, paying a mortgage/bills and working. I am finding it tough to fill up all 5000 words on the EC list even with including all my old EC's. How much should you break them down (ie. if a volunteer position included two different roles do you list that as one item or do you split it up into two separate items either in the same or different categories?) Sorry about the length, as you can tell this is the first time I have filled out a med school application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAdlCruz Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Medisforme~ Don't worry about your employment experiences not fitting the EC category. A good friend of mine got in to UBC med this year - we both did, we are both mature/nontraditional applicants. Our non-academic listings were definitely heavy on employment experiences. Remember that not everyone has the privilege of devoting all their free time to volunteership. It is admirable, but some have to pay bills and kids to raise. The expectation remains the same for EC and employment: show varied experiences as well as advancement in all you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolywooly Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Medisforme~ Don't worry about your employment experiences not fitting the EC category. A good friend of mine got in to UBC med this year - we both did, we are both mature/nontraditional applicants. Our non-academic listings were definitely heavy on employment experiences. Remember that not everyone has the privilege of devoting all their free time to volunteership. It is admirable, but some have to pay bills and kids to raise. The expectation remains the same for EC and employment: show varied experiences as well as advancement in all you do. I agree. They are looking to see that you have a variety of experiences. I don't think it matters exactly how you obtained them. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfuguy Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I agree. They are looking to see that you have a variety of experiences. I am also a 'non-trad,' just to be to the devils advocate, if you have a family, bills etc, you do not really have the luxary of switching jobs to obtain those varied experiences. Your primary goal is $$, of course, you want a job that you enjoy, but, atleast for me, at the moment, if a job pays well, I will keep it, even if it is not the most interesting. I am much more likely to leave a volunteer position I dont find stimulating/worthwhile than a good job. Aside from the skills gained at the job (working with people, prob-solv etc..), working full time, family and perhaps volunteering/studying shows strong time management skills and commitment - include that in your app as this is what your life is most likely going to be like in med school and as a physician... It is definitly hard though to get that diverse application if you have to work to support a family! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Thanx for the replies you guys, just to get back to my original question though, am I right in assuming that nothing related to employment should go in the EC section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAdlCruz Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Thanx for the replies you guys, just to get back to my original question though, am I right in assuming that nothing related to employment should go in the EC section? Yes, that is right. In last year's application they actually specified that paid employment does not go in the EC section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 one more quick thing (again i'm sorry) but what do you write for hours for some of the more generic EC's such as reading or sports where you don't keep track of the exact amount of hours you spend doing it. Do you just guess (you can't leave it blank) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantaloons Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 Do you just guess (you can't leave it blank) Yes. I applied last year, and I found that part very frustrating. Basically, I just estimated: (#hours/day) * (#days/week) * (#weeks/month) * (#months/year) * (Total number of years volunteered) Forgive me for this slight vent, but I think that whole part of the application was a bit silly. The final submitted number for each activity was an approximation of an approximation of an aproximation of an approximation (ad infinitum). For one of my activities, I had regularly volunteered with a community organization since Gr. 10--imagine trying to calculate the hours for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistah_g Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Yes. I applied last year, and I found that part very frustrating. Basically, I just estimated: (#hours/day) * (#days/week) * (#weeks/month) * (#months/year) * (Total number of years volunteered) Forgive me for this slight vent, but I think that whole part of the application was a bit silly. The final submitted number for each activity was an approximation of an approximation of an aproximation of an approximation (ad infinitum). For one of my activities, I had regularly volunteered with a community organization since Gr. 10--imagine trying to calculate the hours for that! Lol, then you would have laughed your ass off if you had applied two years ago when they asked on the application for the start TIME OF DAY for each activity. "Ah yes, I started volunteering in the ER 8 years ago, it was around 10:32AM and I was feeling quite swell, as I do recall." That pissed me off (while at the same time amusing me) when I had applied for that cycle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 "Ah yes, I started volunteering in the ER 8 years ago, it was around 10:32AM and I was feeling quite swell, as I do recall." lmaoo!...it's also annoying how they ask for course completion dates...i'm like, hmm i haven't exactly been keeping track of my final exam dates for the past x yrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 man, the essay portion of the application is also quite difficult. I have now realized that 7400 characters is only about two pages single spaced of typing. I have already had to omit entire paragraphs of my life that I thought had some contribution to wanting to be a physician due to space constraints. I have been editing the thing over and over trying to decrease the character count. I am finally down to 8000, but am not sure what else I can cut out without interrupting the flow of the essay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaF Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Is UBC really on board with having every section of the NAC section having at least one entry? Also true for Rural training? Lastly, I have no publications, and my academic awards consist of deans honours - is this going to hurt me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moltenflammingcore Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Is UBC really on board with having every section of the NAC section having at least one entry? Also true for Rural training? Lastly, I have no publications, and my academic awards consist of deans honours - is this going to hurt me? hey EmmaF I think this is very normal/common. So don't worry about that at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monster Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 one more quick thing (again i'm sorry) but what do you write for hours for some of the more generic EC's such as reading or sports where you don't keep track of the exact amount of hours you spend doing it. Do you just guess (you can't leave it blank) I read in another thread that someone talked to admissions about this and they said if it's an activity where it's difficult to record the exact number of hours, you can put 0. I'm sure they will understand that you can't add up all the hours in your life you have spent reading. They should have allowed us to put hours/week.....total hours ever is ridiculous. You can always e-mail them directly to confirm this. I've asked a couple of questions and they've always replied in a day or two...they're really good about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Rock Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 A couple of points that people might find helpful that I used when I applied: 1) Hobbies such as reading/cooking/painting/etc--don't just put reading; specify genres or authors that you like. It doesn't matter as far as points go, but it can make you seem more interesting. Think of it this way, if someone reads an application and sees reading as a hobby, they might think, "well sure you spend a few hours a week reading--you're in university". 2) Personal essay. It's not so much about what you've done but what you learned from it. Don't try to cram in everything you've ever done in life without providing a reason or story behind why it gives you character. That does make it tougher to make it all fit, but quality is so much more important. 1700 essays of boring drivel makes the good ones with personality much more tolerable and likable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 What's with the list top 5 experiences post-secondary thing? Are we supposed to list high school stuff or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny Gundam Posted July 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 heh, my suggestion is just NOT to list high school stuff. I mean, that's like years ago, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapers Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 What if you did something 'big' in HS? In grade 12 I went with about 20 kids to Ecuador for a missions trip (2 weeks) and it was a major factor in me deciding that healthcare was the right field for me to pursue. It also influenced my decision to go into nursing, instead of bio/chem, for undergrad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyleh Posted July 20, 2008 Report Share Posted July 20, 2008 What if you did something 'big' in HS? In grade 12 I went with about 20 kids to Ecuador for a missions trip (2 weeks) and it was a major factor in me deciding that healthcare was the right field for me to pursue. It also influenced my decision to go into nursing, instead of bio/chem, for undergrad. I'd include it. I'm fairly certain the general rule is anything you did at age 16 and onward is fair game to include in your application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 I read in another thread that someone talked to admissions about this and they said if it's an activity where it's difficult to record the exact number of hours, you can put 0. I'm sure they will understand that you can't add up all the hours in your life you have spent reading. They should have allowed us to put hours/week.....total hours ever is ridiculous. You can always e-mail them directly to confirm this. I've asked a couple of questions and they've always replied in a day or two...they're really good about it. i emailed them about this and they said that this is completely wrong and will hurt your application. they said that you are required to estimate the amount of hours spent on every single activity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumper Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 Hi guys, I had some help with my essay on this site and would love to pay this service forward. I was admitted to ubc med and I feel that my essay played a large part in my acceptance. Email me your essay at: medyhelp@yahoo.ca I'll try and get back to you asap. Good luck to you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgmed23 Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Hi guys,I had some help with my essay on this site and would love to pay this service forward. I was admitted to ubc med and I feel that my essay played a large part in my acceptance. Same here. You can email it at kgmed23@yahoo.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaF Posted July 30, 2008 Report Share Posted July 30, 2008 Should each section of the NAC be represented equally if possible??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 What if you did something 'big' in HS? In grade 12 I went with about 20 kids to Ecuador for a missions trip (2 weeks) and it was a major factor in me deciding that healthcare was the right field for me to pursue. It also influenced my decision to go into nursing, instead of bio/chem, for undergrad. i emailed them, because i too went on some service trips in high school, and they said it was not advisable to include activities from high school unless the activity is part of a long standing commitment that extended into your post-secondary years (ie. you played on the highschool basketball team and on your university basketball team, something like that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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