Verifiers and NAQ

[clawde88]

Hi eveyone, I just want to hear how everyone in the past has verified some of their experiences.

 

For me personally, I'm having trouble with the following:

 

Piano- 7years at the Conservatory of Music but starting from age 6 where i've won many silver and bronze medals at the provincial qualifiers (unfortunately only 1st place advances). After quitting lessons due to moving between 4 cities, I was able to play recreationally on my own time up until now (i'm 22) as well as for school plays, hospitals, etc. Although I'm still in touch with my teacher, who can I get to verify the rest? only my father would have seen all of that but family members can't be verifiers right?

 

There is a similar issue with clarinet during grade 8-12 and play on my own time afterwards.

 

Also for things such as sports, has anyone used teammates as verifiers? (if they're not in touch with their coaches)

[estairella]

1) Umm... don't you have licenses or somesuch for piano? Like certification? If not, then basically you play piano recreationally, so all the stuff you did at a young age is kind of irrelevant.

 

2) Same thing with clarinet. Essentially.. you played clarinet in band class? Nobody puts that they were in art class from grade 10-12 and then "drew recreationally" afterwards... lol

 

3) Yes you can use teammates as verifiers but once again it goes towards the whole recreational thing... Most people would not put in pick-up basketball games.

 

Now, if you have nothing else worthwhile to put down, then go for it. But remember that level of achievement plays into UBC calculations... I would be cautious about putting in these experiences because they seem like filler.

 

If these are the only experiences you have, I would encourage you to take them to a more competitive level (there is no reason why you can't join a university-level band if you have any level of proficiency at either piano or clarinet.)

[Oak]

what kind of comments are that estairella?

 

for someone that has played piano since 6 years up until now, it is quite a big accomplishment, and it takes a lot of dedication. It is definitely worth putting on your application, even if you have no license. It is by no means a "filler" entry.

[estairella]

what kind of comments are that estairella?

 

for someone that has played piano since 6 years up until now, it is quite a big accomplishment, and it takes a lot of dedication. It is definitely worth putting on your application, even if you have no license. It is by no means a "filler" entry.

 

I am not saying having played piano since such an early age does not take dedication and is not something "impressive" by layman's standards. But remember that the medical admissions process tries to be as objective as possible.

 

If you give someone points for doing something like playing the piano since an early age, then you essentially penalize everyone who didn't do something like that.

 

This is problematic for a couple of reasons:

- not everyone knows they will be applying to medical school when they're 6 (shocking, I know!)

- logistically and financially speaking, not everyone has the opportunity to take up something like music at such a young age either

 

Let's take a look at the UBC Medicine website, shall we?

 

Report of Non-Academic Experiences

Activities should be post high school, unless included to show long standing service or represents substantial recognition (in the case of an award)

...

Activities and achievements are reported and evaluated using the following categories: leadership, service ethic, capacity to work with others, diversity of experience, and high performance in an area of human endeavor. Within each category, a variety of factors are considered when assigning a score. Generally, higher scores are assigned to activities that demonstrate significant levels of responsibilities, initiative, and commitment over activities with minimal duration or degree of responsibility.

 

It's clear from his description that he only started playing piano for hospitals, etc. in recent years.. so.. no long-standing service. (That is, not long enough to warrant high school and esp. not pre-high school activities)

 

I also asked in my original post whether he has any kind of certification (ARCT, etc. I don't play piano but I'm sure there are other things too) to demonstrate a significantly high level of performance.

 

I don't know what it means to go to a provincial qualifier, that may be worth something.. but I doubt it, considering how young he was when he got it. (E.g. I got second place in this provincial math contest in high school... Mathcounts or something? my entire team placed third... but.. who the hell cares? )

[clawde88]

Hey,

 

So to answer your questions,

 

Yes I have many certifications although they're from Regina and the system is pretty different.......I'm not exactly sure what the equivalent level I reached is here although I will find out.

 

Second, I was only planning on putting the music portion in the diversity sections since they're mainly skills that I have.

 

I guess if the clarinet portion is too weak I can always omit it. I have quite a number of things in the diverstiy portion anyways.

[UTPEOPLE]

I am not saying having played piano since such an early age does not take dedication and is not something "impressive" by layman's standards. But remember that the medical admissions process tries to be as objective as possible.

 

If you give someone points for doing something like playing the piano since an early age, then you essentially penalize everyone who didn't do something like that.

 

This is problematic for a couple of reasons:

- not everyone knows they will be applying to medical school when they're 6 (shocking, I know!)

- logistically and financially speaking, not everyone has the opportunity to take up something like music at such a young age either

 

Let's take a look at the UBC Medicine website, shall we?

 

 

 

It's clear from his description that he only started playing piano for hospitals, etc. in recent years.. so.. no long-standing service. (That is, not long enough to warrant high school and esp. not pre-high school activities)

 

I also asked in my original post whether he has any kind of certification (ARCT, etc. I don't play piano but I'm sure there are other things too) to demonstrate a significantly high level of performance.

 

I don't know what it means to go to a provincial qualifier, that may be worth something.. but I doubt it, considering how young he was when he got it. (E.g. I got second place in this provincial math contest in high school... Mathcounts or something? my entire team placed third... but.. who the hell cares? )

 

Are you sure this wasnt the provincial math contest in grade 7/8 that had a competition at the university of Western (called the ontario math olympiad)

[intouch]

Clawde88, you have PM.

[AndreaM]

If you have the space for it on your application, put it down. You never know where your points will come from. I think you should be able to use your former piano teacher as a verifier, so long as you tell her what you have been doing and she is comfortable vouching for you.