Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Official 2011/2012 Applicant Thread

Cerena

By Cerena
in General Premed Discussions

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 647
  • Created
  • Last Reply
thatonekid Newbie

thatonekid

Posted
Posted
Any suggestions for what to do when the title of your research project doesn't fit in the space allotted on the ABS?
Use abbreviations or cut out common words (like 'the'). I had to abbreviate a few titles in my application. It turned out fine, as people reading the app could still figure out what I meant from the extended info sections.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Leon Newbie

Leon

Posted
Posted
1. Go ahead and list the research. I can't recall exactly what the application is like, but in the part where you describe the research, talk about what you did, your pubs, your conferences, etc. Just list it like you would your thesis project. If schools don't like it, they'll ignore the entry.

 

2. I don't really have a definition for travel. I was just wondering why you think Queen's emphasizes it? I didn't feel like they were looking for people who were well traveled last year...

 

ok thanks. It's just that Queens says:

 

Autobiographical Sketch

Candidates should emphasize in the autobiographical sketch those areas of extracurricular experience that include particular interests in advisory work, athletics, community work, fine arts, health care, employment, literature, organization, teaching and travel. The selection committee will consider the types, quantity and quality of various activities.

 

so I was wondering what they meant by it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Applemanv3 Newbie

Applemanv3

Posted
Posted
ok thanks. It's just that Queens says:

 

 

 

so I was wondering what they meant by it.

I took it as any sort of travel you may have done, whether it involved volunteering, humanitarian work, leisure, or whatever.

 

For example, you may have done some shadowing work in another country, or visited rural villages for infrastructure development volunteering. Those, in my opinion, are travel items.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bj89 Newbie

bj89

Posted
Posted
Any suggestions for what to do when the title of your research project doesn't fit in the space allotted on the ABS?

 

What I did was i put in as much of the title as possible, and then used " ... " at the end when i ran out of space.

 

E.g.: "The neuroprotective effects of CoQ10 in a Paraquat-induced animal model of Parkinson's disease"

 

would be:

 

"The neuroprotective effects of CoQ10 in a ..."

 

They don't really need the whole title, i figured if they wanted to search up the presentation or article online, the first few words would help them find it much easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bj89 Newbie

bj89

Posted
Posted
Ok, I have a couple of questions (some of them are specific to the Dalhousie app form, and some of them are general application questions).

 

1. I have some activities that I used to be quite involved with until a couple of years ago. I've been unable to track down the people who ran these activities, and so I can't use any of them as a verifier. Would it be ok to use a fellow classmate who also participated in the same activities as a verifier?

 

That's perfectly fine, just state your relationship with them accurately.

 

2. Who would you use as verifiers for scholarships if you don't have a contact person for them? I have a couple of them that are government issued, some that are university issues (that are also noted on my transcript), and a couple from the company where my dad used to work (that's pretty much defunct now).

 

I used an academic advisor who was familiar with my accomplishments - I had built up a relationship with this individual previously so he had no problem with it.

 

3. On the Dalhousie app, what does it mean by "competition involved" in the awards sections?

 

This means how competitive the scholarship or award was to get - e.g. did you have to compete? how many applicants were there, and how many were successful other than you?

You could write something like "100 applicants for 5 awards based on academic and community involvement."

 

Hi everyone, I a question related to the "sketch" session in OMSAS.

 

I didn't put down some items last year. I would like to include them and be credited for this year. Do you know whether OMSAS compares the 2 applications? How likely they will call me and ask why I didn't put those things down last time?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

The chances of this occurring are slim to none. First off, even if it was possible, it won't be OMSAS who does any sort of comparing, it would be each individual school. Now remember, each school has thousands of applicants - they dont have the time or man power to do checks like these. You will appreciate how busy these schools get as you agonzie over when interviews come out :)

 

For the sketch, where it asks Level of Education, does that refer to the level of education required to participate in/conduct the activity? Or what year of education you were in at the time of that activity? I would think that they could figure out which activities you were involved during university by the indicated years of participation?

 

As it stands I have put N/A for any activities which didn't require a specific level of education (horse back riding, volunteering at summer camps etc)

 

Should I change that?

 

The bolded statement ^ is the correct one. It's easier for them if you calculate it yourself. Also, for horse back riding and volunteering, you could state the education range of the activity: e.g. "grade 6 - 3rd year university (current)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FacelessMage Newbie

FacelessMage

Posted
Posted
1. Yes.

 

2. Use whatever makes the most sense. For the government ones, you can use the issuing agency. For the university ones, you can use the awards office, the registrar, or simple put 'see transcript'. For the company ones, that's a bit trickier, but just put someone who knows you won it. If you don't have anyone else, you can use your dad as the verifier and have his title as whatever his position was within the company.

 

3. I don't know for sure (I didn't apply to Dal) but from what I can deduce based on OMSAS, it means what the competition was to win the award, For example, if you got an university entrance award, the competition involved was all 1st years entering university.

 

Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nikki dale Newbie

nikki dale

Posted
Posted
Ok, I have a couple of questions (some of them are specific to the Dalhousie app form, and some of them are general application questions).

 

2. Who would you use as verifiers for scholarships if you don't have a contact person for them? I have a couple of them that are government issued, some that are university issues (that are also noted on my transcript), and a couple from the company where my dad used to work (that's pretty much defunct now).

 

I had read that you just put (0) as your verifier for scholarships and awards for which you have a certificate to prove (and they can verify your certificate if they really care that much from wherever you got it). This is what I did so far in my application, and I'm not sure why others on this forum are saying to put other people. Did I make a mistake?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nikki dale Newbie

nikki dale

Posted
Posted
The transcripts are not released until we pay right? Does it mean to meet the deadline, i have to finish the application a few days ahead and pay as well? Thanks!

 

Common sense tells me that the deadline is the deadline to submit the application and pay. You don't have to do it before, but you probably should anyway for peace of mind and avoid computer/server problems that can delay your applications. They will figure out the transcript business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
miss_q Newbie

miss_q

Posted
Posted
Common sense tells me that the deadline is the deadline to submit the application and pay. You don't have to do it before, but you probably should anyway for peace of mind and avoid computer/server problems that can delay your applications. They will figure out the transcript business.

 

Thanks a lot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
miss_q Newbie

miss_q

Posted
Posted

One more question, I know that if you live on a farm and help out with babysitting, that counts as volunteer. Does babysitting, tutoring your cousins, cooking for family for 3 years count too? Do they fall under volunteer or Other? Oh, and I have been supporting myself since 18, can i include that too? (I only have 26 items on the sketch, trying to fill the spaces)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FacelessMage Newbie

FacelessMage

Posted
Posted

I have one more quick question. I can't find any verifiers for some activities that I did during my first two years of undergrad. This is either because the people who ran them have moved on to other things and I've lost contact with them, or because any students that I did them with have graduated, and I no longer have any contact information on them. One of these activities is on my Co-Curricular Record (U of C's official extracurricular record), so I could technically just put the office who runs that down.

 

Any ideas of what I can do for the other activities. I don't want to leave them out because it will look like I did practically nothing for the first two years of undergrad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
future_doc Newbie

future_doc

Posted
Posted
One more question, I know that if you live on a farm and help out with babysitting, that counts as volunteer. Does babysitting, tutoring your cousins, cooking for family for 3 years count too? Do they fall under volunteer or Other? Oh, and I have been supporting myself since 18, can i include that too? (I only have 26 items on the sketch, trying to fill the spaces)

 

Yes, you are giving selflessly of yourself w/o remuneration for the benefit of others.

 

Being self-supporting from 18 shows maturity and character but I dont know if that goes anywhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
miss_q Newbie

miss_q

Posted
Posted

What do you put for description for Research? Lab Assistant at xx Lab? or Do you actually put the name of the project you did? If i am entering 4th year and will be starting my thesis in September, can I include it in Research? i don't know what I will be working on though

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ellen@SDN Newbie

Ellen@SDN

Posted
Posted
This means how competitive the scholarship or award was to get - e.g. did you have to compete? how many applicants were there, and how many were successful other than you?

You could write something like "100 applicants for 5 awards based on academic and community involvement."

 

 

 

The chances of this occurring are slim to none. First off, even if it was possible, it won't be OMSAS who does any sort of comparing, it would be each individual school. Now remember, each school has thousands of applicants - they dont have the time or man power to do checks like these. You will appreciate how busy these schools get as you agonzie over when interviews come out :)

 

 

 

The bolded statement ^ is the correct one. It's easier for them if you calculate it yourself. Also, for horse back riding and volunteering, you could state the education range of the activity: e.g. "grade 6 - 3rd year university (current)

Thanks a lot BJ89!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dasypus Newbie

Dasypus

Posted
Posted

I'm applying to McMaster this year, and no other schools (strong geographical considerations with my husband's job, plus Toronto wants a statement from my grad advisor that I'll definitely be done before June 30, which I definitely cannot promise). Going through the OMSAS application, there's the up-to-48 point biographical sketch, which they seem to want me to fill out, but when I look at the school-specific instructions, there's no mention of it. What am I supposed to do?

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
thatonekid Newbie

thatonekid

Posted
Posted
What happened to MAC's questions? Didn't they have a few ethics-kinda questions with the application? Was it totally discarded this cycle and replaces with CASPer?
Yes. Last year they made applicants do both CASPer and the 5 questions in case CASPer failed. But apparently they're going all in with CASPer this year.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...