OMSAS Sketch

[uigga]

The text boxes in the activity descriptions don't automatically cut off after character limits (150 or 100 characters).

 

In the actual submitted application, if the descriptions are over the limits, will they appear cut off?

 

ie. I'm assuming that there will be some kind of "review" option when we click submit. Will the answers be cut off there, even if they dont appear to be cut off right now?

[Tesla]

The text boxes in the activity descriptions don't automatically cut off after character limits (150 or 100 characters).

 

In the actual submitted application, if the descriptions are over the limits, will they appear cut off?

 

ie. I'm assuming that there will be some kind of "review" option when we click submit. Will the answers be cut off there, even if they dont appear to be cut off right now?

 

Although it doesn't "CUT" you off while entering text in the 150 character limit textbox, OMSAS won't allow you to save your entry if it is more than 150characters. Consequently, the issue of "appearing cut-off" will not occur.

 

Tesla

[optimism101]

I just read the part about McMaster not requiring verifiers, or even any specific details. So if I am only applying to McMaster, does this mean I don't fill out ANY of the info in the "add/change details" section? Because if I do, they require the verifier box to be filled out. This means of course that I cannot elaborate on any of my entries, but if this info won't even be looked at, then I guess there would be no point in filling it out.

[Tesla]

I just read the part about McMaster not requiring verifiers, or even any specific details. So if I am only applying to McMaster, does this mean I don't fill out ANY of the info in the "add/change details" section? Because if I do, they require the verifier box to be filled out. This means of course that I cannot elaborate on any of my entries, but if this info won't even be looked at, then I guess there would be no point in filling it out.

 

Hi optimism101,

 

Yes, I believe you have understood this correctly for McMaster. OMSAS "Applicants will be prompted to provide more specific details for the Employment, Volunteer Activities, Extracurricular Activities, Awards and Accomplishments, and Research categories. These details are not required for McMaster or Western." Because the OMSAS booklet doesn't say that Western doesn't need verifier, you may have to go to "Add/Change" and enter verifier number. However, in your case, it would be okay to not put in any verifiers and leave those boxes empty.

 

HTH

 

Tesla

[kc752]

Thank you for answering my last question, Tesla!

 

I have one more question and I know this has been addressed before but I can't exactly remember what the consensus was...

 

Does anyone have any tips on what to and from dates to include for a one time award that I received, specifically, a 'volunteer of the year' recognition award?

Should I use the start and end dates of my volunteer work that the award refers to?

 

Thank you!

[vanillabear]

Hi optimism101,

 

Yes, I believe you have understood this correctly for McMaster. OMSAS "Applicants will be prompted to provide more specific details for the Employment, Volunteer Activities, Extracurricular Activities, Awards and Accomplishments, and Research categories. These details are not required for McMaster or Western." Because the OMSAS booklet doesn't say that Western doesn't need verifier, you may have to go to "Add/Change" and enter verifier number. However, in your case, it would be okay to not put in any verifiers and leave those boxes empty.

 

HTH

 

Tesla

 

Let me see if I understand you correctly... so if I'm only applying to McMaster, I don't need to put any details under "Add/Change Details"? So because of this I wouldn't require any verifiers as well?!

 

EDIT: nvm, looked it up and yes, if you're applying to only McMaster you are not required to put in the 150 characters of extra details OR verifier information. Wow, wasted so much time... -_-"

[uigga]

Would you guys put either of these activities under "Awards and Accomplishments":

 

1) Sort of like a debate team for a school, where you were selected from a bunch of students to represent the school.

 

2) President of Student Council (or someother school club), where you ran and were elected by your peers.

 

I know these things could be "Extracurricular Activities", but I was wondering your guys thoughts of putting them as "Accomplishments" since they require outcompeting other students.

[Tesla]

Hi Guys,

 

Hope everyone is doing well with the applications; I'm sure you guys will do awesome. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up IN CASE you didn't know. Although the "responsibilites" section has 150 character limit...you should also make use of the "DESCRIPTION" box...it has a WHOPPING 48 character space (198 total). For instance...if you play basketball...it would be strategic to write "Description: Basketball - Captain of Varisty/Intramural Teams" this 48 character...NOW, with this said...you DON'T have to indicate this information under "responsibilities" and you are GOOD TO GO WITH MORE SPACE!

 

HTH

 

Tesla

 

I have a feeling future_doc will post something next...

[future_doc]

^ great post!

 

Where did you come from?

 

As you often use the Title Box in posting, some members think you are f_d in disguise. using another user name.

 

Is this the case?

[future_doc]

Would you guys put either of these activities under "Awards and Accomplishments":

 

1) Sort of like a debate team for a school, where you were selected from a bunch of students to represent the school.

 

2) President of Student Council (or someother school club), where you ran and were elected by your peers.

 

I know these things could be "Extracurricular Activities", but I was wondering your guys thoughts of putting them as "Accomplishments" since they require outcompeting other students.

 

Number 2 = definitely.

 

Number 1 = unsure but would be inclined not to, and it might dilute the impact of No. 1.

[future_doc]

Thank you for answering my last question, Tesla!

 

I have one more question and I know this has been addressed before but I can't exactly remember what the consensus was...

 

Does anyone have any tips on what to and from dates to include for a one time award that I received, specifically, a 'volunteer of the year' recognition award?

Should I use the start and end dates of my volunteer work that the award refers to?

Thank you!

 

Yes.......

[uigga]

^ great post!

 

Where did you come from?

 

As you often use the Title Box in posting, some members think you are f_d in disguise. using another user name.

 

Is this the case?

 

Yes, Tesla has been very helpful

 

Number 2 = definitely.

 

Number 1 = unsure but would be inclined not to, and it might dilute the impact of No. 1.

 

Ok a couple more queries on Awards and Accomplishments:

 

1) What about clubs that you were not the president, but still a part of the leadership (eg. treasurer), and were voted in.

 

2) High-school math, physics, etc contests. I did not finnish too high in any of them, but there was one where I had the highest result in the school. Finding documentation/verifier for that will be a pain though.

 

3) Sports trophies (competitive-based)

 

I understand the point of not "diluting" this section though. I'll probably put only the few best examples outside of scholarships.

[future_doc]

Yes, Tesla has been very helpful

 

 

 

Ok a couple more queries on Awards and Accomplishments:

 

1) What about clubs that you were not the president, but still a part of the leadership (eg. treasurer), and were voted in.

 

2) High-school math, physics, etc contests. I did not finnish too high in any of them, but there was one where I had the highest result in the school. Finding documentation/verifier for that will be a pain though.

 

3) Sports trophies (competitive-based)

 

I understand the point of not "diluting" this section though. I'll probably put only the few best examples outside of scholarships.

 

1 = No

2 = Yes for that one only

3 = Yes

4 =

 

dilution is like pollution where the entire pool/environment becomes contaminated

[simtim]

A couple questions:

 

-What is the difference between volunteer and extracurricular activities? Where do you put in extracurriculars that you volunteered you time towards? For instance, clubs (i.e. service based clubs at your university) - would it be volunteer or extracurricular?

 

-If we did an activity as part of an organization - do we need to include the name of the organization? If so, where should it go? I'm guessing under 'description' but if there's no space for, can we just leave it out?'

[future_doc]

Where do you put in extracurriculars that you volunteered you time towards? For instance, clubs (i.e. service based clubs at your university) - would it be volunteer or extracurricular?

 

..........

[fallingawake]

Hello,

 

Sorry if this has been asked before. As part of an in-school scholarship for my program, a requirement to retain the award is to hold a research position each academic year. Basically, part of the scholarship goes towards paying for the "academic appointment." Now, would I list being a research assistant under Employment or Research or both?

 

In addition I've received NSERC USRA two summers in a row. Should I put this as one entry and mention that I received it twice or as two separate entries? Lastly, would the USRA go under Awards or Research?

 

Thanks

[fallingawake]

^ Aha, went to fill out the sketch and saw the instructions on OMSAS. My bad. Still, should I list USRA once or twice?

[shady]

Darn rules... Now I'll go from having 39 items to ~31 if I combine various activities into one. Is ~31 activities still decent?

 

How many items does the average applicant have? Because if its that many, I think I'm in trouble; only got 11 at this point (I'm in third year).

 

Edit: I obviously won't be able to add another 20 in just one more year.

[anon1234]

hi guys

 

ok so a couple of really stupid questions:

 

1) are people putting high school under formal education, since we finish it at age 18?

 

2) i had an award in high school for the highest course average in one course. the only other thing i have ever won is a contest within one of my classes. should i list these under awards and accomplishments or will it look like i'm padding, since i have no scholarships? also, can i ask a high school buddy to verify that i got this, or should i be contacting my high school? =S

 

3) if i was invited as a speaker for an event, do i list that as an accomplishment or an EC?

 

thank you!

[shikimate]

1) are people putting high school under formal education, since we finish it at age 18?

 

Yeah sure you should put it there.

 

2) i had an award in high school for the highest course average in one course. the only other thing i have ever won is a contest within one of my classes. should i list these under awards and accomplishments or will it look like i'm padding, since i have no scholarships? also, can i ask a high school buddy to verify that i got this, or should i be contacting my high school? =S

 

Well if you feel this award was significant and has had a positive impact on your academic career then you should put it there. As for verifier, I think high school office is probably better.

 

3) if i was invited as a speaker for an event, do i list that as an accomplishment or an EC?

 

Probably EC is better, unless that was an academic event related to research then it can go under that.

[anon1234]

thank you shikimate!

 

also, what do i do for activities which i am still involved in and will be continuing, like a school club i became a part of in April this year and will last until next year? do i put October 2011 for the second date?

[Tesla]

thank you shikimate!

 

also, what do i do for activities which i am still involved in and will be continuing, like a school club i became a part of in April this year and will last until next year? do i put October 2011 for the second date?

 

Hi anon1234,

 

If your activity will continue into next year, i.e. ongoing, you would select "---" as the second date (month and year). The "---" indicates your activity is ongoing.

 

HTH

 

Tesla

[anon1234]

Hi anon1234,

 

If your activity will continue into next year, i.e. ongoing, you would select "---" as the second date (month and year). The "---" indicates your activity is ongoing.

 

HTH

 

Tesla

 

ou, thanks for letting me know! that would have been so bad if i hadn't fixed that! thank youuuuu!

 

also one last question: i am part of a graduate program in which our department organized weekly seminars for first year graduate students. these were very useful to attend because they had different lecturers from various disciplines every week and we were able to learn a lot about translational research through that. we are also expected to complete some research modules for our degree. we are all registered for a "course" in our degree which basically lets us use a system to sign up and keep track of our modules and seminars. this "course" gets listed on our transcript, but has no marks, it's basically just a formality to keep track of our continued enrollment in the degree.

 

i would like to list the seminars and modules under "research" but i am wondering if it is formally a course on our transcript, can i still do this?

 

edit: also, for one day events, how do we do the dates? for example if i did a full day event on August 20, 2010, would i say Aug 2010 - Aug 2010?

 

thanks for all the help guys!

[kc752]

Kinda silly question...for geographic location, should it strictly be the city in which the activity occurred or should I write the name of the university where it occurred, ex. "Queen's Uni."?

[ema2iur]

i) Are people indicating high school honour roll for award/accomplishment? If so, do you put grades 9 and 10 as well?

 

ii) Are people putting Ontario Scholar as an award/accomplishment?

 

iii). For an award you won once, what do you put in the "Duration" section? I guess for an NSERC you would put 1 or 2 years, but what do you put for a one time award?