Telling Stories In Impact Statement

[FlyingSaucer]

I understand what an impact statement is supposed to be, but to me, it is too formal to the point it's boring to read for the reviewing committee. Would it be advisable to include stories in the impact statement and make it more personal?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Borborygmi]

Use your best judgment. Personally, I'm finding that if I don't stick to concise and informative sentences that I can't adequately talk about the breadth of my experiences as they relate to R1-R7. I don't think there's a particular tone or style that's needed to be adopted in order to present your top 10, however. If that's what you're asking.

[LeBronto2019]

Use your best judgment. Personally, I'm finding that if I don't stick to concise and informative sentences that I can't adequately talk about the breadth of my experiences as they relate to R1-R7. I don't think there's a particular tone or style that's needed to be adopted in order to present your top 10, however. If that's what you're asking.

 

But I feel like most reviewers can extrapolate our descriptions of activities to the R1-R7. Being personal can only be done in Impact, but I feel like it's so hard to find that balance of telling them how it changed us and forcing it to fit those traits. 

[Borborygmi]

Last year, I took the personal approach and found three of my scores much lower than I feel they should be based on my professional background. I feel a large part of that stems from my being indirect about how my experiences related to the R1-R7 criteria. I'm taking a much more direct approach this year. Assessors may not get an adequate sense of my personality through my writing, but I feel they should have a much more clear idea about how my experience relates to the categories being evaluated. This is just my personal opinion. I don't know how successful candidates approached their writing of the top 10. 'Tis why I said to use your best judgment. There is definitely more than one way of approaching your writing for the top 10. Are you using a storytelling approach, Dr. PHPM?

[LeBronto2019]

Well seeing as it's my first time applying with no critique or feedback from UofC, I don't even know what approach to take! I think that I'd like to be more personal, but the space doesn't permit that, even with 1000 chars. I want to address the appropriate R1-7 that I set out for each activity, but incorporate what about that changed who I am. If you want, I can send you the two i have done so far you might know more about whether they sound direct or indirect. 

[Kivi]

This is my first time applying as well but based on what I have researched, I would say that it's best to walk a fine line between personal reflection and clearly relating what you did to the qualities assessed. So personally, I wouldn't use all the space to write a narrative of how I got involved in soccer and where I am today. It would be more of "soccer has allowed me to develop X, Y, Z and it has also been a significant part of my life and allowed me to develop many personal relationships, etc".

 

That's just the sense that I have of a good approach to the impact statement but who knows    

[Acorn]

This is my first time applying to UofC as well. So I wanted to double check when you mention the impact statement reflecting R1-R7 are you referring to the Canmeds? 

 

Thanks. 

[hwy]

R1-R7 refers to the traits/skills that reviewers are looking for in your application. 
 

R1- subjective assessment of academic merit

R2 - communication skills

R3 - interpersonal behaviours/collaboration

R4 - ethical standards/professionalism
R5 - commitment to communities/advocacy

R6 - Intellectual curiosity/scholarship/research

R7 - Organizational + management skills/leadership 

[amichel]

Advice from a current student who was 99th percentile pre-interview. 

 

(Of course, take this with a grain of salt, as I know nothing about admissions beyond personal experience) 

 

I definitely tried to work in the R1-R7.  It's important to spell it out a little bit, think about how many applications these people have to read.  However, I think if you are too blunt "I demonstrated by ethical standards by doing this" it sounds forced.  It's a fine line. 

 

My general approach was to include how the activity impacted me, and how I impacted the activity.  So, for hospital volunteering (not that I did that!) I would hypothetically talk about how I learned to interact with people in a vulnerable position, communicate with inter-disciplinary team and behave professionally in a hospital setting.  Then I'd also talk about how I provided comfort for patients during a stressful time, improved their quality of life, help the staff be more efficient, or whatever. 

 

There, you've covered communication skills, interpersonal behaviours, professionalism, commitment to community and potential leadership all with out sounding like you are bragging or just trying to get a high score by using buzzwords. 

 

If you do this right, it will be personal, so don't worry too much about that.  You can definitely incorporate some "story" i.e. through this activity, I met blah blah who was a big mentor for me in these ways blah blah, or whatever.  However, don't do too much story telling.  Descriptions belong in the description box, not the impact box. 

 

Hope that helps a little, let me know if you have more questions! 

 

P.S. I don't really have time to read top 10s though.  I might be able to read one entry if you are really struggling.  

[hwy]

I'm having a pretty hard time finding nice ways to tie up my impact statements and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? 

[Crazy Med Mom]

I was a caregiver to a parent with cancer and I concluded with saying how the experience developed my skills and depth of understanding in supporting patients and thier families through the death of a loved one.

 

That said, this is very personal and I too am applying for this cycle so have no idea how I'll score on my Top 10. But I felt good (and received good feedback) on this particular impact so thought would share a bit.