These God Damn Essays...

[Borax]

Why can't I write these? I feel like taking chemistry and biology for 4 years has sapped all my nonscientific writing skills. Any advice?

[Hockeynut]

Read between the lines of what they are asking. I've read through a few friends essays and they seemed to miss the boat on what the questions are truly trying to get at. (The first four at least)

[thsc]

Read between the lines of what they are asking. I've read through a few friends essays and they seemed to miss the boat on what the questions are truly trying to get at. (The first four at least)

Can you elaborate? How were they missing the point? 

[ArchEnemy]

I'm not sure it is so much about reading between the lines. Just answering the questions honestly using examples from your life experience would be sufficient.

[rmorelan]

Best advise I have heard for that is to just start writing quickly whatever for the essay - anything really regardless of the degree of polish or how good the theme is. Just go - it will very likely be not very good but it will at least starts toward momentum. You can't jus stare at the screen or endless think about it

 

Anyway works for me!

[Heisencat]

I feel ya, man... Some of the questions are pretty vaguely worded, too, in my opinion With U of T being one of the best medical schools in the world, you'd think they do a better job phrasing their questions. 

[Borax]

I'm not sure it is so much about reading between the lines. Just answering the questions honestly using examples from your life experience would be sufficient.

 

Health care today combines both technical and personal aspects of care. Describe how you envision the balance of technology and compassion in physician-patient relationships

 

How do you answer that from experience.... let alone touch on the clusters that represent myself as a person.

 

 

I don't know how everyone finds these so easy. I've been working a week and these are the most piss poor essays I've ever produced in my life.

[MathToMed]

Health care today combines both technical and personal aspects of care. Describe how you envision the balance of technology and compassion in physician-patient relationships

 

I don't know how everyone finds these so easy. I've been working a week and these are the most piss poor essays I've ever produced in my life.

 

I doubt anyone finds them easy... what you must realize by now is that applying to med school is about the biggest Mind F in existence. From writing the MCAT and playing around with VR to vaguely worded essays and an ABS that demands your life fit neatly into five sets of 48 boxes, with 150 words each. It's completely absurd, and I'm entirely convinced that they're well aware and that that's the point.

 

They could very well improve their system from year to year given feedback from the applicants. The fact that they don't means that either they don't care in the slightest (I highly doubt this is the case), or they have it this way for a reason.

 

The key is not to buckle under the pressure, you've got to try your best under the circumstances, fix what you can and accept any remaining minor imperfections as they are. From a population sample that is nearly exclusively consisting of those with perfectionist tendencies, to propose that we take a shot in the dark regarding these things must be a test in and of itself. It's by design, they're trying to get us worked up and nervous, because coping with those feelings and persevering is a necessary job skill.

[Borax]

I doubt anyone finds them easy... what you must realize by now is that applying to med school is about the biggest Mind F in existence. From writing the MCAT and playing around with VR to vaguely worded essays and an ABS that demands your life fit neatly into five sets of 48 boxes, with 150 words each. It's completely absurd, and I'm entirely convinced that they're well aware and that that's the point.

 

They could very well improve their system from year to year given feedback from the applicants. The fact that they don't means that either they don't care in the slightest (I highly doubt this is the case), or they have it this way for a reason.

 

The key is not to buckle under the pressure, you've got to try your best under the circumstances, fix what you can and accept any remaining minor imperfections as they are. From a population sample that is nearly exclusively consisting of those with perfectionist tendencies, to propose that we take a shot in the dark regarding these things must be a test in and of itself. It's by design, they're trying to get us worked up and nervous, because coping with those feelings and persevering is a necessary job skill.

 

I was being whiny... sorry about that. I agree with what you're saying though, it makes a lot of sense when put like that. 

[MathToMed]

I was being whiny... sorry about that. I agree with what you're saying though, it makes a lot of sense when put like that. 

 

In the words of Sir Isaac Brock, Surgite! Push on!

 

Just one more week...

[thsc]

I doubt anyone finds them easy... what you must realize by now is that applying to med school is about the biggest Mind F in existence. From writing the MCAT and playing around with VR to vaguely worded essays and an ABS that demands your life fit neatly into five sets of 48 boxes, with 150 words each. It's completely absurd, and I'm entirely convinced that they're well aware and that that's the point.

 

They could very well improve their system from year to year given feedback from the applicants. The fact that they don't means that either they don't care in the slightest (I highly doubt this is the case), or they have it this way for a reason.

 

The key is not to buckle under the pressure, you've got to try your best under the circumstances, fix what you can and accept any remaining minor imperfections as they are. From a population sample that is nearly exclusively consisting of those with perfectionist tendencies, to propose that we take a shot in the dark regarding these things must be a test in and of itself. It's by design, they're trying to get us worked up and nervous, because coping with those feelings and persevering is a necessary job skill.

Haha...you nailed all my feelings about OMSAS in the first tow paragraphs.

[ArchEnemy]

Health care today combines both technical and personal aspects of care. Describe how you envision the balance of technology and compassion in physician-patient relationships

 

How do you answer that from experience.... let alone touch on the clusters that represent myself as a person.

 

 

I don't know how everyone finds these so easy. I've been working a week and these are the most piss poor essays I've ever produced in my life.

 

 

I would recommend you think along the lines of how technology has permeated the medical culture today. For example, physicians used to take extremely detailed history in the past prior to the invention of imaging scans (Xray, MRI, CT etc). Since the advent of these imaging scans, they are more reliant on them rather than the patient history to come to a diagnosis and appropriate management. How do you think this affects physician-patient relationships?

[MathToMed]

I would recommend you think along the lines of how technology has permeated the medical culture today. For example, physicians used to take extremely detailed history in the past prior to the invention of imaging scans (Xray, MRI, CT etc). Since the advent of these imaging scans, they are more reliant on them rather than the patient history to come to a diagnosis and appropriate management. How do you think this affects physician-patient relationships?

Nicely done.

[rmorelan]

I doubt anyone finds them easy... what you must realize by now is that applying to med school is about the biggest Mind F in existence. From writing the MCAT and playing around with VR to vaguely worded essays and an ABS that demands your life fit neatly into five sets of 48 boxes, with 150 words each. It's completely absurd, and I'm entirely convinced that they're well aware and that that's the point.

 

They could very well improve their system from year to year given feedback from the applicants. The fact that they don't means that either they don't care in the slightest (I highly doubt this is the case), or they have it this way for a reason.

 

The key is not to buckle under the pressure, you've got to try your best under the circumstances, fix what you can and accept any remaining minor imperfections as they are. From a population sample that is nearly exclusively consisting of those with perfectionist tendencies, to propose that we take a shot in the dark regarding these things must be a test in and of itself. It's by design, they're trying to get us worked up and nervous, because coping with those feelings and persevering is a necessary job skill.

 

providing feedback would be rather expensive and open them up to people attempting to min max their applications (ie game the system) and cause significant complaints when they inevitably change the rules mid cycle. I also would be very expensive. Some places do revel information for sure, but generally it is hard to do.

 

wait until residency applications Same sort of subjective aspects except now there are almost no objective criteria left to look at (LOR are mostly useless, there are no grades to use, and research is a nice proxy for a few things but really don't show how good you are clinically. This is the primary drawback of the introduction of the pass fail system - now you spend a lot of time running around doing things that don't actually have anything to do with learning medicine just so you can stand out somehow). 

 

only a few days left - push hard to the finishing line and of course good luck!

[Heisencat]

Best advise I have heard for that is to just start writing quickly whatever for the essay - anything really regardless of the degree of polish or how good the theme is. Just go - it will very likely be not very good but it will at least starts toward momentum. You can't jus stare at the screen or endless think about it

 

Anyway works for me!

 

That's interesting, because I'm the opposite. I make a detailed outline for the essay first (with a main point and usually three sub points points to address) and try to write as best as possible on my first go. I find it less work and less stressful to edit a well-written essay than a sloppy one. Different approaches work for different personalities, but making an outline is really useful, I think. For me, the outline is the momentum.

[rmorelan]

That's interesting, because I'm the opposite. I make a detailed outline for the essay first (with a main point and usually three sub points points to address) and try to write as best as possible on my first go. I find it less work and less stressful to edit a well-written essay than a sloppy one. Different approaches work for different personalities, but making an outline is really useful, I think. For me, the outline is the momentum.

 

Sure but if you can make an outline you don't have writer's block You already have organized yourself - you are already writing.

[mala]

Best advise I have heard for that is to just start writing quickly whatever for the essay - anything really regardless of the degree of polish or how good the theme is. Just go - it will very likely be not very good but it will at least starts toward momentum. You can't jus stare at the screen or endless think about it

 

Anyway works for me!

 

http://writeordie.com/

 

This got my through thesis writing, and any long paper writing.  Just get some words out!