Verifiers for Mac? a wee bit confusing....pls help

[Guest Arck]

I understand that the verifiers for Mac are only for the items in the Autobiographical submission, and not for the sketch. For the sketch it makes pretty obvious sense, but where do you draw the line for when to add a verifier...

as a simple example, lets say with the conflict question,

if you cite an example from work, would you list a fellow employee? a manager?

 

forgive me, Im paranoid that the whole app will be tossed out on a technicality....are these verifiers ever even used?

[Guest Red Pear]

Dear Arck,

 

I was accepted this year, so they must have found my use of verifiers at least acceptable.

 

I tried to give one or two specific examples of what I've done in my life for each question. Usually I gave one verifier, but not always. So for example, if used my boss for one question, a woman I trained under for a volunteer program for another, the head of victims services who knows me professionally, the chair of a volunteer board I sat on, and the woman who runs a silent retreat centre I go to a couple of times a year to search my wee soul. But if I mentionned exercising regularly as a way of keeping a balanced life, I did not mention personal friends who had witnessed me getting out of the pool, gone for a run with me, etc. Nor did I use anyone from my family in regards to my family commitments (question about how I manage my current responsabilities). In total I had 11 verifiers for the 15 questions.

 

None of them have mentionned that they were contacted, but perhaps they were.

 

Hope that was helpful,

 

Red Pear

[Guest Arck]

Yes, very helpful. I am gleaning a trend toward verifiers for more official type activities over informal ones.

[Guest macmed]

Hi,

I would err on the side of more verifers rather than fewer. You don't have to use a different one each time. They don't call them unless something sounds really unbelievable and the assessor wants to verify it (hence the name!). Use one whenever possible - not giving a verifier for something implies that there is no one who can verify you did said something. I've seen people put verifiers for their personal qualities (eg their best friend) - I don't really think that is necessary though! I put something about my mom being sick and put her as a verifier. Use common sense!

Hope this helps

MM

Class 2004

[Guest Ceds]

Hey folks,

 

New poster here! Planning to apply to med schools for the first time this coming October... Just a quick question, really simple. For the verifiers, do we just use the list feature in the Autobio Sketch section of the COMPASS application? This has probably already been addressed, but please forgive me for I am a newbie.

 

Thanks,

Ceds

[Guest Red Pear]

Yes, this is what I did. I used the list feature, which I think numbers each of the verifiers. For clarity, in my answers, I referred to the appropriate verifier footnote-style. So for example, if in the list, verifier #3 was Prime minister Jean Chretien, then in my text answer, I would go:

 

My work as Speaker of the House of Commons demonstrates that I have excellent leadership experience and skills(3).

 

This worked for me. Good luck.

[Guest flora]

please dont tell me that the charcters of the verifiers " (3) " is counted in the 700 character limit...all my answers are 698- 700 characters exactly!

[Guest mountainjunkie]

exactly. and for me, when i talked about leadership skills, I gave them the name of my Nepalese shepa guide, who verified that i led a successful expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest and K2. It's as simple as that, and i got an interview.

[Guest flora]

Mountainjunkie, did you really climb to the summit of Mt. Everest and K2 or are you being sarcastic???

 

That is really, really cool

[Guest Red Pear]

Yes, the (3) counts as spaces. I sometimes resorted to ommitting the parentheses to save space, so for example:

 

verifier #3 Dr. Jane Goodall

 

My excellent communication skills were put to good use when Jane Goodall asked me to advise her on a new speech pathology study on chimpanzees3.