Need Help on "Experiences" Section of VMCAS!

[goldenstate]

Hi guys, first time applicant trying to wrap up her applications here! I had a few questions regarding the experiences section:

1) Should I write full sentences or just list out what each experience entailed? I'm aware of the crunch for space, but writing incomplete sentences on a formal app worries me a bit.
2) In the "community activities" section, I wanted to list some of my hobbies, but I realize that they're non-academic/ non-vet. For example, I surf on the weekends, run trails, draw, and make henna art, but all of these are purely recreational endeavors. Is it fair to describe these experiences as outlets for me to express myself and destress? Or should I find some way to bring it back to vet?
3) While I wait for my applications to be processed, I plan on doing some soul-searching (haha). I primarily regret not traveling abroad while in college so I wanted to do an animal-related externship of some sort in Australia/ Indo this upcoming spring. Not sure if there's going to be veterinarians involved so I'm unsure whether I should list this as "animal" or "vet" experience...any thoughts? (also if anyone has done an internship abroad and has any advice for me, please let me know! I'm still trying to find programs appropriate for what I want to do!)

Looking forward to hearing your input! Thanks! xx

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[LyraGardenia]

Hi guys, first time applicant trying to wrap up her applications here! I had a few questions regarding the experiences section:

1) Should I write full sentences or just list out what each experience entailed? I'm aware of the crunch for space, but writing incomplete sentences on a formal app worries me a bit.
2) In the "community activities" section, I wanted to list some of my hobbies, but I realize that they're non-academic/ non-vet. For example, I surf on the weekends, run trails, draw, and make henna art, but all of these are purely recreational endeavors. Is it fair to describe these experiences as outlets for me to express myself and destress? Or should I find some way to bring it back to vet?
3) While I wait for my applications to be processed, I plan on doing some soul-searching (haha). I primarily regret not traveling abroad while in college so I wanted to do an animal-related externship of some sort in Australia/ Indo this upcoming spring. Not sure if there's going to be veterinarians involved so I'm unsure whether I should list this as "animal" or "vet" experience...any thoughts? (also if anyone has done an internship abroad and has any advice for me, please let me know! I'm still trying to find programs appropriate for what I want to do!)

Looking forward to hearing your input! Thanks! xx

First of all, there's a whole thread for VMCAS questions here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/vmcas-2014-questions.1076674/ But my thoughts:
1.) Be as concise as possible. I used short, to-the-point complete sentences myself, but I've seen other people on here say that bullet points and abbreviations are fine.
2.) The instructions for that section say you may include hobbies. I think it can help make you stand out and seem well-rounded if you have somewhat unique hobbies, and I've heard people say that they ended up discussing things like their interest in tennis or knitting in their interviews! Don't stress about them not being academic/vet/animal-related. I worry about people who don't make time for things that are just plain fun, and I know vet schools also like to hear that you have stress-relieving hobbies. I think including any or all of those activities would be beneficial. If the schools you're applying to don't really care, I would think they would just ignore it.
3.) Considering you have no idea where you'll be or what you'll be doing, I wouldn't include that in your experiences section. You could mention in your personal statement or explanation statement your intentions to do an internship abroad, but I think it would be awkward to somehow include it as an experience and then have it fall through for whatever reason. I'm pretty sure including future experiences in general is okay, but this sounds very up-in-the-air at this point.

 

[goldenstate]

First of all, there's a whole thread for VMCAS questions here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/vmcas-2014-questions.1076674/ But my thoughts:
1.) Be as concise as possible. I used short, to-the-point complete sentences myself, but I've seen other people on here say that bullet points and abbreviations are fine.
2.) The instructions for that section say you may include hobbies. I think it can help make you stand out and seem well-rounded if you have somewhat unique hobbies, and I've heard people say that they ended up discussing things like their interest in tennis or knitting in their interviews! Don't stress about them not being academic/vet/animal-related. I worry about people who don't make time for things that are just plain fun, and I know vet schools also like to hear that you have stress-relieving hobbies. I think including any or all of those activities would be beneficial. If the schools you're applying to don't really care, I would think they would just ignore it.
3.) Considering you have no idea where you'll be or what you'll be doing, I wouldn't include that in your experiences section. You could mention in your personal statement or explanation statement your intentions to do an internship abroad, but I think it would be awkward to somehow include it as an experience and then have it fall through for whatever reason. I'm pretty sure including future experiences in general is okay, but this sounds very up-in-the-air at this point.

Thanks! I definitely agree with you on the travel thing. I think it's an interesting thing that I'll be doing, but stating it on my apps would mean that it's concrete...if i ended up not following through, it'd look mighty unprofessional perhaps i'll have a better grasp on plans by the time interviews come around (assuming that i get an interview eep :/) thanks for also clearing up the hobby thing! I'll try to make myself not look like a robot haha!

One more question: I'm a little uncertain how to approach this, but basically I worked as a receptionist/ vet assistant at my dad's hospital (he's a vet) throughout highschool. The first year and a half, I worked as a vet receptionist and didn't do much animal handling. I'm wondering if I should list the time when I was just a receptionist as an "animal" experience or just keep the two experiences together since I was around animals regardless?

 

[LyraGardenia]

Thanks! I definitely agree with you on the travel thing. I think it's an interesting thing that I'll be doing, but stating it on my apps would mean that it's concrete...if i ended up not following through, it'd look mighty unprofessional perhaps i'll have a better grasp on plans by the time interviews come around (assuming that i get an interview eep :/) thanks for also clearing up the hobby thing! I'll try to make myself not look like a robot haha!

One more question: I'm a little uncertain how to approach this, but basically I worked as a receptionist/ vet assistant at my dad's hospital (he's a vet) throughout highschool. The first year and a half, I worked as a vet receptionist and didn't do much animal handling. I'm wondering if I should list the time when I was just a receptionist as an "animal" experience or just keep the two experiences together since I was around animals regardless?

I actually raised that question on the VMCAS questions thread a couple weeks ago. I think the conclusion was that reception work also counts as vet experience, but contact the schools you're applying to to be sure. I think someone mentioned that Davis wanted it listed as work experience. I agree that logically if it's not vet experience, it should be work rather than animal, although I would think/hope schools would view working as a vet receptionist much more favorably than working somewhere non-vet/animal related.

 

[goldenstate]

Thanks @LyraGardenia ! That was super helpful