2017 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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Tr1LL said:
Noob question alert: I am not applying this cycle, can I make an account and log in to AACOMAS just to see how things are set up?
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Great way to familiar yourself. Don't submit stuff though and Don't apply as reapplicant next year. You don't want to be flag as reapplicant.
 
And now my DO app is complete, save for transcript being received and finishing my personal statement. Argh, the PS is really difficult this year, it's just hard to re-write something that you thought you were happy with in a new or different view. I dunno why I'm struggling so much.

AACOMAS LOR's are also very strange, their system compared to AMCAS kinda sucks!
 
Labrat07 said:
Great way to familiar yourself. Don't submit stuff though and Don't apply as reapplicant next year. You don't want to be flag as reapplicant.
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You are only considered a reapplicant at schools you've previously applied to. I'm on my cell phone but I can go hunt the language down later - but that is expressly written somewhere. If you didn't apply to that specific school, you are not a reapp


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mavric1298 said:
You are only considered a reapplicant at schools you've previously applied to. I'm on my cell phone but I can go hunt the language down later - but that is expressly written somewhere. If you didn't apply to that specific school, you are not a reapp


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Good to know. I got confused when they asked me to rollover last year. I said no just in case.

Another question for AACOMAS:
When can we really put in "repeat" in our course? After they receive all the transcript and reviewing?? Right now I just put in as they appear in transcripts without any "Repeat comment"
 
Labrat07 said:
Good to know. I got confused when they asked me to rollover last year. I said no just in case.

Another question for AACOMAS:
When can we really put in "repeat" in our course? After they receive all the transcript and reviewing?? Right now I just put in as they appear in transcripts without any "Repeat comment"
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The option to mark a class as Repeat, AP Credit, etc appears after you hit the 'Review and Finalize My Transcript' button.

http://help.unicas.com:8888/aacomas...cademic-history-2/transcript-entry/index.html (Repeated courses addressed near the bottom in 'ENTERING COURSE TYPES')
 
Hey guys! I hope I'm applying this year...my MCAT is May 20th so we'll see how that goes. Also still need to gather more LORs, I only have 2 so far--a charge nurse, and a nursing professor.
 
Here we go, here we go!

How's everyone doing? I have both the AMCAS and AACOMAS applications in the works. I'm switching back and forth between the two as a means of combating that inevitable exhaustion. It's so, freaking tedious, but I am so glad I am at this point now. I took the MCAT on the 23rd and should have scores by the 25th of this month. We'll see how those look.

My biggest challenge right now is the PS and the damned activities. I feel ridiculous writing down things I did so many years ago and tracking down people whose email addresses look like: "[email protected]", but since they're from isolated countries, this is as good as I can get. On the other hand, being forced to list down all the meaningful things I've done is boosting my confidence in a way that I did not expect. So there's that surprising boost, if I get nothing else out of this process. 😀

Excited to hear what everyone's up to and good luck to all of us!
 
brainnurse said:
Here we go, here we go!

How's everyone doing? I have both the AMCAS and AACOMAS applications in the works. I'm switching back and forth between the two as a means of combating that inevitable exhaustion. It's so, freaking tedious, but I am so glad I am at this point now. I took the MCAT on the 23rd and should have scores by the 25th of this month. We'll see how those look.

My biggest challenge right now is the PS and the damned activities. I feel ridiculous writing down things I did so many years ago and tracking down people whose email addresses look like: "[email protected]", but since they're from isolated countries, this is as good as I can get. On the other hand, being forced to list down all the meaningful things I've done is boosting my confidence in a way that I did not expect. So there's that surprising boost, if I get nothing else out of this process. 😀

Excited to hear what everyone's up to and good luck to all of us!
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This has been me all day lol. I have also been switching back and forth between AMCAS and AACOMAS. I haven't left my apartment, been outside, talked to another person all day. I've just been here typing away. Oh and a fun surprise was when I tried to view my transcripts from my prior college and I couldn't because of a hold. A hold that they put on my account 10 months after I graduated for $600.00. Money spent at the bookstore under a grant that was apparently rejected later?? So I paid it but there's no one in the office on weekends to remove the hold, so no transcript. I really wish I had it because I have 155 credits to enter from that school
 
sunshinefl said:
This has been me all day lol. I have also been switching back and forth between AMCAS and AACOMAS. I haven't left my apartment, been outside, talked to another person all day. I've just been here typing away. Oh and a fun surprise was when I tried to view my transcripts from my prior college and I couldn't because of a hold. A hold that they put on my account 10 months after I graduated for $600.00. Money spent at the bookstore under a grant that was apparently rejected later?? So I paid it but there's no one in the office on weekends to remove the hold, so no transcript. I really wish I had it because I have 155 credits to enter from that school
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Ugh, discovered the same hold on my account two weeks ago, albeit for far less money. Thankfully, i discovered it on a weekday and resolved the whole thing pretty quickly. Could you go by an unofficial transcript while waiting for your copy of the official one?
 
brainnurse said:
Ugh, discovered the same hold on my account two weeks ago, albeit for far less money. Thankfully, i discovered it on a weekday and resolved the whole thing pretty quickly. Could you go by an unofficial transcript while waiting for your copy of the official one?
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I could go off my spreadsheet record of my classes, but I may have titled it something other than the exact official course name.
Example for the transcript I can access (my current school):
My version of the name: Laboratory Methods in Psychology
Transcript version: LAB METHODS PSYCHOL
 
Ah, my people. I'm an early-30s career changer with great stats and non-research ECs but only a little humanities-oriented research and CC credits for most prereqs. I'm applying both TMDSAS and AMCAS but can't submit until next week at the earliest for Texas since my spring grades aren't in yet. I'm done with AMCAS except for requesting those transcripts and lots of panicking/rewriting.

I copied all of last year's secondaries for my schools and am now cringing internally at the amount of work in front of me. Such is the journey we've gotten ourselves into, right? At least I can distract myself with a final next week.
 
Smash Williams said:
Ah, my people. I'm an early-30s career changer with great stats and non-research ECs but only a little humanities-oriented research and CC credits for most prereqs. I'm applying both TMDSAS and AMCAS but can't submit until next week at the earliest for Texas since my spring grades aren't in yet. I'm done with AMCAS except for requesting those transcripts and lots of panicking/rewriting.

I copied all of last year's secondaries for my schools and am now cringing internally at the amount of work in front of me. Such is the journey we've gotten ourselves into, right? At least I can distract myself with a final next week.
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Don't even sweat the secondaries too much! I'm sure a lot of schools use similar questions so it won't be as bad as you think, especially if you pre-write them way in advance 👍
 
Look at all the Floridians in this thread. 👍

I need to finish my PS and finalize my list of programs. I've got three for sure so far, and may be adding one or two more. Most programs said they start accepting apps in July but will take them sooner. So I'm aiming for mid June, which gives me a month. Don't want to be TOO early. 😛
 
QofQuimica said:
Look at all the Floridians in this thread. 👍

I need to finish my PS and finalize my list of programs. I've got three for sure so far, and may be adding one or two more. Most programs said they start accepting apps in July but will take them sooner. So I'm aiming for mid June, which gives me a month. Don't want to be TOO early. 😛
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Wait, what? What are you up to, Q? Felowship?

Also, yes! Nontrad Florida is representing this cycle!
 
Is everyone using official transcripts to enter their courses? I was going to use unofficial ones because a few of my schools charge quite a bit for them and I don't want to wait, but after going through the one official transcript that I do have, I notice some differences from the unofficial and it is freaking me out.
 
Nah, I used unofficial and did the same thing last year. I don't think it's as big of deal as a lot of people make it, i.e. If you have a different abbreviations (mol dev biology) vs (molecular devol biology), it didn't seem to matter.


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Requesting all of my transcripts for AMCAS and AACOMAS cost me ~$75. A taste of costs to come. Going to be so poor at the end of all of this.

Also, every transcript request seems like a new level of archaic technology. One only accepts printed transcript requests in the mail, can't even go there in person. Another required filling out a form online, printing an authorization sheet, signing it, scanning it, emailing it in, printing a cover page to send in the AMCAS cover page, signing it, scanning it, then faxing those in. Sending out a piece of paper with my grades on it should not be that difficult. /rant
 
sunshinefl said:
I fell asleep typing in my courses last night around 4am....😴
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Bahahaha! Starting today, my laptop is banned from the bedroom as it's been causing me some major insomnia. I keep wanting to work on my PS or something application related and losing sleep.
 
^just wait until you start waking up every morning and first thing you do is check for II emails....for MONTHS ON END. I'm glad I'm to the point this time around that I know what happens will happen and if I don't check my email for the first 6 hours of the day, that it's okay. So much less stress already
 
Even more excited to follow everyone's progress knowing that there are so many Floridians this cycle! I'm from Florida as well. 🙂
 
Have my official application feedback review today at my state school with the dean of admission from last cycles app - as well as running a prehealth fair with 52 med schools/booths. Gonna be an interesting day. Stress level is through the roof until I know the event is going well, then have to leave half way through for the feedback.


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Statement is done, classes are entered, transcripts have arrived. Waiting on one more reference letter and sitting for the MCAT on Saturday.

I can't even submit yet and I'm already starting to stress about secondaries.
 
-6/6 letters in

-2/3 transcripts in - but it's the third I'm most worried about because it's coming from a highly disorganized school

-personal statement, classes, and biographical info have all been entered. Am in the process of entering all my activities and descriptions - it's actually kind of hard/time consuming so I've been taking breaks.

I hope to pretty much finish my AMCAS sometime next week. Are you guys having anyone proofread or you're going at it alone? I have no school advisors to help me but could recruit a friend or family member.
 
Wrote my first fellowship PS draft. Sent it to my mom. Spent an hour arguing back and forth about whether to include one sentence. Feels like med school and residency apps all over again. :laugh:

Planning on applying to four programs in all. There is no central app service like AMCAS/AACOMAS or ERAS for fellowship; each app is separate and sent directly to the program. So you have to contact each program individually to find out what they want. Most require a PS, three LORs, a CV, and sometimes other things like med school transcripts or USMLE scores. Only one has an actual app form, but thankfully there are no essays or lists of activities on it! It mainly asks for the kind of info that's on my CV (education, work history, board certification, etc.). Also, I have been invited for my first interview; we are negotiating on a day. I haven't submitted my app materials yet, but I spoke to the PD by phone, and he had interviewed me a few years ago when I applied to his institution for residency. So he remembered me. That was pretty cool and unexpected.
 
libahli said:
-6/6 letters in

-2/3 transcripts in - but it's the third I'm most worried about because it's coming from a highly disorganized school

-personal statement, classes, and biographical info have all been entered. Am in the process of entering all my activities and descriptions - it's actually kind of hard/time consuming so I've been taking breaks.

I hope to pretty much finish my AMCAS sometime next week. Are you guys having anyone proofread or you're going at it alone? I have no school advisors to help me but could recruit a friend or family member.
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Have someone proofread, definitely. Preferably a few "someones."
 
QofQuimica said:
Have someone proofread, definitely. Preferably a few "someones."
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Hmm, okay I will. The main reason I was hesitating is just because I don't know anyone who's familiar with this sort of application process. But I guess even just proofing for spelling/grammar could be helpful.
 
libahli said:
I hope to pretty much finish my AMCAS sometime next week. Are you guys having anyone proofread or you're going at it alone? I have no school advisors to help me but could recruit a friend or family member.
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Yes yes! Even if they know nothing about medicine or AMCAS or any of this, they can still help with that sentence where you left word out.
 
Grammar is very, very, important actually. This gets brought up at all our info sessions, and basically if you have a bunch of mistakes with spelling and grammar, it will tank your app. Makes sense, because there are resources out there... you need to put the effort in to have everything correct (there are plenty of ways to get things proof read even without advisors - and actually having someone who knows nothing about the process can be a huge advantage, they provide a whole different perspective, and often catch things you would otherwise miss) Think libraries, career center, family, friends, English department, most schools have a writing center, etc

And my day;
The grad fair went great, close to 200 students, and no major issues; another school had their event earlier this week, and turned out I think around 30 people . Felt bad for them, but ours turned out fantastic!

And app feedback was GREAT. I had already addressed many of the issues they brought up - it came down to how I went about some aspects of the app/writing itself rather then content. I was a bit too professional/resume-ish on my acitivities, and didn't have enough reflection on what they meant to me other than my "most meaningful" ones. Everything we talked about was "easy fixes" that just involved working on the app itself, wasn't any holes/red flags/academics that held me back (which for someone doing GPA repair...was so great to hear... that my terrible AMCAS GPA wasn't an issue for them). The one other thing was apparently a issue was a couple of my LOR writers wrote impersonal letters that spoke mainly about how hard their class was and how I did well. That disapointed me, as the people I had write for me I knew well, and have had more interactions with then just in a class or two with them. She said it was very common in academic LOR's. Luckily I got 2 new letters from physicians I work with, and think they will be great.

Felt like today was a good step forward overcoming everything that comes with an unsuccessful previous cycle




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BlastedHeath said:
Requesting all of my transcripts for AMCAS and AACOMAS cost me ~$75. A taste of costs to come. Going to be so poor at the end of all of this.

Also, every transcript request seems like a new level of archaic technology. One only accepts printed transcript requests in the mail, can't even go there in person. Another required filling out a form online, printing an authorization sheet, signing it, scanning it, emailing it in, printing a cover page to send in the AMCAS cover page, signing it, scanning it, then faxing those in. Sending out a piece of paper with my grades on it should not be that difficult. /rant
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Crazy, isn't it? I was able to request my military transcripts from 15 years ago (for free) with a click of a button and they were electrically delivered the next day. My community college required me to print out a request form, sign it *in front of a notary* and mail it, along with a check for $35. Like, I took the class last semester. I know you all have email and electronic records. It should take someone less than 2 minutes to type my name in and transmit my transcript to AMCAS. 😵
 
You guys. I love you. I totally wouldn't have thought of it on my own but since you guys suggested it, I called up my alma mater's career services office today. For alumni as far out of school as I am, they don't offer any services....BUT, the woman there was nice enough to contact the writing office (separate department) and that office is more than happy to help me out.

And here's the clincher - if we didn't have this thread going, I would never have called - and esp not this week. Turns out, the last day they're open for the semester is this Monday!! So I'm going to get cranking and hopefully wrap up writing my application this weekend so that I can drop in and have them review it all.

Soooooo- thank you!
 
mavric1298 said:
Grammar is very, very, important actually. This gets brought up at all our info sessions, and basically if you have a bunch of mistakes with spelling and grammar, it will tank your app. Makes sense, because there are resources out there... you need to put the effort in to have everything correct (there are plenty of ways to get things proof read even without advisors - and actually having someone who knows nothing about the process can be a huge advantage, they provide a whole different perspective, and often catch things you would otherwise miss) Think libraries, career center, family, friends, English department, most schools have a writing center, etc

And my day;
The grad fair went great, close to 200 students, and no major issues; another school had their event earlier this week, and turned out I think around 30 people . Felt bad for them, but ours turned out fantastic!

And app feedback was GREAT. I had already addressed many of the issues they brought up - it came down to how I went about some aspects of the app/writing itself rather then content. I was a bit too professional/resume-ish on my acitivities, and didn't have enough reflection on what they meant to me other than my "most meaningful" ones. Everything we talked about was "easy fixes" that just involved working on the app itself, wasn't any holes/red flags/academics that held me back (which for someone doing GPA repair...was so great to hear... that my terrible AMCAS GPA wasn't an issue for them). The one other thing was apparently a issue was a couple of my LOR writers wrote impersonal letters that spoke mainly about how hard their class was and how I did well. That disapointed me, as the people I had write for me I knew well, and have had more interactions with then just in a class or two with them. She said it was very common in academic LOR's. Luckily I got 2 new letters from physicians I work with, and think they will be great.

Felt like today was a good step forward overcoming everything that comes with an unsuccessful previous cycle




Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile
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Yay!!! Happy your day went great! I bet you will have your choice of acceptances to pick from this cycle.

Question about being too professional/resume-ish on your activities - did she give any tips on how much of a personal aspect they look for in general? I'm afraid mine are currently very brief and resume-ish but I'm not sure on how much I should expand them. I was under the impression that shorter descriptions were better.
 
libahli said:
Yay!!! Happy your day went great! I bet you will have your choice of acceptances to pick from this cycle.

Question about being too professional/resume-ish on your activities - did she give any tips on how much of a personal aspect they look for in general? I'm afraid mine are currently very brief and resume-ish but I'm not sure on how much I should expand them. I was under the impression that shorter descriptions were better.
Click to expand...

I was just discussing this with someone in PM so I figured I'd share this here: A former student adcom (who also edited my PS) told me that the most effective EC descriptions he ever saw were ones that spent about half talking about the blah blah what-you-did and half showing (showing, not telling) why you saw it fit to include them -- in other words why they should be considered relevant to someone trying to decide if you're going to be a good doctor. So that's what I tried to do in mine. Obviously other people do them other ways and also do fine in their cycles, but that may work for you.

I'm happy to show some of mine in PM if you want to see examples of my style.
 
How is it possible it's already mid-May? Looked at my calendar today and had a semi-freak out. Anyone with me?
 
Last edited:
FINAL EXAMS DONE.

Actually today was my final, final exam - the last required class for my graduate degree. I just need to finish writing my thesis over the summer and take any elective in any department I want before next May. Slightly premature but I feel accomplished 🙂

Now for AMCAS. I'm already mostly done, but I need to tighten up my PS and finalize my EC descriptions and I will be good to go.

LETS DO THIS!
 
I'm in full ridiculous panic mode because a thread on the main pre-allo board made me realize I have an IA in my history. The tiniest, most inconsequential IA ever (a dorm violation on a similar level to a noise complaint) 15 years ago as a freshman, but one nonetheless.

Realistically, because it was so long ago and so silly in the first place, I think it should make no difference and that they'll laugh at me for even discussing it. But I can't get worst case scenarios out of my head.
 
Smash Williams said:
I'm in full ridiculous panic mode because a thread on the main pre-allo board made me realize I have an IA in my history. The tiniest, most inconsequential IA ever (a dorm violation on a similar level to a noise complaint) 15 years ago as a freshman, but one nonetheless.

Realistically, because it was so long ago and so silly in the first place, I think it should make no difference and that they'll laugh at me for even discussing it. But I can't get worst case scenarios out of my head.
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The worst thing you can do now is panic. Calm down !!! Go through the necessary steps and deal with it. You're OK man. You can do it.
 
Eccesignum said:
I was just discussing this with someone in PM so I figured I'd share this here: A former student adcom (who also edited my PS) told me that the most effective EC descriptions he ever saw were ones that spent about half talking about the blah blah what-you-did and half showing (showing, not telling) why you saw it fit to include them -- in other words why they should be considered relevant to someone trying to decide if you're going to be a good doctor. So that's what I tried to do in mine. Obviously other people do them other ways and also do fine in their cycles, but that may work for you.

I'm happy to show some of mine in PM if you want to see examples of my style.
Click to expand...

What do you guys thinks of bullet points for EC??? I think I want to do that style since it fit me better.
 
HopefulPilot said:
This is one opinion from the Harvard career counseling website

http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/personal-statement

2. Activity descriptions—You are allowed up to 15 activities in this section and for each activity you are allowed 700 characters to describe the experience. This amounts to about 5 or 6 sentences. Some activities will not require that much description. From the AMCAS 2016 manual (accessed via aamc.org): “Medical schools receive all text entry responses as plain text. This means that formatting options such as bulleted lists, indented paragraphs, and bold/italic fonts do not appear for reviewers.” Because of this formatting issue and just for the ease of the reader, it is preferable to write these descriptions in sentences rather than using a resume style of writing.
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Interesting, hmm. This is what I found on SDN

4. They are giving me a lot of space to describe each activity....how the heck should I enter them in? Is less more? Should I use up all available space?
Unfortunately...you will never get a clear cut answer to this one. But we can give you some possible techniques and advice

A - One school of thought is that this is not the time to pontificate. Describe the activity if it needs describing (if you think it is something an AdCom member will not know about) and otherwise, be pithy with your description. Many think that talking about what you learned from the activity is not appropriate in this section, and is better saved as material for secondary applications.

B - Another school of thought is that this is exactly the place to address why you got involved and/or what you learned from an activity because you may not get another chance in a secondary application. Those from California especially feel this pressure since most of the secondaries at California Med Schools are screened (you do not automatically get a secondary; they review your primary application first and decide if you are worthy). Because of this it is tempting to spew as much as possible here.

C - Approach C is a combination of the two approaches. Spew when necessary (an unusual activity that may need a little bit more explanation to understand its depth, and you learned a lot from but you are NOT addressing in your PS) and limited description of commonplace application items (ER scribe, general hospital volunteer, MCAT teacher/tutor).

You can really go down two general paths when it comes to entering the activities in: paragraph form or bullet points. Go with what comes most naturally to you, and don't force yourself to conform to a style that you think is inappropriate for the information you are trying to convey and your writing style.
 
Labrat07 said:
Interesting, hmm. This is what I found on SDN

4. They are giving me a lot of space to describe each activity....how the heck should I enter them in? Is less more? Should I use up all available space?
Unfortunately...you will never get a clear cut answer to this one. But we can give you some possible techniques and advice

A - One school of thought is that this is not the time to pontificate. Describe the activity if it needs describing (if you think it is something an AdCom member will not know about) and otherwise, be pithy with your description. Many think that talking about what you learned from the activity is not appropriate in this section, and is better saved as material for secondary applications.

B - Another school of thought is that this is exactly the place to address why you got involved and/or what you learned from an activity because you may not get another chance in a secondary application. Those from California especially feel this pressure since most of the secondaries at California Med Schools are screened (you do not automatically get a secondary; they review your primary application first and decide if you are worthy). Because of this it is tempting to spew as much as possible here.

C - Approach C is a combination of the two approaches. Spew when necessary (an unusual activity that may need a little bit more explanation to understand its depth, and you learned a lot from but you are NOT addressing in your PS) and limited description of commonplace application items (ER scribe, general hospital volunteer, MCAT teacher/tutor).

You can really go down two general paths when it comes to entering the activities in: paragraph form or bullet points. Go with what comes most naturally to you, and don't force yourself to conform to a style that you think is inappropriate for the information you are trying to convey and your writing style.
Click to expand...

I think we're talking about two different things now, writing style and formatting.

Formatting wise, I would do whatever you're doing in Notepad before transferring over. Don't use Word, as Word's pretty "bullet points" and what not will not show up in AMCAS.

Style-wise, do the thing that works for you. I had posted the advice I got and found it worked for me particularly well because I had a number of ECs that I had done prior to even thinking about medicine (and on the surface looked irrelevant), so I had to pay some attention to tying my story together. Some people don't have to do this so much. Some people write better in a different style. There's no one "right" way to do this, it depends what you feel you need to communicate.
 
I used a narrative for most of my ECs. Something like this is what it was, this was what I did, and this was what I learned from it.

If someone really gets agitated that I wrote what I learned from an experience then I don't want to go to their school 😛
 
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