Activity Discussion Paragraphs in Application

[Polo423]

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I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on how the small paragraphs discussion an activity should read, and/or provide an example of one. I was told we should treat these as mini-essays...is this true?

 

[riceman04]

I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on how the small paragraphs discussion an activity should read, and/or provide an example of one. I was told we should treat these as mini-essays...is this true?

that's what I did...the point is to be as concise as possible without leaving out key details of your experience. Lizzy M suggested that you should really only write alot about your experience if it is unique (i.e. most premeds have never done anything like it)

 

[seraph524]

Don't try to write mini essays to fill up space - adcoms won't have the patience to read it. Write it in as few sentences as possible without losing effect.

If its truly unique, then go for it.

 

[rowerlauren]

I bulleted (put in "-"s before each new thing) things. Maybe an essay would be more flowing for readers, but I really wanted to be clear and concise. If you let me write paragraphs then I would end up writing the entire 1200ish characters. Using bullets I wrote what I needed to while keeping myself from verbosity. Maybe they won't like how I did it, but I felt that it was the clearest way to get everything across.

 

[gasdf1234567]

I also bulleted my points with a "-". Does anyone know if adcoms would prefer a certain way?

 

[neurocirujano]

If I were an on an admissions committee there is no way I would want to read all of the narratives and paragraph descriptions of the work/activities section. I would much rather read a few "bullets" with the facts. Aren't an explanation of these activities what interviews are for? Still, if it is a genuinely unique activity, I could see it warranting a longer, more personal description.

 

[aunt ethel]

* I went with bullets.
* It was much more readable in print form.
* 👍

 

[rowerlauren]

I think that there will be a pretty even split between using some sort of bullets and doing a more paragraph format. So just use whatever means you believe most accurately depicts what you are trying to say. I also used Hard Returns a lot since I had to do some creative grouping in my activities... lets just say that TAing for 3 seperate classes, diff departments, diff profs, diff semesters all ended up as the same activity.

 

[ACSurgeon]

I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on how the small paragraphs discussion an activity should read, and/or provide an example of one. I was told we should treat these as mini-essays...is this true?

I wrote all mine as two paragraphs: the first described what I did exactly, and the second how this activity reinforced my desire to become a doctor. It seems to have worked 🙂