[answered]

[peachesandoranges]

[answered]

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[chilly_md]

Relax. This is why I suggest applicants don't go and look back in-detail at their apps after they submit.

Overselling usually means listing off all your attributes like how hard of a worker you are and how well-prepared you are for medical school.

 

[peachesandoranges]

Relax. This is why I suggest applicants don't go and look back in-detail at their apps after they submit.

Overselling usually means listing off all your attributes like how hard of a worker you are and how well-prepared you are for medical school.

[answered!]

 

[chilly_md]

Thanks for the reply haha. Sorry to push further, but it was in an AMA.

They specifically said, "We want you to put yourself in the best light but don’t oversell yourself. Don’t tell me you singlehandedly made a discovery when your LOR says otherwise." I guess I'm worried about that. I go into more detail in my secondaries, but there isn't enough space in the activity descriptions. Is what I wrote okay?

@LizzyM @Goro @Catalystik @Mr.Smile12 @gyngyn @wysdoc

It's fine to say you led something. It is not akin to the example you heard from the AMA.

 

[Saxappeal1]

If you are ever anxious about this kind of thing, remember, if they interview you and they ask, you can explain what you meant.
There are much worse things than an accidental oversell.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Agree with above, I would not worry about this.

"Overselling" is subjective, so no matter what you do you may wind up overselling or underselling yourself for a given reviewer. In general your experience should be strong enough to speak for itself enough to get an interview.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

They specifically said, "We want you to put yourself in the best light but don’t oversell yourself. Don’t tell me you singlehandedly made a discovery when your LOR says otherwise." I guess I'm worried about that. I go into more detail in my secondaries, but there isn't enough space in the activity descriptions. Is what I wrote okay?

I say that I "led the development of x, y and z." The reality is that I worked with other people to lead these things, sometimes they took on a larger role than I did (we balanced responsibilities). In some of my secondaries, I clarify this, but will I be docked for not using "co-led?"

Without knowing specifically what you wrote, you should be fine.

The alternate version of the answer: Don't exaggerate your impact, especially if your reference does not corroborate your contribution. This is where I presume a prior conversation with your reference will have straightened this out.

 

[peachesandoranges]

Without knowing specifically what you wrote, you should be fine.

The alternate version of the answer: Don't exaggerate your impact, especially if your reference does not corroborate your contribution. This is where I presume a prior conversation with your reference will have straightened this out.

[answered]

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Makes sense. I guess I used led since I was involved the longest out of everyone else on the board, since my co-presidents graduated and I had to train the new ones, who I then worked with for another year. We'd all meet to discuss ideas, and I made very tangible/important contributions. So while maybe person A led x, person B led y, and person C led z more specifically, we'd all meet 2-3 times a week and contribute, taking collective ownership. I also had to take over for a while while we were training new leadership, and I joined and contributed to almost all of the important meetings with faculty and state groups for all the branches of the project, which I did because I knew I'd have to train new people after the original co-presidents graduated.

I think what I'm hung up on is saying I led the development of a workflow. What I mean is that I went to the hospitals in person and also virtually to speak to nurse managers and physicians to design and implement them, and then had additional meetings to troubleshoot any problems. Of course, the physicians took an extremely very active role in all of this and it wouldn't have been possible without them, but the idea was something that I pushed and fleshed out.

If asked in an interview, would something like this make sense? There are more details, but I don't want to say too much.

Again, you can describe it like this. I don't think it's an issue.

 

[wecape cod]

Sell and oversell. To stand out you need to aggressively purvey the truth. My friend is on the admissions committee at Cornell and they say you need to loudly sing your own praises to stand out.

 

[Goro]

Overselling to me is that everything being discussed comes back to you and Medicine (or medical school) when the subject is something different.

I see this in interviews when I ask something like " hey, how about those Dodgers?"

And the answer is " well, the Dodgers have great pitching and focus. I'm very focused and that's why I'll be a great doctor!"