CAS Biographical Sketch Technical Issue

[medstudent1988]

I'm having trouble with the CAS biographical sketch box. It seems that 4-5 lines at the bottom of the essay space cannot be filled. I have tried about everything I can think of: removing characters, using new paragraphs, etc. I'm having trouble trimming my essay already and I don't want to be artificially limited by some technical issue. Does anyone have any ideas?

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[doctortom]

When I applied last year, each section had adequate space for text, but once I printed it out, the last 4-5 lines that I entered in each section were cut off. I would print your applications as a PDF and check if there is really any remaining space in the text box or if you are actually at the limit already. Good luck!

 

[cme2c]

Shorten your essay. End of story.

 

[Member 3331313]

Maybe it is the browser you are using?

I have been using google chrome on my mac, and have not encountered this problem.

However, it seems like no browser is perfect. With chrome I cannot "tab" over, so listing things in the activities/awards sections has been impossible.

If anyone has found a browser that works well, please share the wisdom.

 

[jsh1986]

What is the word limit/character range we're supposed to be writing?

I'm at 600 words, 3550 characters w spaces, 1 page 11.5 Times New Roman font.

Just trying to gauge what is appropriate....in the past I always had clear cut offs/essay prompts.

 

[doctortom]

Your essay should not exceed 1 page on Microsoft word unless you have something important to address in your biographical sketch.

 

[mydodger]

Your essay should not exceed 1 page on Microsoft word unless you have something important to address in your biographical sketch.

Any other information on filling out CAS? The website is very sparse on details like this. For instance there is no information about how I should be filling out my "public service and activities" or "research activities" sections. Are they looking for a simple list without details? Do they want a bit of information on each? Are they looking for amounts of time I spent on each activity? Or the giant "honors, awards, and achievements" section. What exactly constitutes an achievement? There are zero details about this stuff.

edit: And what the heck are they looking for in the "specialty electives and related activities" section!?

 

[RestoreSight]

Any other information on filling out CAS? The website is very sparse on details like this. For instance there is no information about how I should be filling out my "public service and activities" or "research activities" sections. Are they looking for a simple list without details? Do they want a bit of information on each? Are they looking for amounts of time I spent on each activity? Or the giant "honors, awards, and achievements" section. What exactly constitutes an achievement? There are zero details about this stuff.

edit: And what the heck are they looking for in the "specialty electives and related activities" section!?

All great questions. The problems with the SF match app are numerous, but the bottom line is you have to work around them. There is no set format.

For the biographical page, keep it short and sweet. Less is always more when you are considering your audience. They have many many apps to read and very little time. If it prints out and looks ok then it will appear ok to your interviewer.

For the public service and research make it a CV format with short simple descriptions and clear dates. It may be understandable to you, but make sure whatever you put is clear to someone who doesn't know you. I.e., if you were president of the ophthalmic waste disposal committee and that was a big deal for you, that has to be clear.

Honors awards and achievements - You can put anything you want in this sections. If honoring medicine and surgery was followed with a certificate of your awesomeness put that in. If you received any grants or research scholarships put those in. If you voluntereed in Afghanistan and made it back alive put that in.

The nice thing about the SF match is it allows (gasp) some creativity on your part. You can mold it to fit your profile. There is no set-in-stone method, so make sure you show the final product to a bunch of people. If it makes sense to people who don't know you well then it should make sense to the interviewers. Good luck

 

[mydodger]

The nice thing about the SF match is it allows (gasp) some creativity on your part. You can mold it to fit your profile. There is no set-in-stone method, so make sure you show the final product to a bunch of people. If it makes sense to people who don't know you well then it should make sense to the interviewers. Good luck

Thank you for the clarity! I'm fine with it being loose but I wasn't comfortable just going ahead and assuming that there was no expected format. You can change text color in CAS so I'll try to resist the TeMpt@t!0n to be TOO creative.

 

[jsh1986]

very helpful re Honors, awards, and achiev. thanks!

All great questions. The problems with the SF match app are numerous, but the bottom line is you have to work around them. There is no set format.

For the biographical page, keep it short and sweet. Less is always more when you are considering your audience. They have many many apps to read and very little time. If it prints out and looks ok then it will appear ok to your interviewer.

For the public service and research make it a CV format with short simple descriptions and clear dates. It may be understandable to you, but make sure whatever you put is clear to someone who doesn't know you. I.e., if you were president of the ophthalmic waste disposal committee and that was a big deal for you, that has to be clear.

Honors awards and achievements - You can put anything you want in this sections. If honoring medicine and surgery was followed with a certificate of your awesomeness put that in. If you received any grants or research scholarships put those in. If you voluntereed in Afghanistan and made it back alive put that in.

The nice thing about the SF match is it allows (gasp) some creativity on your part. You can mold it to fit your profile. There is no set-in-stone method, so make sure you show the final product to a bunch of people. If it makes sense to people who don't know you well then it should make sense to the interviewers. Good luck

 

[DrZeke]

All great questions. The problems with the SF match app are numerous, but the bottom line is you have to work around them. There is no set format.

For the biographical page, keep it short and sweet. Less is always more when you are considering your audience. They have many many apps to read and very little time. If it prints out and looks ok then it will appear ok to your interviewer.

For the public service and research make it a CV format with short simple descriptions and clear dates. It may be understandable to you, but make sure whatever you put is clear to someone who doesn't know you. I.e., if you were president of the ophthalmic waste disposal committee and that was a big deal for you, that has to be clear.

Honors awards and achievements - You can put anything you want in this sections. If honoring medicine and surgery was followed with a certificate of your awesomeness put that in. If you received any grants or research scholarships put those in. If you voluntereed in Afghanistan and made it back alive put that in.

The nice thing about the SF match is it allows (gasp) some creativity on your part. You can mold it to fit your profile. There is no set-in-stone method, so make sure you show the final product to a bunch of people. If it makes sense to people who don't know you well then it should make sense to the interviewers. Good luck

HELP
For the Research Activities section. I want to list all my posters and publications whether or not I am 1st author. However, this doesn't leave a lot of room for my actual research experiences. I have several from before med school that are not ophtho related but took up a chunk of my time and proved valuable. Are they important to list? Is it better to leave them on and take off posters where I wasn't 1st author? What about accepted posters, but not yet presented, where you are first author - should those be listed?

 

[RestoreSight]

HELP
For the Research Activities section. I want to list all my posters and publications whether or not I am 1st author. However, this doesn't leave a lot of room for my actual research experiences. I have several from before med school that are not ophtho related but took up a chunk of my time and proved valuable. Are they important to list? Is it better to leave them on and take off posters where I wasn't 1st author? What about accepted posters, but not yet presented, where you are first author - should those be listed?

It sounds like you have enough to fill up the section to overflowing capacity. Pubs trump experiences. You can always talk about your experiences in the interview, but I would fill up the section with the posters and pubs even if you weren't first author. You can't really cite an experience anyway. It comes across kinda weak. You can list accepted posters too and definitely should. The more recent the pub the better. You may have done cool stuff before med school, but your motto should be "what have you done for me lately?"

 

[DrZeke]

It sounds like you have enough to fill up the section to overflowing capacity. Pubs trump experiences. You can always talk about your experiences in the interview, but I would fill up the section with the posters and pubs even if you weren't first author. You can't really cite an experience anyway. It comes across kinda weak. You can list accepted posters too and definitely should. The more recent the pub the better. You may have done cool stuff before med school, but your motto should be "what have you done for me lately?"

Thanks ! This is really helpful. I woke up early this morning thinking about all the things I'm stressing about and this is just one thing I'd like to cross off the list