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mintendo

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I'm applying this year and have a question.

What tone did you take in your description for your ECs?

Was it very business like (e.g. I volunteered here and did this and this. My research was on this and that. etc) or was it very casual, and by that I mean putting personal touches on the description (e.g. I volunteered in this hospital and I enjoyed my volunteer experience b/c...or through my research experience I learned to become more organized.)

Any comments?

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I went business-like. I'm sure it's fine to add personal touches, though.
 
I was very formal in my descriptions. Maintaining the formal tone I expanded on each experience by explaining a) what I learned from that experience, and b) how that experience has better prepared me for a career in medicine

Best of luck,

jhrugger
 
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I was generally businesslike, unless I really felt strongly about one of my activities.
 
Business-like: as if I was describing my EC's on a resume.
 
I only put like a sentence of explanation on each one.... A friend of mine did more almost mini essays on hers (still very business like in tone)... I think if I had it to do over again I probably would ahve gone with my friend's system...
 
Mine were usually a small paragraph:

-What I did
-When I did it
-What I learned
-Why I feel it was valuable

Slightly personal but generally businesslike.
 
Keep it professional, but don't be afraid to show a little bit of your personality in your description of extracurriculars-- if you're funny, then a bit of humor is great. Make sure you describe all of your ec's and what you got out of them.
 
silas2642 said:
Keep it professional, but don't be afraid to show a little bit of your personality in your description of extracurriculars-- if you're funny, then a bit of humor is great. Make sure you describe all of your ec's and what you got out of them.


wow thanks for all the responses :love:
 
jhrugger said:
I was very formal in my descriptions. Maintaining the formal tone I expanded on each experience by explaining a) what I learned from that experience, and b) how that experience has better prepared me for a career in medicine
To me, this seems like the most important part of your description of each of your experiences. Relating it to medicine and extrapolating how you think x experience will better prepare you for your career really shows a higher level of thinking than just listing facts.
 
mintendo said:
I'm applying this year and have a question.

What tone did you take in your description for your ECs?

Was it very business like (e.g. I volunteered here and did this and this. My research was on this and that. etc) or was it very casual, and by that I mean putting personal touches on the description (e.g. I volunteered in this hospital and I enjoyed my volunteer experience b/c...or through my research experience I learned to become more organized.)

Any comments?

Buisness-like. But I added personal touches to a few of the activities that I didn't talk about in my PS... most of these personal touches were talking about how the activity impacted my desire to become a physician.
 
lizanne11 said:
Buisness-like. But I added personal touches to a few of the activities that I didn't talk about in my PS... most of these personal touches were talking about how the activity impacted my desire to become a physician.

I agree. I tried to add a personal touch to my extracirriculars and show how participating in the activity made me a better candidate for medical school. I don't think it matters too much though.

----------------
Harvard Medical School, Class of 2010
 
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i was formal for the most part, but my descriptions varied wildly in length (getting an award vs. what i have been researching for 2 years post-bacc). for those experiences that were most meaningful (squishy things like volunteering, my musical experiences, starting up my own study), i explained how i felt about them and how they were influential to me, though i wasn't as emotive as in my personal statement.

i tried to write it how i would explain out loud each activity to someone, but with more a polished tone. PM me if that doesn't make sense and i'll try explaining again!
 
somewhere2010 said:
i was formal for the most part, but my descriptions varied wildly in length (getting an award vs. what i have been researching for 2 years post-bacc). for those experiences that were most meaningful (squishy things like volunteering, my musical experiences, starting up my own study), i explained how i felt about them and how they were influential to me, though i wasn't as emotive as in my personal statement.

i tried to write it how i would explain out loud each activity to someone, but with more a polished tone. PM me if that doesn't make sense and i'll try explaining again!

Did you use "I" or did you use incomplete sentences (e.g. Volunteered in the obstetrics department. Assisted with minor surgical procedures and entertained patients.)? I am really passionate about all my ECs and it would be weird distilling them to these impersonal statements..
 
sintheta said:
Did you use "I" or did you use incomplete sentences (e.g. Volunteered in the obstetrics department. Assisted with minor surgical procedures and entertained patients.)? I am really passionate about all my ECs and it would be weird distilling them to these impersonal statements..

I did the bullet format.

Experience
-What I did
-When I did it


Don't worry about being impersonal. You have more than enough time/space to make them personal in your secondary applications (they will probably ask you expound on several of your life experiences), and in your interviews.

Make it quick and easy to read for the AMCAS, then bring your passion for the ECs into your essays and interview responses.
 
My EC descriptions on AMCAS were straightforward short paragraphs. I saved my personality for the essays. The length varied. I'll go ahead and post some examples, since it's not like someone can steal my activities.

For awards, I wrote the descriptions straight off the certificate: "This is an award given to a graduating senior for outstanding leadership and demonstrated commitment to community service throughout her time at X College.

For activities, I gave more detail and used "I" statements. Here is an example where I combined 2 different positions into one AMCAS activity: "X Community Outreach is the student-run volunteer organization at X College. During the 2003-4 academic year, I founded and coordinated the AIDS Outreach committee. Through this position, I held weekly meetings, raised awareness of HIV/AIDS issues on campus, raised money for AIDS Awareness organizations, and coordinated World AIDS Day activities. During the 2004-5 academic year, I served as the president of the volunteer organization. Through this position, I held weekly meetings, attended weekly staff meetings of the Community Service Center, ran the student volunteer office, and organized activities and events in the areas of AIDS Awareness, Education, Youth Mentoring, Homelessness, Senior Citizen Outreach, Environmental Issues, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Hunger. Through community partnerships, I was able to link students at the school with outside organizations for one-time events, and with the collaboration of the other officers, I was able to successfully plan our annual activities, which included everything from a safe Halloween party for elementary school children to a Valentine's Day dance for residents of local senior homes."


Save the passionate staments for the secondary essays.
 
Thundrstorm said:
My EC descriptions on AMCAS were straightforward short paragraphs. I saved my personality for the essays. The length varied. I'll go ahead and post some examples, since it's not like someone can steal my activities.

For awards, I wrote the descriptions straight off the certificate: "This is an award given to a graduating senior for outstanding leadership and demonstrated commitment to community service throughout her time at X College.

For activities, I gave more detail and used "I" statements. Here is an example where I combined 2 different positions into one AMCAS activity: "X Community Outreach is the student-run volunteer organization at X College. During the 2003-4 academic year, I founded and coordinated the AIDS Outreach committee. Through this position, I held weekly meetings, raised awareness of HIV/AIDS issues on campus, raised money for AIDS Awareness organizations, and coordinated World AIDS Day activities. During the 2004-5 academic year, I served as the president of the volunteer organization. Through this position, I held weekly meetings, attended weekly staff meetings of the Community Service Center, ran the student volunteer office, and organized activities and events in the areas of AIDS Awareness, Education, Youth Mentoring, Homelessness, Senior Citizen Outreach, Environmental Issues, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Hunger. Through community partnerships, I was able to link students at the school with outside organizations for one-time events, and with the collaboration of the other officers, I was able to successfully plan our annual activities, which included everything from a safe Halloween party for elementary school children to a Valentine's Day dance for residents of local senior homes."


Save the passionate staments for the secondary essays.

that was really helpful, thanks!
 
sintheta said:
Did you use "I" or did you use incomplete sentences (e.g. Volunteered in the obstetrics department. Assisted with minor surgical procedures and entertained patients.)? I am really passionate about all my ECs and it would be weird distilling them to these impersonal statements..

i wrote it all in first-person, paragraph style. if you're really curious, PM me and i can you one of my descriptions...
 
I wrote all of mine in 2-3 line, resume style descriptions. Nothing about what I learned, just my responsibilities.
 
Just be sure to be succinct! Don't write a word more than is necessary - even if you're way under the word limit. No one has much time to read your descriptions - the shorter, the more likely they are to read the whole thing and understand what the EC really is.
 
Mr.Bip said:
Just be sure to be succinct! Don't write a word more than is necessary - even if you're way under the word limit. No one has much time to read your descriptions - the shorter, the more likely they are to read the whole thing and understand what the EC really is.

No kidding. I don't think flowery prose and extended descriptions help your cause more than a concise and informative summary of your experience and its significance. Remember, they're looking for prospective physicians, and the AMCAS (including the EC statements) counts as part of their evaluation. Doctors don't write novels in their case reports, they try to make the facts as unambiguous as possible.

Definitely go succinct and businesslike on your ECs.
 
I did mine first person conversational. my big thing on my application was my fiction writing, so i was really self-concious about ALL the writing on my application being good. So i discussed the ec's and threw in a story here and there... just like if i was talking to someone. I know they read them (Even though they weren't simply succinct) because specific things i talkeda bout only in my EC descriptions were brought up in interviews. Do what works with your style and personality. this way just went with mine....
 
omgwtfbbq? said:
I did mine first person conversational. my big thing on my application was my fiction writing, so i was really self-concious about ALL the writing on my application being good.
lol. I'm surprised that didn't cross my mind when you first mentioned your story writing gig...but yea talk about raising the bar for yourself! Good thing you didn't have any typos!
 
I was very creative and used as much of the space as possible. I had a pre-interview with the admissions guy, and he told me that he felt this sections was the most important on the application. He also interviews every student and is on the admissions committee. I took his advice to heart and worked hard to make the essays fit my personality and describe my accomplishments. You can read my essays on my blog. http://doctorquack.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_doctorquack_archive.html about half way down this page, you can find all of my essays.
 
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