How to speak about ECs in application properly?

[Zaids37]

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Seeing as there is limited space how should I go about talking about my experiences? I am under the impression to give a brief description of what the experience entailed but then to spend the majority essentially speaking of what I gained/learned from the experience. Is this a good way to go about it or is the section more for just a straight up description of what my duties were?

Edit: I guess I am just a little confused because if I were to write about the experience in my personal statement wouldn't that be where I write about what I took away from it and learned from it? But writing purely descriptive facts about the experiences just seems so bland...

 

[sharkbyte]

In the personal statement, you want to focus on what you learned from the ECs and WHY they support your desire to pursue a career in medicine.

In the application itself, you should list your duties so that the committee members know what you actually did. Also, you're only given 700 characters for the descriptions so, as it is, it's not that much. AMCAS allows you to designate up to 3 "Most Meaningful" experiences and for each of these you're given an extra 1325 characters to explain why those experiences were meaningful to you. So there, you can elaborate a bit more on the overall nature of the experiences and what they meant to you.

 

[ski89]

Seeing as there is limited space how should I go about talking about my experiences? I am under the impression to give a brief description of what the experience entailed but then to spend the majority essentially speaking of what I gained/learned from the experience. Is this a good way to go about it or is the section more for just a straight up description of what my duties were?

Edit: I guess I am just a little confused because if I were to write about the experience in my personal statement wouldn't that be where I write about what I took away from it and learned from it? But writing purely descriptive facts about the experiences just seems so bland...

I party agree with @sharkbyte
your experience summary should only include duties when it is an experience that is not often encountered by ADCOMs or otherwise unique. For example, if you were an EMT, you don't need to list all your job duties. ADCOMs know what EMTs do. Instead, use those precious 700 words to convey something about how this experience affected your personal/professional development. This is best done through a story.

There may be other experiences that you need to specify a bit in terms of your role and responsibilities but even these should ultimately focus back on how they have contributed to your development. And again this is conveyed best through anecdotes.

If you want I can PM a few of my AMCAS descriptions so you can get an idea of what I mean

 

[MCATUMOR]

I party agree with @sharkbyte
your experience summary should only include duties when it is an experience that is not often encountered by ADCOMs or otherwise unique. For example, if you were an EMT, you don't need to list all your job duties. ADCOMs know what EMTs do. Instead, use those precious 700 words to convey something about how this experience affected your personal/professional development. This is best done through a story.

There may be other experiences that you need to specify a bit in terms of your role and responsibilities but even these should ultimately focus back on how they have contributed to your development. And again this is conveyed best through anecdotes.

If you want I can PM a few of my AMCAS descriptions so you can get an idea of what I mean

Shouldn't the experience summary just describe what you do and then in the most meaningful you state how it affects you. Please correct me if am wrong am lost on this section as well.

 

[HybridEarth]

I follow the "what you did, why you did it, what you learned/impact you made template. Gives everything more depth IMO, but to each his/her own.

 

[MCATUMOR]

I follow the "what you did, why you did it, what you learned/impact you made template. Gives everything more depth IMO, but to each his/her own.

While that's a good idea. Isn't that more meaningful the place to write what u learn/impact ?

 

[HybridEarth]

The most meaningful experiences focus more on the transformative nature of something (e.g. the experiences that perhaps taught you the most or impacted your views the most). The other 12 should certainly be experiences that include something you've learned or an impact you made, unless you're listing physician shadowing or posters/publications since those are self explanatory. I don't have the link right now, but I would recommend you search for Medical school experiences on YouTube. Dean Jones (Stritch's old Dean) has a 50 minute video going through the things you should think about when writing the experiences, and it was very helpful for me. Some schools like the resume format of experiences, but I would personally go with depth beyond what you did because it reveals more about your beliefs and character.

 

[MCATUMOR]

The most meaningful experiences focus more on the transformative nature of something (e.g. the experiences that perhaps taught you the most or impacted your views the most). The other 12 should certainly be experiences that include something you've learned or an impact you made, unless you're listing physician shadowing or posters/publications since those are self explanatory. I don't have the link right now, but I would recommend you search for Medical school experiences on YouTube. Dean Jones (Stritch's old Dean) has a 50 minute video going through the things you should think about when writing the experiences, and it was very helpful for me. Some schools like the resume format of experiences, but I would personally go with depth beyond what you did because it reveals more about your beliefs and character.

Thanks for your feed back much appreciated.

 

[MCATUMOR]

I look for the YouTube video if you have a link can you pls post..

 

[HybridEarth]

this is it!

 

[MCATUMOR]

this is it!

Thnx a lot

 

[HybridEarth]

Absolutely!

 

[MCATUMOR]

Absolutely!

That video was great it definitely open my eyes as how I should approach my application

 

[Zaids37]

I party agree with @sharkbyte
your experience summary should only include duties when it is an experience that is not often encountered by ADCOMs or otherwise unique. For example, if you were an EMT, you don't need to list all your job duties. ADCOMs know what EMTs do. Instead, use those precious 700 words to convey something about how this experience affected your personal/professional development. This is best done through a story.

There may be other experiences that you need to specify a bit in terms of your role and responsibilities but even these should ultimately focus back on how they have contributed to your development. And again this is conveyed best through anecdotes.

If you want I can PM a few of my AMCAS descriptions so you can get an idea of what I mean

Yea could you PM me a few of your experience descriptions so I get an idea? I just finished one about my experience as a Teaching Assistant in a lab and I explained what I did then went further and said how this task that I did effected me and made me grow. So I still had descriptions of my tasks integrated into the experience but I am unsure if it is enough.

I will watch the video posted momentarily though thanks for the link 🙂

 

[drewkroo]

I party agree with @sharkbyte
your experience summary should only include duties when it is an experience that is not often encountered by ADCOMs or otherwise unique. For example, if you were an EMT, you don't need to list all your job duties. ADCOMs know what EMTs do. Instead, use those precious 700 words to convey something about how this experience affected your personal/professional development. This is best done through a story.

There may be other experiences that you need to specify a bit in terms of your role and responsibilities but even these should ultimately focus back on how they have contributed to your development. And again this is conveyed best through anecdotes.

If you want I can PM a few of my AMCAS descriptions so you can get an idea of what I mean

Would you mind PMing a few of your descriptions to me as well? I'd be super appreciative.

 

[MCATUMOR]

I party agree with @sharkbyte
your experience summary should only include duties when it is an experience that is not often encountered by ADCOMs or otherwise unique. For example, if you were an EMT, you don't need to list all your job duties. ADCOMs know what EMTs do. Instead, use those precious 700 words to convey something about how this experience affected your personal/professional development. This is best done through a story.

There may be other experiences that you need to specify a bit in terms of your role and responsibilities but even these should ultimately focus back on how they have contributed to your development. And again this is conveyed best through anecdotes.

If you want I can PM a few of my AMCAS descriptions so you can get an idea of what I mean

Do you mind PM me a description if possible . thnx

 

[DaenerysTargaryen]

Thanks very much to @HybridEarth for posting that video link! It was VERY helpful. And thanks to @Zaids37 for asking the question that prompted the helpful response(s).