Meaningful activity descriptions

[GCS-15]

Is there a preferred format/ content for these?
Option 1) the first 700 characters to give an overview and responsibilities, then the extra 1325 to reflect and share what you learned? (Or should I save this stuff for secondaries)

Option 2) talk about only the responsibilities I had and only reflect a little bit

Also, should it be one long continuous chunk, or should the 700 and 1325 characters be separate descriptions?

Thanks!


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[Dagrimsta1]

Mine were separate, where the 700 simply described what, when, and my role in the activity. The extra was all about how the activity helped me in the long run, stuff i learned from it and how it can benefit me in the future/med school if applicable.

 

[GCS-15]

Mine were separate, where the 700 simply described what, when, and my role in the activity. The extra was all about how the activity helped me in the long run, stuff i learned from it and how it can benefit me in the future/med school if applicable.

Ah I see. Can I use the extra space to talk about more things I was responsible for? It's a little tough to cover everything in the first part. Also, how much should I talk about what I learned? I starting looking at secondary prompts from this year and many of them asked about things like this, so should I save some for those?


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[CyrilFiggis]

The 700 is really only enough space to discuss the nuts and bolts and potentially your role or key milestones of the EC. The extra 1300 should really elaborate on why you did it, what you learned from it, how expectations and reality differed, important aspects of your work that didn't fit into your 700, etc.

Your ECs and PS should tell a complete story about who you are. They should all answer, "why Medicine" or "my goals in medicine". If research is your bag, highlight your lab experiences or if you spoke at a conference. If working with underserved communities is your thing, discuss those. It's really easy to see when people are just checking boxes.

Just make sure any adcom reading it sees the passion and the person behind the activity.

 

[Dagrimsta1]

The secondaries were somewhat repetitive. I simply rephrased, copy and paste where needed. Sometimes there is no getting around it.. As for what to put where, arrange it in a way where both sections are separate but definitively describe your experience. At the end of the day, what you write is more important that where you put it.

 

[GCS-15]

Great, thanks for the advice everyone!


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[deleted781806]

The 700 is really only enough space to discuss the nuts and bolts and potentially your role or key milestones of the EC. The extra 1300 should really elaborate on why you did it, what you learned from it, how expectations and reality differed, important aspects of your work that didn't fit into your 700, etc.

Yep this is pretty much it. The 700 character spot is for a brief description of what you did and accomplished in the activity, while the 1325 character spot is for discussing what lasting impact it had on you and why you found it particularly meaningful. They are titled "Experience Description" and "Meaningful Summary" respectively on AMCAS fwiw.

 

[DameJulie]

I was in shock when I found out the meaningful experiences gives you a separate bracket to write out 1325 characters.
Just FYI, the 700 characters and 1325 characters are TWO separate entries. Not a combined 2025 characters in one piece, as I originally thought.
Hope I am not alone on this one

 

[Catalystik]

I was in shock when I found out the meaningful experiences gives you a separate bracket to write out 1325 characters.
Just FYI, the 700 characters and 1325 characters are TWO separate entries. Not a combined 2025 characters in one piece, as I originally thought.
Hope I am not alone on this one

They are two separate entries, but when printed out appear to be separated like two paragraphs would be, with a space, and not with a line or a separate location on the application (just a side note in the margin). It's a good idea that the two parts appear to be part of one essay, with one flowing naturally into the other, taking care to keep track of the number of characters used for each.