One more question about application--pls help!

[C U in MD school]

I will try and make this short and to the pt.

On the amcas application section for the honors/awards/etc. how is everyone writing things up in the description section? are you writing in the 3rd person or 1st? And is anyone writing any descriptions for common stuff that they know (eg deans honor list)?
Please help. I hate this section!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BeckyG]

I applied for the 2001 year, so I do not know the exact format. But, with any description like that for honors & awards, I would stay away from the first person. Just state what the award is for (leadership, potential, etc), who chose you to get the award (faculty, students, advisor, etc) or why you got it (GPA, extracurriculars, etc), when you got it, etc. As for things that are national (like Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Dean's List) they should know what that is. If it is specific to your school (and no one else would know what it is), then tell them. I hope that is helpful. Good luck!

 

[EMDrMoe]

Actually, my explanations were pretty personal and not stuffy at all. I'm not sure if this is how I should have done them, but it sounded good at the time (if only I could speak in past tense about my essays!). For example, I would write "This portion of my current job includes prevention, assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation of high school athletic injuries under the direction of an orthopedic surgeon. I also provide off season conditioning and nutrition education programs for the student athletes."

Hope it helps

 

[lilycat]

When I applied last year, I wrote the descriptions in the third person.

 

[CT]

Seeing this post got me thinking. Looking at my descriptions, I see that I have written them in the first person. Is it really inferior to have them this way instead of in the third person? Also, I know what the third person is, but could someone give an example of a volunteer experience and/or an honor/award written this way? I'm certainly not an english major and just want to make sure I'm getting it right. Thanks.

 

[aprilpremed]

I think the key is to make the information easy to read and understand. Writing in the first person for describing secondary experiences just puts in extra words and doesn't add anything to the information.

Think resume style for this - at least that's my understanding.

Example:

Hospital Volunteer, Lakeshore Hospital
May, 1997 to May, 1998

Duties included escorting patients to outpatient surgery from 6am to 9am twice a week. Also worked at reception desk in Woman's Health Center, assisting patients prior to mammogram and bone density procedures.

That's the style I'm doing mine in at least.