Stories or Facts in Work and Activities?

[capybaracarbonara]

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Is it preferred if the Work and Activities section is comprised of stories or of facts? For example, if volunteering in the hospital, is it preferred to say: "I helped transport patients and learned the value of being organized..." (or something like that, not an exact sentence haha) or would it be better to say "I remember a patient that had xyz condition... she told me ..."? I've seen advice online that either is fine, but I also wanted to gauge the opinion here. Thank you!

 

[LizzyM]

I prefer facts over stories. If I'm reading 24 of these over the course of a week (or a weekend!), I need to know what you did and for how long.

 

[wysdoc]

I prefer facts over stories. If I'm reading 24 of these over the course of a week (or a weekend!), I need to know what you did and for how long.

You don’t have room to tell a story. I think it’s ok to add one line like what skill you built or what aspect you valued.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Team Facts. It's a standardized resume and approach your descriptions as such. Do not conflate the "stories" strategy used by thousands of applicants in their PS's as the only strategy to write EVERY application essay.

You may have the talent to engage in narrative medicine. (In which case, read Just how personal should personal statements be on medical school applications? .) But give me a reason to think you like to avoid answering a direct question or can't communicate except in riddles and anecdotes; I'll be happy to say

As a screener, I get to read 100+ of these applications every day so that faculty like LizzyM can read just 20/week when it's their turn. 🙂

Watch this video (from 4:00 until it gets boring [17:20]). Also insightful for CARS.


For crying out loud, it's the readers, darn it!

 

[capybaracarbonara]

Okay thank you all so much.

You don’t have room to tell a story. I think it’s ok to add one line like what skill you built or what aspect you valued.

Is the extra room in Most Meaningful meant for a story?

 

[wysdoc]

Okay thank you all so much.


Is the extra room in Most Meaningful meant for a story?

it's meant for your insights on why it was the most meaningful to you

 

[capybaracarbonara]

it's meant for your insights on why it was the most meaningful to you

Okay thank you. So save the stories for PS and secondaries?

 

[AJS59]

Okay thank you. So save the stories for PS and secondaries?

Yes. Your work and activities (outside of most meaningful) should give enough details to explain what you did, and for most meaningful you can add on details as to why that activity was most meaningful. The PS and secondaries are where you can, and should, weave in narrative, anecdote-driven writing.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You will be confronted with interview questions or secondary essays with prompts welcoming you to "tell us about a time when" you failed at something (for example).

MME's give you more space to include a succinct story, but remember the point is for you to explain why the activity was meaningful, not necessarily a moment.

 

[pablo213]

Yes. Your work and activities (outside of most meaningful) should give enough details to explain what you did, and for most meaningful you can add on details as to why that activity was most meaningful. The PS and secondaries are where you can, and should, weave in narrative, anecdote-driven writing.

Damn so I wasn't supposed to write a story for my Dean's List?

 

[LikeableDolphin]

I blurred the line between story/description for the meaningful experiences section and extracurricular (hobby) activities section, but those were fully self-explanatory based on the title of the experience e.g. basketball. Only applied TMDSAS so I have no idea about AMCAS. For 95% of the descriptions, it makes no sense to delve into any storytelling as you can use the word count to describe your involvement/impact instead.

 

[Alejandro]

So I'm a little mixed. Stories are not bad, but there is one huuuuuuuge caveat that makes stories 95%+ bad. Its because stories are often written starting out with describing the scene, blah blah blah, and then here I AM, with a relatively modest role. And so basically I learned that Dr. John Doe is this kickass MD or this patient is super interesting and I still don't know anything about you from that blurb.

So, if you can focus the story about you, and not about the color of pants the patient was wearing, stories can work. Again, 95% of the time, stick with facts.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Also let me clarify... don't confuse story-writing with reader engagement. Seriously, watch my posted video that most applicants are trained to writing for people who get paid to see how (you) think and use impressive SAT words and complex sentence structure.

While screeners get paid, we are doing a job to find candidates to interview, not to be entertained. Respect the readers as professionals and possible patients. This is not a campfire social where we tell each other ghost stories.

Making everything a story is like putting hot sauce on every item of a 9-course meal including ice cream and your beverage. Not everything needs to be spicy. (I'm looking at you, Starbucks.)

https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2024/starbucks-new-spicy-lemonade-refreshers-and-spicy-cream-cold-foam-are-coming-in-hot/

... exception: a good bloody Mary can be a little spicy.

 

[LunaOri]

I see the application after it has been screened for number of hours, so my focus is on what the activities tell me about the applicant. I don’t need to know every task you performed and every skill you learned; I scan the “facts” to see what the job entailed as far as clinical contact and/or level of responsibility. I am interested in learning more about who you are, so I definitely prefer to see a line or two about what the experience has taught you about yourself, what it has meant to you, or that will make you a good medical student and peer. I would rather read a couple of lines about why you volunteer to socialize feral kittens than a list of 30 tasks you perform as an MA. And please, for the love of G-d, don’t waste words telling me “and that is why I will be a good physician” or “this is an essential quality for a physician to have”. That’s up to me to decide, not to you who still have years to go before you will know what it is like to be a physician.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

... And please, for the love of G-d, don’t waste words telling me “and that is why I will be a good physician” or “this is an essential quality for a physician to have”. That’s up to me to decide, not to you who still have years to go before you will know what it is like to be a physician.

To me, these are known affectionately as the "Tada!/QED/eyeroll/moral of the story" sentences. 🙄

Or "And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and that dog!"

 

[blameitonbaby]

Is it preferred if the Work and Activities section is comprised of stories or of facts? For example, if volunteering in the hospital, is it preferred to say: "I helped transport patients and learned the value of being organized..." (or something like that, not an exact sentence haha) or would it be better to say "I remember a patient that had xyz condition... she told me ..."? I've seen advice online that either is fine, but I also wanted to gauge the opinion here. Thank you!

Facts and figures, like @LizzyM said.

 

[Goro]

Just the facts, ma'am (or sir).
The stories are all the same, anyway.