How much do you stretch things on your application?

[myusernam3]

By stretch- i mean hours volunteering, activities, responsibilities, etc etc

PS- i hope this is the right place for this post

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[Penner]

Here's what I do to my resume:

http://www.thecrimson.com/media/pdf/WheelerResumeMark.pdf

 

[moneymill4569]

What is this link? Sarcasm? Satire? Do explain.

 

[mmmcdowe]

There was stretching in the sense that AMCAS asks for hours per week. If I did once every other week but on every 15th week I did another four hours and then there was a 13 day period where I could not do it and I then did a marathon of 100 that one time and this was all 4 years ago.... So yeah I probably stretched (or thinned) some hours.

 

[karayraisu]

What is this link? Sarcasm? Satire? Do explain.

Just Google that guy's name. He's all over the news recently. : )

 

[wanderer]

Here's what I do to my resume:

http://www.thecrimson.com/media/pdf/WheelerResumeMark.pdf

Fluent in 3 dead languages? If you're gonna BS, at least make it sound plausible

 

[mmmcdowe]

Fluent in 3 dead languages? If you're gonna BS, at least make it sound plausible

I think he went for "hard to call you out"

 

[longhorn09]

I wrote a great story on my motivation on medicine. The reality: I came up with that story from hindsight: I started brainstorming and gathering facts about 2 months before the AMCAS application opened.

 

[bobsmith]

I wrote a great story on my motivation on medicine. The reality: I came up with that story from hindsight: I started brainstorming and gathering facts about 2 months before the AMCAS application opened.

First, I don't think this is what the OP was asking about and secondly, how did you know you wanted to go into medicine if you didn't think about it until you were putting together your AMCAS application?

 

[pelliper]

First, I don't think this is what the OP was asking about and secondly, how did you know you wanted to go into medicine if you didn't think about it until you were putting together your AMCAS application?

for what its worth, MANY many people don't know "why" when they start really thinking about it...they "find out" when they write the personal statement. MOST people don't have insane stories of how they defeated adversity, or had a relative with some terrible, consuming disease. hasn't it ever seemed the slightest bit ridiculous to you that we applicants need to have a REASON to want to go into medicine? what if i just really like what i've seen of medicine and think its something i could enjoy doing for 50 years?

 

[Narmerguy]

for what its worth, MANY many people don't know "why" when they start really thinking about it...they "find out" when they write the personal statement. MOST people don't have insane stories of how they defeated adversity, or had a relative with some terrible, consuming disease. hasn't it ever seemed the slightest bit ridiculous to you that we applicants need to have a REASON to want to go into medicine? what if i just really like what i've seen of medicine and think its something i could enjoy doing for 50 years?

Because a lot of people that think they have good reasons for wanting to pursue medicine crumble as the pressure and brutality of reality weighs them down. Unless students have a concrete reason to fall back on, many will toss their hands up and quit or worse, take up unhealthy practicies. I think it's good the students are expected to do a little bit of introspection and define what it is that they're actually so enthralled with.

 

[bobsmith]

for what its worth, MANY many people don't know "why" when they start really thinking about it...they "find out" when they write the personal statement.

I know that this is true for a lot of people, and it's a pet peeve of mine because I think it often shows a lack of maturity.

MOST people don't have insane stories of how they defeated adversity, or had a relative with some terrible, consuming disease. hasn't it ever seemed the slightest bit ridiculous to you that we applicants need to have a REASON to want to go into medicine? what if i just really like what i've seen of medicine and think its something i could enjoy doing for 50 years?

Sorry, maybe my post wasn't clear, but I'm not saying you need to have experienced one really defining thing to know that you want to go into medicine. All I was getting at is that you should have done SOME degree of introspection and thinking before it was time to write your personal statement (the post I was originally responding to seemed to imply doing the opposite).

I really don't think doing a little introspection is too much to ask. If you're spending 20 hours a week volunteering, shadowing, doing research, etc, I would actually think it's somewhat ridiculous if you didn't think about whether or not you actually liked those activities at some point and what exactly it is you liked about them.

Otherwise, you're just going through your pre-med career ticking things off a checklist and not really thinking about why you're being asked to do these things in the first place. And I think to treat these things like a checklist and not ever think about what you're actually doing is a pretty big disservice to yourself.