Trouble Choosing Most Meaningful Experience

[begoood95]

(I began writing this in the "official activities/work section thread," but quickly realized it might be a bit too long; if you (mods) think I should move it there, I will.)

Question:

So I am now up to my 5th entry. The MME has been used twice, so I only have one left. I am trying to decide between two:

1. my work experience as a certified ophthalmic assistant (two different offices, two years total), or
2. my volunteering experiences as a STEM tutor for underprivileged kids and with an environmental (stewardship) organization.

I know some might say, "Well, what's more meaningful to you?" to which I'd answer, they're equal in meaningful-ness. So moving past that, I've already marked an EC (martial arts) and my research as my first two MMEs. Which of the above do you think would be a nicer balance to the ones I've already marked?

If I marked the COA experience as MM, then I'd speak about my time observing patient interactions, and the usual... except (1) I feel like that's nothing new nor impressive nor additive to my application, and (2) that can probably already be inferred from having worked at two different locations for two years. That is, I don't think selecting this as my last MME would inform adcoms of anything they would already know, or, less importantly, nothing "unique" could really be said here that would help me stand out amongst the thousands who already have such experiences.

If I marked my time volunteering as a STEM tutor (2 yrs) and an environmental "activist" of sorts (~80 hrs) (we taught kids about nature and how neat it is and etc., with hopes to teach stewardship and a responsibility towards caring for the Earth), I would talk about both my love for teaching/mentoring, and connect that to future hopes at potentially working within academic medicine, teaching residents, and etc; I would briefly touch on my passion for environmental advocacy, and connect that to health and wellbeing as well.

Additionally, I could potentially mark my clinical volunteering as MM, but my reasoning against it would be the same as marking the COA experience as MM.

HALP, pls, and thank you

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[Lawpy]

I view most meaningful experiences as opportunities to write more about them and that's basically it. Not really an evaluation of which activity is more meaningful than others since by listing all activities on AMCAS, they are meaningful in some way. So it doesn't matter what you list as most meaningful as long as you can talk about it in secondaries and interviews.

I could be wrong so tagging the adcoms @LizzyM @Catalystik @gyngyn @gonnif

 

[begoood95]

You dont have any most meaningful
You dont have any related to medicine, academic, or research (the applicant who tried to his Ochem course MM comes to mind to me)
You dont need to balance them and construct something "better" (my eyes are rolling)
Nor are they evaluative in nature (kudos to @Lawper)

Pick the 1, 2 or 3 that you find most meaningful, and not worry about how its going to look. Perhaps have a little integrity and belief in yourself to see which are most meaningful and why that is and, most importantly, what you feel they say about yourself.

I mean, of course I'm going to worry how it's going to look -- you're supposed to lay your qualities out in such a way that communicates good potential as a physician. I know from your perspective, as an adcom, you might be tempted to say "don't worry about how you look," but that's somewhat impossible not to think about when you're applying through a standardized application system saturated with amazing applicants! Are you telling me that when you applied for jobs, you didn't worry about how you appeared on paper??

I do understand that one of the opinions is that these are not evaluative in nature, but it's hard to stomach that when, after clicking the MME checkbox, the following prompt shows up:

"This is your opportunity to summarize why you have selected this experience as one of your most meaningful. In your remarks, you might consider the transformative nature of the experience: the impact you made while engaging in the experience and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation." ...How is that not supposed to be evaluative? I think the disagreement we see here on SDN is an artifact of the different philosophies of the adcoms present; there's no standardized way to look at an applicant, and that's probably why some arguments will never be settled -- and that's fine!

Nevertheless, I do appreciate your advice!

 

[Lawpy]

I mean, of course I'm going to worry how it's going to look -- you're supposed to lay your qualities out in such a way that communicates good potential as a physician. I know from your perspective, as an adcom, you might be tempted to say "don't worry about how you look," but that's somewhat impossible not to think about when you're applying through a standardized application system saturated with amazing applicants! Are you telling me that when you applied for jobs, you didn't worry about how you appeared on paper??

I do understand that one of the opinions is that these are not evaluative in nature, but it's hard to stomach that when, after clicking the MME checkbox, the following prompt shows up:

"This is your opportunity to summarize why you have selected this experience as one of your most meaningful. In your remarks, you might consider the transformative nature of the experience: the impact you made while engaging in the experience and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation." ...How is that not supposed to be evaluative? I think the disagreement we see here on SDN is an artifact of the different philosophies of the adcoms present; there's not standardized way to look at an applicant, and that's probably why some arguments will never be settled -- and that's fine!

Nevertheless, I do appreciate your advice!

It's impossible to predict how one adcom member at one school will view the most meaningful experiences (even more so given that decisions are made by the overall committee). But the AMCAS is basically a standardized applicant profile sent to medical schools, while secondary essays are tailored to each school's personal requirements and missions.

If an adcom is interested to know what the applicant is passionate about, I bet heavier emphasis will be placed on secondaries (and of course personal statement) than most meaningful experiences.

 

[LizzyM]

In all the applications I've looked at, what was or was not marked "most meaningful" has never garnered my attention let alone my judgment.

 

[DrHart]

If I marked the COA experience as MM, then I'd speak about my time observing patient interactions, and the usual... except (1) I feel like that's nothing new nor impressive nor additive to my application, and (2) that can probably already be inferred from having worked at two different locations for two years. That is, I don't think selecting this as my last MME would inform adcoms of anything they would already know, or, less importantly, nothing "unique" could really be said here that would help me stand out amongst the thousands who already have such experiences.

If I marked my time volunteering as a STEM tutor (2 yrs) and an environmental "activist" of sorts (~80 hrs) (we taught kids about nature and how neat it is and etc., with hopes to teach stewardship and a responsibility towards caring for the Earth), I would talk about both my love for teaching/mentoring, and connect that to future hopes at potentially working within academic medicine, teaching residents, and etc; I would briefly touch on my passion for environmental advocacy, and connect that to health and wellbeing as well.

(While its impossible to really advise which "would be better" without seeing your application as a whole) - based on the bolded, I get the impression that selecting STEM tutor as MM will 1) allow you to expand on something that adcoms might not know at first glance and 2) set you apart from "the thousands" - environmental advocacy is certainly unique for a premed. As others allude to, whether something is marked MM or not, it doesn't really matter. If you have more to say about a certain experience, it gives you more room to talk about it.

 

[begoood95]

Evaluative to each other or comparative. Adcoms dont compare them to each other in the EC section of an applicant.

In all the applications I've looked at, what was or was not marked "most meaningful" has never garnered my attention let alone my judgment.

(While its impossible to really advise which "would be better" without seeing your application as a whole) - based on the bolded, I get the impression that selecting STEM tutor as MM will 1) allow you to expand on something that adcoms might not know at first glance and 2) set you apart from "the thousands" - environmental advocacy is certainly unique for a premed. As others allude to, whether something is marked MM or not, it doesn't really matter. If you have more to say about a certain experience, it gives you more room to talk about it.

Then the AAMCAS lies! Lol, okay thank you very much for everyone's help. My neuroticism has subsided... until next time

 

[begoood95]

Honestly, after this thread, I'm thinking about selecting my time in India on a (trigger warning) medical mission that also had an anthropological aspect tied in so calm down as a "MME." I think it'd be useful to give more context as to what exactly I was doing there, and help subside fears that I was displacing workers, and etc. (and talk more about the what the anthropology side of my time there was).

Now it's between that and the STEM tutoring and environmental activism, hmm...

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Honestly, after this thread, I'm thinking about selecting my time in India on a (trigger warning) medical mission that also had an anthropological aspect tied in so calm down as a "MME." I think it'd be useful to give more context as to what exactly I was doing there, and help subside fears that I was displacing workers, and etc. (and talk more about the what the anthropology side of my time there was).

Now it's between that and the STEM tutoring and environmental activism, hmm...

If it were me, I'd put all my experiences in first and then figure out which ones are MME. That's just me though.

 

[begoood95]

If it were me, I'd put all my experiences in first and then figure out which ones are MME. That's just me though.

Yeah I've started to do that! I (basically) have everything in a word document that I want to list, from which I transfer onto the application.

 

[enchantediris]

Just a thought – are both of your research experiences truly most meaningful, or could you choose the (more) meaningful one and choose both the medical mission and STEM tutoring? That would probably make the most diverse set of experiences, unless your two research experiences are very different.

 

[begoood95]

Just a thought – are both of your research experiences truly most meaningful, or could you choose the (more) meaningful one and choose both the medical mission and STEM tutoring? That would probably make the most diverse set of experiences, unless your two research experiences are very different.

Hmm, I'm not quite following. So far I've selected my research and martial arts experiences as MM, so only one of those is research! Does that clear things up?

Edit: to be even clearer, I only have one research experience.

 

[enchantediris]

Hmm, I'm not quite following. So far I've selected my research and martial arts experiences as MM, so only one of those is research! Does that clear things up?

Edit: to be even clearer, I only have one research experience.

Ohh I misread your sentence in the OP... I thought you said you marked your martial arts as an EC and your research as your first two MMEs. lol CARS