Mistakes to Avoid in Your W&A Section: Mistake #2

It is absolutely vital that you illustrate how your experience uniquely impacted your journey to medicine. Like I said in the last post, you want each entry to be memorable and catered to your personal experience. There are a lot of common experiences that students pursue and end up on medical school applications. This can include common clinical roles such as being a scribe, EMT, medical assistant, or CNA. There are also popular non-clinical roles such as being a research assistant, teaching assistant, or tutor. Most admissions committee members will have a general idea of your responsibilities in these roles, which brings me to my next tip…

Mistake #2: If Your “Job Description” is Commonly Known, Don’t Waste Characters on It

The general guidance out there in regards to writing your Work & Activities section is “Tell them what you did.” While it’s a good starting point, it shouldn’t consume all 700 characters. Imagine reading thousands of entries on what a scribe does. That would get pretty boring after the first couple, wouldn’t you agree? Save the list of responsibilities for your more unique experiences that your reader wouldn’t be able to assume much about your role. So how do you write about these common experiences? You can do this in one of three ways…

1. Write about how you went beyond the general description of your role. This might be a special project or initiative that you started that came from you being in this role. While you can sprinkle in some words about your general duties, discussing a project where you were innovative or were able to improve something is much more valuable and unique.

2. Discuss new interests or knowledge that developed from this role. Maybe you scribed in the ER which sparked your interest in emergency medicine. Maybe you learned that individuals impacted by socioeconomic determinants of health tend to go to the ER more frequently. Discussing new interests and knowledge illustrates the depth of that experience and does read more thoughtfully.

3. Explain why this experience supports a common theme in your application or how it relates to your personal mission. Having common themes such as teaching/education, interest in women’s health, or focus on sports medicine/fitness, are a great way to build authenticity in your application as a whole. Showing some relevant ties between experiences is a way to build a solid image of who you are as an applicant in the readers’ mind.

So let’s take a look at an example entry. Prior to matriculating into medical school, I worked as a medical assistant to gain clinical experience. This position is generally well-understood in the medical community and at the very least the reader can assume it’s a patient-facing experience. Here is an initial draft of this entry:

Experience Name: Medical Assistant

I decided to become a medical assistant in order to gain more clinical experience. In my role, I was responsible for supporting the healthcare providers in the office by rooming patients, recording their vital signs, and charting their visit reason. I also helped support the visit by performing procedures such as venipunctures, ear lavages, and administrations of vaccines. I also had other administrative responsibilities that involved calling the pharmacy to ensure patients could obtain their medication as well as communicating with patients’ case managers to coordinate their care. In addition to physicians, I worked with nurses, physician assistants, and therapists, and now have a deeper understanding of each role.

If you didn’t know what a medical assistant does, you should now! As you can see here this experience description could be written by anyone who has worked as a medical assistant. When rewriting this entry, I utilized tips #2 and #3 listed above. Read below how I discussed primary care (new interest) and how I saw medicine as an avenue for my passion for teaching (common theme).

While rooming patients, collecting laboratory samples, and coordinating care with case managers at a nonprofit urban community clinic, I developed an interest in primary care. I enjoyed the longitudinal relationships we developed with patients and exposure to other areas of medicine through consultations with specialists. I was also intrigued by the various medical conditions we saw and how they manifested in patients of various ages and demographics. While I loved working as a teaching assistant in college, I saw how my desire to teach could be exercised through patient counseling and preventative care education. Working here has confirmed my goal to pursue a career in community medicine. 

You’ll see that I did leave some job responsibilities there but didn’t allow them to consume the entire entry. This final draft demonstrates what I learned from this experience and how it has impacted my future career. It’s unique to my experience as a medical assistant. Still have more questions about how to write about common pre-med experiences? Leave them in the comments below!