Dreaming of attending UofT’s medical school? Feeling a bit lost about the best way to approach this school’s application requirements? We totally get it – the application process can be daunting for many individuals who may not have experience with the rigorous selection process of Ontario medical schools. Particularly since most undergraduate (and even graduate) applications do not require the amount of documentation and extensive application components that Ontario medical schools do.
If you’re planning on applying to UofT – keep reading! Here, we discuss common mistakes or points of confusion, and how you can avoid them.
The UofT requirements on the Ontario Medical School Application System (OMSAS) can be broken down into three general components: (1) the autobiographical sketch (ABS); (2) the ABS statement; and (3) brief personal essays (BPEs). There is a fourth, but you won’t necessarily have the same amount of control over that component and the quality of that submission—that being the reference letters. A separate article will be written in the future about tips on reference letters, but this post will focus on the three general components mentioned above. Each of these requires special attention. Here, I share some common mistakes I come across when reading applications.
Feeling confused about what each of these “three general components” is? Here’s a quick overview to clear things up!
1. The Autobiographical Sketch (ABS): Essentially a detailed list/resume of up to 32 activities that you want to showcase on your OMSAS application. This can include Employment, Volunteer Activities, Extracurriculars, Awards & Accomplishments, Research, and “Other” activities. Check out our blogpost on demystifying the ABS for more in-depth information! Note that the ABS is not limited to UofT; it is part of your Ontario medical school application portfolio as a whole.
2. The “ABS statement:” This component is specific to UofT. It’s a single essay of 500 words or less, where you pick a single impactful experience from your ABS and elaborate on it. As UofT notes on their website, be sure to explore how it demonstrates personal growth, character, and values, as well as how the experience has prepared you for medical school!
3. Brief Personal Essays (BPEs): Each year around July, UofT releases their BPE questions. In the past, there have been four essays that needed to be completed; more recently, the university has required applicants to submit two. Each essay is quite short (as the name suggests) – only 250 words. The questions change from year-to-year, and will require you to find a way to answer the prompt, while incorporating your own personal experience into it. These essays are often about relevant, broader topics of importance in the world (for instance, during the pandemic, issues like misinformation, or adapting to change during COVID).
Although this post is organized into separate sections, many of these points are relevant across all three components. For instance, ‘forgetting to make it relevant to medicine’ is critical for both the ABS statement, as well as BPEs. For simplicity in this blogpost, the common mistakes are intentionally placed in the section where it’s most typically found to be an issue.
Common mistakes in the ABS
Forgetting to make it relevant to medicine
Writing the ABS is different from traditional resume writing. I see many applications that start off listing responsibilities verbatim from the job listing description. I would strongly advise against that. There are many highly qualified applicants with various volunteering, teaching, and mentoring roles—but what makes them stand out in the application is how they derived meaningful value relevant to medicine in those lived experiences. Therefore, when writing your activity descriptions, consider attributes that are necessary to succeed as a medical student and physician, and use your engagement in each activity to demonstrate how you possess such attributes.
Example description of a tutor role:
Common description: “Tutored grade 12 students in math for 3 years. Ensured students understood complex topics and saw progression.”
Improved description: “Developed a personalized learning plan in conjunction with student strengths. Motivated learner interest. Inspired student confidence & perseverance.”
You might be thinking: “How is description more relevant to medicine?”. Well, physicians develop patient-centric individualized plans, especially in preventative medicine; a common example of which is smoking cessation counseling. Furthermore, physicians are encouraged to empower patients to take ownership of their own health. The second portion of that statement in reference to motivating learners and inspiring confidence speaks to the importance of the transferable skill of teaching in medicine. This is a reflection of the passing of the torch, “see one, do one, teach one”—a motto of mentorship in medicine. In the same vein draw parallels of these and other attributes of great physicians in your roles. If possible, include the relevance of this experience and its long-term impact – for instance, here, the long-term impact on confidence and perseverance in students you tutored.
Omitting numbers
Don't forget to quantify your impact! Being able to raise $400 sounds much different than being able to raise $10000. Although financial grants are also important, the impact on individuals speaks more volumes; ensure you include what the grant is for and the result of that impact—not just that you used up the finances. In any leadership position, be sure to include the number of subcommittee members and club members.
Example description of a competitive grant:
Common description: “Won a competition and secured $4000 of funding for a basic science project with 4 other team members. Utilized grant over 4 years.”
Improved description: “Secured $5,000 of a total $40,000 in competition with 40+ other initiatives. Awarded to organize an inter-faculty conference, co-primary author.”
Not understanding that U of T clusters are different from traditional CanMEDS roles
The traditional wisdom for applicants is to incorporate the CanMEDS as much as possible into all aspects of their application. Whilst this is true, it misses the nuances and understanding of the “marking rubric.” The CanMEDS consists of 6 larger roles (communicator, collaborator, leader, health advocate, scholar and professional) that integrate into the medical expert role. Applicants often try to find an activity that fits every single role. However, the University of Toronto application specifically states on their website that they consider applications based on the 4 clusters of 1) professional; 2) communicator/collaborator/manager; 3) advocate; and 4) scholar. These are derived, in part, from the CanMEDS. Should you consider an application to the University of Toronto, be cognizant of this difference and ensure your application reflects these 4 clusters equally.
Common mistakes in the ABS statement
Too many examples
As an applicant to medicine, no doubt you will have lots of experiences to share in your Autobiographical Sketch. You may have multiple you are debating using for the ABS statement – UofT’s 500-word essay requirement. Though it might be hard to pick, do be sure to only select one experience from your sketch, and write on that. Each year, the essay question is: “Write about an impactful experience from your Autobiographical Sketch that demonstrates your personal growth, character, and values. How did this experience prepare you for medical school?”
In addition to only being able to select one impactful experience from your sketch, we recommend not providing too many examples from that particular experience. Remember, you are limited to 500 words – which goes by quickly when you are describing an experience you are passionate about! It is better to go deep with fewer examples, than shallow with more. For instance, let’s say that you wanted to use your experience volunteering in a research lab as the subject of your ABS statement. A great way to demonstrate your personal growth, character, and values (as well as readiness for medical school) might be through a couple of examples. These might be (1) troubleshooting a difficult technical problem in order to obtain experimental results; and (2) coordinating lab meetings and facilitating the bi-weekly journal club. Those are just a couple of examples, but notice they are distinct in the qualities you can explore (the first is more about independent learning and trouble-shooting; the second, more related to communication and working with others). Using a couple distinct examples like this, and using them to answer the essay question, is much better than listing a bunch of examples, but having no room in the word count to flesh them out!
In summary, strategically choose one example/situation/environment/role that you feel encompasses multiple clusters, and succinctly introduce that role. Then describe how you exemplified the chosen clusters through your actions.
A Reminder of the UofT 'Clusters'
The four clusters summarize UofT's MD program mission and values, which are essentially just condensed CanMEDS roles:
1. Professional Cluster: Maturity, reliability, perseverance and responsibility
2. Communicator/Collaborator/Leader Cluster: Communication, collaboration, teamwork, time management and leadership
3. Advocate Cluster: Advocacy, community service and social responsibility
4. Scholar Cluster: Academic standing, achievements in leadership, research and social responsibility as demonstrated by (but not limited to) awards, conference presentations, publications and scholarships
Forgetting to demonstrate improvement and reflection
It is already a challenge to fit all your thoughts into a concise manner with 500 words. However, the best applications end up being able to not only convey their message but also leave room at the end to provide a reflection on things that they would have done differently from their situation. It may seem tempting to paint yourself as the hero of the perfect story, but every experience has room for improvement and if you are able to illustrate what you could have potentially done differently in a similar scenario to improve on it—it will certainly impress the committee.
Common mistakes of the BPEs
Missing the forest for the trees
Each of the essay questions provided has some component that is relevant to the duties of a physician. It may be mentorship, teaching, persuasion, working in a team or conflict resolution. The prompt may seem unrelated to medicine but think of the soft skills that are involved similar to healthcare delivery. Then work backwards to think of an example that best displays those properties.
Try to draw definitions based on your lived experiences and what that topic means to YOU! How has it affected you? What are some traditional techniques/thoughts on that topic that you have experienced that are not necessarily true that you would do differently moving forward? To clarify, all of us have ingrained biases based on our upbringing and environment. Was there a particular way you would have viewed a situation that changed through this experience, if so, write about it and make it relevant to patient care.
Being esoteric
These types of questions may ask you what a certain attribute/topic/word means to you. This is not a trick question, but special care is necessary to make sure you don’t make the common mistake of including the dictionary definition or historical context of the word. It can be tempting to be technical. Remember, there are 3000+ applicants and likely a large proportion will include a dictionary definition.
As a thought exercise, try to think of this from the perspective of the committee member reading your essay. They may have gone through tens of hundreds of applications and a large proportion would have already reiterated the dictionary definition of that word. Coming across your application, if you were to also include a version of that definition, it would not add great value to whatever the reviewer already knows. Truth be told they may roll their eyes at another rendition of a definition in the article! They are testing you on your ability to connect with patients and draw this to a larger issue relevant to healthcare.
Telling and not showing your story
This final tip, in my humble opinion, is the highest yield change you can make to elevate your application but also the most challenging to implement. “Show, don’t tell” is a common method of writing that allows for the reader to be further encapsulated into the story. Having read multiple applications—those who paint the story rather than telling it are the ones I remember! Consider utilizing it whenever you introduce the setting of the story. If you are writing a story about a conference don’t just tell me you had a presentation—paint the picture, the setting, what it took to get there and what your emotions were or better yet, what the emotions of the other individual/audience you are working with may have been.
Summing things up
So there you have it – some key things to pay attention to when crafting your UofT application, so that you can create a strong, memorable portfolio. We recognize this can seem like a lot to take in, but promise that with time and effort, creating an application that showcases your strengths and experiences is possible! The key is to start early, leave time for review/revisions, and stay positive during the process.
Take care and best of luck!