That’s where I am stuck. How are you all tackling this?
What are the most important activities?
I wish I could just send a resume.
I started with my resume as a guideline, putting first the important activities from the resume, editing the resume points under it to be concise, but also to say what I got out of the experience. Briefly.
Then I added shadowing and volunteering experiences.
Then I added “other” stuff, like OldPreMeds and my extensive dancing hobby.
Use your resume as a tickler to get you started. It gets easier as you go along. Periodically use the “print application” button to see how the godawful formatting looks. This keeps you from being tempted to use all 1300 characters.
also note that when you respond to secondaries, you may be asked to include a copy of your resume, and if you’re not specifically directed one way or another, I definitely recommend including it. That awful print format isn’t any easier for the Adcom folks reading it and a well-written resume is way easier on the eyes.
Mary
Be careful with the dates! Last year, the way it printed out for adcoms wasn’t exactly the same as the way it printed out for applicants, I think. I lumped a lot of ECs together in certain sections, and then dated them for the entire period. Then on another line I would put down some sort of “name” for the experience. On still another line I’d put a contact person’s name. Since I was lumping multiple things together the contact person just applied to one of them. Well, the way it got printed out for adcoms made it look like the entire date span applied NOT to the general name I’d given the section, but to the one specific activity that the contact person’s name applied to. So… at interviews, people kept asking, “You’ve played ultimate frisbee from 1989 until now???” When 1989 til now meant all the sports I’d listed in that category. It was very annoying. It’s possible it does print out in the way adcoms see, but you have to physically print it to see this, and it’s different from the way it looks on the screen.
Of course, maybe they’ve changed it this year.