Comments on: Mastering the University of Toronto Medical School Essay – Part 2: Background, Interests, and Experiences

By: Jones

Jones — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:38:07 +0000

As an aspiring doctor, still in my last year of high school, this has really given me an idea what it truly means to become a doctor. I get 90’s in sciences but I fear that my lack expressing genuine compassion to others will be the downfall of my application. And I should probably work on that!

Thanks dude.

By: Nivetha

Nivetha — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:50:50 +0000

Thanks Joshua for the reply. It is a bit general but I think that helps different people for various reasons. So it’s all good Btw, I think I am going to start brainstorming in a chronological manner, like you have suggested.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:21:13 +0000

Hi Sonja,

Thanks a lot, I’m glad you’re finding these articles helpful =)

By: Sonja

Sonja — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:03:01 +0000

Hey Joshua! I’ve been a silent reader for quite some time now and I just wanted to drop a comment to tell you how much I appreciate you writing all this. I liked this one (or series, rather) especially as a lot of these things I don’t realize (ie. relating to medicine as opposed to making yourself sound unique). Even though I’m still unsure about what to do about my future career in sciences, I enjoy reading your articles. Take care!

By: Joshua

Joshua — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:44:46 +0000

Thanks Nivetha!

Yah, for stuff like starting the essay and more concrete aspects like that, I was going to talk about those in the later parts of the article series. I’m mostly trying to look at some theoretical stuff right now, though I guess it might seem kind of vague and confusing because of that, and I’m sorry if it is.

Personally, what I did was come up with the list of experiences I wanted to make sure were mentioned in my essay. Then I went about figuring out what order I should put them in so that my essay flows nicely.

I’ll go into this in more detail later, but one suggestion is to write in a chronological matter – showing how each subsequent experience built on the previous on to get you where you are today.

By: Nivetha

Nivetha — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:11:21 +0000

Hi Joshua,

Insightful post! Really appreciate how you are putting in the time and effort to write these articles I have a question about how to “start” writing the essay.
I have many random experiences that have shaped me, but I am having difficulty trying to pull it all together. How did brainstorm for this essay? Did you just write it all at once, or did you make a list of things you thought would be relevant and selected a few or…?