At first I had the talk recorded as a video, but I wasn’t happy with the quality of how it turned out, both in my speech and in the quality of the video. So I decided to record the talk on my own and show it here.

I hope to keep producing some more videos like this in the future, including both full length talks as well as short, random thoughts on my mind. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Interested in hearing me speak?

I’d love to do more speaking and I’m open to sharing my experiences and doing talks on a variety of topics. If you’re interested in having my speak at a conference, workshop, school or anything of that nature, send me an email at medhopeful@gmail.com and let me know!

Related posts:

1. Stanford Admissions Video – Medicine, Business, Education and Law
2. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge
3. Speaking Engagements!

*Post 6 in the 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge

If you’re a business owner, it’s not hard to motivate people to do their work. In fact, they often do it no questions asked. Why? Well, if you’re being paid to do a job, and you need that job, you’re going to get your work done.

It’s different when you’re working with people who are volunteering their time. If you’re reading this blog, chances are you are a student who is involved with student clubs, community work, and non-profit experiences. If you are a student leader, you’re often going to come across the challenge of motivating your volunteers to be active and complete their tasks.

At the end of the day, the leader is going to be the most invested and held accountable for the results – that’s why being a leader is so tough. If you’ve seen Donald Trump’s reality show The Apprentice, you know that the project manager for each week’s competition is always one of the individuals on the chopping block. If anything goes wrong, the leader is always going to be one of the people held accountable.

Of course, the success of any team depends on the cohesiveness of the entire team. As we all know, when you’re a volunteer with nothing really to lose, it’s easy to stray off path and get lazy. So when you are working with volunteers, how do you keep them motivated and on task?

I was talking about this very idea with Shelly the other day and she told me about a friend of hers who coordinates a large student program. One of the things he did was spend some of the budget on getting all of the executive member volunteers “business cards”. I thought this was a fantastic idea because it 1.) makes the positions seem very legitimate/professional to the executives, and more importantly, 2.) it makes the executive feel like a real part of the program, and most importantly, 3.) it makes the executive member feel invested in the program. I mean you have a business card for gosh sake, are you really going to slack off and do nothing?

We see similar concepts in business. One question often asked when starting a company and looking to build the team is, should I offer someone a salary or should I offer them equity in the company (i.e. a share of ownership in the business)? The advantage of offering someone equity is that it makes them invested in the company – their individual success (i.e. the value of their equity in th business) is dependent on the success of the business. If the business grows, so does the value of their equity in the business. This means that they have an incentive to work harder and be committed. On the contrary, someone who is paid a salary has less incentive to work harder and be invested in the company.

So the next time you are having trouble motivating people, ask yourself, can I make them invested in any way?

Related posts:

1. When you need help, look to your web of people
2. Keep your eyes on the future and embrace change
3. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge

I always keep saying I want to post more but have never really lived up to it. So here I am making a challenge for myself: to post 30 times in 30 days. I’m not placing any rules on myself beyond that. It can be one word or a thousand words, but I have to post 30 times. What do you think? Have something you want me to write about? Let me know – I could use some writing inspiration!

Anyways, on to post 1 of 30…

Science Expo

I’m excited about an upcoming speaking opportunity. I have been invited to be a keynote speaker at Science Expo, a conference that aims to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to high school students in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area. I’m being asked to share some of my stories and motivate high school students to consider pursuing STEM fields.

Whenever I have the opportunity to speak, there are four key things I want to do no matter the topic I am speaking on. I call it the (IF)² approach (actually I just made this acronym up, but it’s all true!):

I: Inspire – I want to the audience to leave the talk feeling inspired and motivated to go out and do something themselves. Maybe it’s related to my message and maybe it’s not, but I want to move people and see them move afterwards.

I: Insight – I want to share ideas and thoughts that the audience may not have heard before. I want to challenge conventional thoughts and get the audience going “HMMMM”. Because if I’m just saying what you already know, what’s the point?

F: Fun - I want people to smile, laugh, and have a good time. I know how boring talks can be. I want people to be moved, but I always want them to enjoy themselves, and humour is one of the best ways to do that.

F: Forward – I want the audience to leave knowing exactly how they can move forward from the talk. A lot of times you finish an awesome talk, but you’re left wondering “err… now what?”. I want to close with a resounding, clear, and insightful message. I want the experience to be enriching and motivating and forward-moving. You’ve heard my speak and you know exactly where to go from here!

I’m currently putting together and outline for the talk and I hope I can accomplish all of those (IF)² goals. If you’re interested in attending the conference, check it out at http://www.science-expo.org/. Hope to see you there!

Related posts:

1. Motivating people by making them invested
2. Video: Science Expo 2011 Talk
3. Why do we fail and how do we move forward from it?

The day the Toronto Star article came out, I got contacted by a reporter with a Chinese newspaper that read that article and were interested in doing a follow up story. The article came out yesterday, which you can find here. It was more focused on myself compared to the Star article, and I thought it came out pretty well.

Given some of the controversy of the first article, I thought it might be interesting to share my thoughts and reasons on why I decided to interview for this article, and my thoughts in general about interviewing. Before doing an interview, I think it’s always important to consider whether/how it can benefit you, how others will perceive it, and generally the implications of doing it. While you aren’t the one asking the questions, you are the one giving the answers – and you can choose which answers you want to give.

Clarification

Many people have seen the original article in the Star that I posted last time. As I mentioned in my last post, the whole monetary aspect wasn’t clear. For example, just yesterday I had a family friend who told me they read the article and thought I actually received $200,000 in the bank from scholarships, which as I explained, is way off from the truth.

And although this Chinese newspaper has nowhere near the circulation and audience that the Toronto Star does, I thought it would still be a good opportunity to clear up what I actually did receive in terms of scholarship money. I appreciate them being willing to do that with me. Hopefully, some of the people who read the Star article will read this one as well. Of course, there probably aren’t too many that will, but every little bit helps.

Promotion of Personal Interests

News is publicity. An interview is a good opportunity to publicize and provide exposure to things you have a vested interest in. Many of you know that SMARTS continues to be one of my most important projects, and we could always use the exposure. An interview like this was a good opportunity to mention that.

Sharing Ideas You Believe In

An interview is also a good opportunity to send a message you believe in and share it with others. An example of this is in the interview where I shared some of my views and thoughts on success and achieving goals – the same ideas I have written about here on this blog.

Some Interview Tips

I’d like to close this post by sharing some of the things I have learned throughout the few interviews I have done the past few years:

• Don’t say anything you don’t want to be published. The fact is that anything you say is fair game for the writer to use. If you’re worried about something being published, don’t say it!
• Realize that only parts of what you say will be used. What that means is, it is very easy for you to be quoted or written about out of context. Focus on saying things that will not be misinterpreted even if mentioned on their own.
• Speaking clearly and concisely. If you’re going to be quoted, you can’t be explaining long paragraphs. Make sure to speak in a way that makes it easier for you to be quoted, by focusing on spelling out the main ideas clearly and simply.
• Be upfront with the reporter about what you’re willing to talk about. You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t to. Clarify up front and at the beginning what you’re willing to speak about. Just give a “no comment” if there’s something you don’t want to discuss.

Anyways, that’s all for now. I hope you guys enjoy the article!

Related posts:

1. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge
2. Motivating people by making them invested
3. Video: Science Expo 2011 Talk

Shelly here. Hello medhopeful readers…! First of all, I apologize for not posting at all this summer. To make up for it, I promise to post regularly, starting now.

School has started up again, and seeing the first year medical students in our building definitely makes me feel like an old school veteran. Next year will be the start of clerkship for me and I am very excited to be out of the classroom. As this will be my last year in full-time classroom and lecture (hurray), I wanted to summarize a few lessons I’ve learnt through my many years of class, from high school to university to medical school. In this post, I will share with you a mish-mash of all the things that, I think, helped me get the 90+ (A+) in my courses. Hopefully everyone will gain at least something from reading this post and be able to use any of my strategies/tips to improve their grades, if that is what they wish to do.

First off, you might ask: in which courses did I get the A+, or more importantly, which ones did I fail to do so? The simple answer is that I was able to pull off the 90 throughout high school till now, with a few important exceptions such as grade 9 gym and art (I like to blame it on the facts that I’m short and artistically challenged, respectively, haha), three courses in the second term of third year (I think I was too busy with medical school interviews and burnt out from school), and more recently, a couple of tests in first year medical school (the material was too much for me to handle and I have to admit that didn’t allocate my time properly).

Time, time, time

Alright, so now that we’ve satisfied everyone’s curiosity, I want to start off with an important belief of mine regarding academics. I believe that (exempting exceptional cases) anyone can get a good mark. You just need to devote time, time, and more time to material. Obviously, how much time is needed varies on the individual. Everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are different and everyone learns at a different pace. Visual learners may find it hard to adapt to lecture-style classes, but if more time is put into it, visual learners can perform just as well as others.

It is also important to understand that each course requires a different amount of time. When a course starts, I always try to “assess” the course outline. What is the marking scheme? How much of the marking scheme am I comfortable with? For instance, my strengths lie in multiple choice questions and my weak points are in term papers and projects. I would ask myself, how much of this course is multiple choice worth? If it’s very little, I know that I will have to put in a lot more time and effort. Am I prepared and willing to put in this time? In the instance of undergrad organic chemistry, I realized that it was not your typical multiple choice course and I prepared myself to put in a lot of time working on learning the reaction mechanisms, doing extra problems, redoing the mandatory problems again and again…all in all, I put a lot of time in orgo. The result? Awesome grades for organic chem I. I ended up liking orgo enough to take Orgo II, Orgo II lab, and Orgo III. Anything is possible!

Motivation & Commitment

No one is perfect. And to think that a 100 or a 90 in a course can be easily done is definitely not the right thing to be thinking (for most people in most circumstances). Whenever I approach a course, I understand that it’s going to a tough job if I want that 90. There is stuff to be learnt in each course, and if you ask a professor what it takes to get a 90, I’m sure most of them will answer something along the lines of “mastery” or “deep understanding” of the material.

In my second year in undergrad, I took a course on Witchcraft. It was a very popular first year religion studies course, and the course was graded with two multiple choice exams. Having heard that the material was easy and interesting (i.e. a “bird course”), I decided to take it as one of my elective courses. I discarded my usual study strategies, I became uncommitted to the course, and thought that I could cruise through the course. After the first midterm, I was shocked at the level of difficulty. I remember that a number of students had also found it hard and outright failed the midterm. I then took the course seriously, gave it the time it deserved, and studied a lot harder for the final. I then found it to be a lot easier, manageable, and quite interesting. Lesson of the day: There is no such thing as a bird course, if you want a 90. Any course needs work, and you have to respect the material if you want to do well.

What do I mean by “respecting the material”? It means to appreciate the fact that any course is tough and in order to get 90 in it, it will requires at least a 90% effort from you (assuming the course is fair). Are you willing to give up on that party the weekend before an exam that you haven’t finished studying for? It all depends on your motivation and commitment to the grades. Is it important to you? All in all, if you really want the good mark, and are willing to sacrifice the occasional things for it, you’ll go far.

Study Strategies

This is what you probably expected to find when you first started to read this post. I actually placed this section last because I think that it’s the least important. I believe that you can often do very well if you have already put in the time and the motivation, regardless of your individual study strategy.

Of course there are different studying strategies, and I have my own preferred ones. For memory courses like biology (or medical school in general), I like to write my own notes out and mainly study from those. I admit that it is a very time consuming process, and if I’m tight for time, I won’t do it. It’s all variable really. I’ve tried using flashcards for a bit in med school, but I found it to be even more time consuming than writing notes and the cost/benefit ratio to not be very favourable. I love problem-solving courses, such as physics and some chemistries, which often prove to be the least tedious for me. I play music and just spend the study time doing all the problems that I can lay my hands on.

“Cramming”

One last word before I wrap up this post. Is cramming okay?

Yes! I think that cramming is perfectly acceptable. I’m living proof that cramming works. Josh is too. It’s a fact of life because often there is not enough time to study everything, and cramming can help you do well. However, if you are looking for long-term memory of the material, cramming might not be the best way to go about studying material. Reviewing stuff that you’ve crammed after the test will help it get into those deep drawers of your brain.

Related posts:

1. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge
2. Is there a “perfect” medical specialty?
3. Motivating people by making them invested

‘Super candidates’ cash in on huge scholarships

My Comments:

Based on the comments available on the Toronto Star website and things I have heard from friends, it seems this article has stirred up a bit of controversy – and unfortunately, some of it based on a misunderstanding of some of the scholarship programs.

One misconception is based on the numbers thrown around in the article. The huge six figure scholarship amounts mentioned were what a student was offered in total from various universities and private organizations – this is very different from what a student actually received to put towards post-secondary education. It seems some readers think that there are students selfishly pocketing amounts that could buy a house. This doesn’t happen for a few reasons. One is that you can only go to one university, so any scholarships offered from other universities cannot be accepted. Furthermore, most of the major private scholarships (e.g. Loran, TD, etc.) have stipulations that restrict the total amount of scholarship money you can receive (because they also believe in making sure scholarship recipients only receive approximately what’s required to cover a university experience, and nothing more, so that other students can benefit from the funding available).

Since I am mentioned in the article, I might as well use myself as an example. The Star article correctly states that I was offered over $200,000 in scholarships from many different sources – TD, Millennium, and several major university scholarships. What did I actually receive? $52,500 in total, which was put towards my three years of undergrad studies at York for biology, and my first year of medical school (since the TD scholarship supports your first four years of undergraduate studies). Although the value of the TD scholarship is valued up to $60,000, I received a total of $47,500 from them because undergraduate science tuition is not as expensive as say engineering. I also accepted $5,000 total from other sources (TD has a restriction that you can accept up to $5,000 in scholarships from other sources). $52,500 is a very significant amount and I am very grateful for the generous support I have received from these scholarship programs and institutions.

There remains controversy over the different types of funding available. Some scholarships are based more on financial need. On the other end of the spectrum are purely merit based scholarships, which are the ones being mentioned in the article. There are also many in between that consider both financial need and merit.

The purpose of merit-based scholarship programs are to identify young people with certain traits, experiences and/or potential that these institutions/programs want to invest in. As an example, a large scholarship program like the TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Community Leadership wants to invest in young people who they feel will be able to better continue serving their community with less of a financial burden. You also have post-secondary institutions offering scholarships based on merit, whether it be application-based ones looking at an entire student profile or the entrance scholarships offered automatically based on academic merit (grades) – post-secondary institutions do so because they are a centres of academia, and want to attract certain students to their own institutions versus others. The fact is that the programs and institutions who offer merit-based funding do so for specific reasons they believe in and for reasons that they believe benefit their personal interests. A post-secondary institution isn’t going to suddenly stop offering scholarships and putting all of their funding into bursaries because then a lot of students they would like to attract will go to other institutions that make them better offers.

Like most systems, the post-secondary funding one is not perfect at all ends of the spectrum. There is limited funding, and the funding is allocated based on competing interests and imperfect information. For example, you can have students who are in financial need but can’t get it because their parents are well off but choose not to support them.

What should be done? It’s hard to say. But before coming to any conclusion, I think it’s important to recognize all perspectives in place and all the competing interests they come from.

Related posts:

1. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge
2. Motivating people by making them invested
3. Video: Science Expo 2011 Talk

About a year and a half ago, I wrote an article on my thoughts about what to keep in mind when applying to university, using my personal experience as an example.

In that article, I focused mostly on figuring out which university fits you best based on program, location, opportunities, etc. However, there is one more important question you need to ask yourself when thinking about your education that I completely failed to mention.

In short, that question is: what do I want out of my education?

At first glance it may seem like an odd question to ask, but it’s really not. It seems odd because many of us have our own ideas about what the purpose of your educational experience is or should be – but the truth is that your educational experience is whatever you want it to be. There is no one right way to view your education, and it’s important to always realize that, despite what people may argue.

Some people just want to learn. Very often they are genuinely and strongly interested in the topics at hand, and want to sponge up as much as possible.

On the other hand, some people go to university purely for the degree. Usually this in terms of job prospects or further education requirements (e.g. professional schools, graduate schools, etc.).

Of course, if you’re applying to professional school (such as medical school), marks matter. So some people go to university primarily to get the grades required to move on to something else.

In my opinion, these are all legitimate. It bothers me when people try to act as if there is some universal agreement as to what we should want out of our education (e.g. “You shouldn’t be picking your school just for the sake of getting good marks!” There are reasons why doing so is often not a good idea, but it has nothing to do with a right or wrong way of looking at education). Quite often, what we want out of our education will be some combination of 2 or 3 of these views, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

When you are thinking of where you want to go to university, you need to reflect on all of these issues, because different undergraduate programs will be more conducive to one of these aspects than the others.

So take the time to figure out what you want out of your university education – it’ll save you a lot of head ache down the road!

Related posts:

1. Stanford Admissions Video – Medicine, Business, Education and Law
2. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge
3. Motivating people by making them invested

The other day, someone asked me if I could write an article on shadowing. While I don’t have any real advice for finding mentors to shadow besides “just asking”, I remembered an article I wrote a few years ago about my experience shadowing a physician, and why I thought job shadowing as a whole is important and something every student should take the time to explore. I dug up the article, and I hope you guys find it helpful…

I observed intently as Dr. Rutka took a deep breath before sharing the grave news with the mother. Her son, who has had epilepsy for years, requires brain surgery to remove a tumour that the doctor believes to be causing his seizures. However, there are huge risks involved, especially if the boy has a seizure during surgery. I felt a lump in my throat as the mother hammered the doctor with questions in a hysterical manner, clearly concerned over the health of her son. My eyes gazed in admiration at the powerful calm in Dr. Rutka’s voice as he consoled the mother. His compassion for the boy and his family resonated throughout the room. I began to wonder if I could keep the same poise and composure if I were in Dr. Rutka’s position. I was sure it was situations like these that make a career in medicine difficult, stressful and often heart wrenching.

A few patients later, I watched attentively as Amro, a neurosurgery resident, performed a routine check up on a young girl who had brain surgery just a few months before. Although he was still in training, Amro showed obvious passion for the long career in neurosurgery that lay ahead. The girl’s mother watched Amro in awe, saying, “when I think about how many lives you’re going to save one day, I can’t help but feel inspired”. I couldn’t help but smile and share in the special moment. It was then that I realized in spite of the blood, sweat and tears of a career in medicine, moments like these made everything worth it.

The opportunity to shadow a world class pediatric neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children doesn’t come along everyday. In the last few years, my interest in medicine – particularly in pediatrics and neuroscience – have grown. Still, I wanted to make sure that the health care environment was right for me. The privilege to learn from Dr. Rutka over the current school year comes from a career mentorship program run by Youth in Motion, a Canadian organization striving to help shape the futures of our youth. Youth in Motion develops and implements career mentoring programs that connect youth with adults in their choice of career.

“Career mentoring is a highly valuable and worthwhile experience for youth. It enables them to explore a career field in a unique and personalized format,” says Akela Peoples, President and CEO of Youth in Motion. “Dialoguing with someone in the workforce enables students to get important and relevant questions answered, provides an opportunity to learn directly from someone who has travelled a particular path before them and, most importantly, facilitates the transfer of unfiltered information.”

Observing Dr. Rutka’s work has only enhanced my aspirations to enter a career of medicine, and I now hope to work at the Hospital for Sick Children someday. It is fortunate that this “shadowing” experience reinforced my aspirations; indeed, I could just as easily have detested the hospital environment. If that were the case, imagine how dreadful it would be if I had gone through the endless years of education and training to become a doctor, only to realize it wasn’t the career for me!

For aspiring entrepreneurs like David Wen of Surrey, British Columbia, connecting with the CEO of a company created a life changing relationship. “Mentors are people who truly care for your well being, since their success is not dependant on yours,” says Wen, whose mentor has allowed him to witness many aspects of business, including sales pitches. “They are like honest and determined salespeople who do not work on commission.”

James Valitchka, already an 11 year old best-selling author hailing from Ottawa, Ontario, believes that you can never be too young to seek out a mentor for advice. “It’s really important to have a mentor to talk to about life and the future,” claims Valitchka, who has been paired up by Youth in Motion with a businessperson and one-time author. “They keep you encouraged and their advice can stop you from making mistakes. They share their experiences with you and make you a better and smarter person.”

As students, you are in the midst of a journey of discovery and reflection, trying to determine your direction in life. Like many before you, you might feel absolutely sure that you will become a lawyer, surgeon, web designer or teacher. At the same time, how can you be so sure that defending criminals in court, performing brain surgery, designing websites or teaching high school is something you would be happy doing? The fact is you won’t know until you try. And while shadowing won’t let you experience the job directly, you will better understand the field.

Having career mentors becomes ever so important for those of us about to embark on a brand new journey – the transition into adulthood. For some of us, the distance ahead is as clear as the sky; for others, it is a blurry mixture. There are those who have planned their entire lives out for the next fifty years, and for the rest of us, every thought, action and decision is perhaps spontaneous. Yet no matter how prepared you are for the future, you need to step in the shoes of those careers yourselves – and there is no better way to do so than by actually learning from individuals in the field.

Related posts:

1. Video: Science Expo 2011 Talk
2. The 30 Posts in 30 Days Challenge
3. Motivating people by making them invested

Sometimes I read advice online for medical school admissions from medical students that I think is fundamentally wrong. Of course this would seem counter-intuitive – how could someone be wrong about advice if they got in?

Consider a game of rock, paper, scissors (yah yah, how many times have I used this example now?). Imagine your opponent is playing scissors. Now also imagine that you’ve never played the game before, so you enlist the help of a friend who has. This friend has defeated this opponent before and tells you to play rock because it worked for him last time. If you listen to him and play rock, you’ll win too. Great.

But what if your opponent decides to play paper instead? Of course your friend comes along and again tells you to play rock because that’s what he did last time and it worked for him. But if you play rock, you’ll quickly realize that it doesn’t work this time. So what went wrong, and how could your friend win at this game but fail to help you this time?

Short-Term Success does Not Necessarily Equate to True Understanding

The reason why you lost is because you assumed that your friend understood the game simply because he was successful at it once. He played one game of rock, paper, scissors and got it right, and you both jumped to the conclusion that he knew how to play. But once the situation of the game changed, it became clear that the value of his advice was limited – and the value of his advice was limited because his actual understanding was limited.

One of the mistakes we tend to make is being too results oriented, particularly when it comes to attributing the success of others to genuine understanding. This can become problematic if we spend more time asking for advice and less time actually thinking about it. If the main character in our little hypothetical situation spent time thinking and figuring out rock, paper, scissors, he would realize that the advice he received was bad. He would understand that the justification of “it worked for me last time” isn’t enough to guarantee success in the future.

So how does this relate to medical school advice, and well, advice in general? Sometimes I see successful individuals view their short-term results as evidence for the idea that their strategy was correct. But instead of thinking about why their strategy may have worked, they just assume it was a good strategy because everything worked out. But like I explained, unless you can actually explain why your ideas are good, you are taking the risk of actually being quite wrong.

For instance, there are some students with a resume a mile long who get into medical school. So when they see a medical school applicant list a shorter resume and ask what their chances of getting in are, these students chime in and say it probably isn’t long enough, since they got in with a longer one. I hope you can see the logical problems with this line of thinking, and while it may seem obvious, it’s amazing how often we don’t realize it at the time.

This is precisely the reason why I don’t like answering the questions like “what courses did you take and what things did you do to get into medical school?”. Instead, I like to write articles that take a more analytical approach to the admissions process and aim to provide an understanding of the process.

Common Pitfall: Projection

One common mistake we make when providing advice and thinking about it is projecting the way we think onto other people. It’s a mistake to think that other people or groups both should and do think the way you do.

For instance, let’s visit the claim that medical schools prefer students who have studied at more “reputable” universities. For the sake of discussion, let’s assume it’s true that these more reputable universities have, on average, more challenging undergraduate programs. Some students take this idea and think to themselves that it would only seem “right” to take this information to account, and thus, they propose that medical schools prefer students who go to these more challenging undergraduate programs.

However, such students are making huge and unfounded assumptions, primarily that medical school admissions committees think the way they do. That is, they are projecting their own model of thought on the admissions committees for no apparent reason. To students, if they have to work harder than others for the same grades, they deserve to have some sort of advantage in the admissions process.

Instead of assuming other individuals or groups think like you, it’s better to picture yourself in their shoes, and try and figure out how they would perceive the situation, concept, or idea at hand. Imagine you are on a medical school admissions committee. Even if you knew that certain undergraduate programs must be more challenging, how would you react to that? How would you know which actual courses were harder at which universities, and given that the student populations are different, how could you adjust the marks submitted to you? Moreover, how could you do it in a fair, objective way?

It’s really hard if you think about it, and personally, I haven’t been able to come up with a solution myself besides just leaving things the way they are.

Are You Saying I Shouldn’t be Taking Advice from Others?

Oh no, I am definitely not saying that. In fact, I take advice from others all the time. However, what you should do is not accept advice blindly. You need to spend the time critically thinking about advice you’re given, and whether it’s logical and makes sense. You are definitely doing yourself a disservice if you accept anything I say blindly.

Imagine if a lottery winner told you to pick the numbers 3, 14, 16, 22, 31, 44 because it worked for her. You would quickly realize that’s absurd – yet for some reason it doesn’t seem so absurd to many students when they hear from teachers, parents, guidance counselors, or older students that medical schools actually care which university you did your undergraduate studies at.

If you’re given advice that could seriously affect an important decision of yours, make sure you understand the reasoning behind the advice. And if you’re not sure, ask the person giving the advice. If they can’t provide a reason that makes logical sense, you should be wary of it.

However, keep in mind that not understanding the advice is not a justification for viewing a piece of advice as bad. It’s easy to shrug off things you don’t understand, but from personal experience, some of the best advice I’ve received were things I just didn’t understand at the time.

Related posts:

1. Is there a “perfect” medical specialty?
2. Stanford Admissions Video – Medicine, Business, Education and Law
3. 10 Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Medical School Application

I was once asked in an interview to talk about an accomplishment I was proud of. Prior to the interview, I had come up with a list of practice questions and what my general approach to them would be – the “accomplishment question” was one of them. I had planned on mentioning my TD Canada Trust Scholarship because of it’s prestige, the hard work it represented, and how it has allowed me to continue doing a lot of my volunteer/non-profit work during university without worrying about having to pay for my education. But as soon as I was asked the question, I decided to change my mind and pick an experience that I had spoken about before, but had not planned on using as my answer for this type of question.

Instead of the TD Scholarship, I decided to talk about June 29, 2006. It was 9 a.m., and I was at City Hall in downtown Toronto. I was also really, really tired. I was tired because the previous day was a big day for me. Not only was June 28 my 18th birthday, but it also ended up being the day of my graduation and high school prom (yah, my high school was weird that way). Needless to say, June 28 was a really big and exciting day for me, but also a very tiring one.

So why did I need to be up at so early the day after my birthday, graduation, and prom? The previous fall, my friends and I started a Make Poverty History student banner that was signed by students in over 30 schools and university campuses in Southern Ontario. June 29, 2006 was the one-year anniversary of the Live 8 concert, and so there was a Make Poverty History press conference held at City Hall to commemorate the event, as well as remind world leaders to put issues of poverty on the agenda for an upcoming G8 meeting. To celebrate the work of all the students involved, we were given the opportunity to present our banner at the press conference.

Part of that presentation involved me giving a speech about the banner. It was a really cool experience, especially the chance to share the podium with the likes of Gerry Barr (past-chair of Make Poverty History Canada), Steven Page (of the Bare Naked Ladies), and Toronto Mayor David Miller. The reason why I was proud of that moment was more than because it culminated the achievement of our banner campaign. It was a great personal achievement for myself – if you had told me four years before when I started high school that I would be at that podium a day after turning 18, I would never have believed it. That wasn’t the person I was when I entered high school – I was much too shy. For me, that moment also represented the personal transformation I went through in high school as I opened myself up to more experiences, and for that reason, I was very proud of myself.

Telling Stories

The reason I changed my answer at the last minute was because I remembered the importance of being memorable and producing memorable answers. This is important for a few reasons.

You see, in most scholarship or medical school interviews, the interviewers aren’t writing down what you say. Rather, they hear what you have to say, and then discuss and score you afterwards. Interviewers are regular people just like you and me – meaning that, just like you and me, they aren’t going to remember everything you say. In general, interviewers are going to remember two types of candidates – people they liked and people they didn’t like. When competition is stiff for so few spots, you want to be the good kind that’s remembered.

How do you produce answers that are memorable? One way is by telling stories.

Everyone loves a good story, and I would guess that most people would rather here a story than facts. You have to keep in mind that your interviewers are probably going through a long day of interviewing many candidates. Anytime you can entertain them, make them laugh, or give them something interesting to listen to, you are being a bright spot in a sometimes long, tedious day for them. Stories can accomplish all of these things.

Imagine if I had told the interviewers that my greatest accomplishment was my TD Scholarship – just straight facts. It’s not something that’s likely to be remembered. It’s also not that interesting. And if my interviewers don’t remember my answer when they are evaluating me after the interview, it’s almost as if I didn’t answer the question.

But compare that to the story I told about June 29, 2006. Talking about city hall, Steven Page, etc. creates a vivid image in my interviewers minds about that day. It likely captivates them much more than talking about my scholarship – it is clearly way more interesting, and so they are less likely to zone out when I’m talking. And as a story, it is something they are way more likely to remember after the interview.

In a vacuum, is the story that much of a better answer than talking about my scholarship? Perhaps not, but if it is significantly more likely to be remembered and gives the interviewers a more positive, captivating experience, then it is most likely much better.

If the interviewers are looking at a wall of photos of candidates at the end of the day, comparing the interview experiences, telling interesting stories makes me less likely to be one of the candidates who they don’t remember interviewing at all (that’s hopefully an extreme case, and I would hope that doesn’t happen to any candidate, but you get the point). They might not remember my face on its own, but they’ll remember my story, and if they do, they will probably remember my face and the rest of me.

A Second Example

I also like to use this approach whenever I’m asked in an interview about an important leadership experience. When answering this question, I think some candidates might just pick their most impressive-sounding leadership experience – but I don’t think this necessarily ends up being the best possible answer. Let me use myself as an example to better explain this.

One of my most impressive and important leadership experiences was creating the SMARTS network for Canadian youth interested in science. If I had to give a one hour talk about leadership, it’s one of the stories I would definitely focus on. But you don’t get one hour to talk about a leadership experience in an interview – you get maybe a few minutes to answer the question.

Trying to convey a complete, captivating, and most importantly, coherent story about SMARTS in just a few minutes would probably come out pretty awful – I just wouldn’t be able to do it. I could try, but I think I would end up just confusing the interviewers more than anything. I could just focus on the basic details, but then I wouldn’t have time to talk about the leadership skills I developed and obstacles I overcame, which I think are things you want to mention in your answer. And if I focused on those things, I wouldn’t have time to talk about all the details, and so on.

So instead, I like to talk about my leadership experience at the Shad Valley summer program and the company and product my teammates and I developed. It’s not only an interesting story, but as the project only lasted two months, I am able to tell a complete, coherent story in the few minutes I have.

Basically, my point is that if you choose to answer a question with a story, it’s important to be strategic about exactly which stories you choose to tell. Not all stories make sense to be used in the context of an interview. So if you choose to tell a story, you should select one that’s interesting, meaningful, and can be delivered clearly within a few minutes.

Be Careful – Don’t Use Stories Just for the Sake of Using Them

I want to make it perfectly clear that you don’t need to spend a ridiculous amount of time and effort making everything you say memorable. Of course that’s not going to happen, and it would be a pretty awkward interview if you answered every single question with a story.

Some questions are going to lend themselves better for stories than others. I just want to get you thinking about and exploring the possibilities of improving the memorability of your interview by using stories.

In preparing for an interview, one of the things I suggest you do (and I will explore this technique more later on) is come up with a list of questions you are very likely to be asked, and come up with some possible ways you could answer each question. Explore story and non-story type answers, and see what works better for you for those types of interview questions.

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