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The Most Meaningful Experience in My Life

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Published: Sep 5, 2023

Words: 733 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

The journey begins, lessons in resilience, cultural immersion and empathy, reflection and self-discovery, continued impact.

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AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience: What You To Need To Know for 2021

Cracking Med School Admissions Team

Out of all your AMCAS work and activities, you can choose 3 activities as your most meaningful experiences. You have an extra 1325 characters to write about your most meaningful activities. Many applicants are uncertain how to approach these additional remarks and simply treat them as extended activity descriptions. However, making the most out of your AMCAS “most meaningful experience essays” requires deliberate choice of experiences, thoughtful reflection, and a particular style of writing. To this end, we have created this blog post in order to help you best select your most meaningful experiences and write about them effectively. We also analyze an actual most meaningful essay from a previously successful applicant!

In this blog post, we’ll help you decide and write STRONG AMCAS “most meaningful experience” descriptions:

How to choose your most meaningful experiences
5 AMCAS most meaningful activities description tips
AMCAS Most Meaningful Essay Example
FAQs – AMCAS meaningful experiences

OUr Students Were Accepted at These Medical Schools the Past 2 Years!

How to choose an AMCAS most meaningful experience

How many characters is the most meaningful experience on the amcas .

You can write up to 1325 characters for 3 most meaningful experiences on the AMCAS. Your most meaningful experiences should be experiences which had a significant impact on your personal growth, development, and aspirations within medicine.

For many applicants, which experiences to designate as “most meaningful” will be immediately obvious, and the question is merely how to write about them. But for others, choosing which experiences were “most meaningful” can be difficult. Look at our 2 most meaningful description examples below from our former medical school applicants!

We recommend asking the following in selecting your most meaningful activities:

Which of your qualities are you most proud of and what activities have allowed you to demonstrate them?
Which activities were you involved with for the longest period of time? Amount of hours?
Did you assume leadership roles in any activities you were involved with?
Which activities have helped you answer “why medicine”?
Are there any activities with descriptions which you would want to expand on?
Are there any activities you were involved with that are unique or unusual?
Do any of your activities seem heavily related to your personal background or themes of your application?

For inspiration, use our Cracking Med School Admissions AMCAS Workbook to brainstorm important experiences and stories from all your extracurricular activities. Think back on which experiences have allowed you to develop and/or demonstrate your passions. Ultimately, the best “most meaningful” essays will be about experiences you feel truly passionate about!

FREE AMCAS Work & Activities Workbook

Use this workbook to write STELLAR AMCAS descriptions. This section is as important as your personal statement.

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5 Important Tips for your AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essays

Most meaningful activity amcas tip #1: tell a story.

As with most written components of your application, your most meaningful remarks should “show not tell.” This is especially relevant for your most meaningful experiences as you already had 700-characters to describe the activity and what you did in a more literal manner. As such, readers will expect more emphasis on reflection, what you learned, and why the experience was meaningful to you. The best way to do this is to share a short anecdote that highlights positive traits about you while demonstrating how the experience had an impact on you. See our AMCAS most meaningful experience example essay below!

Key Tip: Highlight experiences and stories that you have NOT used in your personal statement.

Most Meaningful Activity AMCAS Tip #2: Differentiate yourself

Many medical school applicants will have some sort of experience in clinical volunteering, community service, research, teaching, and leadership. Therefore, in writing about your most meaningful experiences, focus on things you did that were unique or different. Not all pre-meds will have a unique background or path in life, but everyone has his or her own perspectives and stories to bring to the table. Ask yourself if anyone else’s name could be associated with your most meaningful essay without significantly changing its message. If so, re-write your essay so that it is true and specific to your experiences.

For example, applicants can write about how volunteering in the hospital taught them empathy and compassion. But only YOU can speak to a specific patient you met while volunteering and how your conversation with the patient affected you.

Most Meaningful Activity AMCAS Tip #3: Continue to highlight your passions and overall narrative

Think about how an admissions committee member might summarize your application in a 2-minute “elevator” pitch based on your personal statement and activity descriptions thus far. Structure your most meaningful remarks around this theme to maintain a consistent narrative. For example, if your application is heavily focused on translating research findings at the bench into new clinical treatments for cancer patients, your most meaningful remarks should probably focus on your research experiences and/or work with cancer patients, as well as your motivations for working toward this goal.

Key Tip: Keep in mind that your most meaningful activities do not have to be clinically related. It is more important that the activity reveals something unique about you and is something you truly feel excited writing about. Many students choose to designate non-clinical experiences as their most meaningful activities with great success.

Most Meaningful Activity AMCAS Tip #4: Focus on impact

What did you accomplish and why was it significant? For example, if you held a leadership position in a student organization, talk about changes you made as a leader and how those changes positively benefited the group. Think about this as another form of “show not tell”: you are showing readers that you are an effective leader indirectly through your accomplishments and the impact that you had on others rather than outright telling them. If you are able to, quantify impact (X dollars raised, Y number of people affected) and be as specific as possible!

Most Meaningful Activity AMCAS Tip #5: Connect to the future

Your “most meaningful” reflections should inform readers about what type of physician you want to become and how the experience contributed to your aspirations. For example, if you write about research that you published or presented, talk about what type of research you want to do as a physician and how your experiences doing research before medical school gave you relevant skills toward that goal. This gives readers a better idea of the significance of your experience by directly making the connection for them.

AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience: Examples and Analyses

AMCAS most meaningful activity example #1: This applicant chose to write about his neuroscience research lab experience in university.

In the 700 character description, this applicant wrote what research question he was studying. He talked about the research skills and techniques he learned. In the 1325-character most meaningful description below, the applicant complemented his research by writing more of a reflection and how he wants to integrate research into his future career.

AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Example

AMCAS Most Meaningful Activity – Neuroscience Research

Science is a conversation and conclusions drawn from it may impact policy and patient care. For example, if opioid administration may sensitize fear learning, should patients receive opioids following physical trauma? The potential of translational research to inform answers to these questions inspired my interest in academic medicine. At the same time, truth is found through debate, and our findings were only one piece of a larger puzzle. I recall presenting our findings at a national conference and defending them against other neuroscientists whose studies had produced different results. As such, I have realized that conflict and disagreement are the main drivers of scientific progress.

My time in XYZ Lab also helped me develop valuable career skills. Familiarity with neuroscience has been academically enriching, but more valuable is my honed ability to communicate results to others and challenge my hypotheses by testing theory with experimentation. My familiarity with animal models will allow me to interpret and apply pre-clinical findings to inform clinical trials. In addition, creating and presenting posters to the general public, I have realized that persuading others involves more than just data—people are more convinced when you can convey results in context as part of a larger narrative.

Why is this a strong “most meaningful” essay?

The applicant reflects on the advancement of scientific research and its importance to medicine. As a reader, you learn that the reader has put a lot of thought about the intersection of public policy and medicine.
The writer connects the skills she learned and explains why it will be valuable for his career.
The writer “sells herself” by talking about posters he presented.

AMCAS most meaningful activity example #2: This applicant chose to write about his work in the emergency room. You can see both the 700 character AMCAS activity description and the 1325 character AMCAS most meaningful essay.

AMCAS Most Meaningful Activity Example - Clinical Leadership

Why is this a strong “most meaningful” essay:

The writer comes off as reflective and thoughtful about the work he is involved with. For example, he notes the role of “narrative” in convincing others about scientific findings.
The writer shares an anecdote at an academic conference presenting his scientific poster to show his understanding of the scientific process. Note how the anecdote itself only takes up one sentence, but gives you an idea of who the writer is and their beliefs.
The writer explicitly connects the experience with his future career goals in “academic medicine” and relevant skills for that career.
The writer highlights impact through his accomplishments, such as “creating and presenting posters” at a “national conference.”

FAQs - AMCAS Most Meaningful Activities

Q: how many characters are the most meaningful activities .

In addition to the 700-character limit allotted for every activity, activities designated as “most meaningful” receive an additional 1325-characters (essay is listed separately under “Most Meaningful Experience Remarks”). This is roughly 200 words, or one paragraph.

Q: Do you have to have 3 most meaningful experiences on the AMCAS?

While having 3 most meaningful experiences is by no means required, we recommend students take full advantage of opportunities to strengthen their application. Think about the activities you have already written about. Is there an alternative perspective you could highlight? An anecdote you could share? Did this experience shape your future aspirations? Use the extra characters to address these questions and convince an admissions committee to admit you to their medical school class!

Q: What if I only list 2 most meaningful AMCAS activities?

We do not recommend this. It is a lost opportunity to showcase your strengths and interests for becoming a physician.

Q: Do my most meaningful experiences have to be clinical experiences? What about shadowing?

Your most meaningful experiences do not have to be clinical! Many successful applicants designate non-clinical activities as their most meaningful experiences. However, we do recommend having at least one of your most meaningful experiences be related to medicine, and even relating non-clinical experiences to your career aspirations as a physician. Look at our example AMCAS activity description and AMCAS most meaningful activity essay above.

Q: Can I include shadowing as a most meaningful AMCAS activity?

Yes, you can include shadowing as a meaningful activity. But most of the time, our Cracking Med School Admissions team finds that shadowing is not a strong activity. While shadowing can be educational and valuable for many pre-meds, we do not recommend designating it as a most meaningful experience due to its passive nature. For your most meaningful experiences, try to focus on activities in which you actively did something and made a difference for others!

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How To Write the Meaningful Activity Essay for Princeton

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Elias Miller in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Structuring the essay, showing personal growth, what to avoid.

Are you interested in Princeton University ? The college requires a few supplemental essays, and while the prompts may seem simple, you could find yourself stumped when it comes time to write. You also have very limited space you can use to express yourself. This article will help you figure out how to plan an essay about a meaningful experience and offer some tips about the writing process.

This prompt asks you to elaborate on an activity, organization, work experience, or hobby that has been particularly meaningful to you. With a word limit of 150, you may not have enough space to say all that you want to, so you should try to find a targeted story or angle.

When you’re planning this essay , you should keep the shortness of the piece in mind. Only 150 words probably isn’t enough to describe an experience or pastime to the fullest extent. You need to formulate a precise approach that lets you convey as much emotion as possible, along with your personal voice and a few specific details that let the piece come to life.

Although you don’t have many words available to you, you still need to write multiple paragraphs. One long paragraph makes your essay look shorter and cramped, and the reader won’t want to engage with it as much as they would multiple paragraphs. Three or even two paragraphs let the reader see a fleshed-out narrative much more clearly. Admissions officers often don’t view single paragraphs as very appealing, so don’t write only one.

If you’re struggling to come up with an idea, keep the word “meaningful” in mind. Figuring out what’s meaningful to you will let you respond to this prompt thoughtfully and in a way that will resonate with your admissions officers.

Once you have an idea in mind, you should get right into it. You can include enough details about the setting to provide your reader with context, so don’t waste the word count. You have to pack in as much action as possible into a short space, so avoid unnecessary background information or explanations. You should be trying to tell a story. Jump right into where the story begins.

While you don’t want to make the entire essay about how you’ve grown and changed, writing about how this experience has shaped you makes for a more compelling narrative.

You want to make the person reading your essay root for you. You should consider starting with a moment of failure or doubt. Because pretty much everyone has messed up at some point or another, this kind of scene provides a good, relatable emotional hook for the reader. Think about sports movies: the protagonist often begins by falling on their face or struggling in some way, only to overcome the odds in the end. Working past these devastating moments makes for a more compelling narrative than writing about something that’s always come easily to you.

This can also help to highlight why the activity is meaningful to you—you’ve had to work past difficulties. It gives an admissions committee better insight into your experiences and how you’ve grown.

You don’t even need to pick an activity where you’ve accomplished a lot. While you would ideally have success in something meaningful to you, and that you’re very passionate about, you sometimes have the most profound experiences in something that you’re not naturally good at. It’s totally fine if you’re not super impressive in the activity you selected. What matters is capturing exactly why it has meant a lot to you.

Don’t Restate Your Resume

While it might be tempting to use this essay as an opportunity to share your many accomplishments, you should avoid writing a list of experiences or extracurricular activities. This doesn’t single out anything particularly meaningful. It also can read like a resume. Admissions officers already see your Common App resume , so you don’t want to write about a lot of different activities.

If you’ve won some awards and want to write about how that came to be, you should work to avoid sounding braggy. Maybe you led a benefit dance or held a major position in the National Honor Society. Maybe you made varsity and led your team to a championship victory. All of that is excellent, and it’s fine to write about it. But you don’t want to focus on how impressive other people might find it. Ask yourself: What did you gain from that experience? How did you work to make it happen?

Focus on the Journey

You have to show why all the work you did paid off, and you have to put emotion behind your writing. Try to focus on your feelings, and how you grew from it all. Rather than writing about the moment of success, emphasize the long nights and the early mornings. Draw on specific scenes and emotions to ground your essay in something real.

College essays, including this one, show an admissions committee who you are—what you stand for, how you’ve grown, and how you express yourself. This essay should help to remind you of what work you find meaningful. Just go from there, and the rest will follow.

Sample Essays: Significant Experience

Please select from the following sample application essays:

Essay 1: Princeton | Essay 2: Harvard | Essay 3: Princeton | Essay 4: Brown

Note: The following essays were not edited by EssayEdge Editors. They appear as they were initially reviewed by admissions officers.

Sample Essay 1

Princeton, Athlete (Football)

I have learned a great many things from participating in varsity football. It has changed my entire outlook on and attitude toward life. Before my freshman year at [high-school], I was shy, had low self-esteem and turned away from seemingly impossible challenges. Football has altered all of these qualities. On the first day of freshman practice, the team warmed up with a game of touch football. The players were split up and the game began. However, during the game, I noticed that I didn't run as hard as I could, nor did I try to evade my defender and get open. The fact of the matter is that I really did not want to be thrown the ball. I didn't want to be the one at fault if I dropped the ball and the play didn't succeed. I did not want the responsibility of helping the team because I was too afraid of making a mistake. That aspect of my character led the first years of my high school life. I refrained from asking questions in class, afraid they might be considered too stupid or dumb by my classmates. All the while, I went to practice and everyday, I went home physically and mentally exhausted.

Yet my apprehension prevailed as I continued to fear getting put in the game in case another player was injured. I was still afraid of making mistakes and getting blamed by screaming coaches and angry teammates. Sometimes these fears came true. During my sophomore season, my position at backup guard led me to play in the varsity games on many occasions. On such occasions, I often made mistakes. Most of the time the mistakes were not significant; they rarely changed the outcome of a play. Yet I received a thorough verbal lashing at practice for the mistakes I had made. These occurrences only compounded my fears of playing. However, I did not always make mistakes. Sometimes I made great plays, for which I was congratulated. Now, as I dawn on my senior year of football and am faced with two starting positions, I feel like a changed person.

Over the years, playing football has taught me what it takes to succeed. From months of tough practices, I have gained a hard work ethic. From my coaches and fellow teammates, I have learned to work well with others in a group, as it is necessary to cooperate with teammates on the playing field. But most important, I have also gained self-confidence. If I fail, it doesn't matter if they mock or ridicule me; I'll just try again and do it better. I realize that it is necessary to risk failure in order to gain success. The coaches have always said before games that nothing is impossible; I know that now. Now, I welcome the challenge. Whether I succeed or fail is irrelevant; it is only important that I have tried and tested myself.

The topic of this essay is how the applicant has matured and changed since his freshman year. He focuses on football. One of the strengths of this essay is that it is well organized. The applicant clearly put time into the structure and planning of this essay. He uses the platform of football to discuss and demonstrate his personal growth and development through the high school years. What he could have done better was spend more time describing himself after he made improvements. As it is, he only tells us about his newfound confidence and drive. This essay would have been stronger had he actually shown us, perhaps by including a story or describing an event where his confidence made a difference.

Sample Essay 2

Harvard, International experience: Living in Switzerland

"Je deteste des Americains," said the old Swiss woman sitting across from me. Her face contorted into a grimace of disgust as she and her friend continued to complain that Americans had no culture, that they never learned another language, and that their inferior customs were spreading throughout Europe like an infectious disease. Each hair on the back of my neck sprang to attention, as I strained to hear the women's inflammatory remarks. I gripped my bag of McDonald's harder with each insulting phrase.

I had been living in Geneva, Switzerland for four years, during which time I had attended an international school consisting of over 96 different nationalities. I had already become fluent in French and had become accustomed to the new culture in which I was living--a culture which I had believed to be rich in tolerance and acceptance. Naturally, the women's remarks hurt. Was I really an "ugly American?" Did I have no appreciation of anything other than McDonald's or Coca-Cola? Had I not been touched by the new world I had been exposed to? Without question, my four years in Switzerland changed my life in countless ways. From the minute I stepped off the plane at Cointrin Airport, the vastly different sights along the clean street, the ubiquitous smells of rich delicious French cuisine, and my feelings of excitement about my new surroundings told me that I definitely was "not in Kansas anymore." My school helped greatly in modifying my attitudes, as for the first time I was with peers from countries which I had only read about. Although it was sometimes difficult trying to find links between my self and my Saudi Arabian, Hungarian, French, Nigerian, or Chilean friends, I soon came to enjoy my new stir fry environment. By the time I left, I was wondering how I ever could survive the boredom of attending a homogeneous institution. This is not to say that, prior to this, I had been closed up in a bland box of a world. I had traveled to India, my father's home, and England, my mother's home, annually: a practice my family and I continue to this day. I had been brought up without specific religious beliefs, but an awareness of my parents' spiritual backgrounds of Judaism and Hinduism. Thus my exposure to these various different nationalities in Switzerland built on my found-ations of cultural awareness, rather than laying the cornerstone for it.

My understanding of my new environment was aided tremendously by my ability to speak French, and was subsequently one of the best gifts I brought back from my four year stay in Switzerland. An entire year of school lessons could not have taught me as much of the language as I learned form speaking with my Swiss friends, shopping in the local stores, or apologizing to my neighbors for hitting my ball into their yard. My proficiency in French earned me a regular spot on a nationally broadcast Swiss radio program, in which a Russian child and I discussed tensions between major world powers. This was a rare opportunity, as, although Stephen and I were peers, the fact that Russian children attended the Soviet Embassy school meant that we were not classmates. Though, even if we had been allowed to speak casually before, I am not certain that our conversation would have reached the depth of discussion we achieved on the show.

America will never again seem the same to me. Geneva gave me enough distance to look at my country through objective eyes. Traveling throughout Europe was like a trip with Gulliver: it gave me the ability to look inside myself and discern my country's faults as well as its numerous strengths. Like the Swiss women's remarks, it hurt me to find that the United States is not the only country in the world with a rich and stimulating environment. With my new perspective, I saw that America was not what it had been. Then I thought for a moment and realized that America had not changed, but I had.

One officer called this, "A good example of a foreign culture essay that works." The only negative comments about this essay came from one officer who found the conclusion to be a bit weak. "I would like to see her elaborate a little more in the last paragraph. This is because in most of her classes, she will be required to support any opinions." Another agreed that she could have kept her final points more personal and specific.

The writing is excellent.

The vocabulary is sophisticated without seeming labored. I do not suspect that the author had a thesaurus at hand! This tells me that she/he would certainly be successful academically, at least in the courses that require strong communication and analytical abilities.

This essay is very well written. The writer demonstrates a refreshing maturity that seems to come from his/her abroad experience. The essay demonstrates a transformation of the student from just an American in a foreign land to someone who embraces the international experience and grew with it.

What I like about this essay is that it shows that the traditional categories of "extracurricular activities" need not be the only way to demonstrate that one has something of interest to bring to the college experience. I think this writer would be a fascinating person to get to know, because she would be able to contribute a fresh perspective to conversations about many of the important ideas that we wrestle with in college. She might well be someone who would be especially adept at bringing together diverse members of the student body because she would not feel intimidated by differences, but would, instead, seek them out and value them highly.

Sample Essay 3

Princeton, Childhood experience: A fishing trip

Reluctantly smearing sunblock over every exposed inch of my fifty-three pound body, I prepared mentally for the arduous task that lay ahead of me. After several miserable fishing ventures which had left my skin red and my hook bare, I felt certain that, at last, my day had arrived. I stood ready to clear the first hurdle of manhood, triumph over fish. At the age of seven, I was confident that my rugged, strapping body could conquer any obstacle. Pity the fish that would become the woeful object of the first demonstration of my male prowess.

Engaging me deeply was my naive eagerness to traverse the chasm dividing boy from man. In fact, so completely absorbed was I in my thoughts that the lengthy journey to our favorite fishing spot seemed fleeting. The sudden break in the droning of the engine snapped me to reality. Abruptly jarred back into the world, I fumbled for my fishing pole. Dangling the humble rods end over the edge of the boat, I released the bail on the reel and plunked the cheap plastic lure into the water. Once I had let out enough line and set the rod in a holder, I sat back to wait for an attack on the lure. The low hum of the motor at trolling speed only added to my anxiety, like the instrumental accompaniment to a horror film. And then it hit. A sharp tug on the line pulled me to my feet faster than an electric shock. I bounded to the pole, and when I reached it, I yanked it out of the holder with all of my might. My nervous energy was so potent that when I tugged on the rod, I nearly plunged headlong over the side of the boat and into the fishs domain. Although adrenaline streamed through my veins, after five minutes both my unvanquishable strength and my superhuman will were waning steadily. Just when I was fully prepared to surrender to the fish and, with that gesture, succumb to a life of discontentment, pain, and sorrow, the fish performed a miraculous feat. Shocked and instantly revived, I watched as the mahi-mahi leapt from the oceans surface. The mahi-mahis skin gleamed with radiant hues of blue, green, and yellow in a breathtaking spray of surf. Brilliant sunlight beamed upon the spectacle, giving life to a scene which exploded into a furious spectrum of color. The exotic fish tumbled majestically back to the sea amidst a blast of foam. With this incredible display, the fish was transformed from a pitiful victim to a brilliant specimen of life. I cared no longer for any transcendent ritual I must perform, but rather, I longed only for the possession of such a proud creature. I hungered to touch such a wonder and share the fantastic bond that a hunter must feel for his kill. I needed to have that fish at any cost.

The fight lasted for only ten minutes; nevertheless, it was a ten minutes which I will never forget. When my fish neared the boat, I felt more energized than I had when the fish first struck. At my fathers command, I netted the fish and hauled it into the bottom of the boat. I was nearly bursting with exhilaration. Released from the net, the fish dropped to the bottom of the boat with a hollow thud, and my jaw dropped with it. I stared in complete horror at the violently thrashing fish which was now at my feet. Within minutes, all of the fishs vibrance, color and life had vanished. Instead, came blood. Lots of blood. It sprayed from its mouth. It sprayed from its gills. Shortly, the boat was coated with the red life blood of the mahi-mahi. It now lay twitching helplessly while it gasped and choked for oxygen in the dry air. I felt sickened, disgusted, and utterly lost in heart-wrenching pity. As I watched the color drain from the fish, leaving it a morbid pale-yellow, I realized that I was responsible for the transformation of a creature of brilliance and life into a pitiful, dying beast.

Despite my brothers cheers and praises, I rode back to shore in bitter silence. I could not help thinking about the vast difference between the magnificent creature which I saw jump in the sea and the pathetic beast which I saw gasping for life in the bloody pit of the boat. What struck me most forcefully on that day, though, was the realization that I was no mere bystander to this desecration. I was the sole cause. Had I not dropped the hook into the water, the fish undoubtedly would still be alive. I, alone, had killed this fish.

In retrospect, I am relieved that I reacted in such a way to my passage from boyhood to manhood. Although my views about many things, hunting and fishing included, have changed considerably since that day, I still retain a powerful conscience which actively molds my personality. One cannot dispute the frightening potential of the human race to induce the permanent extinction of every life form on the planet. As the ability to change the world on a global scale is arguably limited to one breed of life, so, too, is the force which impedes instinctual and conscious action, the human conscience. My own sense of strong moral principle reaches far beyond simply averting Armageddon, however. I often find myself unable to disregard this force of moral and social responsibility in whatever I do. Part of my keen social conscience is demonstrated in the effort I have made to be a positive intellectual leader among my classmates and in the community. Realizing how lucky I am to have been born with a high aptitude for learning, I feel sorry that others who also work very hard cannot achieve like I have nor be rewarded with success as I have been. In a leadership role, I hope to constructively guide my peers to find their own success and see the fruition of their own goals. By serving as class president for three consecutive years, as founder, member, and chairman of the peer counseling society, and as a peer tutor, I have enabled others to reach their goals, while finding personal gratification at the same time. I am fortunate in that I have been given the opportunity to optimize the usefulness of my personal virtues in helping others; I can only hope to continue heeding my conscience in work as a research chemist, or whatever I may do in the future. It is my right and my obligation, for I firmly maintain that the charge of a humanitarian conscience is one which each person must eternally bear for the good of humankind and all the world.

"A good example of how a talented writer can make a standard topic appealing" was the general consensus. One officer did think, though, that the writer got "overzealous" with his language and could have avoided some of the more corpulent sentences like, "Engaging me deeply was my naive eagerness to traverse the chasm dividing boy from man," by writing with a simpler, more natural voice.

I really enjoyed this essay. It starts with a wonderful, humorous touch, but describes vividly and movingly the young boy's first experience with death and with personal responsibility.

In reading this essay, I get a strong impression of the kind of person this young man must be, someone full of good humor, but great sensitivity as well. His easy way with the language convinces me that he would be an excellent student, and a welcome addition to the class.

This was a nicely written piece. This student took time to think about this experience and was able to articulate his memories of his fishing adventure rather well. This could have been another bland essay but the writer took you on the adventure with him, from boyhood to manhood.

I like the way he took his fishing adventure and transitioned to his life today and how and what he learned from it.

What I liked most about the essay was that the writer told of an experience in his childhood and was able to take that experience and make the connection to his life and goals of today.

Sample Essay 4

Brown, Achievement: Martial arts competition

A faint twinge of excitement floated through my body that night. A hint of anticipation of the coming day could not be suppressed; yet to be overcome with anxiety would not do at all. I arduously forced those pernicious thoughts from seeping in and overcoming my body and mind. I still wonder that I slept at all that night. But I did. I slept soundly and comfortably as those nervous deliberations crept into my defenseless, unsuspecting mind, pilfering my calm composure. When I awoke refreshed, I found my mind swarming with jumbled exhilaration. The adrenaline was flowing already.

After a quick breakfast, I pulled some of my gear together and headed out. The car ride of two hours seemed only a few moments as I struggled to reinstate order in my chaotic consciousness and focus my mind on the day before me. My thoughts drifted to the indistinct shadows of my memory.

My opponent's name was John Doe. There were other competitors at the tournament, but they had never posed any threat to my title. For as long as I had competed in this tournament, I had easily taken the black belt championship in my division. John, however, was the most phenomenal martial artist I had ever had the honor of witnessing at my young age of thirteen. And he was in my division. Although he was the same rank, age, size, and weight as I, he surpassed me in almost every aspect of our training. His feet were lightning, and his hands were virtually invisible in their agile swiftness. He wielded the power of a bear while appearing no larger than I. His form and techniques were executed with near perfection. Although I had never defeated his flawlessness before, victory did not seem unattainable. For even though he was extraordinary, he was not much more talented than I. I am not saying that he was not skilled or even that he was not more skilled than I, for he most certainly was, but just not much more than I. I still had one hope, however little, of vanquishing this incredible adversary, for John had one weakness: he was lazy. He didn't enjoy practicing long hours or working hard. He didn't have to. Nevertheless, I had found my passage to triumph.

My mind raced even farther back to all my other failures. I must admit that my record was not very impressive. Never before had I completed anything. I played soccer. I quit. I was a Cub Scout. I quit. I played trumpet. I quit. Karate was all I had left. The championship meant so much because I had never persevered with anything else. In the last months, I had trained with unearthly stamina and determination. I had focused all my energies into practicing for this sole aspiration. Every day of the week I trained. Every evening, I could be found kicking, blocking, and punching at an imaginary opponent in my room. Hours of constant drilling had improved my techniques and speed. All my techniques were ingrained to the point where they were instinctive. Days and weeks passed too swiftly. . . .

I was abruptly jolted back into the present. The car was pulling into the parking lot. The tournament had too quickly arrived, and I still did not feel prepared for the trial which I was to confront. I stepped out of the car into the bright morning sun, and with my equipment bag in hand, walked into the towering building.

The day was a blur. After warming up and stretching, I sat down on the cold wooden floor, closed my eyes, and focused. I cleared my mind of every thought, every worry, and every insecurity. When I opened my eyes, every sense and nerve had become sharp and attentive, every motion finely tuned and deliberate. The preliminary rounds were quiet and painless, and the championship fight was suddenly before me. I could see that John looked as calm and as confident as ever. Adrenaline raced through my body as I stepped into the ring. We bowed to each other and to the instructor, and the match began.

I apologize, but I do not recall most of the fight. I do faintly remember that when time ran out the score was tied, and we were forced to go into Sudden Death: whoever scored the next point would win. That, however, I do recall. I was tired. The grueling two points that I had won already had not been enough. I needed one more before I could taste triumph. I was determined to win, though I had little energy remaining. John appeared unfazed, but I couldn't allow him to discourage me. I focused my entire being, my entire consciousness, on overcoming this invincible nemesis. I charged. All my strenuous training, every molecule in my body, every last drop of desire was directed, concentrated on that single purpose as I exploded through his defenses and drove a solitary fist to its mark. I was not aware that I would never fight John again, but I would not have cared. Never before had I held this prize in my hands, but through pure, salty sweat and vicious determination, the achievement that I had desired so dearly and which meant so much to me was mine at last. This was the first time that I had ever really made a notable accomplishment in anything. This one experience, this one instant, changed me forever. That day I found self-confidence and discovered that perseverance yields its own sweet fruit. That day a sense of invincibility permeated the air. Mountains were nothing. The sun wasn't so bright and brilliant anymore. For a moment, I was the best.

The admissions officers admired this essay for its passion and sincerity. In fact, most of the noted drawbacks were based on the writer being too passionate. "Kind of a tempest in a teapot, don't you think?" wrote one. Other suggestions for improvement were "purely editorial" such as the overuse of adjectives and adverbs, using a passive voice, and making contradictory statements. "For example, he says, 'I slept soundly and comfortably as those nervous deliberations crept into my defenseless, unsuspecting mind, pilfering my calm composure.' How could he sleep soundly and comfortably if the nervous deliberations were pilfering his calm composure? There are a few other examples like that that I won't go into here. I would just suggest that the author look carefully to be sure his ideas stay consistent and support one another."

What I like about this essay from the point of view of an admission officer is that I am convinced that the change in attitude described by the author is real. I do believe that he will carry with him forever the hard-won knowledge that he can attain his goals, that perseverance and hard work will eventually allow him to succeed in any endeavor. This is an important quality to bring to the college experience. Especially when considering applications to prestigious institutions, the admission committee will want to feel sure that the applicants understand the need for hard work and perseverance. Many times the strongest-looking applicants are students for whom academic success has come so easily that the challenges of college come as a shock. I always like hearing stories like this, of students who know what it means to struggle and finally succeed

Return to: Lesson One: College Essay Questions

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Mentor texts

Telling Short, Memorable Stories From Your Life: ‘My Secret Pepsi Plot’

An invitation to students to tell a meaningful story in a limited number of words, with an example from The Times’s Lives column to help.

By Katherine Schulten

Our new Mentor Text series spotlights writing from The Times that students can learn from and emulate.

This entry, like several others we are publishing, focuses on an essay from The Times’s long-running Lives column to consider skills prized in narrative writing. We are starting with this genre to help support students participating in our 2020 Personal Narrative Essay Contest .

Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest is inspired by The New York Times’s Lives column, which ran from 1996 to 2017 and featured “short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences .”

The editor of the column once posted some advice on “How to Write a Lives Essay” to guide those who submitted to the column annually. Much of that advice applies to our contest as well.

For example, several points boil down to reminders to keep it simple, including tips like:

Don’t try to fit your whole life into one “Lives.”

Don’t try to tell the whole story.

Tell a small story — an evocative, particular moment.

Better to start from something very simple that you think is interesting (an incident, a person) and expand upon it, rather than a large idea that you then have to fit into a short essay. For example, start with “the day the Santa Claus in the mall asked me on a date” rather than “the state of affairs that is dating in an older age bracket.”

This advice is similar to advice often given to high school seniors writing college essays : You have only 650 words to show admissions officers something important, interesting or memorable about who you are and what matters to you. A list of awards you’ve won won’t do it, but an engaging story about making brownies with your stepbrother just might.

As you’ll see when you read the texts below, none of them try to tell the whole story of a life, but, instead, illuminate an important aspect of it through focus on one event or moment. Yet that one focus ripples out, and says so much more.

Before You Read

Use the sentence starter below to write for a few minutes about whatever comes to mind. You will return to this writing in the “Now Try This” section.

A moment I’ll never forget from my childhood is …

Mentor Text: ‘ My Secret Pepsi Plot ,’ a 2014 Essay From the Lives Column, by Boris Fishman

This essay describes a memory from when the writer was 10 years old and his family had just immigrated from the Soviet Union to Brooklyn. “In the Soviet Union, we were secretly wealthy, but we arrived in Brooklyn as paupers,” he writes.

Somehow, his family ends up with 24 Pepsi-Colas in their refrigerator. The story of what happens next is Mr. Fishman’s short, powerful story:

Around this time I learned that American supermarkets gave back 5 cents for every returned empty. (Some states, like Michigan, its very name like a granite monument, gave you 10 cents.) I decided I would return those cans and give the money to my parents. My secret — a surprise.

Read the essay, focusing on how Mr. Fishman anchors the whole story in this one goal he had at age 10 — to return the Pepsi cans and get money for them.

As you read, you might trace the structure of the story. What does each paragraph do? What does each add to the telling of this small story?

Then, consider these questions:

How do the first two paragraphs set the stage for the story and give some necessary background?

How does telling this story allow the writer to show readers a particular time and place through the eyes of a new immigrant?

How does he pull you into the action, minute by minute, in the three paragraphs that begin “On Saturday afternoon …”?

How is money a theme throughout, in both stated and implied ways? What other ideas recur?

What is the role of the last paragraph?

Now Try This: Find Your Own Short, Powerful Stories

Look back at the writing you did before reading the mentor text. What is strongest about it? Could it become a short essay like the one you just read? If so, what would you need to do to shape it?

What other small stories — or “evocative, particular moments” — from your life might make wonderful short essays?

In a 2010 lesson plan, “ Going Beyond Cliché: How to Write a Great College Essay ,” we suggest students first make a timeline of their lives, or of one period in their lives, brainstorming at least 20 events, big and small, that were significant to them for any reason.

You might try that, or you can brainstorm answers to this list of prompts — or both:

-A time I took a risk: -A time I learned something about myself: -A memory from childhood I think about often: -Something that happened to me that still makes me laugh: -Something very few people know about me: -Something I regret: -A time when I felt rejected: -Something I am really proud of: -Something that changed the way I think or look at the world: -How I am different from most people I know: -Some of my fears: -A time I felt truly satisfied: -A time I failed at something: -An object I own that tells a lot about me:

Once you’ve chosen a topic, you might try to free-write for 10 minutes or so, asking yourself as you go: What was most interesting or memorable about this? What images come to mind when you think about this topic? Do you picture a person, a scene, a place? Do you hear a conversation or a bit of music? Do you smell, taste or feel something?

Finally, if you are still stuck, we have a list of prompts from our site that can inspire narrative writing . Take a look and see if any of them spark ideas for you.

More Mentor Texts for Telling Short, Memorable Stories

While the entire Lives column is devoted to “short, powerful stories,” the pieces we chose below are especially student-friendly in terms of both their subject matter and the way the writers focus on “an evocative, particular moment.” Below each title, an excerpt from the piece.

“ How Ramen Got Me Through Adolescence ,” a 2014 Lives essay, by Veronique Greenwood

When I was in fifth grade, I developed an intense dislike of eating around other people. The cafeteria was a place of foul odors, gelatinous spills, horrific mixtures of chocolate pudding, fruit cocktail and ketchup consumed on dares, and I found myself fasting from breakfast, at about 6 in the morning, until 3:35, when I walked home through the woods from the bus stop. Each step up our hill, a narrow ridge in rural California, I fantasized about the big bowl of ramen I would make myself when I reached the top.

“ Charmed ," a 2015 Lives essay, by Laila Lalami

‘‘Wait,’’ I said. From my pocket I pulled out a brown suede pouch bearing the name of a little jeweler in Rabat, the kind of place you send your friends to and say, tell him I sent you. In the pouch was a necklace with a silver khamsa — a charm in the shape of an open palm.

“ Montana Soccer-Mom Moment ,” a 2010 essay from the Lives column, by Laura Munson

I live in northwest Montana, and I have a teenager, and my teenager plays sports. That means a lot of driving — over-the-Rocky-Mountains-and-back-in-one-day kind of driving. I think about Meriwether Lewis every time I cross the Continental Divide, usually with sleeping soccer players wearing headphones in the back of my Suburban. I want to say, “Can you imagine everything depending on your horse and your ability to dream of an ocean past the mountains?” But it isn’t worth the eye-rolling.

“ All the Single Ladies ," a 2014 essay from the Lives column, by Jen Doll

“Single ladies to the dance floor!” came the cry, a masculine voice urging us forward. Wedding guests parted, creating a narrow path for the train of unmarried women to parade through in their finery. But we single ladies no longer looked so fine as we had that morning. We were worn and tired, sweat beading down our necks, sand crunching unpleasantly in our shoes, which were wearing raw the backs of our heels. We should have been lying down in cool rooms elsewhere, but the wedding was not over. We were 28. We knew what was next.

“ Working the Reunion ,” a 2008 essay from the Lives column, by ZZ Packer

My residential college always hosted the 45th reunion, one of the most well attended, I suppose because you just might not be around for the 50th. To my eyes, these guys were the picture of old money. Although they may have mastered physics or appraised the sharp beauty of “King Lear” in school, at reunions they reminisced about football glories and practical jokes. I sometimes felt less like a Yale co-ed who happened to be black than a black waitress who happened to be bringing them an extra fork. But after their dinner we reunion workers would drink up all the leftover bottles of wine while cleaning the dining hall.

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, using personal experiences in college essays.

Hey everyone, just wondering how much I should focus on personal stories or experiences in my college essays. Got any examples of personal essays that really stood out and got someone accepted to a top school?

When it comes to writing college essays, incorporating personal stories and experiences can be incredibly effective in highlighting your unique qualities and demonstrating your personality and perspective.

Admissions officers want to get to know the person behind the application, so it's essential that you showcase elements of your life that shaped who you are today. Here are a few tips on how to effectively use personal experiences in your college essays:

1. Focus on a meaningful event: Choose an experience or situation that left a significant impact on you. This could be a specific challenge you faced, a time when you grew personally, or an instance when you demonstrated tremendous resilience.

2. Reflect on your growth: It's crucial to showcase not only the experience itself but also how you've grown, changed, or learned from it. Reflect on the lessons you took away from the event and how they've influenced your life or mindset.

3. Be authentic: Don't feel pressured to write about something extravagant or dramatic. Sometimes, the most meaningful experiences come from everyday moments, so it's essential to stay true to your personal narrative.

4. Show, don't tell: When describing your personal experience, paint a vivid picture for the reader by using descriptive language and including specific details. This will make your story more engaging and help the reader feel more connected to your narrative.

One well-known example of an effective personal essay comes from a student who was admitted to Stanford University. The essay featured an engaging story about the student's love for Costco stores. Rather than just stating their fascination with Costco, the applicant wove an entertaining narrative detailing their visits to the store and connected the experience to their curiosity and desire to learn.

The essay was successful because it showcased the student's unique perspective, genuine enthusiasm, and relatability through an otherwise mundane experience. By focusing on a personal anecdote and connecting it to their own intellectual curiosity, the applicant was able to convey their authentic personality and stand out from the competition.

To sum up, using personal experiences in your college essays can be an effective way to demonstrate your personality, growth, and unique perspective. Make sure to focus on a meaningful event, reflect on your growth, be authentic, and show rather than tell to craft a memorable and engaging essay.

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Med School Applications: Describe Best Experiences

Here's how to stand out when discussing your three most meaningful experiences on your AMCAS application.

Experiences and Med School Applications

The female volunteer nurse smiles while checking the unrecognizable young girl at the free clinic.

Getty Images

For many medical school applicants, volunteering at a free clinic can show your compassion toward patients.

On the primary medical school application submitted via the American Medical College Application Service, commonly known as AMCAS , you can write up to 15 activity descriptions with a maximum of 700 characters each. You also have the opportunity to write up to three 1,325-character essays about activities that are among your most meaningful experiences.

Submit a Unique Med School Application

Ali Lotfi, M.D. March 20, 2018

This is an opportunity for you to give medical school admissions committees another perspective about yourself.

Med school applicants often ask if there is an ideal combination of activities they should choose as their most meaningful. My general advice is to look through all your extracurricular activities and work experiences and choose three that have been instrumental in your personal growth.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Which activities have been influential in motivating me to pursue a medical career?
Which activities have I given the most time?
Which activities allowed me to learn skills that will help me when I become a physician ?

After you create a short list of significant activities, here are some other considerations to help you choose three of your most meaningful experiences.

Demonstrate Your Strengths

Choose three activities that reflect your application’s strengths. For example, if one of your strengths is research , make sure to include a research activity as one of your most meaningful activities. In the activity’s most meaningful essay, you can write about how you created a hypothesis, designed the research study and analyzed the data. Detailed descriptions like these will showcase how you will pursue research during med school and as a physician.

Highlight Various Personal Qualities

Each most meaningful experience essay should showcase a different personality attribute. For example, working in the free clinic can show your compassion toward patients. Shadowing can exhibit your intellectual curiosity. Being a teaching assistant can highlight your patience and your ability to explain concepts to others.

Choose at Least One Clinical or Medical Activity

You are applying to medical school, after all. Choosing one medical-related activity will give you another opportunity, aside from your personal statement , to write about your patient experiences.

Here are some additional tips for writing your most meaningful experience essays.

Do not copy your personal statement. Remember, the most meaningful experience essays are opportunities to shed new light on yourself. Don’t copy the experiences and stories in your personal statement.

Tell stories. The adage “show, don’t tell” holds true for medical school applications. Telling stories can paint a picture of you in the reader’s mind. Through stories that show, med school admissions committee readers can visualize you interacting with others and persevering through challenges.

For example, rather than saying, “In the free clinic, I practiced culturally-competent care,” tell a story that shows it. Let’s say you are trying to teach a patient how to improve his or her nutrition. Describe a story in which, for example, you encountered an immigrant patient who was trying to lose weight and how you helped the patient incorporate traditional ethnic foods into his or her nutrition plan.

Complement your activities description. Each most meaningful experience essay should complement the shorter activity description for that specific extracurricular activity.

For instance, let’s say you write an activity description about varsity soccer in which you specify your contributions to your team and accolades your team received. In your most meaningful essay, you can write a specific story about how you helped a new freshman overcome a serious injury. This essay will show your leadership and compassion toward your teammates.

Remember to spend time carefully choosing and writing your three most meaningful experience essays so that medical school admissions committees can learn more about you.

Medical School Application Mistakes

A diverse group of female medical students listen attentively while seated for a lecture.

Tags: medical school , graduate schools , education , students

About Medical School Admissions Doctor

Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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Crafting a Powerful AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay

Crafting a powerful AMCAS most meaningful experience essay can be a daunting task, but with the right guidance, you can create an impactful and compelling essay that showcases your unique experiences and qualities. Keep reading to learn more!

Posted June 14, 2023

If you’re applying to medical school, you know that the application process can be daunting. One of the most important components of your application is the AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) most meaningful experience essay. This essay gives you the opportunity to showcase your personal qualities and experiences that have shaped you into the aspiring physician that you are. In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of crafting a powerful AMCAS most meaningful experience essay that will help you stand out in the competitive pool of applicants.

Why the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay is Important

The AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is important because it provides a comprehensive overview of who you are as an individual and what drives you as a medical professional. It allows you to highlight your strengths, demonstrate your commitment to the field, and showcase your communication skills. A well-written AMCAS most meaningful experience essay can make the difference between being accepted into medical school or being placed on the waitlist. The admissions committee wants to know what motivates you, your goals, and personality. This essay helps them determine how you’ll fit into the medical community.

Another reason why the AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is important is that it gives you the opportunity to stand out from other applicants. Medical schools receive thousands of applications each year, and many of them have similar academic backgrounds and extracurricular activities. However, your most meaningful experience essay is unique to you and can showcase your individuality. It can also demonstrate your ability to reflect on your experiences and how they have shaped your perspective on medicine.

Furthermore, the AMCAS most meaningful experience essay can also help you prepare for medical school interviews. The experiences you write about in your essay can serve as talking points during interviews, allowing you to expand on your thoughts and experiences. It can also help you articulate your goals and motivations for pursuing a career in medicine, which is a common question during medical school interviews. Overall, the AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is an important component of your medical school application and should be taken seriously.

Understanding the Purpose of the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay

The purpose of the AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is to provide the admissions committee with insight into your character and values. It helps them get a better sense of your personal and professional views, what experiences have been the most impactful in your life, and what motivates you to pursue a career in medicine. While grades and test scores are important factors in the admissions process, the AMCAS most meaningful experience essay gives you the opportunity to take center stage and highlight your achievements outside of the classroom.

One important thing to keep in mind when writing your AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is to choose experiences that truly resonate with you. Don't just choose experiences that you think will impress the admissions committee. Instead, choose experiences that have had a profound impact on your life and have helped shape who you are today. This will allow you to write a more authentic and compelling essay that truly showcases your unique qualities and strengths.

Another key aspect of the AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is to reflect on the lessons you learned from your experiences. Admissions committees are not just interested in what you did, but also in how you grew and developed as a result of those experiences. Be sure to highlight the skills and qualities you gained from your experiences, such as leadership, teamwork, empathy, and resilience. This will demonstrate to the admissions committee that you have the personal and professional qualities necessary to succeed in medical school and beyond.

What is a Most Meaningful Experience in Medical School and Why it Matters

A most meaningful experience in medical school is an experience that has shaped you personally and/or professionally. It could be an experience that you had during clinical rotations, volunteering, research, or extracurricular activities. The reason it matters is that it gives a deeper understanding of who you are, your motivation, and how you’ll contribute to the medical community. Being able to articulate your most meaningful experiences in detail is essential in demonstrating to the admissions committee why you would be an ideal candidate for medical school.

How to Choose the Right Most Meaningful Experience for Your Essay

When choosing your most meaningful experience for your essay, it’s important to reflect on your experiences and identify those that have had the greatest impact on your personal and professional development. Remember that it's not necessarily the experience itself that makes it most meaningful, it’s how it affected you and the lessons you learned. Once you have a few experiences in mind, consider which ones showcase the personal qualities and characteristics you want the admissions committee to know about you.

Tips for Brainstorming and Selecting Your Most Meaningful Experiences

Brainstorming and selecting your most meaningful experiences can be challenging, but it’s important to spend the time reflecting on your experiences to be able to articulate why they were important to you. Take a few minutes to do some free writing to generate possible ideas. You might also try brainstorming with a friend or family member to get a fresh perspective. Once you have a few possible experiences in mind, create a list of the personal qualities and values you exhibited during each experience. This will help you decide which experiences will best showcase your strengths and fit in with the message you want to convey to the admissions committee.

Tips for a Powerful Essay

Strategies for writing a compelling introduction to your amcas essay.

The introduction is the most important part of your AMCAS essay. You need to grab the reader’s attention and give them a reason to keep reading. One way to do this is to start with a personal anecdote or a thought-provoking question that relates to your most meaningful experience. Another approach is to start with a quote or a surprising fact that helps to frame your essay’s topic in a way that’s both compelling and relevant. Whatever approach you choose, make sure your introduction is engaging and sets the stage for the rest of your essay.

Structuring Your AMCAS Essay for Maximum Impact

The structure of your AMCAS essay is critical in ensuring maximum impact. You want to make sure you’re presenting your experience in a clear, concise, and organized manner that’s easy for the reader to follow. A common structure for the AMCAS essay is to begin with an introduction, followed by the description of your most meaningful experience, a reflection on what you learned, and a conclusion that ties everything together. You can also use headings to help organize your essay and make it easier to read.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Your AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay

There are several common mistakes to avoid when writing your AMCAS most meaningful experience essay. These include being too vague or generic, focusing too much on the experience itself rather than the impact it had on you, and not properly explaining the significance of your experience. Another common mistake is to try to fit too much into your essay. Instead, focus on a single experience and explore it in depth. Lastly, be sure to proofread and edit your essay for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.

Key Elements of a Successful AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay

The key elements of a successful AMCAS most meaningful experience essay include a clear and concise description of your experience, an explanation of what you learned and how it impacted you, and a reflection on how that experience has influenced your values, beliefs, and goals. Additionally, your essay should showcase your personal qualities and characteristics that make you an ideal candidate for medical school. It’s also important to be authentic and true to yourself in your essay.

How to Edit and Revise Your AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay for Clarity and Coherence

Editing and revising your AMCAS most meaningful experience essay is essential for ensuring clarity and coherence. Start by reviewing your essay for any grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. Next, read your essay out loud to catch any sentences that are awkward or unclear. One effective strategy is to have someone else read your essay and provide feedback. Finally, make sure your essay flows smoothly and your most meaningful experience is presented in a logical way that highlights the personal qualities you want to showcase.

How to Make Your AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay Stand Out from the Crowd

To make your AMCAS most meaningful experience essay stand out from the crowd, focus on presenting a personal narrative with specific details and emotions. Use descriptive language that draws the reader in and allows them to connect with your experience. Additionally, be sure to showcase your personal qualities and characteristics that make you unique as an individual and a candidate for medical school. Lastly, make sure that your essay is authentic and true to who you are and what motivates you personally and professionally.

Conclusion: Reflections on Crafting a Powerful AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay

Writing a powerful AMCAS most meaningful experience essay requires reflection, introspection and attention to detail. It's important to select an experience that is genuinely meaningful to you and showcases personal qualities that would make you an asset to the medical community. When writing your essay, avoid common mistakes, structure it appropriately, and use language that is both descriptive and engaging. By following these tips and writing from the heart, you can craft an essay that stands out from the crowd and helps you take the first step towards achieving your dreams of becoming a medical professional.

For more expert tips on how to successfully navigate the medical school application process, check out these articles:

Preparing for Medical School: A Comprehensive Guide
Mastering Medical School Interviews: Questions and Strategies
How to Craft the Perfect Medical School Interview "Thank You" Letter
How to Get Clinical Hours for Med School: Building Your Experience
How to Write a Standout Internal Medicine Personal Statement

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101 Meaningful Experiences Examples

experiences examples and definition, explained below

Experiences can be defined as the conscious events that individuals go through in their lives, which include personal interactions, professional endeavors, and adventures. Life is, in a way, simply a collection of meaningful experiences one after the other!

Meaningful experiences can shape a person’s thinking, alter their perspective, and ultimately mold their character. Ideally, we will learn something from our experiences that allow us to grow, develop wisdom, and ultimately become better people.

They may also help us develop our personal philosophy in life , shape our belief system , and gain a deeper understanding of the human condition.

10 Life Experiences Examples

1. being present at a globally significant event.

Being present at a globally significant event involves experiencing a major occurrence that has wide-reaching implications, politically, historically, or culturally.

This might mean attending a monumental protest, witnessing a historic political event, or even being part of a groundbreaking cultural celebration. These occurrences serve as global touchstones, shared collective events that drastically reshape the world and human societies.

Being part of such events can leave a deep impression, reminding you of the power of collective action, the necessity of change, or the importance of cultural preservation.

For Example: If you were at the momentous 2008 inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States, you experienced firsthand an event that echoed globally, symbolizing a significant cultural shift in the American landscape.

2. Graduating from School or University

Graduating from school or university represents the completion of an educational journey, often punctuated with personal growth and academic achievements .

It’s a defining moment in your life, marking the transition from one phase of your life to another. A graduation encapsulates years of hard work, dedication, and persistence, and it often signals the beginning of a new stage of self-discovery and professional development.

Don’t fail to value this achievement. It signifies not just educational attainment, but also personal growth and the readiness to take a leap towards the next phase of your life.

For Example: Receiving your high school diploma, a culmination of 12 years of study, symbolizes your successful navigation through fundamental education. This graduation marks the end of an era and the beginning of a more independent phase, such as attending college or joining the workforce.

3. Experiencing a Spiritual Revelation

Experiencing a spiritual revelation refers to an enlightening moment that enhances your understanding or perspective of life’s deeper meaning and purpose.

It’s akin to cracking open an invisible box of wisdom that alters your viewpoint towards life and its inherent complexities. Such revelations can occur in a religious setting, during meditation, or even at unexpected moments of reflection.

Beware, though, these revelations are not fleeting emotions. They have a profound impact, often shifting your paradigms , transforming your values, and shaping your future decisions.

For Example: After surviving a near-death experience, you might experience a deep spiritual revelation about the preciousness of life and fragility of existence. This could fundamentally change your approach towards life, prioritizing values over materialistic pursuits.

4. Traveling Abroad

Traveling abroad signifies more than just a change of geographical location; it entails an immersion into a different culture, language, and way of life.

Think of it as an opportunity to broaden your horizons. It could be your first trip overseas or an adventurous sabbatical. The essence lies in stepping outside your comfort zone, soaking in the experiences, and using them to expand your worldview.

Remember, traveling is not just about sightseeing, but also about understanding and appreciating diverse cultures.

For Example: On a trip to Japan, you might be deeply moved by the people’s adherence to traditions, respect for elders, and communal harmony. This experience can deepen your understanding of Japanese culture and influence your own behaviors and attitudes.

5. A Near Death Experience

A near death experience is a profound psychological event that typically occurs at the brink of death, often characterized by feelings of detachment, serenity, and time dilation.

It’s akin to standing at the precipice of life and death, giving you a glimpse of the impermanence and fragility of life. This profound event can drastically shift your perspective, heightening the appreciation for life and altering your priorities .

Such an event can not only rejuvenate your spirit but can also imbue a more profound understanding of life’s worth and instill a greater purpose.

For Example: If you’ve survived a car crash where the possibilities of survival were next to none, it might prompt a renewed sense of purpose. This life-changing event could potentially realign your life’s trajectory, reinforcing the value of each moment and driving you to live each day fully.

6. Experiencing the Beauty of Nature

Experiencing the beauty of nature means witnessing the wonders and inherent beauty of the natural world.

This could range from standing at the foot of a magnificent waterfall, hiking up a towering mountain, strolling through a verdant forest, or simply watching a sunset. Such experiences often lead to feelings of awe and admiration, underscoring the incredible beauty of our planet.

Indeed, these moments can be profoundly moving, instilling a sense of peace and granting a deeper respect for the environment and its conservation.

For Example: Seeing the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, dancing across the Arctic night sky can be a deeply moving experience, making you realize the innate beauty of nature and the importance of preserving such natural phenomena.

7. Losing a Loved One

Losing a loved one is an experience marked by deep feelings of grief, sorrow, and loss.

It forces you to confront mortality, both your own and those around you. This painful experience often provides a newfound perspective on life. It could lead to a deeper understanding of the importance of relationships, the value of time, and the impermanence of life.

Despite the inherent grief, losing someone close can teach resiliency and courage during the toughest times.

For Example: The loss of a parent might deepen your appreciation for the preciousness of life and emphasize the importance of cherishing your relationships with loved ones while you can.

8. Getting your First Job

Getting your first job signifies entering the professional realm and beginning your journey towards establishing a career.

It’s a rite of passage, marking the transition from a primarily learning phase to a phase prioritizing application of learned skills. With the excitement of earning your own paycheck comes the responsibility of professional duties and the task of building a professional image.

While it can be challenging at first, it’s a valuable experience that shapes your professional growth and career development.

For Example: Securing your first job as a software engineer, you are tasked with developing a critical app. Despite the task’s complexity and the pressure, the experience gained from it enhances your problem-solving skills, teaching you to handle workplace stress and manage independent projects.

9. Birth of a Child

The birth of a child embodies the creation of new life, bringing a unique blend of responsibility, love, and transformation into your world.

With this event comes a drastic shift in priorities and a profound emotional connection unlike any other. As someone responsible for the child’s well-being and development, your perspective towards life is likely to alter, focusing more on nurturing, patience, and unconditional love.

Embrace it, it’s one of the most meaningful experiences a human can have.

For Example: The day you hold your newborn child for the first time, you sense an overwhelming feeling of love and protectiveness. This sparks a powerful internal transformation, realizing the depth of your capability to love and care.

10. Getting Married

Getting married signifies the union of two individuals who choose to commit to a life of partnership, mutual respect, and shared growth.

It is far more than just a celebratory event, reflecting a deeper understanding of companionship, commitment, and mutual support. As you vow to navigate life together,, it can contribute significantly to your personal and emotional development.

It might seem daunting, yet it’s an experience that teaches compromise, patience, and the art of maintaining relationships.

For Example: On your wedding day, as you exchange vows with your partner, you make a commitment to be there for each other, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity. This commitment tests and strengthens your resilience, adaptability, and capacity for love and perseverance.

Full List of Experiences

Birth of a child.
Falling in love for the first time.
Graduating from school or university.
Overcoming a significant challenge.
Traveling abroad and experiencing a new culture.
Losing a loved one.
Getting your first job.
Completing a marathon or significant physical challenge.
Publishing a book or article.
Surviving a natural disaster.
Volunteering in a community in need.
Getting married.
Experiencing a spiritual or religious revelation.
Reconnecting with a long-lost friend or family member.
Adopting a pet.
Learning a new skill or hobby.
Witnessing a solar eclipse or other natural phenomenon.
Buying your first home.
Starting a business.
Retiring after a long career.
Seeing a wild animal in its natural habitat.
Overcoming an addiction.
Experiencing art that moves you deeply.
Teaching someone and watching them succeed.
Surviving a serious illness or accident.
Receiving an unexpected act of kindness.
Participating in a protest or social movement .
Experiencing parenthood.
Climbing a mountain or reaching a personal summit.
Taking a risk that leads to unexpected rewards.
Attending a significant event, like the Olympics or a World Cup.
Experiencing a surprise proposal or gesture of love.
Witnessing the birth of a child.
Donating blood or an organ.
Experiencing a moment of profound love.
Witnessing the impact of your actions on someone else’s life.
Experiencing a moment of unexpected joy.
Receiving a meaningful gift.
Achieving a long-held dream.
Experiencing a moment of profound clarity or insight.
Being recognized or honored for your achievements.
Visiting a place of historical or personal significance.
Making a life-changing decision.
Experiencing a random act of kindness.
Overcoming a phobia.
Participating in a cultural or religious ritual.
Meeting a personal hero or idol.
Experiencing a moment of serendipity.
Taking a sabbatical or long break from work.
Going on a spiritual or meditative retreat.
Experiencing a surprise reunion.
Witnessing a historic event.
Receiving a letter or message from a stranger that changes your perspective.
Taking care of someone in need.
Experiencing the beauty of nature, like a sunset or a starry night.
Participating in a community project.
Overcoming a personal bias or prejudice.
Achieving a state of inner peace or enlightenment.
Experiencing the joy of giving without expecting anything in return.
Taking a solo trip.
Facing and conquering a fear.
Learning a new language.
Experiencing music in a profound way, like at a live concert.
Receiving forgiveness or forgiving someone.
Witnessing the kindness of strangers.
Achieving a significant personal or professional milestone.
Experiencing a transformative therapy or counseling session.
Participating in a team or group achievement.
Discovering a passion or calling.
Experiencing the magic of a surprise.
Overcoming adversity against all odds.
Participating in a traditional ceremony or rite of passage.
Experiencing a moment of deep connection with someone.
Discovering a hidden talent.
Receiving a heartfelt compliment.
Experiencing a dream come true.
Overcoming a major obstacle or setback.
Participating in a memorable community event.
Achieving a state of flow in an activity.
Experiencing a profound moment of gratitude.
Witnessing an act of bravery or heroism.
Experiencing a moment of deep introspection.
Taking a leap of faith.
Experiencing a moment of awe or wonder.
Making a significant sacrifice for someone else.
Experiencing a life-changing revelation.
Participating in a bonding experience with a group.
Achieving a personal best in an activity or sport.
Experiencing a moment of pure laughter or joy.
Witnessing a miracle or unexplained event.
Experiencing a moment of deep empathy or compassion.
Making a meaningful connection with a stranger.
Experiencing a moment of profound beauty.
Overcoming a limiting belief.
Achieving a long-sought reconciliation.
Experiencing a moment of deep reflection or meditation.
Witnessing the power of nature, like a storm or a waterfall.
Experiencing a moment of profound silence.
Making a significant contribution to a cause.
Experiencing a moment of deep connection with nature.
Achieving a sense of completion or closure.

Meaningful experiences serve as critical landmarks in the journey of self-growth and wisdom. Through these impactful events, we gain crucial insights about the world around us and ourselves, helping us become wiser and more empathetic individuals. Therefore, they should be cherished, as they significantly contribute to our understanding and shape our approach towards living a fulfilling life.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Animism Examples
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 10 Magical Thinking Examples
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?

Most Meaningful Experiences Summary

You may identify up to three experiences you consider to be the most meaningful. This designation will allow you an additional 1,325 characters to explain why the experience(s) was particularly meaningful to you.

When writing your summary, you may want to consider the transformative nature of the experience, the impact you made while engaging in the activity, and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation. If you have two or more experience entries, you will be required to identify at least one as the more or most meaningful.

You may change which experience(s) you designate as Most Meaningful until the initial submission of your application. The text you entered in the Experience Summary section will be lost if you remove an experience from those you have designated as Most Meaningful. Your Most Meaningful selection(s) will be designated as such by a check mark in the Work/Activities main screen.

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How to write about your most meaningful medical experience

The AMCAS allows medical school applicants to select three activities as your “most meaningful” activities, and provides applicants with 1325 characters to describe why. A meaningful activity can represent something different for every applicant, but should generally encompass activities that have significantly impacted your personal development and desire to pursue medicine. In general, it is advisable for at least one of these activities to be a clinical experience in order to provide evidence of your dedication to medicine. Here are some tips for writing a "most meaningful experience" essay about a clinical experience that will be sure to capture your reader’s attention.

Tip 1: Organize your narrative.

This essay is an opportunity to present a unique facet of your personality and skill set to the admissions committee. Before you begin writing, brainstorm what attributes you want to shine through in this essay. For example, you could demonstrate your dedication to service by describing a time you went above and beyond for a patient. Alternatively, you could showcase your problem solving skills by describing a challenge you identified and addressed in a clinical setting. Make sure the message you convey is distinct from that of your personal statement.

Tip 2: Avoid using shadowing as a most meaningful activity.

While shadowing can be an incredibly impactful experience on aspiring medical students, it is an inherently passive activity that doesn’t add much depth to your personal narrative. Reserve your "most meaningful experience" essay for experiences that highlight an active role in the clinical setting. Some examples of clinical experiences include volunteering, scribing, or providing patient care as part of a healthcare team.

Tip 3: Know your audience.

The person reading your application may be a current medical student or faculty member; in any case, they will be deeply familiar with the field of medicine. Avoid being too simplistic about common medical concepts. Additionally, refrain from being too critical about medicine; though our healthcare system has lots of room to grow, this may subconsciously alienate your reader. That being said, free to include statements about how you hope to leave your impact on medicine!

Tip 4: Briefly describe the experience.

At the beginning of this essay, briefly describe the experience in more detail than in the main activity description. Make sure to include any honors, awards, publications, or leadership positions you received as part of the activity. Try to keep this section short so you can focus on the impact that this experience had on you.

Tip 5: Tell a story.

The key to this essay is showing the reader how this experience impacted your personal growth. Refrain from merely stating the strengths and attributes you gained from the experience; instead opt for providing rich, descriptive anecdotes that actively convey this message. This is a great place to include a story about a particularly impactful patient or physician you worked with (making sure to de-identify all personal information). Make sure to include any lessons or takeaways from this experience. Convince the admissions committee that you are prepared for the rigors of pursuing a career in medicine, and showcase what sets you apart!

Simran is pursuing a combined MD/PhD in the Harvard-MIT MD program and Immunology PhD program. Previously, she was a research technician at Fred Hutch, where she helped design novel protein-based cancer therapeutics and a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

The most Meaningful Experience

Memory is one of those tiny precious things that, at a certain period of our life, turn out to be the most meaningful one. Recollecting from the past is one of the typical features of every human being; however, for some individuals, this process is associated not only with the past images and a particular set of events but also with the priceless and extremely meaningful experience. I certainly believe that every experience, particularly the one you get in childhood, leaves lifelong impressions on an individual and his further life.

Meaningful Experience from Childhood

I think that it is possible to analyze your childhood experience and understand its true meaning only as some time passes by. Our parents keep telling us that we will understand many things only when we grow up and we will really appreciate every experience, even if it was a negative one. And now, I can see that this is certainly true. Now, when I look back at my early childhood, I can clearly see that all the obstacles I had to overcome and all the hardships that were on my way were of an ultimately important meaning for me. All the memories and events that took place in my early childhood helped to shape my personality and establish certain benchmarks of such important features as strength, motivation, and belief in myself.

One of the most meaningful and important experiences from my childhood that influenced me most was my soccer injury that happened when I was in the senior high school. I have always been extremely interested in sport and have developed much time to it. My parents always tried to show me the importance of the healthy lifestyle, and that is why I started going in for sports from a very young age. After some time, I became extremely interested in soccer, and it became my true passion. I spent numerous hours training, and I never felt tired or exhausted as I truly loved this game.

However, things changed completely when I received a serious injury during one of the trainings. Every sportsman gets an injury throughout his life, and I understand that this is normal; however, this case was far more complicated. The thing is that I was training hard and getting ready for the final championship game. This game was too important for me and the whole Nashua High School South. I was playing forward, and everyone anchored many hopes on me, especially our trainer. Unfortunately, my injury was too serious, and I could not play against Manchester Central High School. This fact made me feel very depressed. At that period of my life, I felt as if I was a bird with cut wings.

Luckily, my family and friends helped me a lot at that time, and their support was crucial for me. My father saw that I was depressed as it was my dream to win the final match, and he knew that I was a rather capable sportsman. I will always recollect that numerous discussions and conversations we had at that time. My father told me not to give up despite anything happens in my life. Moreover, my father saw that I was at a complete loss at that time and he helped me to cope with all that stress. I was so depressed that I did not want to continue my study and I had no desire to do anything. However, my father taught me several crucial critical thinking strategies that can help one cope with all the problems and difficulties in life, and I am really thankful for this.

Thinking Independently

One of these critical thinking strategies he taught me is thinking independently. People are often influenced by somebody else’s point of view and personal attitude. Various aspects and life circumstances can influence the process of our decision making. That is why, it is really essential to think independently. It is essential not to accept fully the thoughts of other people. It is recommended to manage to figure out certain things on your own. Independent critical thinkers never accept all the information. It is essential to understand the information, and only then, you can decide whether to accept it or not. Personal impression and attitude is the main goal that should be definitely achieved according to this critical thinking strategy. There should not be any division on true or false. Every decision should be made up concerning your personal beliefs and ideas. And this was very helpful for me as, for some time, I did not want to return to school as I knew that my trainer and my friends were really disappointed. Some people even told me that it was my fault that the team lost that day.

Understanding Egocentricity

One more critical thinking strategy is developing insight into egocentricity. This strategy pays much attention to the difference between reality and one’s own fantasies. It is important to consider various possible variants and try not to be stubborn. Only in case a person is many-sided, he/she is able to accept and compare various variants and opportunities. In order to find the proper and the most objective decision, it is essential to analyze a wide range of different factors and aspects. Egocentricity is considered to be an opposite side of the critical thinking. And this helped me too, as I understood that everything happens because of some reason, and I suppose that one of the reasons I got such an injury was that I was too obsessed with my achievements in sport and devoted less time to more important things and my family.

Controlling Emotions and Decision Making

Besides, in order to cope with problems, it is necessary to understand the role of emotions in your decision making. During our life, we have to make numerous decisions, and it is quite understandable that, sometimes, we are at least somehow but influenced by our emotions. Being more or less logical when you are making choice is quite natural. However, it is essential to understand that every choice and every decision leads to certain consequences. That is why, in case you do not want to have some unexpected and undesired results, try to control your emotions and to consider all the aspects before making a final decision.

As it is known, decision making is a certain cognitive process that contains some choice between certain things. The preferences may be quite various, and, sometimes, the process of decision making can be influenced by various factors. That is why, every decision has two sides, concerning our mind and our feelings and emotions. Logical approach to making decisions includes only rational methods and certain mathematical tools. Every decision guided by logic usually excludes any possible influence of emotions.

As a conclusion, I can say that all the memories of my childhood are extremely precious for me, and though some of them were quite emotional and negative from the first sight. But now, they serve as great sources of joy as I recall them. Now I understand that my soccer injury and all the worries and experience related with it surely helped guide and shape me and provided me with a great amount of necessary encouragement and strength along my further path in life. I am really happy that I had such an experience in my life that developed my strong will and character. I am also thankful to my family for their support and belief in me. My parents helped me develop critical thinking that is certainly essential, and they also taught me how to cope with stress and overcome all the difficulties that appear on my way. Critical thinking and problem solving are the most required skills for every person. This is a certain ability to judge and to decide what to do and what to believe. A person is usually able to think critically only in case he or she obtains at least some knowledge in this sphere and certain experience. Critical thinking helps to take up all the events and all the problems that appear in our life. And I understand that it is necessary to develop these skills and qualities in order to become successful and reach all your goals. Now, I try to devote enough time to self-analysis and try to find benefits in all my experiences, not only from my childhood. I was taught by my parents that it is essential to work hard, and nothing in life comes for granted – you have to deserve it. And I was also taught that you should not give up if something goes wrong. You should accept it as a certain lesson, understand its meaning and reason, and then, make proper conclusions and keep on working hard in order to succeed. All these rules perfectly work in my life till nowadays, concerning both financial and sporting perspectives.

Mind that anyone can use our samples, which may result in plagiarism. Want to maintain academic integrity? Order a tailored paper from our experts.

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Egypt, the troubled giant.

The Art of Writing A Most Meaningful Essay

By: Ryan Kelly

Imagine writing 730 pages to narrate the events of one day.

In Ulysses, James Joyce uses 18 chapters to traverse the novel’s 24-hour timeframe. The story flashes back and forth, alludes to myths, includes cheeky puns, and fluctuates between prose and Leopold Bloom’s stream-of-consciousness. In the end, you’re left with a deep impression that resonates - a book that’s even more comprehensive than it seems.

When writing most meaningful essays, pre-meds might feel jealous of Joyce (except for the blindness and syphilis, of course). All that space just to cover one day! On the other hand, medical schools expect pre-meds to capture their hundreds of hours of experience in just 1325 characters.

If you don’t already know, you’ll need to write most meaningful essays about three of your activities in your AMCAS. For these three activities, you’re given additional space beyond the normal 700 characters to describe their greater significance.

A most meaningful essay could represent months or years of your effort. All that countless time and energy boiled down to a few paragraphs. Keeping your personal statement to 5300 characters was hard enough. How is it even possible to convey an activity’s significance in such a small amount of space?

Even though you don't have a Joycean number of pages, you can still make these essays interesting for the reader and reflect well on yourself in your hopes of securing an interview.

Like Joyce, I plan to be pretty thorough here. I want this article to guide you through the most meaningful essay writing process, from start to finish. Hopefully you’ll have final products that fit within the limit, but don’t feel limited!

STEP 1 - CHOOSING YOUR THREE ACTIVITIES

If you’re in doubt about what to choose, many students will include one medically oriented activity, one leadership activity, and one extracurricular (research, service, etc) with a significant commitment. As long as you’ve invested significant time and energy into the activity (compared to your others), then it’s fair game for a most meaningful essay.

PROMPT: DESCRIBE THE IMPACT YOU MADE AND THE PERSONAL GROWTH YOU EXPERIENCED THROUGH THIS ACTIVITY.

Pay attention to the wording of the prompt. Most of the time (with perhaps the exception of shadowing), students will be able to discuss their impact. The trickier part is to identify which experiences have caused the most personal growth.

Once you’ve narrowed down your possible choices based on time and commitment, you’ll want to ask yourself some brainstorming questions to determine the best activities and angles to explore in your most meaningful essays.

Remember that it’s okay to overlap the experiences of the personal statement and most meaningful essays, as long as you don’t repeat stories or lessons verbatim.

BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS

Which of the activities had the most setbacks or failures? Can you recall one or two specific moments that required your resilience?
Which of the activities presented the steepest learning curves? Why were they so challenging? Did you have to change something about yourself to succeed?
Did any of the activities expose you to people much different than yourself? Were their difficulties in communicating and collaborating with them?
Which of the activities most surprised you? Can you recall any moments within them when your perspective on medicine or life shifted?
Did you get more than expected out of a particular activity? Why? Vice versa, were there activities that disappointed you for some reason? How did you respond?
Which of the activities made you the most apprehensive? Why? Can you recall one or two moments that pushed you outside your comfort zone?
Which of the activities taught you a new skill that you otherwise wouldn’t have learned? Did you learn or realize how you could apply this skill moving forward?

You can probably see a trend - we’re looking for moments of suffering, moments of hardship and doubt, moments of conflict and tension.

Why? Because those moments are the ones that cause the most personal growth. They’re also the moments that will illustrate your best qualities and show that you can overcome obstacles. In essence, a most meaningful essay is trying to convey a before-and-after picture of you based on the experience. Like the arc of Leopold Bloom in Ulysses, you need to show how your character changed and developed.

There’s one more brainstorming question to consider before making your selections:

Are any of the activities connected to your life events or background? Do any of them have a special personal relevance?

If you answered yes to this question, that can be an added bonus. Even though it seems easy, many pre-meds struggle to explain the personal motivations behind their choices in activities. If you’re working in an oncology lab because a family member died of cancer, or you’re tutoring underprivileged kids in the same rough neighborhood where you grew up, these personal ties can help distinguish an experience as “most meaningful.”

If you have more than three valid options, go ahead and write more essays than you need. Each one is not that many characters, and any unused most meaningful will be a readymade secondary essay for down the road. Writing more than three lets you experiment and see which angles work out the best.

STEP 2 - AVOIDING CLICHE TRAPS

You need to recognize the genres you’re writing in, so that your most meaningful essays don’t sound like everyone else who’s writing about the same types of experiences.

Let’s cover some of the common genres and their cliches:

These essays often start with candidates entrenched in the lab, hunkered over some kind of complex experiment or equipment. It’s often hard to distinguish what’s actually happening in layman’s terms. There’s often a list of jargony phrases and techniques that were mastered over time, followed by a takeaway about analytical skills, attention to detail, and problem solving.

These essays often start with some line about being “met with blank stares” from student(s). Then they discuss some concept/lesson that went poorly and the steps the candidates took to improve their communication. They typically end on the reward of “finally helping the student(s) make a connection.”

The worst essays of this genre start with some meeting, like an executive board, and then catalogue the various obligations and responsibilities that had to be balanced. Ironically, these leadership essays are devoid of characters and dynamic team situations. The narratives often get bogged down in boring administrative details, just like the activities themselves.

CLINICAL VOLUNTEERING

These essays often start with an introduction to some patients and/or families in the hospital, with a description of their injuries or symptoms. The candidates might comfort them, listen, and/or offer them a warm blanket. The essays end with takeaways about the power of compassion and doing anything within their limited power to help someone.

SHADOWING / SCRIBING

“Dr. X is so amazing.” “I was in awe of Dr. Y’s impeccable bedside manner.” “In the future, I want to emulate Dr. Z in all my endeavors.” Within this genre, the candidates are often peripheral in the essays, passively observing the doctors and staff with admiration. The essays usually end with a declaration about filling their shoes one day.

If possible, try to deviate from these themes and cliches. For example, think about what makes your leadership experience unusual or memorable - maybe you had to run an event while suffering from a stomach flu, or maybe you had to lead people who were much older than you?

But if the cliche examples sound all too familiar, don’t fret. The real reason things come off as cliche is because they lack specificity and memorable details. Even if you fall into the conventions of a genre, you can still make the essay unique through your voice and storytelling.

3 Techniques to Avoid Sound Cliche in Your Medical School Personal Statement.

STEP 3 - TELLING YOUR STORY

If you like numbers, I’d say a most meaningful essay is about 70% storytelling, 30% reflection. The examples and concrete details are the key to convincing your reader of your personal growth and the activity’s significance. It’s not enough to just say it.

With such limited space, it’s best to focus on one powerful story that best exemplifies the activity overall. If you cover everything, the different parts will be diluted of their power.

It’s important to remember that you already have 700 characters to describe the activity’s responsibilities, tasks, noteworthy accomplishments, etc. So when you write the most meaningful portion, just dive right into your narrative. The readers will already have plenty of context, so don’t bother anchoring them with tons of factual information.

You’ll need to be economical with your characters, so consider your story’s function and intentions before writing. Let’s break down an example to see how a most meaningful works:

GENRE: LEADERSHIP POSITION

Example: resident assistant.

The hook uses imagery or lively language to draw you into the setting and story, while also quickly introducing the major conflict.

Broken exit signs. Smashed ceiling tiles. Bulletin boards smeared in lewd graffiti. Not exactly a wholesome environment for a dormitory.

I was a new sophomore RA, and ResLife expected me to monitor a rowdy bunch of junior football players in Murphy Hall.

The plot focuses on the most pivotal actions, conversations, or events, and then explains their consequences and resolution.

When I covered the floor rules, the guys laughed and rolled their eyes while tossing a ball around. Most were on the cusp of legal drinking age and took advantage of that grey area. As I addressed noise complaints, I struggled to gain cooperation from manchildren who viewed me as a mascot. Things turned sour when I wrote up their teammate while on duty. I felt like I was living with a crew of strangers, or worse, enemies.

But I finally earned their respect when I escorted one of them to the hospital after a near overdose. I coached him through the unpleasant process of drinking liquid charcoal, and he assured the team that I had their backs. Later, a few of them helped me fix the ceiling and confronted the floormate who vandalized my flyers.

THE REFLECTION:

The reflection covers the most important lessons and takeaways, explaining how the experience has shaped / will shape your actions and perspective.

In the future, I will need to gain people’s trust--whether patients, families, or colleagues. Some will be doubtful, confused, or angry, potentially viewing me as a threat or outsider. As an RA, I learned the importance of showing consistent and genuine concern as a way to break down barriers and forge relationships.

Why does this example succeed?

The readers receive a vivid, concrete glimpse into the experience; they can clearly see the conflicts and happenings of the plot.
There’s a clear resolution that illustrates the candidate’s impact on the people and situation.
The chosen story exemplifies the overall challenges and rewards of the experience in the bigger picture.
The reflection clearly explains why the lessons of the experience were crucial for the candidate’s development, and why they’ll be useful moving forward.

You can also use these 5 Qualities of the Best Personal Statement Stories as a resource.

All that in 1318 characters! You see? It’s possible! Joyce ain’t got nothing on us.

Don’t expect to achieve the perfect balance between showing and telling right away. Like any other writing, a most meaningful essay requires several messy iterations before it will look and feel polished like our example above. But if you follow my steps, I guarantee things will be less messy for you.

Finally - don’t underestimate the power of the most meaningful essays. They’re not merely elaborations on the activities; they’re important narratives that set the tone for your whole application. If done well, they’ll create a great first impression, provide key insights into your character, and make you much more memorable to admissions committees.

Best of luck!

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AMCAS Application

AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences: The 15 Best Examples

Plus 5 tips to make your experiences stand out.

The AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experiences are essentially the most significant experiences that stand out among the other activities you add in your AMCAS application (required for all medical school applications in the US, except Texas). In your AMCAS Work and Activities, you are asked to provide up to 15 employment, research, volunteer, and extracurricular activities. You can identify a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 as “most meaningful experiences.” We discuss the fundamentals of the AMCAS Work and Activities section elsewhere, so in this article, we pay special attention to these “most meaningful experiences.” While all of the AMCAS Work and Activities entries are significant in the overall evaluation of your application, the most important aspect of the Work and Activities section are these “most meaningful experiences.”

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Article Contents 18 min read

What is a “most meaningful” experience.

You can add up to three AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experience entries in your medical school application . What differentiates these "most meaningful experiences" from the other AMCAS Work and Activities entries? These are experiences that had a particular impact on your growth, development, and professionalization, or that were particularly transformative or impactful.

While each entry is given 700 characters (including spaces), these “most meaningful experiences” are allotted an additional 1325 characters (again, including spaces). This area is not intended to be used to simply describe more details of the position or activity; rather, it is meant to be a more reflective, contemplative narrative that highlights the ways in which these experiences enriched your life, the lives of others, and your overall perspective on your journey to becoming a doctor. These experiences can range from paid hospital work experience and medical research hours to non-medical volunteer experience and hobbies suitable for your AMCAS application. Just remember, this isn’t the place for an expanded CV; it’s a place to demonstrate the key qualities you’ve developed and how they have contributed to your suitability for the profession.

Interested in seeing the BEST AMCAS work and activities description examples?

Many applicants struggle with deciding what experiences are the most meaningful. Either they have too many ideas and aren’t sure which will make the greatest impact, or they’re concerned that they don’t have any relevant experiences. It’s important to highlight that there’s really no such thing as a wrong most meaningful experience. There is, however, such thing as an optimal choice. Consider the following rubric to help make your selection easier:

The experiences that you list can be of all sorts – health care-related positions, scholarship activities, experiences abroad or overseas, volunteer efforts, leadership opportunities, extracurricular or artistic pursuits, etc. – and the experiences designated “most meaningful” can also be in any category. Consider the following to help you stand out from the crowd:

Remember, most applicants will have strong academic accomplishments, experience in a health care setting, volunteer experience, etc. \u2013 it is well known that these things are all necessary for a competitive application. So, you need to think about what is going to make you stand out in a vast sea of similarly or equally qualified applicants. What is key is that you develop a compelling narrative that demonstrates what you\u2019ve learned, how you\u2019ve grown, and what impact you made in each experience, and that you do so in a way that highlights the qualities sought in future medical professionals. ","label":"Focus on what makes you unique","title":"Focus on what makes you unique"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

The experiences that you list can be of all sorts – healthcare related positions, scholarship activities, experiences abroad or overseas, volunteer efforts, leadership opportunities, extracurricular or artistic pursuits, etc. – and the experiences designated “most meaningful” can also be in any category. It’s not necessarily best, for example, to devote all three “most meaningful” experiences to paid employment in a healthcare setting, simply for the sake of demonstrating that you’ve worked in a medical environment in multiple contexts, because you think that will stand out to the admissions committee. While at least one or two of these experiences can be related to the field of medicine, it’s important to note that they do not all need to be healthcare-related. You can highlight non-medical activities if you want to show depth and breadth and to highlight your well-roundedness as a candidate. You should be able to articulate the meaning behind your experiences in a concise and compelling manner.

Remember, most applicants will have strong academic accomplishments, experience in a healthcare setting, volunteer experience, etc. – it is well-known that these things are all necessary for a competitive application. So, you need to think about what is going to make you stand out in a vast sea of similarly or equally qualified applicants. What is key is that you develop a compelling narrative that demonstrates what you’ve learned, how you’ve grown, and what impact you made in each experience, and that you do so in a way that highlights the qualities sought in future medical professionals.

One great way to demonstrate the meaningfulness of your experience is to create a vignette – a brief illustration or description that captures a particularly poignant, representative moment or experience. First, let’s look at a sample entry of 700 characters (with spaces), which we’ll explore as a “most meaningful experience” later:

Title : Volunteer Resident Attendant, XYZ Retirement Community

Description : XYZ Retirement Community aims to provide varying levels of care for residents in their retirement. With Assisted Living, Independent Living, and Intensive Care units, they offer a dynamic model that cares for residents throughout their senior years. For 3 years, I acted as a Resident Attendant, helping residents to daily meals, providing transport to events within the facility, running small errands, and providing companionship to residents. In this position, I was able to provide support to nurses’ aides during busy times of the day and encourage residents to stay active and social by attending communal meals, games of Bingo, afternoon movies, and other recreational activities. (687 characters, with spaces)

This is a pretty standard AMCAS Work and Activities entry. Now, let’s look at how we can expand this as a “most meaningful experience.”

1. Avoid being too literal

One of the biggest mistakes students make in composing their “most meaningful” entries is to approach the discussion of qualities in a very literal way. For example, many first drafts will be full of statements like this:

In my Volunteer Resident Attendant position at XYZ Retirement Community, I learned to be compassionate, mature, and professional. My communication skills were also highly valued by my peers and superiors. This experience truly transformed me in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined.

While it is clear that this individual developed (or, at least, believes they developed) compassion, maturity, professionalism, and communication skills in this transformative position, such a passage doesn’t actually demonstrate such qualities at all, let alone in a way that will make an impression on the reader. In essence, it is merely saying, “Trust me, I have these qualities,” and that is, quite simply, not good enough.

2. Craft a story

A much more effective (and engaging!) tactic is to craft a story about your experience. Most people love a good narrative and working this into your “most meaningful” experiences is possible, even with the small amount of space you’re given. Every good story needs a clear beginning, middle, and end. If you’re describing a clinical experience, discuss a patient whom you found memorable, or a clinical case you thought was interesting. A good story also needs stakes and emotional consequences. Meaningful experiences should show transformation and learning, and that you gained a perspective or skill relevant to your medical school journey and life in general.

3. Get feedback early

Start early and get expert feedback. Saying so much in so few words takes a lot of time (as Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”), and it requires a professional eye to ensure your meaning is effectively articulated. Using brief stories of real-life experiences through descriptive prose that show the readers how you developed the qualities you’re highlighting will both ensure that you are maximizing the potential of these entries and providing a pleasant reading experience for the application reviewers. Remember, they will review hundreds, if not thousands, of these; a genuinely engaging, well-written, and thoughtful reflection on meaningful experiences will help them appreciate your application on multiple levels.

Want more tips on writing your AMCAS Work and Activities section?

AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #3: Show, Don’t Tell

Just as you must avoid simply listing qualities, you must also avoid assuming that the person reviewing your entries will automatically understand the significance of an experience, interaction, or event – let alone understand this significance in the same way as you. To demonstrate your strengths through your narrative, you’ll want to employ the “show, don’t tell” strategy. That is to say, don’t just “tell” the reviewer that you developed a particular quality, skill, or characteristic; rather, “show” them how that development took place. Let’s look again at the passage above:

Let’s review what makes this a BAD example:

Nothing has been shown: you need evidence that you developed traits like compassion and maturity. Why should anyone believe you otherwise? Your goal should be to imply these traits through the description of explicit actions you took in each setting or scenario.
No narrative structure: there’s no beginning, middle, or end to this entry. How did you begin this experience? What significant moments did it entail, and what did you learn from them?
There are more questions than answers: when medical schools process the most meaningful experiences, they’re really looking for answers to the question, “what makes this experience meaningful and how is this relevant to your professional development?” Currently, there’s nothing in the above description that suggests an answer to this question.

Now, let’s consider a GOOD example with a “show, don’t tell” approach:

I still recall the cool morning of April 10. I arrived for my shift at XYZ Retirement Community 30 minutes early, so I could visit Agnes as I had every Friday for 2 years. Despite our age difference, we forged a deep friendship, which we nurtured with morning tea each week. She was a great storyteller and her age gave her wisdom and perspective; she always emphasized the importance of kindness, reminding me of the struggles all people face. Looking forward to another chat, I tapped on her door that April morning. As I entered, I saw Agnes still in bed and clearly unwell. I wanted to fall apart, but I knew I needed to pull through for her. I quickly called the nurses and aides and carefully detailed what I’d seen; with this information, they quickly assessed her and arranged her transport to the hospital. We never got to have our final tea that day, but there was love in her eyes as she was whisked away. I realized, in that moment, both the strength and fragility of those who will rely on my care. I also learned that in moments when I may want to panic or get swept up in emotion, I can stay even-headed and help other experts perform effectively. In the end, Agnes taught me so much about the world and my responsibilities to others, and I hope to share her kindness in my role as a future physician. (1324 characters, with spaces)

What makes this example good?

It makes better use of space: note that the standard description of the position at XYZ Retirement Community has been provided in the initial 700 characters, so the extra 1325 characters provides space to really bring the evaluator into the applicant’s experience, to help them see how such key characteristics developed.
Context is given: in this extended example, compassion, maturity, professionalism, and skillful communication are all highlighted effectively via a contextual narrative that is genuinely engaging to read.
Actions speak for themselves: the entry takes one meaningful set of interactions and allows this to speak for a wealth of important qualities sought in medical school applicants. It is clear to the reader that this was a truly transformative experience, without directly reading the words, “This experience truly transformed me in ways I couldn’t have previously imagined.” Through a story of a meaningful friendship cut unexpectedly short, this narrative shows the applicant’s transformation, rather than just telling the reader that there was a transformation.

Crafting a compelling narrative takes time; there’s no easy way around that. The extended description provided above took a couple of hours, walking away at the end of one day and returning to it again the next -- and I do this for a living! In that time, it went through several edits and re-writes, with the language, tone, pace, and even terminology carefully considered for maximum impact.

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AMCAS “Most Meaningful Experiences” Tip #5: Get Expert Feedback

Our fifth best writing tip is to get expert feedback, and to do so early, so that you have time to make any necessary corrections. Again, when reading your own words, it’s easy to skip over little grammatical inconsistencies, but an expert will spot them immediately and give you feedback on how to correct them.

Consider the benefits of having an expert provide feedback on your most meaningful experiences:

This is why we offer application review packages that include review of your AMCAS Work and Activities entries, and medical school personal statement , as well as strategy sessions with our admissions experts to ensure your examples and experiences are as impactful as possible before you dedicate hours to composing them and editing them, with us providing feedback and reflection along the way!

Experience Type : Community Service/Volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical

Experience Name : Volunteer Tutor

Contact Name & Title : Mrs. Sally Mendoza

Contact Email : [email protected]

Contact Phone : 478024849

Organization Name : New Hope Education

City/State/Country : San Francisco / California / United States

Most Meaningful Experience : Yes

Dates : 10/20XX – 02/20XX

Total Hours : 3000

Experience Description : The New Hope Education organization seeks to provide expert tutoring to at-risk children from underserved communities, with the aim of helping them earn their high school diplomas. I taught Math, English, and Biology to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. After a year of tutoring, I was also given the opportunity to customize my own curriculum and create individual lesson plans. (394 characters, with spaces)

Most Meaningful Experience Remarks : I joined New Hope Education because I am passionate about ensuring equal access to quality education for students from different backgrounds and communities. In all my classes, over 80% of students struggled with some form of learning disability or mental illness and had no idea how to deal with it. Initially, it was extremely challenging to work with young people with such different requirements, who were understandably resistant to learning based on their previous negative experiences. I experimented with different ways to get through to the students. One of my most effective techniques was to set aside some time after every class to talk through students’ personal struggles, so that they could feel safe and comfortable in the classroom. For me, this was an enlightening and humbling experience that helped me build my empathy, communication, and problem-solving skills. In 2018, I ran a corporate fundraising campaign that added 30,000 USD to the annual budget of New Hope Education. One of my proudest moments was when 100% of the students in my last class earned their high school diplomas, and a few even chose to return to New Hope Education as volunteer tutors. This experience cemented my desire to continue to build my talents, skills, and empathy to better help underserved communities. (1306 characters, with spaces)

Experience Type : Research/Lab

Experience Name : Research Assistant at Francis Labs

Contact Name & Title : Dr. Martin Francis, Principal Investigator

Contact Phone : 38299011

Organization Name : Biochemistry Department, SCTP

Dates : 09/20XX – 03/20XX

Total Hours : 2050

Experience Description : The aim of the project was to develop a new drug to treat viral infections by introducing chemical enzymes. I was involved in different stages of the project from in vitro experimentation to clinical trials. We tested the efficacy of the treatment on human tissue cells as well as mice tissue cells. I developed a solution that enabled the enzyme to dissolve and be carried to target receptor cells. Additionally, I was in charge of maintaining project results and protocols and training new staff members. (506 characters, with spaces)

Most Meaningful Experience Remarks : This project was crucial to helping me identify my career goal of pursuing an MD/PhD. Working on the initial in vitro experimentation stage, I had to analyze, synthesize, and communicate my findings. I was quickly recognized as the most skilled sub-investigator from the team; I also discovered that I derived great satisfaction from medical research. As the project progressed, more challenges came my way, and the pressure also increased. When put in charge of testing different enzyme carrier solutions, I eagerly took up the task, as I wanted to try out my new skills in a leadership role. What followed was a period of intense challenge and daily struggles as our team faced failure more often than success. Looking back, I consider this a formative period of my life because I gained a true understanding of the medical research process. Though faced with doubts and confusion, I eventually realized that in medical research, both positive and negative results are inevitable and equally important sources of information. I then decided to diversify my diagnostic methods and applied new glucose synthesis techniques I had read about in the New England Journal of Medicine. By the end of the 5th semester, we gained the meaningful results we sought. I consider this one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. (1321 characters, with spaces)

Want help with your AMCAS application? Check out this review from one of our students:

Experience Type : Extracurricular Activities

Experience Name : Debate Club at X University

Contact Name & Title : Dr. Jared Shiller

Contact Phone : 2231133445

Organization Name : Philosophy Department

City/State/Country : Waterloo / Ontario / Canada

Dates : 09/20XX-04/20XX

Total Hours : 300

Experience Description : Debate club was comprised of approximately 25 undergraduate students. Members of the club would meet twice a week when we weren’t preparing for a competition, and up to five times a week at one-hour intervals when we were competing. The National Tournament is a yearly event hosted by our university, in which the top schools from all over the country compete. Last year, when our team placed third overall, I was part of the nominated group of four to represent the team. (469 characters, with spaces)

Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks: When I joined the debate club, my goal was to improve my communication and public speaking skills, as I’ve always been incredibly nervous standing in front of my classmates for presentations. In one of my first sessions, the coach asked me to argue the affirmative case for moral realism. I took the stage and in a tremulous, hesitant voice, made my case. When I left the stage and the sound of chatter resumed, the coach took me aside and expressed how impressed he was with my performance. He asked if I would want to try out for the main team; not knowing how to say no, I agreed, even though I was worried I’d be too anxious to compete. I went to the student wellness centre the next day; the counsellor gave me a few strategies to help me overcome my presentation anxiety. The first was to transfer my nervous energy into enthusiasm, and the second was to prepare my material so I can be confident. During one of our first events, I was so nervous sitting in front of an audience, waiting my turn to make our team’s secondary argument. I had the final word on the negative of “does vandalism have a place in public protest?” When I felt the anxiety start to rise, I remembered what the counsellor said: “embrace the anxiety, and turn it into enthusiasm.” After my turn, they announced that “X university” had won. From this experience, I learned that it’s okay to rely on other people in times of need, and that strong preparation is the best way to be confident in uncertain situations. (1493 characters, with spaces)

Experience Type : Intercollegiate Athletics

Experience Name : Track & Field Team

Contact Name & Title : Coach Janice Davis

Contact Phone : 9092371109

Organization Name : X University Athletics

City/State/Country : Thunder Bay / Ontario / Canada

Dates : 03/20XX-08/20XX

Total Hours : 115

Experience Description : I’ve been an athlete for most of my life, but running was new for me. I used to compete as a speed skater throughout elementary and high school, but when I broke my ankle in training, I was forced to give up the sport indefinitely. Years after I recovered and desperate to scratch that competitive itch, my roommate suggested I try track and field sprinting. After practicing on my own for a few months, I decided to try out for the university team. (463 characters, with spaces)

Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks: Coming back from an injury was the most difficult part of returning to athletics. I was also a skater, not a runner, and the skills weren’t as transferrable as I thought they would be. I made the team that season, but I was one of the slowest runners in my heat. I was nervous about injuring myself again or pushing myself too hard when I had so much to lose. Being last in most of our team practices was initially humiliating, but I eventually learned to take the experience in stride. I started training more and working on my mechanics after everyone had left practice. I was the first to show up and the last to leave. I started completing my coursework more efficiently and scheduling classes to optimize my training. In my very first competition, in which I was competing in the 50, 100, and 200 m dash, I placed 5 th , 6 th , and 3 rd , respectively. Even though the results weren’t what I’d hoped, I was proud of my ability to persist and learn from my mistakes and failures. As a prospective medical doctor, there will be times of frustration and conflict. In these moments, it will be important to focus on improving and being resourceful to persevere. (1157 characters, with spaces)

Experience Type : Paid Employment – Not Medical/Clinical

Experience Name : Children’s Dance Instructor

Contact Name & Title : Ms. Stacy Spencer

Contact Phone : 3348766564

Organization Name : Reset Dance Academy

City/State/Country : Pittsburgh / Pennsylvania / United States

Dates : 1/20XX-05/20XX

Total Hours : 2500

Experience Description : I started dancing when I was nine, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. I was hired at Reset Dance Academy as a dance instructor for girls between the ages of 8–16 competing in ballet, musical theater, and contemporary dance. As an instructor, it was my job to coordinate large classes of up to 20 students of advanced and amateur levels and work with them on drills, stretches, mechanics, and choreography for competitions and academy performances. For the younger groups, I was also in charge of costume design and event planning. (537 characters, with spaces)

Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks: A challenging aspect of being a dance instructor was synchronizing my dancers, especially when I was working with younger, distractable children. For one non-competitive group, I recall a young dancer named Kyla who was struggling to get the moves right in a particular sequence for an upcoming show. After multiple sessions of trying to demonstrate how the move should be performed, she still wasn’t finding success. Despite my encouragement, she felt frustrated and wanted to drop out of the competition. Determined to motivate and show her that she was capable of performing, I had her stay after group classes to practice; but, instead of working on the sequence she was having trouble with, we “just had fun” and freestyled to her favorite songs. When we returned to the choreography we had to practice a few days later, she landed and finished the entire sequence with ease. What I realized was that not everyone learns the same way, and sometimes, a new perspective is all you need. This experience taught me to appreciate the diversity of thought and to always look for individualized learning models, as opposed to generalized ones. Seeing my future patients as individuals is an approach I want to refine and apply throughout my learning. (1,249 characters, with spaces)

Sample Entry #7

Sample entry #8, sample entry #9, sample entry #10, sample entry #11, sample entry #12, sample entry #13, sample entry #14, sample entry #15.

You have 700 characters to complete the Experience Description for each activity you add in the AMCAS Work and Activities section. For the “most meaningful” activities, you get an additional 1325 characters to write the Most Meaningful Experiences Remarks.

Yes, the AMCAS Work and Activities Most Meaningful Experiences section is a crucial part of your med school application. In fact, this section is placed ahead of your medical school personal statement essay, which means most admissions committees view your extracurricular activities and meaningful experiences before they see your essay. Your meaningful experiences should help the admissions committee members better understand your motivations to study medicine, and what makes you uniquely suited to it.

In your AMCAS Work and Activities section, you can add up to 15 entries to document all your extracurricular activities, experiences, and achievements. Out of these, up to 3 can be identified as Most Meaningful Experiences. To identify the “most meaningful” activities, you should take the time to reflect and identify which of the activities means the most to you, personally, and how they might have impacted your journey to med school. You should also consider the AAMC Core Competencies as well as the personal qualities and skills that future doctors should demonstrate, such as commitment to learning, cultural awareness, teamwork and collaboration, empathy, communication skills, and so on. Which of your experiences helped you learn one or more of these competencies? Which of your activities best demonstrates your commitment to medicine? Which of them makes you stand out from the crowd and show your unique suitability for medical school? Take the time to reflect and identify the most impactful experiences and select them accordingly. You can add both medical and non-medical activities in the AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences section; but you should ensure that even when writing about non-medical experience, the connection to your medical school journey is clearly communicated.

Medical school admissions committees go through thousands of applications every year. To truly stand out, you need to not only have impressive extracurriculars, but you should also be able to describe them effectively in your application. Your AMCAS “most meaningful” experiences should tell a story that grabs the attention of the reader and builds a consistent narrative about your passion for medicine, responsibility, leadership, initiative, empathy, cooperation, and commitment to service. Don’t write your entries in a dry, factual style. This isn’t a resume. Instead, you should include your personal reflections and demonstrate your growth through each experience. Also, add examples of real incidents to explain what you mean, rather than just adding a list of skills or achievements you picked up. Make the connections between your experiences and your motivation to apply for med school. Most importantly, write authentically about experiences that significantly changed your life. Admissions committees can see through pretension, and they value honesty and integrity in applicants. You can check the Samples section of this blog to see some examples of well-written AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences.

Your experiences are automatically arranged in chronological order. However, if required, admissions committees can rearrange them as per their own preference.

Yes, it’s acceptable to talk about the same experiences in both your personal statement essay and AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences section. In fact, it might look odd if you’ve mentioned a specific experience as life-changing in your personal statement but its not covered at all in the Most Meaningful Experiences section. However, that does not mean you can simply add identical content in both these sections. You’ll have to be briefer and more to the point in the AMCAS Work and Activities section. Focus on highlighting the responsibilities, achievements, growth, and learning you experienced for each experience, and think of a different angle than the one you used in your personal statement. This demonstrates your adaptability and reflective thinking while also building a consistent narrative.

You can add a maximum of 15 experiences or activities in the AMCAS Work and Activities section, and for each of them you can add up to 4 occurrences. Out of these 15, you can identify up to 3 experiences as “most meaningful”. However, adding 15 experiences and identifying 3 as “most meaningful” isn’t mandatory. Quality is more important than quantity. If you have only 4-5 experiences, then don’t try to come up with filler entries just to meet the “15” mark. Rather, focus on the existing 5 experiences and talk about them meaningfully and in-depth. If you add more than one experience, you must rank at least 1 of them as “most meaningful”.

To answer this question, let’s consider an example of hospital volunteer work. If you have completed multiple stints of volunteer work either at the same hospital or in different hospitals, you should ideally combine them into one entry, listing the brief details of each experience along with what you learned. The only reason to add separate entries is if you had an individual volunteering experience that was significantly different in terms of what you learned, your feedback, your achievements etc. If there was one such experience that was special and more meaningful than others, you can add a separate entry and mark it as “most meaningful”. However, if you basically have the same talking points for each of your volunteer experiences, just combine them as one entry. Otherwise, separating them out will just make it look like you are trying to fill up space.

You can mark any of your entries as most meaningful. It’s really up to you. Just make sure you explain clearly why that award or achievement is so meaningful to you. Don’t just add it like a line in your resume. For example, if you were awarded a merit-based research grant in recognition of your innovative research work, don’t just talk about the award criteria and your research. You also need to talk about why the award, specifically, meant so much to you, if you learned something from the entire journey, and how you grew from it. If there’s no significant story behind what the award meant to you, it’s better not to highlight it separately as a “meaningful experience”.

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Samantha Greenblatt

Great article! This was very helpful.

BeMo Academic Consulting

Thank you so much! We are glad you found this helpful!

Samantha Greenblatt, you are the winner of our weekly draw. Please email us at content[at]bemoacademicconsulting.com from the same email address you used to leave your comment to claim your prize!

Would you say there is enough space in the regular activities section to use storytelling and "showing"/ interpretation of the event or should these be more summaries / descriptions?

Hello Sarah! Thank you for your question. Absolutely! It is always important to use solid examples for your AMCAS entries and these examples must be somewhat detailed. It is not easy to write impressive entries under 700 characters long, but it's important to articulate what you learned and what impact you had. Your entries should never be dry summaries of events. Please review examples of regular entries in our AMCAS Work and Activities blog (https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/blog/amcas-work-activities-definitive-guide)

Good afternoon, are weekly draws still occurring?

Hello Sarah! Absolutely! We announce a winner every week!

Amanda Lopez

Well written examples are hard to come by. Thanks for the detailed advice!

Hello Amanda! Thank you very much for your comment! We are glad you enjoyed these examples and found our tips useful.

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PhD candidate Daniela Zuzunaga Zegarra wins the 2024 Professor Frank Pearce Essay Prize

May 14, 2024

PhD candidate Daniela Zuzunaga Zegarra has won the 2024 Professor Frank Pearce Essay Prize, an award for graduate students who submit the best essay on the topic of radical critical theory and social justice.

Daniela’s paper, Racism in the Platformized Cultural Industries: Precarity, Visibility & Harassment, examines how racialized content creators experience racism multilaterally, which works to produce barriers that limit creators ability to materially gain, build meaningful narratives of belonging, and feel safe within these environments.

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The Most Meaningful Experience in My Life
Conclusion. The most meaningful experience in my life was not defined by its grandeur, but by the depth of its impact. It was a journey of self-discovery, resilience, and connection that transformed my outlook and enriched my understanding of the world. Through challenges and moments of beauty, I uncovered the power of human resilience, the ...
How to Write a Personal Experience Essay With Sample Papers
A major, life-changing event. Something that you did over and over that was meaningful to you. Your experience and memories of a place that embodies who you are or has meaning for you. A time you were scared but overcame your fear. An ending of a relationship, activity, or event. A beginning of something new.
AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience: What You To Need To Know for 2021
Most Meaningful Activity AMCAS Tip #2: Differentiate yourself. Many medical school applicants will have some sort of experience in clinical volunteering, community service, research, teaching, and leadership. Therefore, in writing about your most meaningful experiences, focus on things you did that were unique or different.
Writing Your Most Meaningful Experiences
For example, your job description, your tasks, and accomplishments. The extra space that you have for the most meaningful experience should focus on what that experience did for you. What skills did you gain and why was it so valuable. Discuss what strengths you may have gained, how you may have shown improvement in an area, or how the ...
The Winners of Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest
In September, we challenged teenagers to write short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences for our first-ever personal narrative essay contest. This contest, like every new contest ...
How To Write the Meaningful Activity Essay for Princeton
Structuring the Essay. This prompt asks you to elaborate on an activity, organization, work experience, or hobby that has been particularly meaningful to you. With a word limit of 150, you may not have enough space to say all that you want to, so you should try to find a targeted story or angle. When you're planning this essay, you should ...
Sample Essays: Significant Experience
Sample Essay 3. Princeton, Childhood experience: A fishing trip. Reluctantly smearing sunblock over every exposed inch of my fifty-three pound body, I prepared mentally for the arduous task that lay ahead of me. After several miserable fishing ventures which had left my skin red and my hook bare, I felt certain that, at last, my day had arrived.
Telling Short, Memorable Stories From Your Life: 'My Secret Pepsi Plot'
Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest is inspired by The New York Times's Lives column, which ran from 1996 to 2017 and featured "short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences."
Using Personal Experiences in College Essays
Here are a few tips on how to effectively use personal experiences in your college essays: 1. Focus on a meaningful event: Choose an experience or situation that left a significant impact on you. This could be a specific challenge you faced, a time when you grew personally, or an instance when you demonstrated tremendous resilience.
Tips for Describing Most Meaningful Activities on Medical School
Remember, the most meaningful experience essays are opportunities to shed new light on yourself. Don't copy the experiences and stories in your personal statement. Tell stories. The adage ...
Crafting a Powerful AMCAS Most Meaningful Experience Essay
To make your AMCAS most meaningful experience essay stand out from the crowd, focus on presenting a personal narrative with specific details and emotions. Use descriptive language that draws the reader in and allows them to connect with your experience. Additionally, be sure to showcase your personal qualities and characteristics that make you ...
101 Meaningful Experiences Examples (2024)
Embrace it, it's one of the most meaningful experiences a human can have. For Example: The day you hold your newborn child for the first time, you sense an overwhelming feeling of love and protectiveness. This sparks a powerful internal transformation, realizing the depth of your capability to love and care. 10.
Meaningful Experiences Essay Examples
Browse essays about Meaningful Experiences and find inspiration. Learn by example and become a better writer with Kibin's suite of essay help services. Essay Examples
Most Meaningful Experiences Summary
Most Meaningful Experiences Summary. You may identify up to three experiences you consider to be the most meaningful. This designation will allow you an additional 1,325 characters to explain why the experience (s) was particularly meaningful to you. When writing your summary, you may want to consider the transformative nature of the experience ...
Meaningful Experience Essay
Decent Essays. 1417 Words. 6 Pages. Open Document. The meaningful experience that I decided to write about is something that I worked so hard for and it took me a long time to get. I choose this experience because throughout the journey I believe it shaped and created who I am today. I decided to talk about graduation and obtaining my Bachelors ...
How to write about your most meaningful medical experience
Tip 2: Avoid using shadowing as a most meaningful activity. While shadowing can be an incredibly impactful experience on aspiring medical students, it is an inherently passive activity that doesn't add much depth to your personal narrative. Reserve your "most meaningful experience" essay for experiences that highlight an active role in the ...
The most Meaningful Experience
Memory is one of those tiny precious things that, at a certain period of our life, turn out to be the most meaningful one. Recollecting from the past is one of the typical features of every human being; however, for some individuals, this process is associated not only with the past images and a particular set of events but also with the priceless and extremely meaningful experience.
The Art of Writing A Most Meaningful Essay
The Art of Writing A Most Meaningful Essay. By: Ryan Kelly. Imagine writing 730 pages to narrate the events of one day. In Ulysses, James Joyce uses 18 chapters to traverse the novel's 24-hour timeframe. The story flashes back and forth, alludes to myths, includes cheeky puns, and fluctuates between prose and Leopold Bloom's stream-of ...
Free MBA 'Meaningful Experience' Essay Samples
Free MBA 'Meaningful Experience' Essay Samples . See below some MBA Meaningful Experience essay samples:While an undergrad student, I volunteered at the XXX. This project aspires to build a better society through education and soccer, providing underprivileged children from the periphery a social-athletic-educational framework.I was ...
2024 TMDSAS Ultimate Guide (Essay Examples Included)
Meanwhile, the TMDSAS Personal Biography and Activities section does not limit the number of extracurricular activities you may enter—offering a 500-character limit for each entry, with an additional 500 characters for your three most meaningful experiences, across the following categories: Leadership. Research Activities. Healthcare Activities
AMCAS Most Meaningful Experiences: The 15 Best Examples
The AMCAS Work and Activities most meaningful experiences are essentially the most significant experiences that stand out among the other activities you add in your AMCAS application (required for all medical school applications in the US, except Texas). In your AMCAS Work and Activities, you are asked to provide up to 15 employment, research, volunteer, and extracurricular activities.
How to write most meaningful experiences? : r/premed
small anecdote. how this small anecdote impacted me personally. how this anecdotal experience will make me a better physician. For example, let's say I chose an EMT experience as most meaningful: call for an elderly woman with alarmingly high blood pressure who doesn't wanna go to the hospital.
PhD candidate Daniela Zuzunaga Zegarra wins the 2024 Professor Frank
PhD candidate Daniela Zuzunaga Zegarra has won the 2024 Professor Frank Pearce Essay Prize, an award for graduate students who submit the best essay on the topic of radical critical theory and social justice. Daniela's paper, Racism in the Platformized Cultural Industries: Precarity, Visibility & Harassment, examines how racialized content creators experience racism multilaterally, which ...