MAXIMIZING THE EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION SECTIONS OF CASPA
In the supporting materials section of CASPA, you are given the opportunity to list and describe the various roles that add to your application. This is known as the “experiences” section. Options to categorize you experiences include non-healthcare employment, research, volunteer, patient care experience, healthcare experience, shadowing, leadership experience, extracurricular activities, and teaching experience. The experiences section of CASPA is a crucial part of your application. Once you fill out the required information, such as your position and the number of hours gained, there is a textbox to describe the entry. Here is where you will explain to the admissions committee your responsibilities, job duties, level of involvement, etc in this particular experience. The quality of the description short responses can elevate your application as a whole. For example, this section allows you the opportunity to prove why specific entries will be categorized as patient care compared to only healthcare experience. It is your chance to go into detail about the diverse experiences you have had leading up to PA school.
The tough part is that the experience descriptions are limited to just 600 characters, which correlates to roughly 100 words! Be very picky about the words you use to describe your experiences and avoid using any filler words or sentences. You can either use a bullet format or paragraph but stay consistent throughout all experience descriptions. They should be concise and informative. Get right to the point and leave the reader impressed by your involvement in these experiences. This portion is one of the few parts of CASPA you can work on before the cycle opens. I suggest keeping a file on your computer dedicated to drafting and editing experience descriptions so that once CASPA opens, they are polished and ready to go!
Your personal statement may touch on some of your experience entries, but this part of CASPA is where you can elaborate on each one individually. For example, if you worked as a CNA at your community hospital, describe what you did, what other healthcare workers you were on a team with, how it has inspired you to continue your journey to become a PA, general skills and values you gained, etc. Take a step back from the position, and rather than describe it solely as a job, describe the experience holistically. As another example for a non-healthcare related experience entry, if you were a teaching assistant for a college course, consider expanding on how you guided students to the correct answer using critical thinking skills, kept open communication with the professors and team you are working with and managed your time efficiently! Each of these make positive contributions to your ability to be a successful PA student and will be valued by admissions committees.
Take advantage of the space they allow you to further prove your readiness for PA school and always max-out each description box. Limiting your description to one or two sentences may come off as lazy and underprepared to apply to PA school. Also, it is a good idea to have these proofread, just like your personals statement should be. Send the few descriptions into the writing center at your college, send them over to a former professor, or a knowledgeable colleague. Impress admission committees every chance you can, including with these short paragraphs.
- Here is a quick guide to constructing an experience description that adequately communicates your time in that role:
- Introduction sentence to summarize what the experience was.
- Sentence to describe your main role, your responsibilities, who you worked alongside, etc.
- Sentence mentioning skills and values gained from this experience.
- Include any other impressive aspects about this specific experience.
- Conclusion sentence connecting the experience back to your goal of being ready for PA school.
With only 600 characters, it may be hard to include everything you want. Use your best judgment to relay the information that you need the reader to know, rather than all the information you would want the reader to know. Leave out irrelevant details that are non-specific to this particular experience in order to leave room for the necessary material. Edit these descriptions until you are confident that they describe the experience in a way that will make the admissions member excited to learn more about you and want to extend you an interview offer!
