Writing the OMSAS Autobiographical Sketch: What Belongs in Each ABS Entry
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 19, 2026 • Fields of Study, Canadian Universities & Colleges
OMSAS sorts your Autobiographical Sketch into six categories: employment, volunteer work, extracurricular activities, awards, research, and other. Each entry gets a short description under a tight character limit plus dates, hours, location and a verifier who can confirm what you wrote, so treat every entry as a claim someone else can check.
🎓 Six categories: Employment, Volunteer, Extracurricular, Awards and Accomplishments, Research, Other
Each entry needs a verifier who can confirm your involvement
Descriptions run on a tight character limit, so every word counts
You do not need an entry in every category or anywhere near the maximum
Depth in a few entries beats padding the sketch with minor activities
What the ABS is for
The Autobiographical Sketch, or ABS, is the section of your OMSAS application where you list what you have done since around age 16: jobs, volunteering, clubs, awards, research and anything else relevant to a medicine application. Admissions committees read it to see what you have actually done, not only what your transcript shows.
Start a running list of your activities as they happen through your undergraduate degree. Reconstructing exact hours, dates and verifier contact information years later from memory costs you accuracy and time you will not have during application season.
The six categories
OMSAS sorts every entry into one of six categories. You choose which category fits each activity when you build your sketch.
Employment: paid work, including part time and summer jobs
Volunteer Activities: unpaid community, clinical or organizational work
Extracurricular Activities: clubs, sports, arts and student groups
Awards and Accomplishments: scholarships, competitions, recognitions
Research: lab work, publications, conference presentations, research assistantships
Other: anything meaningful that does not fit the categories above
You do not need an entry in every category, and you do not need to fill the sketch close to its maximum. Committees read for relevance and depth, not for a full list.
What each entry needs
Every entry needs a start and end date, the number of hours involved, the location, a short description of what you did, and a verifier: someone who can confirm your involvement if the school follows up. Pick verifiers who know your actual contribution and will respond if contacted, not only a senior name attached to the activity.
The description field runs on a tight character limit, so you cannot explain context the way you would in a personal statement. Every word has to earn its place.
How to write a strong entry
Lead with what you did, not the name of the organization. Reviewers already see the organization name in a separate field.
Use a specific action and a specific result or number where you have one, instead of a vague description of a responsibility.
Cut filler words. Phrases like "assisted with" and "helped to" cost you space you need for the actual detail.
Match the entry to the category that best reflects the core of the activity, not the one that sounds most impressive.
Choose verifiers early and confirm they are reachable at the contact information you plan to submit.
Example: a weak entry versus a strong one
Weak: "Helped out at a local clinic assisting staff with various tasks and learned a lot about healthcare." Strong: "Logged patient intake data at a walk in clinic, cut wait time entry errors, flagged records for follow up." The second version fits the same character budget while showing a specific action and outcome.
Common mistakes to avoid
Do not pad the sketch with minor, one off activities just to fill space. A reviewer comparing five deep entries against thirty shallow ones tends to remember the five. Do not list an activity you cannot support with a verifier, since OMSAS or the school can follow up directly. Do not leave a description so generic that two different applicants could have written the identical line for two different activities.
Build your sketch well before the deadline. Confirming verifier contact details and trimming descriptions to the character limit both take longer than expected the first time through.