TMDSAS Personal Biography Section: Every Subsection Explained
Table of Contents
As promised, I wanted to make a separate post all about the Personal Biography section of the TMDSAS application.
This is basically where you list all of your activities, achievements, employment, volunteering, leadership, research, and everything else you’ve done outside the classroom.
It’s one of the biggest sections of the application, so let’s break it down subsection by subsection.
1. Academic Recognition
The first subsection is Academic Recognition.
This is where you’ll list significant academic honors, scholarships, awards, or other academic recognition you’ve received.
The template is pretty straightforward:
- Award title
- Date received
- Location
- Description
One piece of advice I have is don’t assume the admissions committee knows what your award is.
Instead of simply saying:
“Received the XYZ Scholarship.”
Explain:
- What the award was for
- How competitive it was
- What the selection criteria were
Then, if possible, end with what you learned from receiving it.
I think this last part is really important.
The admissions committee isn’t only interested in what you accomplished—they also want to know how that experience shaped you.
2. Non-Academic Recognition
Next is Non-Academic Recognition.
This includes significant honors that aren’t directly related to academics or GPA.
For example:
- Presentation awards
- Competition finalists
- Leadership awards
- Other recognitions outside the classroom
The difference is that Academic Recognition is generally tied to your grades or academics, while Non-Academic Recognition focuses on accomplishments outside of coursework.
3. Leadership
Please tell me you have some leadership experience.
Leadership is incredibly important when applying to medical school because physicians are expected to become future leaders in healthcare.
For each leadership experience, you’ll include:
- Role title
- Dates
- Location
- Description
Again, don’t just write:
“I was a teaching assistant.”
Instead, explain what you actually did.
For example:
- How many review sessions did you lead?
- How many students did you teach?
- How did you impact those students?
- Can you quantify your impact?
If you have a meaningful personal story, include that too.
And once again…
Always end with what you learned.
Admissions committees don’t just want to know what you did—they want to know how the experience changed you or what skills you’ll bring into medicine because of it.
I’m actually thinking about making an entire separate post dedicated to leadership positions that count for medical school applications because I get asked about this a lot.
4. Research Activities
The next subsection is Research Activities.
Research isn’t mandatory everywhere, but it’s definitely something I recommend having if possible.
For each research experience you’ll include:
- Activity name
- Dates
- Location
- Hours per week
- Total hours
- Description
- Publications
- Posters
- Presentations
Just like every other section…
Don’t just describe what you did.
Talk about what you learned.
If you published a paper or presented at a conference, definitely include those.
I’m also thinking about making subscriber-only examples of activity descriptions because I think seeing real examples is much more helpful than simply explaining them.
5. Healthcare Activities
Next comes Healthcare Activities.
This includes:
- Clinical volunteering
- Healthcare employment
- Shadowing
- Other healthcare experiences
Yes—you can absolutely include shadowing here.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know I’ve talked about shadowing before, and I’ll link that post here.
I always recommend shadowing because it’s one of the best ways to explore medicine before committing to it.
It doesn’t even have to be the specialty you’re interested in.
Honestly, many incoming medical students have no idea what specialty they want.
Any physician willing to let you shadow is valuable.
Other experiences that fit here include:
- Hospital volunteering
- Nursing home volunteering
- Free clinics
- Healthcare employment
If you’d like more ideas, I also have an entire post comparing non-clinical vs. clinical volunteering, so definitely check that out.
6. Community Engagement Activities
The next subsection is Community Engagement Activities.
These are your non-healthcare volunteer experiences.
Again, I won’t go into too much detail here because I already have an entire blog post dedicated to clinical versus non-clinical volunteering.
There are so many organizations looking for volunteers, so if you have the opportunity to serve your community, I highly encourage it.
7. Extracurricular Activities
This section is for extracurriculars and significant leisure activities.
Yes…
You can absolutely list hobbies.
If an activity didn’t really fit under healthcare, leadership, or volunteering, this is probably where it belongs.
Maybe you were an active member of a student organization but never held a leadership role.
Maybe you enjoy singing, photography, sports, or another hobby that’s been meaningful to you.
These activities help admissions committees get to know you outside of medicine.
8. Veterinary Activities
There is also a Veterinary Activities subsection.
This is mainly for veterinary school applicants, so most medical school applicants won’t use it.
9. Employment
Next is Employment.
You’ll list any jobs you’ve had since graduating high school.
This section asks for things like:
- Job title
- Employer
- Dates
- Location
- Whether employment depended on being a student
Don’t underestimate employment experiences.
Having a job teaches responsibility, communication, and time management—all things medical schools appreciate.
10. Most Meaningful Experiences
Now we get to what I think is one of the most important parts of the Personal Biography section.
TMDSAS asks you to choose three Most Meaningful Experiences.
Personally…
If I were on an admissions committee, this is probably one of the first things I’d read.
You only get three. So choose wisely.
Hopefully these are experiences you’ve spent a significant amount of time doing.
For example…
If you list nursing home volunteering as one of your most meaningful experiences but only volunteered once or twice…that raises questions.
If something truly changed your life, it should probably reflect the amount of time you invested.
One really important tip:
You’ve already described these experiences earlier in the application. Don’t repeat yourself. Instead, use this extra space to share something new.
Maybe in the Healthcare Activities section you described what you did.
Now you can explain:
- Why it mattered.
- How it changed your perspective.
- How it influenced your journey toward medicine.
Think of this section as giving admissions committees a deeper look into experiences you’ve already introduced.
I’ll also be making another blog post explaining which three experiences I chose and why.
11. Planned Activities
The final subsection is Planned Activities.
This lets you include activities you’ll begin between submitting your application and the following August.
This can include:
- Future employment
- Research
- Clinical experiences
- Volunteering
- Community service
I actually think this section is pretty generous. Maybe you’ve accepted an exciting research position but haven’t started yet. Maybe you’ve been hired for a new job.
You can still let admissions committees know that these experiences are coming.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, the Personal Biography section is huge.
Outside of your essays, this is one of the main ways admissions committees get to know who you are beyond your GPA and MCAT score.
They get a glimpse into:
- How you’ve spent your time.
- What matters to you.
- What you’ve learned.
- What kind of future physician you hope to become.
The biggest piece of advice I can leave you with is this:
For every activity you include, don’t just tell admissions committees what you did.
Tell them what you learned.
That reflection is often what transforms an activity from a simple list of accomplishments into a meaningful story.
Combined with your essays, MCAT, and grades, this section helps create the holistic picture of who you are as an applicant.
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