What is the OMSAS Autobiographical Sketch?
The Autobiographical Sketch, usually shortened to ABS, is the structured activity record inside the Ontario medical-school application. It is a list rather than a personal essay: each entry records what you did, when and where you did it, how much time you spent, a short description, and a person who can verify the activity.
OMSAS asks for activities since age 16. The goal is not to make every experience sound medical. A useful sketch gives the reader an accurate, organized view of your employment, service, interests, research, achievements, and other sustained commitments.
The OMSAS ABS format
| Part | What to plan |
|---|---|
| Total entries | Up to 32 activities from age 16 onward. |
| Activity categories | Employment, Volunteer Activities, Extracurricular Activities, Awards & Accomplishments, Research, and Other. |
| Description | Up to 150 characters for the activity description or responsibilities. |
| Verifier | A contact who can confirm your involvement; the same person may verify more than one appropriate entry. |
| School selections | Some schools ask you to identify selected activities, including uOttawa and Queen's top-3 choices. |
Use the official source as the final authority. Requirements can change during an application cycle. Check the OMSAS Sketch and Verifier Requirements before you submit.
How to build your sketch
1. Inventory first; edit later
Start with a broad list of activities since age 16. Include paid work, volunteering, clubs, athletics, arts, caregiving, research, awards, community involvement, and personal interests that took real time or effort. Do not write polished descriptions yet. Just get the facts down.
2. Gather the details while they are easy to verify
For each activity, record the organization, location, dates, time commitment, role, and verifier. Check dates against calendars, résumés, tax slips, certificates, or emails. Resolving a date or phone-number question now is easier than doing it close to the deadline.
3. Draft from actions and outcomes
With only 150 characters, start with the strongest accurate verb and preserve the details that distinguish the experience. "Coordinated weekly meal service for 60 guests; trained 8 new volunteers" carries more information than a general statement about developing leadership.
4. Read the whole sketch as one document
Once each entry makes sense on its own, read the full sketch from top to bottom. Repeated verbs become obvious. So do missing dates, thin categories, and long commitments you forgot to include. You do not need to fill every slot.
5. Transfer carefully
SketchRx is a drafting workspace, not the official application. When the sketch is ready, copy the fields into OMSAS and proofread the transferred version. Confirm that dates, hours, categories, verifier details, and school-specific selections survived the move correctly.
How to write a 150-character ABS description
- Start with a concrete verb: organized, analyzed, coached, designed, or supported.
- Keep details that show scale, such as team size, frequency, audience, or a verified outcome.
- Cut setup phrases like "responsible for." They take up space without saying much.
- Show collaboration or leadership through the work instead of naming the trait.
- Never invent a number or outcome to make the line sound stronger.
Choosing and preparing verifiers
A verifier should be able to confirm the activity and the basic facts in your entry. A supervisor, coordinator, coach, principal investigator, or organization leader is usually easier to verify than a peer. Ask before listing someone, confirm their preferred contact details, and tell them which activity they may be contacted about.
Keep verifier details organized separately from your description drafts. Before submission, verify spelling, email, telephone number, address, and the relationship between the contact and the activity.
Using CanMEDS without keyword stuffing
The CanMEDS framework can be a useful private planning lens for checking whether your activities demonstrate varied ways of contributing: communicating, collaborating, leading, advocating, learning, acting professionally, and applying expertise. It should not turn every description into a list of role names.
Use the framework to notice gaps and repetition across the complete sketch. Then write the activity itself in plain, specific language. SketchRx keeps its CanMEDS mapping private; those planning tags are not part of the text you submit.
Final OMSAS ABS checklist
- Every fact is accurate and can be supported.
- Dates and hours are consistent across entries.
- Descriptions stay within the applicable field limits.
- Each required activity has an appropriate verifier.
- Verifier contact details are current and spelled correctly.
- Categories and school-specific selections are correct.
- The final text in OMSAS matches the version you proofread.