"List of Activities" on Supplemental app

[nebula]

I'm working on a supplemental app right now, and one of the questions asks for a description of all activities between the end of college and anticipated matriculation at a PA program. I've been out of undergrad for 9 years, so that's a lot, haha. They ask you to "describe" rather than list so I'm assuming that translates to a narrative, but I'm wondering how much navel-gazing to do about my career path as part of that. There are a bunch of other supplemental narratives + the main CASPA one so I feel like they'll be getting a pretty good picture of who I am as a person from those. I'm mainly concerned because I have some gaps on my resume (got out of grad school in a tiny field right when the economy tanked and lot of places went into hiring freezes). I worked (mainly tutoring and freelance writing) during those gaps, but I'm still kind of sensitive about them and worried that I look like a dilettante and how to address that, or if this part of the app even wants me to address it. Any insight?

[UGoLong]

I was nearly forty years past my BS when I applied. Just list your jobs and years, like you would on a resume, with a sentence or so about each job if need be. That makes it clear that you weren't in a Mexican jail for some of the time. I too was self-employed for part of that time and just wrote what I did:

 

nebula, potential PA-S

Frelance tutor and writer, 2001-2006

Tutored college chemistry students and wrote freelance articles for science magazines.

 

Good luck!