Presenting Your Loop Experience

On a resume, potential employers (or other people or organizations who’ve asked for a resume)  are looking for clear, concrete information. They want to know what you did and when you did it. A good resume provides details, quantified in numbers whenever possible, and presents that information so that it can be read at a glance. Stay away from colors, images, and long paragraphs. Instead, use concise bullet points that begin with action verbs.  

Here is a sample resume entry about a Loop Abroad experience. We have included more bullet points than you would typically use to give a bigger example; you would likely want to include only three or four. 

Loop Abroad Thailand Veterinary Service, student, summer 2023

• Elephant sanctuary field course with veterinarian including husbandry and veterinary shadowing

• Participated in a diverse team

• Provided veterinary clinic assistance for dogs, including disease monitoring, SOAP  exams, treatment of skin diseases, diagnoses and pathology, surgical prep, anesthesia administration and monitoring, neuter surgeries, and patient recovery. 

• Performed canine patient monitoring 

• Practiced shelter medicine and upkeep with DMV guidance 

For clinic jobs, you would focus on and highlights specific relevant skills that you learned.

You should not write “references available on request” on a resume. That is obvious. Either include your references or don’t write anything and have your references ready. If you would like one of your Loop Abroad staff members to serve as a reference for you, please contact them ahead of time to ask. You should get their contact information today if you don’t have it yet. For more tips on your resume, please click here. 

A cover letter is your chance to elaborate on what’s listed in your resume by providing new information. Remember that the goal of a cover letter is to show why you would be an asset to the job, not why the job would be good for you! You can tell why you are a good fit for the job,  but you should tell that through your experiences. Potential employers don’t care so much about what you can learn from them or what you want to get out of the job – they want to know why they should pick you!  

(For academic experiences, they generally do care what you hope to get out of the experience,  and that would be good information to include.) 

In an application for a job related to international relations, teamwork, thinking on your feet,  working outdoors, holding a leadership role, volunteering, conservation, or any number of other fields or skills, your experience would be relevant.  

As another example, if you were a vet program student who was applying for a job anywhere in  the veterinary or animal care field, you might write something like:

In 2023, I traveled to Thailand with Loop Abroad as part of a small team working alongside a  US veterinarian to provide care to animals in a dog shelter and at the Elephant Nature Park elephant sanctuary. We were able to learn from the veterinarian in a hands-on clinical setting,  seeing how shelter medicine is practiced and how a large-scale conservation effort runs. I  learned and practiced approach and restraint tactics, SOAP exams, 3DX/4DX tests, Shirmer tests, medication administration, catheter insertion, blood draws, slide preparation and observation, suturing techniques, hemostat skills, anesthesia calculation, anesthesia monitoring,  surgical prep, patient recovery monitoring, X-rays, and ultrasound use. I was also able to observe elephant interactions close-up, interact with elephants, and assist in monitoring elephant diets via full-day observation for a study. I am comfortable working long, hot days in difficult conditions and doing whatever is needed to support the veterinary staff and help the animals in their care.

The VMCAS has a very specific set of directions for how to enter your experience, and they evolve from year to year, so be sure to clearly follow the directions. 

You should highlight veterinary skills learned and practiced. You  may want to highlight: 

• Working in clinics, sanctuaries, and shelter environments 

• Variety of species (list) you worked with 

• Working in a tropical environment to diagnose/treat diseases you might not otherwise see 

You can refer to the chart below if you are unsure how to categorize your hours during your Loop Abroad program. The VMCAS  directions note: “Veterinary and Animal Experiences can appear very similar!”

This is a place to focus on the components of your trip that match the program to which you are applying. If your focus is international relations, for example, focus on what you learned and observed about culture and perspectives. If your focus is veterinary, focus on specific skills learned, practiced, and observed. If your focus is teaching, include specific skills you practiced and learned. Include the number of hours you volunteered or worked during your trip. This might be a place to mention that you were chosen for this selective program based on your essay,  experience, and references. 

We suggest that, if you get only one admissions essay, you do not use it to talk about your Loop  Abroad travel experience. Your essay is a chance for the admissions committee to get to know you, not hear about your trip. Talk about something that is part of your daily life so that you can really show who you are. 

If you feel that you have to talk about your experience as the core of your essay (you don’t), do not give an overview of the whole experience. You aren’t an ad for Loop Abroad! Talk about a  specific moment during the trip and then expand upon that to relate it to your life in some way:  what you’ve learned, where you’ve come from, or where you’re going. 

Seriously, though. Use your essay for something else. There are lots of other places to include your travel experience in your application.

In an interview, or anytime you’re talking about your Loop Abroad experience in a professional or academic setting (in an essay, for example), there are some cliché points you should avoid. 

NOT IMPRESSIVE

• “This trip really taught me how lucky/privileged I am, and how some people have very  little.” This doesn’t come off as insightful –it seems like something you should really already know. It’s true that sometimes traveling abroad can really hammer this point home, and that’s a good thing to learn and appreciate. But it isn’t an impressive thought to share in an interview setting. 

• “When I saw how happy people could be with so little, I realized I should enjoy the  simple things more.” Sure, you should enjoy the simple things more. But this has a bad ring to it, as if you stopping to enjoy a latte is the same as someone else living in poverty without access to things like good healthcare, clean drinking water, or a good education. 

• “I am so glad I was there to help. I really saved the dogs/elephants/people.” It’s true that your participation in a Loop Abroad program does a LOT of good – you and your fellow students provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in assistance each year to sanctuaries around the globe through your tuition. BUT most of the purpose of a trip like this is for you: to learn, to experience, to interact with other people you wouldn’t otherwise meet, and to shape the path of your life. Those are important, worthwhile pursuits, and you can do them and do a lot of good along the way! But acting as if you saved the world in two weeks looks naïve.

MUCH MORE IMPRESSIVE

• “I learned so much about how conservation works in the real world, and how many  factors contribute to what looks like it would be a simple solution.” 

• “I was able to be around people who are working for a cause they believe in, and see what that entails first-hand, and be a part of it myself. It inspired me to see how real  change is made in the world.” 

• “I learned from a great teacher and was able to experience and practice things I wouldn’t be able to experience and practice anywhere else, all while providing some help and supporting causes I care about. It was a great way to see what this job is really like.” 

• “I had to step out of my comfort zone in a big way, but the benefits were huge. I now  know what I’m capable of doing and am much better at working as a team for a long-term goal while considering the short-term directions and constraints.” 

• “I was exposed to so many different perspectives, both from others in my group and from people I worked with in Costa Rica. I have seen that well-meaning people can have  different solutions to the same problem, and I know that it’s really important to consider  cultural perspectives when thinking about development and change.” 

• “One of the skills we practiced was really hard for me, but I kept trying it and didn’t give up. With the support of my team, I was able to do it. Being pushed into that position over  and over helped equip me to be a great team member going forward.” 

• “I chose this program because I wanted to make sure that my service was helping established, local programs that have long-term, culturally sensitive goals. I wanted to work with faculty who really knew what they were doing. I think it’s such a privilege to  go on a trip like this, even though it’s a lot of work, that you have to make sure you’re  contributing to the good in the long run.” 

• “Since coming home, I’ve taken what I learned and experienced and shared it with my community at home in lots of ways. I feel responsible for sharing what I’ve learned and  magnifying the impact of the travel experience.”

If you aren’t sure how to explain your experience in a professional or academic setting, just ask us and we’ll be happy to help. Sometimes you only get one chance to frame things in the best possible way, so it’s a good idea to take advantage of that opportunity!