do hobbies belong in a CV/ERAS application?

[adkfanatic]

The person writing my Dean's letter told me to put my hobbies/interests into ERAS in the extracurricular section. He reasoned that this could be a way for interviewers to "break the ice."

Conversely, the residency director of my field of interest at my school thought it would be unprofessional to include hobbies such as camping, rock climbing, etc on a CV.

What do you all think? Thanks!

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[endodoc]

The person writing my Dean's letter told me to put my hobbies/interests into ERAS in the extracurricular section. He reasoned that this could be a way for interviewers to "break the ice."

Conversely, the residency director of my field of interest at my school thought it would be unprofessional to include hobbies such as camping, rock climbing, etc on a CV.

What do you all think? Thanks!

You are fine to have hobbies on there. I would not go nuts, and I would not put anything that might make you look like a risk or risky.

 

[fourthyearmed]

ERAS has a specific section for hobbies and interests so of course you put them.

 

[Anasazi23]

I found that in the majority of my interviews, I was asked about my hobbies and interests that I had put on my ERAS application. They were indeed very good ice breakers. I remember one interview I had lasted a half hour and consisted almost entirely of my interests in classic car restoration. Granted, we didn't get to talk about "me" much, but he seemed to find it very interesting.

Whatever you do, don't put down "reading" as one of your interests/hobbies.
One program director was making fun of people who put that down, and I can see why....

 

[fourthyearmed]

Why? I put reading because I enjoy reading fiction.

 

[margaritaboy]

I was also consistently asked about my extracurricular interests and experiences. After all, they are going to be working with you X years, and they'll want to know who their prospective colleague will be.

Put whatever you want down for hobbies, be it sky diving, reading, painting etc. Whatever truly represents your interests is the best thing to put down, in my opinion.

 

[kristing]

Why? I put reading because I enjoy reading fiction.

I think because everyone puts it, maybe? I am a huge reader, but I specifically listed the type of book I like when I listed it on my ERAS.

 

[cookypuss3]

Ugh. It feels so contrived to list a bunch of stuff, even though it's legit. I feel like writing, "I like to drink a lot of cocktails with my friends, go shopping at the Nordstrom outlet, and make money on eBay by selling random things". I mean, that's much closer to the truth. Sadly.

 

[bobo]

Q, DO aka Neo talked about the Matrix a bunch at one of his interviews.

 

[surg]

Whatever you put, be sure you want to talk about it and have done some of it in the recent past. If you put down something a little off the beaten path, be ready to explain something about it.
When I used to interview applicants, I can recall asking someone about their hobby, only to discover they had NO idea what they were talking about. Interview went downhill from there as you might guess.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Include them on ERAS simply because you can. The advice as to whether to include hobbies on a CV does vary. As for reading, it IS one of my hobbies but in retrospect it does seem a bit pedestrian and not very interesting.

Granted you shouldn't make up interesting hobbies just for interview fodder but a little creative thinking might make your old hum-drum activities sound more appealing. For example an interest in cooking could be expanded to Southern Indian curries, or the like.

BTW, I was asked a fair bit about SDN and my interest in net-based education (I didn't realize I had any...but it appears I do!).