Does Fishing count as an EC?

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753698

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I know this is a weird topic but I'm not really sure what counts as an EC other than Volunteering/Research/RSO's and clubs etc.

Do you need to join a fishing club for it to count as an EC? Or does fishing only count as a hobby?
 
Why don't you exchange fishing with hunting and let's see how that will work for you!
 
Faefly said:
Why don't you exchange fishing with hunting and let's see how that will work for you!
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I catch and release only. But are you saying I shouldn't mention fishing at all? It's my main hobby 🙁

Is fishing generally frowned upon by the dental community?
 
If you can mention fishing I’d love to know if I could of mentioned jogging every morning as extracurricular haha


The ADEA Guide defines extracurricular as “Extracurricular Activities: Any sports teams and other activities through a college or university” (Page 28)

So mainly they are talking about clubs and organization you participated it. I mean honestly if fishing was my hobby and I really wanted to say that I would put it down. A lot of interviewers asked about hobbies.

I don’t think it’s frowned upon? A lot of people also told me not to put video games in manual dexterity hahah but I put it down a long with a couple other stuff and one interviewer was interested
 
princeafrica said:
If you can mention fishing I’d love to know if I could of mentioned jogging every morning as extracurricular haha


The ADEA Guide defines extracurricular as “Extracurricular Activities: Any sports teams and other activities through a college or university” (Page 28)

So mainly they are talking about clubs and organization you participated it. I mean honestly if fishing was my hobby and I really wanted to say that I would put it down. A lot of interviewers asked about hobbies.

I don’t think it’s frowned upon? A lot of people also told me not to put video games in manual dexterity hahah but I put it down a long with a couple other stuff and one interviewer was interested
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Ohh I see. I guess if I join the fishing club at my university then technically it should count as an EC right? I've always heard you should have something to set yourself apart from other applicants so wouldn't fishing be a good way to set myself apart, since most pre-dents don't really fish lol.

But then again there's also the fear that maybe the person reviewing my application thinks that fishing is bad. If I exclude fishing though I would basically be excluding half of my life from my application.
 
Shak Muscles said:
Ohh I see. I guess if I join the fishing club at my university then technically it should count as an EC right? I've always heard you should have something to set yourself apart from other applicants so wouldn't fishing be a good way to set myself apart, since most pre-dents don't really fish lol.

But then again there's also the fear that maybe the person reviewing my application thinks that fishing is bad. If I exclude fishing though I would basically be excluding half of my life from my application.
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Only if you join the fishing club at your university would fishing be an EC. I wouldn't put it there if you're not in the club, I didn't put any of my hobbies outside of ones I put into my manual dexterity paragraph. Even if you don't list it, most interviewers will ask about your hobbies to get to know you as a person better

My main manual dexterity skill was tying flies for fly fishing. It came up in all of my interviews except for one, in two of them, we actually had some really great talks about the difference in tactics between saltwater and freshwater. I don't think that admissions committee members are superficial enough to not chose you because you fish
 
Shak Muscles said:
I catch and release only. But are you saying I shouldn't mention fishing at all? It's my main hobby 🙁

Is fishing generally frowned upon by the dental community?
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Honestly, I put some meetup group that I joined where we play a certain sport monthly on my EC and that was perfectly fine for me.

Anything that you do outside of school is your EC, so long you write a nice paragraph about it and how it taught you something. ( and I know this is not how the Adea defines it, I knew that and I still put it)

My main comment was some people love animals so much and they might judge you for that.

For example, I love fish so much.

I know the dentist that I shadowed loved fishing, so of course, many people will be happy to read about your fishing activities, but there are some who won't like it.
 
Shak Muscles said:
I know this is a weird topic but I'm not really sure what counts as an EC other than Volunteering/Research/RSO's and clubs etc.

Do you need to join a fishing club for it to count as an EC? Or does fishing only count as a hobby?
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It only counts if the fish have teeth, sorry.


If you're in the University of "__________" fishing club then it definitely counts. Talk about it with passion my guy.
 
Faefly said:
My main comment was some people love animals so much and they might judge you for that.

For example, I love fish so much.

I know the dentist that I shadowed loved fishing, so of course, many people will be happy to read about your fishing activities, but there are some who won't like it.
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Not to derail the thread, but those who fish recreationally, love the fish too. Recreational fisherman are leaders in conservation of gamefish.

As with everything in life, some people will like things you do, other's won't, shouldn't make you ashamed of being yourself and what you're passionate about. So absolutely add it to your application if you can, and don't worry about dental schools looking down on you for it.

AppalachianDentalBoy said:
It only counts if the fish have teeth, sorry.
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This^
Say you only target sheepshead and you give them a free oral exam before you release them
 
Cthuluhoop said:
Not to derail the thread, but those who fish recreationally, love the fish too. Recreational fisherman are leaders in conservation of gamefish.

As with everything in life, some people will like things you do, other's won't, shouldn't make you ashamed of being yourself and what you're passionate about. So absolutely add it to your application if you can, and don't worry about dental schools looking down on you for it.


This^
Say you only target sheepshead and you give them a free oral exam before you release them
Click to expand...
Exactly, I fish for fun and I always handle the fish with as much care as I will handle my patients one day. And it's true people who fish for sport are always the biggest advocates for conservation of fish as well as conservation of the natural environment to ensure health of the fish.
 
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This might be a little far fetched, but couldn't you put this in the manual dexterity section? I know you need to tie intricate knots when rigging up fishing lines, and you're using your fingers to manipulate fishing line that is super thin.... idk lol
 
Cthuluhoop said:
Only if you join the fishing club at your university would fishing be an EC. I wouldn't put it there if you're not in the club, I didn't put any of my hobbies outside of ones I put into my manual dexterity paragraph. Even if you don't list it, most interviewers will ask about your hobbies to get to know you as a person better

My main manual dexterity skill was tying flies for fly fishing. It came up in all of my interviews except for one, in two of them, we actually had some really great talks about the difference in tactics between saltwater and freshwater. I don't think that admissions committee members are superficial enough to not chose you because you fish
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Oh man that's so cool. I can honestly say that fishing has definitely helped my manual dexterity. The complexity of some knots are insane. The knot I use (FG knot I think) to tie a leader onto my braid requires so much concentration and patience. And don't forget about when you gut hook a fish on accident, you basically have to perform surgery to get the hook out safely. Removing a gut hook safely is probably harder than yanking out your pateints tooth LOL. I think dentistry and fishing are both similar in the level of detail and precision both require.
 
Alright another question, say I join my fishing club. Then when putting hours for the EC do I only include hours when I went fishing with the club (tournaments etc.) or anytime I went fishing? Because I go fishing by myself a lot, not sure if I should include those hours.
 
I would just put the total hours you go fishing. regardless if it was with the club or not. The club is just a legitimate way to add fishing to your app.
 
I would definitely include that. It shows that you made time in your day to do other things and didn't just read all day. It shows you can handle multiple things at once. Never understood why folks are so hesitant in mentioning hobbies. Who cares as long as you weren't doing illegal activity it would be cool to me if I was part of the administration looking over your file
 
Life of Pablo said:
I would put it. You can also tie it in with your manual dexterity section. Anything interesting/anything that is a conversation starter is always a great thing to include on your application.
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That's where I added it as well. Tying complex knots when your hands are frozen definitely requires manual dexterity.
 
Faefly said:
Honestly, I put some meetup group that I joined where we play a certain sport monthly on my EC and that was perfectly fine for me.

Anything that you do outside of school is your EC, so long you write a nice paragraph about it and how it taught you something. ( and I know this is not how the Adea defines it, I knew that and I still put it)

My main comment was some people love animals so much and they might judge you for that.

For example, I love fish so much.

I know the dentist that I shadowed loved fishing, so of course, many people will be happy to read about your fishing activities, but there are some who won't like it.
Click to expand...
Not to go off topic, but fishing is great for a population, as is hunting. The hunting industry is very well monitored, and the money spent on expensive tags are put right back into conservation. Fishing is the same.
 
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Never bad to put up hobbies onto the application.
 
A buddy of mine in my anatomy dissection group is an avid hunter. He said he talked about it in his interviews and I see him get mileage out of it in D-school in connecting with professors. It was pretty cool to see him skin our cadaver. Dude was a pro.

The club is an extracurricular. Fishing by itself is a hobby. Even if you don’t join a club you can put it on your application but it’d be a different section. People just want to see that you’re interested in things and take agency in your life!
 
I was part of my university's bass fishing team/club and mentioned it as an EC. I was asked about it in one of my interviews and talked about participating in the collegiate Bassmasters and how I got to be on ESPN2 as well as some other tournaments I fished. We did some local waterway clean up that I also briefly mentioned.

Additionally, I fly fish and tie my own flies; I mentioned making flies in the manual dexterity section.
 
753698 said:
Is fishing generally frowned upon by the dental community?
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I took up fly fishing in dental school. I lived a half mile from a river and went many a Saturday morning. I interviewed this past fall for residency and it came up at interviews. Guess what? The department chair at one program had literally just been fly fishing a few hours earlier. Guess where I Matched...

Big Hoss
 
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I grew up hunting with a family friend that was a dentist and hunting was brought up in some of my interviews not by me but by my interviewers. Use anything you can to connect!
 
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