ECs - Did anyone llist a hobby or the like?

[gobblety_gook]

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I wanted your guys opinion on listing a hobby as an EC...well, not a hobby persay...well let me explain...

I go to a school with a very well respected bball team...and I've been going to all the home games regularly since I was a freshmen. Often times you had to camp out for a week to get tickets to the big rival games (Duke-UNC). For the last 2 years I've been going to games as part of group of students/faculty/deans that serve as a "buffer" between home fans and away fans and played a part in stopping unruly behavior before it started...

do you guys think that such an...activity would be legitimate to list?

thx for your input

 

[Twitch]

What are you... high dude? Some people like to have sex as a hobby, you don't see 'em listing it as an EC on the app.

No matter how you much they convince themselves that this could be "community service" as in them helping the young lady raise her heart beat, stretch, ya da ya da it aint no freakin EC. 😎

IMHO, it doesn't even have to be a formalized institution to where you perform community service. Clearly, any reasonable person would argue that you have had to make a difference in *other* people's lives sacrificing any personaly monetary gains (i.e. in lieu of $$$).

Just my 2 cents. If you're really having to ask yourself whether an activity counts as an EC... do you wanna risk your future, if you guessed wrong?

-Y_Marker

 

[docmemi]

the ECs they want you to list have to in some way contribute to why you want to be a dr. so if you can explain how this hobby does that, then i guess its okay.

 

[TRUE]

No.

 

[angstrom55]

I believe that my friend had listed scuba diving as a hobby as one of his EC's. As far as i knew, he took scuba classes and probably scuba dived a couple of times. AS for me, I was brave enough to put down "design and crafts" as a hobby. I've been doing stuff like sewing, craftsy stuff since junior high. I also took comp design courses and the like on and off at community colleges so I thought I'd put that in.

I also put it in b/c the crafts/sewing stuff factored into why i wanted to become a surgeon and was something that I had mentioned in my PS, so there was relavence towards medicine for me to put in that hobby.

I believe that it wouldn't hurt to put in a hobby as one of your 15 EC's, so long as the other 14 EC's are very good and cover everything (as in research, volunteer, awards, jobs, etc). Then adding in the hobby sorta shows em that your non-school life does not just revolve around stuff to get you into med school. I thought my other 14 Ec's covered all that it needed so I thought I'd just throw in my hobby for fun. But i definately would not put in the hobby if you have another EC that is a lot more important.

 

[clowne]

I believe that it wouldn't hurt to put in a hobby as one of your 15 EC's, so long as the other 14 EC's are very good and cover everything (as in research, volunteer, awards, jobs, etc). Then adding in the hobby sorta shows em that your non-school life does not just revolve around stuff to get you into med school. I thought my other 14 Ec's covered all that it needed so I thought I'd just throw in my hobby for fun. But i definately would not put in the hobby if you have another EC that is a lot more important.

I agree. Hobbies show adcoms that you're a well-rounded person with interests outside of medicine. In fact, at 3 of my interviews last fall, the interviewers spent a significant amount of time discussing my hobbies (snowboarding, guitar) with me and I got accepted at 2 of those schools and waitlisted at the other.

 

[gobblety_gook]

I believe that my friend had listed scuba diving as a hobby as one of his EC's. As far as i knew, he took scuba classes and probably scuba dived a couple of times. AS for me, I was brave enough to put down "design and crafts" as a hobby. I've been doing stuff like sewing, craftsy stuff since junior high. I also took comp design courses and the like on and off at community colleges so I thought I'd put that in.

I also put it in b/c the crafts/sewing stuff factored into why i wanted to become a surgeon and was something that I had mentioned in my PS, so there was relavence towards medicine for me to put in that hobby.

I believe that it wouldn't hurt to put in a hobby as one of your 15 EC's, so long as the other 14 EC's are very good and cover everything (as in research, volunteer, awards, jobs, etc). Then adding in the hobby sorta shows em that your non-school life does not just revolve around stuff to get you into med school. I thought my other 14 Ec's covered all that it needed so I thought I'd just throw in my hobby for fun. But i definately would not put in the hobby if you have another EC that is a lot more important.

This is exactly the sort of situation I'm in...I think I have 14 pretty good ECs (Research, teaching, volunteering, etc...) and was just wondering if it'd be a good idea to add in something non-traditional and "fun"...

But I think the previous posters also make a good point that ECs should reflect why you want to enter medicine...again...I'm kinda torn...

 

[Cydney Foote]

For the last 2 years I've been going to games as part of group of students/faculty/deans that serve as a "buffer" between home fans and away fans and played a part in stopping unruly behavior before it started...

do you guys think that such an...activity would be legitimate to list?

I think it's very good to include things that you're passionate about and to which you devote your time. It shows you as a well-rounded person, which is one of the things that med schools look for.

My decision rule for whether to include this activity (or any others, for that matter) or not would be whether you can identify any skills that you honed while doing it that will help you as a doctor. This group that you're talking about might give you a chance to talk about teamwork, reconciliation and/or mediation, interpersonal relationships, etc. If you could bring out those types of skills in this activity, then I'd definitely include it. It could show a different side of you that's not presented anywhere else in your application.

Good luck!

 

[Drakensoul]

What are you... high dude? Some people like to have sex as a hobby, you don't see 'em listing it as an EC on the app.

Hahahahaha

I wonder what the adcom would think if someone put that.
And even more interesting, what the intervewer would say if the applicant were to get an interview. Maybe they'd be impressed by the originality.

 

[Luck]

If someone played many intramural sports I don't see what's wrong in putting that. It shows well-roundedness.

 

[TRUE]

If someone played many intramural sports I don't see what's wrong in putting that. It shows well-roundedness.

Playing an intramural sport might be one thing, but WATCHING a sport?

 

[Sirius Black]

He didn't just watch the sports, though. He helped to prevent unruly behavior. Go into more detail about that, I think its awesome and something that the interviewers will definitely be curious about. It's different from all the usual hospitals, research and awards that people put down. Go for it, I don't think it'll hurt, but make sure everything else is significant towards medicine in a way.

 

[thackl]

No one's going to read it anyway. You will be selected to interview based on GPA/MCAT and you interviewers will likely read you PS and maybe your transcript.

 

[Bones2008]

I wanted your guys opinion on listing a hobby as an EC...well, not a hobby persay...well let me explain...

I go to a school with a very well respected bball team...and I've been going to all the home games regularly since I was a freshmen. Often times you had to camp out for a week to get tickets to the big rival games (Duke-UNC). For the last 2 years I've been going to games as part of group of students/faculty/deans that serve as a "buffer" between home fans and away fans and played a part in stopping unruly behavior before it started...

do you guys think that such an...activity would be legitimate to list?

thx for your input

Duke, right? Why don't you just become a DSG line monitor in the fall and put that down, so it's official? So you're one of those people that gets to sit in the "buffer" zone, huh. Who gives you that privalege, DSG? Or is it the athletic department. Either way, you must get the buffer tickets from someone, so that's kinda official anyways. Just put a better spin on it. Euphemization is key.

 

[Rugger81]

Whoever posted before about how ECs should be related to why you want to be a doctor is way off the mark (I think). It really bothers me that so many pre-meds feel the need to demonstrate how they've known medicine was their calling since they were infants or some crap. There is no reason that we can't be interested in careers other than medicine, or have hobbies that don't directly relate to becoming a doctor. It's so ludicrous. If you feel you can make a good case why this baseball crowd control was an EC that you spent significant time on, go for it.

 

[LP1CW]

WTF and WTF

I'm getting so jaded. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.