Emphasis on Extracurricular Activities?

[fitspo]

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Do DPT schools care about how many extracurricular activities an applicant has? (This does not include observation hours at a PT clinic.) I ask because I work 20+ hours at the housing office of my university to help me pay for school; and I cannot be active in clubs or fraternities/sororities because of the time constraint.

Thank you. 🙂

 

[obeshy]

I'm not sure if they care about them but they can only help you stand out against the hundreds of applicants with the same stats as you. Any things that shows leadership is a plus, and anything that makes you unique. If you simply can't do anything, keep your cgpa and prerequisite gpa high as well as your gre scores.

 

[Myosin]

It's mixed.

Schools know when you're taking things just for fluff vs something you actually enjoy doing. Lots of people apparently waste a lot of time doing things that are just ignored, simply because they think more words on their application makes it stronger.

I haven't applied yet because I decided to work a few years full time and save up money. I work full time, and sometimes way more, helping manage my family business. In the little free time I have, I don't want to do underwater basket weaving in my spare time just to fluff my application.

As someone on this forum who is already a DPT told me, "If they ask you why you don't have any extracurricular, tell them you were too busy trying not to be homeless"

 

[DesertPT]

It's mixed.

Schools know when you're taking things just for fluff vs something you actually enjoy doing. Lots of people apparently waste a lot of time doing things that are just ignored, simply because they think more words on their application makes it stronger.

I haven't applied yet because I decided to work a few years full time and save up money. I work full time, and sometimes way more, helping manage my family business. In the little free time I have, I don't want to do underwater basket weaving in my spare time just to fluff my application.

As someone on this forum who is already a DPT told me, "If they ask you why you don't have any extracurricular, tell them you were too busy trying not to be homeless"

I would pretty much agree with this too. When I see kids who are enrolled in an honors program, running for student body president and volunteering at the humane society, you know it's because they are applying to med school.

I think what is important is not how many activities you have but what makes you unique. Programs seem to me to be way into emphasizing diversity.

 

[NewTestament]

Have a couple extracurricular activities but don't too much. You still need good grades! Serve in positions you are enthusiastic about. It's better to do 1 or 2 things well than to do many things without enthusiasm. And as knj27 said, make yourself unique. You need to stand out.

 

[fitspo]

Thank you all very much for the advice and for sharing your experiences! If I may ask, what kinds of extracurriculars are/were you guys in?

 

[BiffTheFlashRogers]

Thank you all very much for the advice and for sharing your experiences! If I may ask, what kinds of extracurriculars are/were you guys in?

I have a couple of fluff things I am considering putting on my transcript, but might leave them off. For example, freshman and sophomore year I was on hall government eboards as a way to get involved and meet people. Took up a fair amount of time but is not very PT-ish.

My main thing is a peer-to-peer personal training club that I co-founded on campus my freshman year. We are now the second largest club at our school and we won best recreational club our first full year that we were active. I am on the Eboard as Running Director. My duties involve organizing weekly group runs, coordinating, planning, and "coaching" cardio training for trainees, and planning running events each semester (5ks, theme races, stuff like that). This has been a HUGE part of my undergrad. I feel it showcases my leadership and dedication to both my health and the health of others. I hope programs recognize this.

Also, I am leaning towards including my running club that I race for on my application. I spend upwards of 10 hours per week training year round to compete for the squad, based out of my home town. When I am home I train with them, but train primarily solo at school. But I race for them year round (travel home for races.) I feel like this would be suitable for a transcript but I'm not entirely sure.