Extracurricular confusion

[jwil]

Hello! This is my first post on SDN, so I thought I'd keep it short and sweet.

What do you guys think about naming a hobby (i.e. coin-collecting) as my "most significant extracurricular activity"?

It's really taught me a lot about history and has allowed me to meet a lot of new people who have since become very close friends.

The dilemma (ish) is, will committees see that as introvert or as not an actual extracurricular activity.

Thanks!

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[LizzyM]

Hello! This is my first post on SDN, so I thought I'd keep it short and sweet.

What do you guys think about naming a hobby (i.e. coin-collecting) as my "most significant extracurricular activity"?

It's really taught me a lot about history and has allowed me to meet a lot of new people who have since become very close friends.

The dilemma (ish) is, will committees see that as introvert or as not an actual extracurricular activity.

Thanks!

What you choose as most significant tells an adcom something about what you value. For you it is learning for its own sake and out of your interest in the subject (not becuase it is required) and the development of friendships based on a mutual interest. What is most important to you is your own personal development which may be very significant given your age & stage of development. Be yourself & if that's you, what's wrong with it?

 

[jwil]

What you choose as most significant tells an adcom something about what you value. For you it is learning for its own sake and out of your interest in the subject (not becuase it is required) and the development of friendships based on a mutual interest. What is most important to you is your own personal development which may be very significant given your age & stage of development. Be yourself & if that's you, what's wrong with it?

I agree but I wasn't sure if that would make me sound immature and/or self-centered (by it not being of service to others).
And is a hobby a typical extracurricular activity?

 

[LizzyM]

I agree but I wasn't sure if that would make me sound immature and/or self-centered (by it not being of service to others).
And is a hobby a typical extracurricular activity?

How do you interprete the word "significant"? If you think that it is asking what has had the greatest significance in making the world a better place then answer it in that context. If you think it is about what has been most significant to your personal development, you might answer in a different way. You just have to think about how you want to interprete that question because it does seem to be open to interpretation.


AMCAS has the "experience" section of the application. Hobbies and Advocations are one of the categories in the pull-down menu in that section so I think it is an acceptable thing to consider "extracurricular".