Hobbies for Work/Activities section

[OptionMD]

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I had a question, is it wise to put a hobby into the work/activity section? So far I counted that I had a total of 11 things I can put on my apps. There is a total of 15 sections. Is it wise for me to put snowboarding? There isn't actually a club at our school but I usually go every Friday night. Don't know if I should put this because its not really medically related

 

[MudPhudHopeful]

I had a question, is it wise to put a hobby into the work/activity section? So far I counted that I had a total of 11 things I can put on my apps. There is a total of 15 sections. Is it wise for me to put snowboarding? There isn't actually a club at our school but I usually go every Friday night. Don't know if I should put this because its not really medically related

I would. That's what I did with one of my hobbies. I figured it would help show that I was well-rounded and I had interests outside of academics/medicine.

 

[silverhorse84]

Running is a big hobby of mine - I put it on my AMCAS 🙂

 

[teddybear]

I don't see how it could hurt. They want to know that you are someone with a lot of depth.

 

[brianmartin]

I would leave it off. I think they assume people like to snowboard, run, etc.

 

[Mobius1985]

Adcomms like to see that you are passionate about something. If you list it, be sure to inject your love of the sport into the narrative.

 

[Dulcina]

i'd include it. makes you seem like more of a person, and less of a premed!

 

[JokerMD]

quick question on hobbies. I play a bunch of sports (tennis, basketball, golf) but none of it is official. I just kinda do it in my free time with my friends. Should I list these things even though im not part of a team or anything that could be verified. I'm pretty sure schools verify people's activities (otherwise jack*****'$ would just lie through their noses) so I don't want to explain why these hobbies CAN'T be verified when asked...😕

 

[jmillski]

1. put it. 2. as crazy as it sounds are you basing your preferences on proximity to slopes even in the least bit? way in the back of my mind i know i am

 

[GoSpursGo]

quick question on hobbies. I play a bunch of sports (tennis, basketball, golf) but none of it is official. I just kinda do it in my free time with my friends. Should I list these things even though im not part of a team or anything that could be verified. I'm pretty sure schools verify people's activities (otherwise jack*****'$ would just lie through their noses) so I don't want to explain why these hobbies CAN'T be verified when asked...😕

I'm actually reasonably confident that they don't take the time to verify every single activity on every single person's application; there just isn't time to call up 15 people to verify each of 2,000 applicants' activities. However, what med schools WILL do is have an interviewer ask something related to these activities in the interview. So if someone says they sing a capella, he or she should be prepared to prove it; if someone says they hiked around India, they should be prepared to talk about their experiences in detail. The idea is that if you lie about something big on your ECs, and you get caught in the interview, you're eff'd, as you will NEVER get an acceptance from that school. Therefore, one would have to be pretty dumb to randomly put down snowboarding, as it probably won't really help their application at all, but it might screw them over at the interview.

In conclusion: put down all of your eclectic hobbies. It gives you talking points in some of your interviews; for example, I talked about Taekwondo for about 5-10 minutes with one of my interviewers at one school. I guarantee I came off more interesting in those five minutes than I did the entire rest of the time answering the stock questions with the same answers he's heard a million times before.

 

[Music Doctor]

Hey MudPhudHopeful,

You mentioned that you put a hobby down under work/activities, and I was thinking of doing the same. I'm a blues musician/songwriter, and I play shows, record music, etc. Is it corny to put down my own name as the contact person? I don't know who else to put down, since it's just a band with other local musicians. Anyone else that sees this, I'd love to hear your thoughts also. Thanks!

 

[NeuroChaos]

Hey MudPhudHopeful,

You mentioned that you put a hobby down under work/activities, and I was thinking of doing the same. I'm a blues musician/songwriter, and I play shows, record music, etc. Is it corny to put down my own name as the contact person? I don't know who else to put down, since it's just a band with other local musicians. Anyone else that sees this, I'd love to hear your thoughts also. Thanks!

MudPhud may not be answering since this a 10+ month old thread. There is entire thread for 2009-2010 AMCAS questions. Look for that It is helpful.

It does feel inappropriate to put your own name. Can you put another band members name? Probably, someone in slightly lower position than you? In the title just say Band guitarist violinist etc