Hobbies in AMCAS Work/Activities Section

[osalas]

I am having trouble figuring out how to enter a hobby into the AMCAS work/activities section, particularly with the "Start/End dates" and hours.

Any suggestions?

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[Wahed]

I'm wondering this too. I'm a runner, and I've been running daily for about 8 years but I've never been involved with any kind of organization or club around it. It's just something I do. I want to include it because it's taught me a lot, and been a great stress reliever.

I was going to list my estimated hours, estimated mileage, and length of time I've been running. Idk what to do for organization name, etc. I'd love to hear from more experienced members on this.

 

[fatjonahhill]

Take a deep breath and realize it doesn't matter at all. Estimate the hours, put 0, put 1, no ad com cares, they will get the point. Maybe if this is one specific and super meaningful hobby, try to estimate more carefully. Nobody is getting kept out of med school because Bill from Admissions thinks it's sus that you are your own contact for your hobby section that says "reading, running, cooking"

 

[Wahed]

I am President & CEO at Wahed Running Incorporated.

Contact me for a reference.

 

[Catalystik]

I am having trouble figuring out how to enter a hobby into the AMCAS work/activities section, particularly with the "Start/End dates" and hours.

Any suggestions?

Adcomms are more interested in what you've done recently. You could just enter the estimated hours since HS graduation. Or you could use the Repeated feature and add more timeframes (to show dedication to a sport or music, eg), divided out by the HS years and even further by adding the childhood years before that. All the timeframes you choose to include will appear above the narrative box, each with their own estimated hours. If providing a fair estimation is difficult, you might instead insert a 99, 999, or 9999 to indicate the number of hours involved is too high to matter. Or, as mentioned put in a 0 or 1, because it doesn't matter.

Also, Hobbies don't require a Contact to be provided.

 

[mariposas905]

Adcomms are more interested in what you've done recently. You could just enter the estimated hours since HS graduation. Or you could use the Repeated feature and add more timeframes (to show dedication to a sport or music, eg), divided out by the HS years and even further by adding the childhood years before that. All the timeframes you choose to include will appear above the narrative box, each with their own estimated hours. If providing a fair estimation is difficult, you might instead insert a 999 or 9999 to indicate the number of hours involved is too high to matter. Or, as mentioned put in a 0 or 1, because it doesn't matter.

Also, Hobbies don't require a Contact to be provided.

What should we put for the date range? Should this also be exaggerated? I'm having trouble figuring out what the end date for my hobbies should be...is it the date at expected matriculation?

 

[Catalystik]

What should we put for the date range? Should this also be exaggerated? I'm having trouble figuring out what the end date for my hobbies should be...is it the date at expected matriculation?

If you want to add future hours up until the time of med school matriculation, you might add a fourth timeframe and Total Hours above what I suggested above. I am not suggesting any exaggeration; you would be amazed at some folks' estimates of music and sport invovement over a multi-year span. Perhaps a 99 would be appropriate for a 14 month span.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If you want to add future hours up until the time of med school matriculation, you might add a fourth timeframe and Total Hours above what I suggested above. I am not suggesting any exaggeration; you would be amazed at some folks' estimates of music and sport invovement over a multi-year span. Perhaps a 99 would be appropriate for a 14 month span.

I’ve been playing music since primary school. Even just the couple years I was a pro, I probably racked up 5000 hours easily. I just put all 9s lol.