Including hobbies in the Activities section?

[fireflakes]

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Hey guys,

I was about to submit my AMCAS application and was wondering if it is worth including a hobby to fill up the 15th spot on the Activities section or not.

I played non-competitive baseball for several years with friends in high school and university. Would it be a good idea to include this in my AMCAS application over a scholarship that I received through university? I do not have ANY other athletic achievements so maybe this adds another dimension to my profile. Would it suffice to have a teammate as my verifier?

Thanks for the help!

FF

 

[mimelim]

Why do you have 14 other activities? How does a scholarship qualify as an activity?

As a general rule of thumb 2 good activities > 10+ mediocre activities. Experiences/activities are about productivity and personal growth, not how many you have.

 

[fireflakes]

Why do you have 14 other activities? How does a scholarship qualify as an activity?

As a general rule of thumb 2 good activities > 10+ mediocre activities. Experiences/activities are about productivity and personal growth, not how many you have.

Thanks! Well I could put the scholarship as Awards/Recognition as I received the award for my community work with a university-wide organization.

My other activities include shadowing, clinical experiences in different departments of the hospitals, TA etc. But I haven't played a sport competitively or have any athletic component 😳

 

[Gnomo]

Thanks! Well I could put the scholarship as Awards/Recognition as I received the award for my community work with a university-wide organization.

My other activities include shadowing, clinical experiences in different departments of the hospitals, TA etc. But I haven't played a sport competitively or have any athletic component 😳

Experience Type: Honors/Awards/Recognitions

Experience Name: Academic Recognition

Experience Description:

Dean's List (semester GPA of 4.0): Fall XXXX, Spring XXXX, Spring XXXX

Semester Honors (semester GPA of 3.75 or higher): Fall XXXX, Fall XXXX

XYZ Scholarship: August XXXX
-Description

XYZ Research Award: May XXXX
-Description

Date should be the date of your first award/scholarship. Use the organization that awarded the first award (probably your school). In that case, the contact person will be the Registrar.

 

[Gnomo]

Why do you have 14 other activities? How does a scholarship qualify as an activity?

As a general rule of thumb 2 good activities > 10+ mediocre activities. Experiences/activities are about productivity and personal growth, not how many you have.

Agreed. Be honest and brief. Use catch-all categories to lump together similar experiences:

Academic Recognition

Physician Shadowing

Previous College Employment

University Volunteering

Alternative Breaks

 

[fireflakes]

Agreed. Be honest and brief. Use catch-all categories to lump together similar experiences:

Academic Recognition

Physician Shadowing

Previous College Employment

University Volunteering

Alternative Breaks

Alright thanks for the advice! Even if I TAed 2 different courses, should I lump it into 1 "Teaching Assistant" category?

 

[Gnomo]

Alright thanks for the advice! Even if I TAed 2 different courses, should I lump it into 1 "Teaching Assistant" category?

There is a Work/Activities thread here on SDN. A well-known poster, Catalystik, is the expert on such issues.

I think that's a good plan, though. Make the experience name "Teaching Assistantships" and use the dates for the first gig. Make sure you list and describe both of your gigs in the experience description box.

 

[kpcrew]

I lumped all similar things together. So I had a few volunteering experiences and various shadowing experiences that had their own sections as well as a section for hobbies and extracurriculars. I think that I only took up 9 spots or so altogether, there's no rule that says you have to fill up all 15. They're there if you need them.

 

[fireflakes]

I lumped all similar things together. So I had a few volunteering experiences and various shadowing experiences that had their own sections as well as a section for hobbies and extracurriculars. I think that I only took up 9 spots or so altogether, there's no rule that says you have to fill up all 15. They're there if you need them.

yep it does seem logical because these activities would have similar descriptions anyways so its better to lump them than to write the same thing twice!

 

[mehc012]

However, I am still curious about the OP's original question...do you put hobbies on there, or only 'application-relevant' ECs? On one hand, putting only relevant EC's makes you look just like everyone else. On the other hand, having too many unimportant ones could seem desperate or frivolous...clearly there should be a balance, but where?

 

[Jepstein30]

I included hobbies... and why not? If they are important to you, they show who you are and thats kind of what we want ADCOMs to see, right?

Anyways, as to how many slots to fill.. fill as many as you can with important activities/activities that make you stand out. I ended up going with the full 15 but did throw in some borderline fluff material that others may have left out.

My full list:

Not the actual names I used.. * = ongoing

Hobbies
Worked at summer camp
Asst. Coach @ middle school
*Youth group leadership
Shadowing (1 summer)
*University Newspaper staff
FIMRC exec board
Research associate @ psychiatric center (clinical trials + clinical exp.)
Orgo tutor through my university
*Undergrad committee for my major
*Pre-med society peer mentor
*SAT company founder/tutor
Leadership conference I was invited to/attended
*Mentorship program founder
Summer research program

The 3-4 fluff ones that I didn't NEED to mention but felt it still helped if I did: Leadership conference, peer mentor, FIMRC exec board, UG committee. These look great and some are ongoing but I'm not really very into them. Important but borderline material I would want to talk about in an interview. All others are long term commitments or something I'm REALLY into but just starting up.

I had some other fluff ones I could have thrown in but ended up going with these 15 to show dedication, leadership, communication skills, ability to teach and passion for helping others + peers. These are the types of things ECs are meant to portray IMO so pick as many activities as you need that help you establish those qualities.

 

[mehc012]

I included hobbies... and why not? If they are important to you, they show who you are and thats kind of what we want ADCOMs to see, right?

Anyways, as to how many slots to fill.. fill as many as you can with important activities/activities that make you stand out. I ended up going with the full 15 but did throw in some borderline fluff material that others may have left out.

My full list:

Not the actual names I used.. * = ongoing

Hobbies
Worked at summer camp
Asst. Coach @ middle school
*Youth group leadership
Shadowing (1 summer)
*University Newspaper staff
FIMRC exec board
Research associate @ psychiatric center (clinical trials + clinical exp.)
Orgo tutor through my university
*Undergrad committee for my major
*Pre-med society peer mentor
*SAT company founder/tutor
Leadership conference I was invited to/attended
*Mentorship program founder
Summer research program

The 3-4 fluff ones that I didn't NEED to mention but felt it still helped if I did: Leadership conference, peer mentor, FIMRC exec board, UG committee. These look great and some are ongoing but I'm not really very into them. Important but borderline material I would want to talk about in an interview. All others are long term commitments or something I'm REALLY into but just starting up.

I had some other fluff ones I could have thrown in but ended up going with these 15 to show dedication, leadership, communication skills, ability to teach and passion for helping others + peers. These are the types of things ECs are meant to portray IMO so pick as many activities as you need that help you establish those qualities.

None of those really seem like 'hobbies', per se. They're still academic/leadership/volunteer-type activities. I think that you're right, this is the kind of stuff that should be on med school apps, but I was wondering more about sports, music, or other activities that you really love. Maybe they don't demonstrate med-school-specific attributes, but they can make you a bit unique. The OP's original baseball EC was a good example of an actual non-academic hobby. (I'd use mine, but they're pretty atypical and would probably evoke a knee-jerk "that probably doesn't fit" reaction, which would defeat the purpose of the discussion!)

 

[Jepstein30]

None of those really seem like 'hobbies', per se. They're still academic/leadership/volunteer-type activities. I think that you're right, this is the kind of stuff that should be on med school apps, but I was wondering more about sports, music, or other activities that you really love. Maybe they don't demonstrate med-school-specific attributes, but they can make you a bit unique. The OP's original baseball EC was a good example of an actual non-academic hobby. (I'd use mine, but they're pretty atypical and would probably evoke a knee-jerk "that probably doesn't fit" reaction, which would defeat the purpose of the discussion!)

Oh , by hobbies I meant there was an entry that listed 3 of my hobbies. That was my full list of "work/activities."

I put an entry labeled "Hobbies" and then wrote a quick sentence or two about each of them.

 

[fireflakes]

Oh , by hobbies I meant there was an entry that listed 3 of my hobbies. That was my full list of "work/activities."

I put an entry labeled "Hobbies" and then wrote a quick sentence or two about each of them.

oh thanks! its good to know that others include their hobbies too! I just didnt want it to seem desperate filling up spots with something that doesn't show any of my 'medically-relevant' traits!

 

[Renaissance Man]

Hey guys,

I was about to submit my AMCAS application and was wondering if it is worth including a hobby to fill up the 15th spot on the Activities section or not.

I played non-competitive baseball for several years with friends in high school and university. Would it be a good idea to include this in my AMCAS application over a scholarship that I received through university? I do not have ANY other athletic achievements so maybe this adds another dimension to my profile. Would it suffice to have a teammate as my verifier?

Thanks for the help!

FF

I loved intramurals at my University and definitely listed it in my AMCAS. However, I combined my "hobbies" into one activity. It included intramurals, fantasy football, and team trivia. I think it showed that I wasn't just a science and MCAT drone.

 

[Praefectus]

Lump stuff together if they're similar. It's better if you have substantive entries rather than the full 15 if they're spread thin.

 

[fireflakes]

and just put the Registrar and their contact info as verifier for the academic achievements?

 

[SnowyRox]

oh thanks! its good to know that others include their hobbies too! I just didnt want it to seem desperate filling up spots with something that doesn't show any of my 'medically-relevant' traits!

I talked about my running addiction at my interview for a while. Got the admissions guy laughing when I told him I picked my sports based on the endorphin rush I get.