Learning a new instrument in college

[korndoctor]

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i'm in a unfortunate situation because my parents never allowed me to take music lessons because it was very expensive. However, i have a scholarship now to university of vermont and i'm using part of the scholarship to pay for violin lessons in college. Do med schools like it if you learn a new instrument in college for all 4 years eventhough you don't play it in an orchestra or band? (it's near impossible to audition for a college level position in orchestra/band)

any input would be appreciated. thanks 🙂

Jubrew Hills

 

[p00psicleSTICK]

Do med schools like it if you play violin?? LOL this has got to be the first funny post of 2006.

It'll kinda show that you're a more rounded person. I don't think it's significant though - it won't be a deal breaker unless you win some kind of violin award...

 

[bgreet]

Med schools also like it if you only eat kellogs products

 

[robotsonic]

Med schools will be impressed with any significant extracurricular activity that you keep up for four years. <Insert masturbation joke> 😉 But seriously, learning an instrument is impressive.

I think it is obvious that you wouldn't be playing in an orchestra yet so I don't think they would care about that.

 

[Jon Davis]

i'm in a unfortunate situation because my parents never allowed me to take music lessons because it was very expensive. However, i have a scholarship now to university of vermont and i'm using part of the scholarship to pay for violin lessons in college. Do med schools like it if you learn a new instrument in college for all 4 years eventhough you don't play it in an orchestra or band? (it's near impossible to audition for a college level position in orchestra/band)

any input would be appreciated. thanks 🙂

Jubrew Hills

Play an instrument because you love it. Did Fieldy pick up bass because his mom told him to?

 

[pancarre12]

i'm in a unfortunate situation because my parents never allowed me to take music lessons because it was very expensive. However, i have a scholarship now to university of vermont and i'm using part of the scholarship to pay for violin lessons in college. Do med schools like it if you learn a new instrument in college for all 4 years eventhough you don't play it in an orchestra or band? (it's near impossible to audition for a college level position in orchestra/band)

any input would be appreciated. thanks 🙂

Jubrew Hills

yea...excuse me for saying so, but posts of this type disgust me a little bit. People who run around taking part in activities because of how it will look to an admissions committee are, ironically enough, the very same people med schools don't want. Though I don't know exactly what committees are looking for, I'd guess that individualism is important (doing unique things, perhaps without going online for verification that they look good, are what everyone else is doing, etc.), as well as the ability to take a genuine interest in something (e.g. taking something up because you actually like it, not because you hate yourself and want to falsify your image before committees).

Sorry for the bitterness. Seriously though, do it if you really like the violin. If a group of people on a committee doesn't like it, don't feel like you owe anyone an apology; go somewhere that will welcome YOU, as you are.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

i'm in a unfortunate situation because my parents never allowed me to take music lessons because it was very expensive. However, i have a scholarship now to university of vermont and i'm using part of the scholarship to pay for violin lessons in college. Do med schools like it if you learn a new instrument in college for all 4 years eventhough you don't play it in an orchestra or band? (it's near impossible to audition for a college level position in orchestra/band)

any input would be appreciated. thanks 🙂

Jubrew Hills

I've been playing the violin and piano since the age of 3, and I'm a concert-level performer in both instruments... I was concertmaster in an orchestra as well. Anyway, I picked up the guitar and cello throughout college, and put those instruments on my AMCAS activities list... (actually I put an entry for 'music' and wrote out the instruments). My interviewers thought that it was great I was so passionate about music (and that I was willing to take up even more instruments!), since stress-relieving diversions will be very important in med school. Go for it, put it in, and be *confident* about it. If you are passionate about something, it'll show, and that will wow the admissions committee. Right now, you seem very blase / nonplussed about your 4 year commitment to music! Weave it in somehow, activities list or PS, and it will be a total boost. Admissions committees value diversity!

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

if you want to do it . do it. I've been a pianist since I was... practically a fetus 🙂 but after a bout of tendonitis in my right arm, I took some time off of piano and picked up the french horn (left handed instrument, basically, if you're not familiar with the structure) I mentioned my experience with both instruments on my AMCAS because music is a HUGE part of me. You can't get a clear picture of me if you don't include my music, or my writing, for that matter. So, if you feel strongly about finally learning an instrument, and if you want to you should, go for it! enjoy! and of course tell amcas people about it. but if you're doing it because they're going to like it, you'll be sorely dissapointed. music takes a lot of practice and dedication and its sometimes a slow process and you have to love it. So good luck on learning the violin, its a beautiful instrument I wish i could play myself! But remember why you're doing what you're doing.

 

[leesh]

Please don't play an instrument to make an impression on the med school committee. If this is your reason, it won't help you much. Do what you're passionate about, and what you love doing; you'll excel in it and perhaps achieve something noteworthy without ever intending it to make an impression. I am receiving lessons in voice, and do it because second to medicine it is what I am passionate about and love doing. Violin may be what makes you tick, and if so, I'm sure you'll do very well. This has been my 2 cents. 👍

 

[silas2642]

i'm in a unfortunate situation because my parents never allowed me to take music lessons because it was very expensive. However, i have a scholarship now to university of vermont and i'm using part of the scholarship to pay for violin lessons in college. Do med schools like it if you learn a new instrument in college for all 4 years eventhough you don't play it in an orchestra or band? (it's near impossible to audition for a college level position in orchestra/band)

any input would be appreciated. thanks 🙂

Jubrew Hills

Knock this "will it look good in medical school" crap now. It's irritating. Do something because you love it and because you're interested in it. Forget how it will look to adcoms.

 

[korndoctor]

sorry folks about the confusion. english is my second language

what i meant is i really love the violin since i was little but couldn't learn because of financial reasons. now that i'm in college, i have an opportunity to learn it because i can actually pay for lessons myself now. Of course i'm passionate and sincere about learning the instrument, otherwise i wouldn't waste my scholarship on it. My concern is will med school think i'm not committed to the instrument because I just started learning it since most people started instruments since they were young.

 

[jon stewart]

hey

will med schools like it if i learn how to snowboard???? ( im not serious)

I always liked the snow, i went skiing once and snowboarding and i loved snowboarding sooo much more.

I rented the equipment my first time and i wanna buy the snowboard boots and bindings this time. I wana buy the crappy stuff since i still am a newbie. This stuff is soo $$$$ though!!!

Anyhow i found some stuff on ebay.....for a decent price. But im not sure if that stuff will last me long? Like the brands they have on there. Also idk my sizes exactly im like 5'10'' so idk how long the snowboard is suppoed to be.

il post the ebay store,

http://stores.ebay.com/Djs-Boardshop/Snowboarding.html

they have packages (boots, bindings and snowboard around the $200-$300 range). My main concern is picking the right sizes of the boots and boardings and i am assuming that the bindings i get will work with the board and boots right (if i buy the package)?

some snowboarding pros help em out please!!!

 

[p00psicleSTICK]

If you're 5'10, get ones around 155-157ish. Yes if you buy bindings/board in a package everything should work together. Don't worry even if you don't buy them in a package - they will STILL work together. Well if you are not going to be snowboarding OFTEN, I suggest that you DO NOT buy the equipment yet. It's an expensive investment and you should think about it some more.

I ended spending about $500 on my stuff last year but hurt my knee playng soccer so I resold them all and made $150 profit. ^^;

 

[robotsonic]

Whoa, you guys are being pretty harsh. I didn't get the impression that he was doing it only to impress adcoms - he said it was something he always wanted to do! His question was whether he could put it down if he hadn't been playing since age 3, as many of the people who say they play violin have been playing since they were in diapers. It seems like a valid question to me.

I've said before that people who do things just to pad their resumes really piss me off, but this guy doesn't sound like one of them. He's using his scholarship money to pay for lessons! He's making a sacrifice for this.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

sorry folks about the confusion. english is my second language

what i meant is i really love the violin since i was little but couldn't learn because of financial reasons. now that i'm in college, i have an opportunity to learn it because i can actually pay for lessons myself now. Of course i'm passionate and sincere about learning the instrument, otherwise i wouldn't waste my scholarship on it. My concern is will med school think i'm not committed to the instrument because I just started learning it since most people started instruments since they were young.

I don't think so. I mean, I just started learning violin recently. I didn't put it down on AMCAS, though, because I'm not in any form that is comparable to most other college students that play the instrument.

One warning: it's a harder instrument than you might think. There are no frets, so you pretty much play whatever your finger is touching. You need to be aware of your tuning at all times. In that sense, the string instruments are much harder than winds or piano.

 

[DCHHopeful2012]

sorry folks about the confusion. english is my second language

what i meant is i really love the violin since i was little but couldn't learn because of financial reasons. now that i'm in college, i have an opportunity to learn it because i can actually pay for lessons myself now. Of course i'm passionate and sincere about learning the instrument, otherwise i wouldn't waste my scholarship on it. My concern is will med school think i'm not committed to the instrument because I just started learning it since most people started instruments since they were young.

If you really learn to play the violin throughout all four years of college, there's no way that adcoms would call you "undedicated" to learning the instrument. Just tell them your story as you told us and you'll be fine! Personally I think music is awesome and I wish I had the patience and dedication to learn an instrument.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

I agree this is a bit disturbing that everything you do in your life, from what food you eat to what you do on a Friday and Saturday night, is a factor in your med school admission. Medical schools don't care if you play violin any different than if you play the spoons or the electric pencil sharpener. What they do care about, though, is your passion for an activity that's important to you. So, if it's playing violin, that's great. If it's dancing in night clubs, that's great too. I hope the med school adcom factor does not influence your fun activities too much, however.

On a related note, I am an avid pianist and vocalist and at my interviews when they asked me about certain general experiences, I found my music experiences to be most applicable. So this meant that for my entire interview I mostly talked about playing the piano and performing on stage, hehehe. However, I think at best this left them a bit confused since it looked like my intervieweres thought I was a bit odd by their facial expressions;-)

 

[Hurricane95]

Learn to play an instrument only if you really want to. If you want to learn, then go for it. Once you start medical school, you will have much less free time to do things like this. Also, you dont HAVE to tell med schools that you play an instrument if you dont want to. Just dont put it on amcas. Its up to you. If you really want to learn, go for it, and then as far as telling people about it, play it by ear, no pun intended.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Learn to play an instrument only if you really want to. If you want to learn, then go for it. Once you start medical school, you will have much less free time to do things like this. Also, you dont HAVE to tell med schools that you play an instrument if you dont want to. Just dont put it on amcas. Its up to you. If you really want to learn, go for it, and then as far as telling people about it, play it by ear, no pun intended.

Also keep in mind that an instrument would be a fantastic stress reliever during medical school- only if you play for 3 minutes to take a break from studying. Piano is my main/best stress reliever.

So it may indeed be a great time to learn!

 

[shminger]

Med schools also like it if you only eat kellogs products

Frosted Flakes are Grrrrrrrrrreat!

Yea, I got married because I've heard that looks good on a med school app... It better be true, because the only way my wife would marry me is if I was going to be a doctor.

 

[AcesHigh]

I am a five year guitar player and more recently just picked up piano. Maybe it is just me but playing an instrument actually increases stress? I don't know, perhaps it is just using that particular part of the brain but whenever I play a more difficult piece the concentration I am using is the same one I must use during my studies. And if I am particularly stressed out from studying I cannot stand to play my guitar.

To alleviate stress I must do something more physical like lifting or running.