Med school app hobbies

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
callmedocp

callmedocp

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
33
Reaction score
16
Members don't see this ad.
One of the hobbies I'm listing on my med school app is being an avid sports fan. In the 700 character description, would it be bad to list names of the teams I love? For instance, I have been a fan of the school I go to since I was little, and I'm applying our rival schools. Could potentially leave someone with a bad taste in their mouth. Opinions about this?

Wes
 
What would be a better way to reword it? I do believe being a die-hard fan of multiple sports teams for 10+ years is a hobby
 
I put being a sports fan as a hobby along the same line as watching TV and going to movies.
 
callmedocp said:
What would be a better way to reword it? I do believe being a die-hard fan of multiple sports teams for 10+ years is a hobby
Click to expand...

I'm from SEC country, so in my mind if you're going to list "liking sports," you might as well list "eating food," "wearing clothes," and "breathing" as hobbies. Do you organize tailgates and follow the teams all over? Or collect rare memorabilia? That's really the only thing I could even remotely consider worthy of putting on the application.
 
Another thought is if you are a fan club president, involved in a team's charity foundation (they all have one), or maintain a website/blog about the team where you write analysis or interest pieces.
 
Don't do this.


callmedocp said:
One of the hobbies I'm listing on my med school app is being an avid sports fan. In the 700 character description, would it be bad to list names of the teams I love? For instance, I have been a fan of the school I go to since I was little, and I'm applying our rival schools. Could potentially leave someone with a bad taste in their mouth. Opinions about this?

Wes
Click to expand...
 
"This activity has allowed me to waste countless hours driving, sitting on the couch, and in stadiums. From this experience, I have begun to understand just how unhealthy a relationship with sports can become. I often scream at my television and curse at those around me. Really, it is a way to express myself in ways most will never see."
 
callmedocp said:
One of the hobbies I'm listing on my med school app is being an avid sports fan. In the 700 character description, would it be bad to list names of the teams I love? For instance, I have been a fan of the school I go to since I was little, and I'm applying our rival schools. Could potentially leave someone with a bad taste in their mouth. Opinions about this?

Wes
Click to expand...

nih15hopeful said:
In the same vein, what's the general perspective on including "reading" as a hobby if it is qualified (e.g. I make an effort to read ~10-15 hrs/week and especially enjoy harboiled and classic fiction)?
Click to expand...

Both reading and following sports are hobbies. There is no 'qualify'. If it is a hobby, you can put it in your application. It will not make or break your application. I would not dedicate more than a few words to any hobby that isn't directly showcasing something that you want to talk about as a reason to take you on as a student. Hobbies are good interview conversation starters. They also let people at least superficially see that you are a little less boring than others. But, going into detail, anywhere on your application about a random something you do in your free time for your own enjoyment is a bad idea.
 
callmedocp said:
One of the hobbies I'm listing on my med school app is being an avid sports fan. In the 700 character description, would it be bad to list names of the teams I love? For instance, I have been a fan of the school I go to since I was little, and I'm applying our rival schools. Could potentially leave someone with a bad taste in their mouth. Opinions about this?
Click to expand...
I have no problem with learning that someone's hobby is watching sports, or reading, or knitting,or gardening, or collecting coins, or etc. Besides giving adcomms an idea of the leisure-time activities that help you unwind, these can be good ice-breaker topics at the start of an interview. The downside, though, might be the jokes generated if you are a fan of the wrong team. Adcomms can be as opinionated on the topic as you are. But I'd hope that any voiced disagreement would be to have a bit of fun.
 
nih15hopeful said:
In the same vein, what's the general perspective on including "reading" as a hobby if it is qualified (e.g. I make an effort to read ~10-15 hrs/week and especially enjoy harboiled and classic fiction)?
Click to expand...

Oh man, I'm totally in the same boat. Reading is really the only respectable hobby I have time for in college. I read a lot of history and nonfiction.
I'm hoping someone else will chime in on this. Reading just sounds like such a terribly boring hobby on paper.
 
Didn't think about a situation like this until now
 
Last edited:
Perfectly fine! Advising on SDN has become one of my hobbies! (And a service criteria as a Faculty member too).

Like the OP, I'm a huge sports fan, particularly soccer. So much that I'm an admin on a popular soccer forum. Should I even bother mentioning this as a hobby? Never even thought about putting something like this on an application, but after one poster said in may be an interesting conversation piece, what are your thoughts? Definitely don't expect this to help, but any chance it may hurt?


I LOVE reading; need books like I need air, and so this is more than fine. It's a good prompt for an interviewer to ask you about what you've read.

Oh man, I'm totally in the same boat. Reading is really the only respectable hobby I have time for in college. I read a lot of history and nonfiction.
I'm hoping someone else will chime in on this. Reading just sounds like such a terribly boring hobby on paper.
 
Fine to mention it, but don't put so much emphasis on it.

Let me try to put it this way... if you were an avid enough sports fan for you to mention it in detail, you wouldn't be applying to medical school because you would be so invested in said team.
 
You might try putting a more substantive hobby as the one actually occupying the slot, and then putting "also:" in there (as has been described on SDN for saving space) to list some of your other hobbies, including this one, briefly. I play the saxophone/piano, so those are going in as my main hobby, but I'm probably also going to mention reading, watching sports, collecting lapel pins, listening to instrumental music and helping people on SDN as small subsections to the main one. None of them are all that worthy of merit by themselves, but as has been mentioned it'll be something to talk about and show adcoms what else I do with my time (since on paper I look like a massive academics/healthcare addict otherwise)
 
I put "watching professional and collegiate sports" on my AMCAS hobbies section and had an extremely
successful application cycle. IMO it helps you seem like a real person rather than a premed robot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
What Really Matters in a Med School App?
Replies
20
Views
1K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
hermionegranger1
Fulbright to med school app
Replies
13
Views
3K
Rachapkis
Rachapkis
K
Fulbright ETA vs Med School
Replies
1
Views
549
Real_Eyes
Real_Eyes
E
Personality psychology/analysis as a hobby?
Replies
5
Views
632
Egret_Farmer
E
C
Hobby hours
Replies
2
Views
112
chummyplum
C
Top