I feel like I don't have any significant hobbies (meaning they don't involve clubs on campus such as sports) to list on my application. Now, I do love watching sports and played in high school, but I didn't continue it in college due to the large time commitment. I usually just spend my free time (the little that I have), hanging out with friends, watching tv, playing video games, juggling, being outdoors...but its just stuff I do when I have the time. Do they want our hobbies to be things that we are fully committed to or is this section just for the interviewers to get a better feel of what we do other than studying?
Question about hobbies?
- Thread starter clocks123
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Why do you think adcoms ask for this information?
How do you think they use this information to make decisions?
How much impact do you think this section makes?
How do you think they use this information to make decisions?
How much impact do you think this section makes?
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I am not sure how to answer or interpret your hypothetical questions. I have the same problem as OP. I don't have any hobbies which would be considered fulfilling or enriching. Most of my free time is divided between going to the gym, playing video games, or jacking off. Not that I have much free time since these days I spend most of my time studying for my courses or contributing to the one club I have a leadership position with. I have no idea what I could list under hobbies for my medical school application.
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These are not hypothetical questions. They are the fundamental basis for how to answer the OP's questions.
You have approximately 120 hours of waking time each week. Assuming that you are a full time student, you have class and are studying each week somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 hours/week. What do you do with the other 80 hours/week? You need to eat, you need to shower, you need to maintain relationships, you need to have fun, you need to do XYZ hobbies etc. When I look at someone's application and look at their ECs, I am trying to answer the question: who is this person when they aren't studying? How do you fill that 80 hours? Nobody is looking for the next mother Teresa. We just want to know if you spend 10% of those 80 hours goofing off, or 90% or somewhere in between. Some people have to work to pay for school or support families, some people play Division 1 sports, some people are concert pianists. It is understandable that the time they can commit to other things outside of school is going to be extremely limited. No adcom is expecting that you will spend every waking second doing enrichment activities. It is all about that spectrum.
If you don't have anything to put down. Don't put anything down.
Yoinked a little bit from one of my previous posts: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/i-have-never-volunteered.1092556/#post-15583164
Thanks for this, but I am asking if it is ok to list activities that I casually do, or do they have to be activities that I have joined a club for/ have been doing for years, etc...
I would have to see how the question is worded to be sure, but if it doesn't specify otherwise, you can list whatever hobbies you want. If they are asking for more than just a list, you might want to carefully decide what to focus on (hint: something that makes you stand out in a good way and/or something you feel helps define WHO you are). Some of the stuff you listed might need to be relabeled, phrased carefully, or just left out: For example, instead of saying "hanging out with friends and watching TV," you might consider what you do when you are with your friends, and what subject matter you watch on TV.
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Put down anything that you want admissions committees to know about you. Casual is fine. Just be wary that if all you have to put down there is "I like to watch TV and drink with my friends", you are putting yourself at a disadvantage (albeit slight given the relative unimportance of hobbies compared to the rest of your application). I like talking about hobbies with applicants. Your academic prowess largely speaks for itself, I don't need you to rehash it for me. But, we have so many good students applying to medical school (and then residency), we don't need an automaton that's only perk is that they are good in school.
