What exaclty is a hobby and does this count?

[13132]

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Serious question. What exaclty is a hobby? I don't have any traditional hobbies like stamp collecting.

I play tennis and golf occasionally? Do these things counts?

Also, I wanted to ask some people whether the following is a normal human hobby haha. I am obsessed with population growth, demographics, urban development etc. I am always following contruction of large buildings and researching what stage they are in of the planning process. In fact, I look at updates on buildings daily for years until they are complete. Is this a real hobby?!

 

[Buttermellow]

Hobbies are really just things you like to do in your spare time. I like baking, photography, art, etc. I count those as hobbies. Gold and tennis definitely are.

You could maybe list it as architecture? Though a hobby is more something you do as opposed to follow or read about. Hmmmm. I'm not sure how to classify that as a hobby.

 

[Kekeirda]

its a hobby,
anything you are involved with and love and can talk passionatly about is a hobby.

 

[13132]

I think when I list it as architecture it sounds more legitimate. It is hard to actually participate in that hobby without training.

I think that demographics and urban development is probably best listed as an interest. Usually hobbies and interests are lumped together which is useful in my case.

 

[13132]

And let me put it this way... when I travel places all I do is take picture of skylines and construction etc. When I am able to act on this interest it takes the form of different hobbies like photography/travel. It is the motivation for those two.

 

[eli20]

😱

 

[13132]

😱

Is my "hobby" weird or something? 😕

 

[SissyAlice]

Can I list video games as my hobby 🙁🙁🙁

 

[Bravetown]

Can I list video games as my hobby 🙁🙁🙁

no

 

[demh23]

I think your interest in zoning and development is perfectly legitimate. It would definitely be an interesting topic of discussion in an interview.

 

[bucks2010]

the buildings thing sounds like a legit, unique hobby.

tennis & golf I would leave out.

 

[kcin]

You would make a good bureaucrat.

 

[D elegans]

Before you start listing hobbies on your AMCAS, think about whether or not they really will help your application. If the hobby in some way speaks to your passion for/ability to do medicine, then list it. If not, it's just taking up space on an application that admissions people are skimming anyway.

 

[gettheleadout]

Can I list video games as my hobby 🙁🙁🙁

If you developed one or more or placed in wide competitions (i.e. state level or higher) then sure.

 

[mauberley]

Before you start listing hobbies on your AMCAS, think about whether or not they really will help your application. If the hobby in some way speaks to your passion for/ability to do medicine, then list it. If not, it's just taking up space on an application that admissions people are skimming anyway.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11031431&postcount=617

There is value in showing you are a well-rounded individual.

 

[WhizoMD]

Before you start listing hobbies on your AMCAS, think about whether or not they really will help your application. If the hobby in some way speaks to your passion for/ability to do medicine, then list it. If not, it's just taking up space on an application that admissions people are skimming anyway.

I think it helps to show them that I'm not a med-crazed zombie 🙂.
With the ZA on the horizon, I think this a pretty important issue among adcom members.

 

[13132]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=11031431&postcount=617

There is value in showing you are a well-rounded individual.

I agree. Honestly, I do enjoy other things not related to medicine, and so do doctors.

 

[D elegans]

I'm not saying that it's worthless to put hobbies on your application. I'm just saying make sure they're part of the constellation of experiences that support your being a good physician. Use your application space wisely. My main point is to avoid filler on your application. Just because there are 15 slots for experiences doesn't mean you should fill all of them.

Often schools will have secondary application questions that explicitly ask what you do for hobbies, and in interviews I was specifically asked about my non-medically related activities. I think these are good opportunities to really show your well-roundedness as a person.

 

[13132]

I'm not saying that it's worthless to put hobbies on your application. I'm just saying make sure they're part of the constellation of experiences that support your being a good physician. Use your application space wisely. My main point is to avoid filler on your application. Just because there are 15 slots for experiences doesn't mean you should fill all of them.

Often schools will have secondary application questions that explicitly ask what you do for hobbies, and in interviews I was specifically asked about my non-medically related activities. I think these are good opportunities to really show your well-roundedness as a person.

Im just not familiar with the application process, but all I am saying is if they ask about hobbies I will probably bring this up whenever is appropriate and timely.

 

[mauberley]

I'm not saying that it's worthless to put hobbies on your application. I'm just saying make sure they're part of the constellation of experiences that support your being a good physician. Use your application space wisely. My main point is to avoid filler on your application. Just because there are 15 slots for experiences doesn't mean you should fill all of them.

I don't believe anyone recommends listing a single hobby for each activity entry to fill each of the 15 slots. The advice I have seen is to group hobbies into a single entry.

With respect to "supporting your being a good physician," being well-rounded is a often desired quality in selecting applicants.

 

[D elegans]

A medical school application is a concise, coherent, and compelling narrative showing a consistent and in depth pattern of commitment, motivation and achievement. If a hobby/interest can show this it should be mentioned.

My favorite example is model trains. If you occasionally play with model trains, who cares? But if you have been doing so since you were 7 years old, spent 12 years as a member of a local club of which 5 years was chapter president, had your designs/models displayed twice at regional modeling expos and once at a national expo, organized the christmas train show for local school kids and church groups for several years and start to go around to a local children's hospital set up displays in the pediatric ward, then is a certainly worth mentioning

That is an example of a hobby that should be mentioned. But look at all it encompasses. Again, I'm not saying never mention a hobby. I'm just saying don't mention it unless it shows what you mentioned in your first paragraph.