What kind of activities actually count as extracurricular activities for the AMCAS?

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streampaw

streampaw

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There are some borderline activities that some applicants may have, I am wondering, how do you know if an activity is something you should put on the AMCAS?

For example. If you take BEGINNER gymnastics/piano/guitar/dance/some-other-sport-or-something class for a year, but you are still a beginner and only took the beginner/intro to that sport/instrument, but you spent 2-3 hours a week in the class and/or practicing, would this count as an extracurricular activity on the AMCAS? Even if you are just a beginner. And obviously I don't mean college class, I mean those type of classes that you take at a recreation center for fun.

Also, if you sell things on ebay that you resell for more expensive after buying it for cheap, would this count as an EC?
What about something like taking driver's ed and learning to drive, and spending a lot of time on that for a few months?
Does taking a yoga class, or any other physical education class at college count as an EC?

Just wondering.

Anyone else have any weird ideas for any weird EC's that might or might not go on the AMCAS?
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streampaw said:
Excuse me? I am making a good thread for those who are interested what actually counts as an extracurricular activity.
Click to expand...
Nobody else was waiting for this thread to be made because they were wondering if they could include learning to ****ing drive as an AMCAS activity.
 
mcloaf said:
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Nobody else was waiting for this thread to be made because they were wondering if they could include learning to ******* drive as an AMCAS activity.
Click to expand...

Learning to drive can be really difficult and time consuming for some people.
 
streampaw said:
There are some borderline activities that some applicants may have, I am wondering, how do you know if an activity is something you should put on the AMCAS?

For example. If you take BEGINNER gymnastics/piano/guitar/dance/some-other-sport-or-something class for a year, but you are still a beginner and only took the beginner/intro to that sport/instrument, but you spent 2-3 hours a week in the class and/or practicing, would this count as an extracurricular activity on the AMCAS? Even if you are just a beginner. And obviously I don't mean college class, I mean those type of classes that you take at a recreation center for fun.

Also, if you sell things on ebay that you resell for more expensive after buying it for cheap, would this count as an EC?
What about something like taking driver's ed and learning to drive, and spending a lot of time on that for a few months?
Does taking a yoga class, or any other physical education class at college count as an EC?

Just wondering.

Anyone else have any weird ideas for any weird EC's that might or might not go on the AMCAS?
Click to expand...

Um...why do you think this is an EC?

Taking classes and gaining interest in a hobby is an extracurricular activity.

However, learning to drive is NOT an EC.....lol.
 
KnuxNole said:
Um...why do you think this is an EC?

Taking classes and gaining interest in a hobby is an extracurricular activity?
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't it be? If you are "doing something you enjoy", why is it not an EC? If you are taking a beginner class?
 
The second sentence should be a period not a question mark. Taking drivers ed is not really an EC...

Also, if you literally use "doing something you enjoy" as an EC, people could put pleasuring themselves as an EC. :naughty: And I doubt anyone will want to ever know that information.
 
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streampaw said:
Why wouldn't it be? If you are "doing something you enjoy", why is it not an EC? If you are taking a beginner class?
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Well, then what? On your application would you count driving back and forth to school as part of your hours spent doing activity? Good luck with that.
 
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Most of what you posted you could legitimately put as activities under AMCAS. Do not put learning to drive. I would say mostly because everyone over the age of 16 learns to drive. Your application is supposed to tell who you are and differentiate you from Joe Blow on the street. You might as well put "has two arms," since the number of people without 2 arms is probably roughly equal to the number of Americans over age 16 without a driver's license.

However, if you have a continued interest in driving and wish to pursue that in different ways, such as becoming involved in kart races or start to mechanically work on your car in your spare time feel free to include it since now you have gone beyond the expected norm.

Whatever you put in your activities be prepared to talk about. Several of my interview questions were along the lines of "so I see you are interested in hang gliding?" or "Tell me more about your interest in literature."
 
I'll answer if this was honest question. Put activities that you were passionate about and/or can talk about in an interview about why it makes you a better applicant. If you think the time spent on learning to drive makes you a better applicant then put it there but make sure you can explain why.

If this wasn't a serious question: LOL made my day. but you should probably post elsewhere in case real pre-meds see your posts and get very confused.
 
streampaw said:
There are some borderline activities that some applicants may have, I am wondering, how do you know if an activity is something you should put on the AMCAS?

For example. If you take BEGINNER gymnastics/piano/guitar/dance/some-other-sport-or-something class for a year, but you are still a beginner and only took the beginner/intro to that sport/instrument, but you spent 2-3 hours a week in the class and/or practicing, would this count as an extracurricular activity on the AMCAS? Even if you are just a beginner. And obviously I don't mean college class, I mean those type of classes that you take at a recreation center for fun.

Also, if you sell things on ebay that you resell for more expensive after buying it for cheap, would this count as an EC?
What about something like taking driver's ed and learning to drive, and spending a lot of time on that for a few months?
Does taking a yoga class, or any other physical education class at college count as an EC?

Just wondering.

Anyone else have any weird ideas for any weird EC's that might or might not go on the AMCAS?
Click to expand...


are any of these really meaningful enough to you to take up space on your application? From AAMC: "Enter only significant experiences, knowing that medical schools are interested in quality rather than quantity"
I have heard of lots of people including their sports, dancing, martial arts, etc. But generally because they have been doing these activities for a long time, showing a commitment, and they can talk about what they learned from their experience. Do you really think that a beginner yoga class at your university rec center would be that meaningful to you, or better yet, show anything of importance to the adcom?

definitely not learning how to drive though... Considering you will be applying when you are 22, along with lots of other people in their 20s and up, I can really only picture one outcome when an adcom member looks at your activities (with learning to drive on there) compared to others.

And with reselling things on ebay, again, even if this is was considered a valid extracurricular, is this really important to you, and does it add anything in regards to your ability to be a med student/physician?
 
One of my AMCAS activities that's less concrete than activities other student put down is my interest in creative writing. I have been a part of the FictionPress (and FF though I didn't put that one down 😉) community for many years and it's something I enjoy. Several interviewers were very interested to talk about what it is like participating in an online community of writers and we had great conversations about it. That said, this is a hobby I have had since I was 12 and no one can really vouch for it since I do it solo and under and alias....
 
I have a follow-up. I never took a drivers ed class, but I've driven a lot in the years since I was first licensed. Can I still include it as an EC? I didn't drive as much when I was in college, since I lived on campus, but since graduating I've devoted more time to driving. Will this extra time I've put in since graduating be enough to convince adcoms that I'm serious about my commitment to driving?
 
First of all, this wouldn't be such an issue if the mods hadn't locked Streampaw's question thread (lol). Derail the thread? Okay, derail the thread:

organdonor said:
Most of what you posted you could legitimately put as activities under AMCAS. Do not put learning to drive. I would say mostly because everyone over the age of 16 learns to drive. Your application is supposed to tell who you are and differentiate you from Joe Blow on the street. You might as well put "has two arms," since the number of people without 2 arms is probably roughly equal to the number of Americans over age 16 without a driver's license.
Click to expand...

Hmm interesting assertion. Tell that to the vociferous opponents of Voter ID laws! Personally I agree with you, just about every adult has an ID or DL. It's perfectly reasonable in my view to ask that it be shown at the polls. But others call this the return of Jim Crow. Very strange. Much confuse. Wow.
 
organdonor said:
I would say mostly because everyone over the age of 16 learns to drive. Your application is supposed to tell who you are and differentiate you from Joe Blow on the street. You might as well put "has two arms," since the number of people without 2 arms is probably roughly equal to the number of Americans over age 16 without a driver's license.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's not true. In 2010 70% of 19y/o's had licenses: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15389588.2012.696755#.UoJedvmTjE1

Anecdotally, almost none of the kids I met in undergrad from NYC knew how to drive.
 
OP, AMCAS has an place for "experiences". You are limited to 15 entries. Almost anything you've done can be listed but you will want to be selective as mentioned above and choose things that will distinguish you from the masses.

To the rest of you... if laughter is the best medicine, some of you are on the verge of developing a cure for cancer. Strong work!
 
terp720 said:
And with reselling things on ebay, again, even if this is was considered a valid extracurricular, is this really important to you, and does it add anything in regards to your ability to be a med student/physician?
Click to expand...

I interviewed someone with engineering skills who bought broken electronics, fixed them & sold them on ebay. That was cool. If it were just buying and selling without a value added component, not as interesting unless you get to a point where you are leading a group (e.g. you have employees or a team).
 
All joking aside, if you really enjoy driving enough to put it as an EC for AMCAS, then do an activity that goes with it, as organdonor suggested.
If you're mechanically inclined, work on cars. You could even join meals on wheels and deliver food to the elderly that need the food. Or any other service thing that would include this...
If you want to put that on your application, make sure it makes you stand out, in a good way. Don't be reaching for ECs. Quality matters over quantity in this case, make it beneficial to your application, make it reflect you in a good light. Don't just start grasping at straws and putting anything on your app just to have something there.
 
You can put just about ANYTHING you want. The only trick is to find out which activities are WORTH putting.
 
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