Worried that my app may portray me as a robot

[kingdomheart]

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Hey guys, so I was looking over some primaries and compared to mine other students mentioned things like sports, music, and arts. However, my primary app was focused on my volunteering at hospitals, community service, research, paid medical positions, and teaching. I really emphasized patient interaction and empathy to avoid appearing as a lab rat, and tbh I'm not in love with wet lab like that anyways, I just dont mind it. And of course I have hobbies like basketball and going to the gym, but they're not something that stand out.
So what Im saying is, it may seem like I only focused on cookie-cutter ECs for medical school and did nothing else :/. I still have secondaries Im filling out and Im gonna make it look like I have an actual life

 

[ciestar]

Being cookie cutter doesn’t make you a robot. Never leaving academia and doing anything else makes you a robot. You have hobbies (and ive seen people who say their hobbies are reading science journals lol) and volunteering. I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[Cornfed101]

Hey guys, so I was looking over some primaries and compared to mine other students mentioned things like sports, music, and arts. However, my primary app was focused on my volunteering at hospitals, community service, research, paid medical positions, and teaching. I really emphasized patient interaction and empathy to avoid appearing as a lab rat, and tbh I'm not in love with wet lab like that anyways, I just dont mind it. And of course I have hobbies like basketball and going to the gym, but they're not something that stand out.
So what Im saying is, it may seem like I only focused on cookie-cutter ECs for medical school and did nothing else :/. I still have secondaries Im filling out and Im gonna make it look like I have an actual life

Teaching is not cookie cutter. You don't have to have hobbies on your primary. Just make sure to convey yourself as a non-robot in interviews and you will be fine 👍

 

[kingdomheart]

I feel better already haha, thanks guys

 

[Cornfed101]

Also, if you are actually a robot/cyborg (no judgment here) then that is pretty unique. Although traditional adcoms may not like that

 

[LizzyM]

You don't have to have hobbies on your primary.

But it is better if you do. Give the adcom something that sets you apart and distinguishes you from the thousands of other applicants. Your studio artwork was included in a campus galley show, you were a choreographer for a gospel choir, you have completed a triathalon, been published in a Lonely Planet guidebook, you are a bell ringer in a cathedral or do fine woodworking.

 

[Moko]

Most applicants are cookie cutter. There really aren't many truly unique ECs that we see. I would encourage people to use one of their EC slots to list / discuss their hobbies and outside interests (if not immediately clear from other activities)

 

[Kirby Smart]

But it is better if you do. Give the adcom something that sets you apart and distinguishes you from the thousands of other applicants. Your studio artwork was included in a campus galley show, you were a choreographer for a gospel choir, you have completed a triathalon, been published in a Lonely Planet guidebook, you are a bell ringer in a cathedral or do fine woodworking.

Most applicants are cookie cutter. There really aren't many truly unique ECs that we see. I would encourage people to use one of their EC slots to list / discuss their hobbies and outside interests (if not immediately clear from other activities)

So mad I didn't include hobbies in my primary cause my pre-med advisor said I shouldn't 😡. Then again none of mine are probably as interesting as the one's LizzyM listed.

 

[907914]

pre-med advisor said I shouldn't

inb4 @LizzyM gives her quote about pre-MED advisors and bodies of students.

 

[Brainpotato]

I think we all kind of feel like this in some way! Just realize that you are a unique person whether you think you convey that or not

 

[JoaoMoutinho]

But it is better if you do. Give the adcom something that sets you apart and distinguishes you from the thousands of other applicants. Your studio artwork was included in a campus galley show, you were a choreographer for a gospel choir, you have completed a triathalon, been published in a Lonely Planet guidebook, you are a bell ringer in a cathedral or do fine woodworking.

I worked as a cameraman on an international film project and also did an international internship in a different field one semester (both years before I decided on science/medicine) and included both of those on my app. The internship never really came up in interviews, but the film crew part definitely did. It made conversations a lot easier than the typical interview questions (or being grilled on your research as MD/PhD interviewers love to do).

 

[LizzyM]

I worked as a cameraman on an international film project and also did an international internship in a different field one semester (both years before I decided on science/medicine) and included both of those on my app. The internship never really came up in interviews, but the film crew part definitely did. It made conversations a lot easier than the typical interview questions (or being grilled on your research as MD/PhD interviewers love to do).

It makes the inteview more interesting for the interviewer, too, which is why the quirky thing that seems unrelated to medicine and medical school often winds up being a topic of conversation -- it is just for the novelty of it.