You're doing it wrong, part 2: your experiences

[Goro]

A non-trad like esob definitely does NOT need research in his/her ECs. And I feel that it's the one EC that is dispensable for non-trads.

Research can be tough for a non-trad with a tight schedule, so I wouldn't worry much about trying to diversify, but otherwise totally agree with this.

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[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I would like to hear from some other adcoms though if my intuition is correct that my military service won't count for much since it was so long ago?

You will not find a single adcom that says not to highlight your military experience. Long ago or not, I know first hand the kind of sacrifice it takes and that it is very much a volunteer service to others, paycheck or not.

 

[esob]

I dont think it take an adcom to say that your military experience is not pertinent or shouldnt help as an EC. I think it will immensely help.

Thank being said, Even if it doesnt help, you still have space on the app, why not fill it?

Oh, I'm going to put it on the application for sure, I'm just the type who likes to be overly prepared and know what I'm going into (hopefully) an interview facing. For example, just a couple of days ago I was finishing moving things over to my iPhone from my old android. I used to keep a "list" on my old phone encompassing the activities I perform for my company that I found relevant. Since I don't wear any single hat (coder/data analyst/security/etc) from day to day, I've been trying to solidify and condense down some short descriptions that answer the question "what do you do?" Then I got this idea in my head thinking, no adcom is going to be impressed if you list digital asset management as a skill set; what they will really want to hear about are the struggles you've faced taking care of kids that break the catastrophic insurance cap of 100k every year. If I hadn't stumbled upon this thread I likely would have been totally blindsided going into an interview and as Goro noted, "gone down in flames." My military experience is also clearly a big part of my story as well, but if, from and adcom perspective, it is merely a footnote and they are more interested in some other facet of my application, then that information is beneficial for me to know in advance.

I honestly view the whole process like I view any other business deal. Just like in the military, as long as no one is getting hurt by toeing the line, it can often be the act that gets you in the door; which is after all, where you need to be in order to have any impact at all

 

[GCS-15]

(deleted question)

 

[chickpeagoals]

I was told to put my question on this forum.

Would volunteering ( like working on my campus butterfly garden, volunteering at a homeless shelter with my pre-med club, and judging at science fairs) thats greater than 10 hours but less than 25 go under one activities section on the application? Or would they be worth mentioning at all? Thanks!

 

[freshprinceMD]

In reviewing an AMCAS application I actually spend the most time on the experiences (employment/activities) section. My rationale is that your metrics are easy to interpret and your butler may have written your personal statement, but the experiences you list shows me two important things: (1) what you have chosen to do with your available time, and (2) what you consider worth sharing.

Here's a little exercise. Lay out your proposed experience list in order of descending hours, the look at the list and try to see what it says about you. For example, if your list looks something like this (which is only a slight exaggeration):

1. Hobbies - Skiing/snowboarding, 9000 hours
2. Hobbies - Windsurfing, 7000 hours
3. Hobbies - Cycling (road and mountain), 5000 hours
4. Hobbies - Rock climbing, 2000 hours
5. Research, 100 hours
6. Shadowing, 20 hours
7. Habitat for Humanity, 8 hours

...it tells me that you are a very active, outdoorsy kind of person. Great. Good for you. It also tells me that you are more concerned with enjoying yourself than getting into medical school. Not so great. Bad for you.

A couple more easy rules to follow:

(1) If you have five or fewer entries don't apply. If you have 12 or more check for excessive filler.

(2) Don't list anything from high school or earlier. I don't care if you played for the state championship football team. I don't care if you had great accomplishments as a boy scout. I don't care if you were valedictorian of your high school. Pretend your life started on the first day of college.

(3) Don't include anything that is considered a normal part of existence for decent human beings. I have seen people list the deaths of relatives/friends in this section. If that event impacted your journey to medicine do yourself a favor and put it in the personal statement. I have seen people list being a husband/wife/father/mother/sister/brother/son/daughter/best friend in their experiences section. I can feel the earnestness oozing through the computer screen when I read these, but it doesn't make you look appealing. At best, it makes you look like a newborn fawn that just hobbled into traffic.

(4) In writing the entries I know there is an endless debate over being explanatory versus being brief, so you need to walk the line and be concise. That means you explain wherever necessary, and don't explain where it is unnecessary. Use enough words to get the point across and then stop. Tell what you learned only if you have something worthwhile to tell.

A good example is a poster presentation. Most everyone in medicine is familiar with posters. We know the drill. It is perfectly fine to simply list that you presented Poster X at Conference Y on date Z. You don't need to wax poetic about how crafting this poster taught you the value of teamwork and the true meaning of Christmas.

Now, if you have done something that is likely unfamiliar to the audience, like worked as a counselor at a camp that serves a specialized population, that deserves some verbiage.

That's all for now, I look forward to continuing the conversation below...

Does each poster presentation get its own entry?


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[CyrusHabs7695]

If I have shadowed with 5 different doctors of different specialties, should I list them all as separate entries, or group them as one and explain in the "explanation" section???


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[bioboy23]

.

 

[bioboy23]

If I have shadowed with 5 different doctors of different specialties, should I list them all as separate entries, or group them as one and explain in the "explanation" section???


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Don't list them separately. Clump them all together and explain what specialities and how many hours per specialty you shadowed.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Does each poster presentation get its own entry?


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We had a discussion about this. If you only have one research experience with a poster and/or pub, you can list it all together. If you have multiple posters and multiple pubs from different experiences, then group all the research experiences together, all the pubs together, and all the posters together. Obviously if you have one research experience and a poster and pub, you're not going to make three entries for that when one would suffice.

Sound about what we ended up saying, @Lawper ?

 

[Lawpy]

Does each poster presentation get its own entry?


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We had a discussion about this. If you only have one research experience with a poster and/or pub, you can list it all together. If you have multiple posters and multiple pubs from different experiences, then group all the research experiences together, all the pubs together, and all the posters together. Obviously if you have one research experience and a poster and pub, you're not going to make three entries for that when one would suffice.

Sound about what we ended up saying, @Lawper ?

yeah. being concise is key.

 

[freshprinceMD]

We had a discussion about this. If you only have one research experience with a poster and/or pub, you can list it all together. If you have multiple posters and multiple pubs from different experiences, then group all the research experiences together, all the pubs together, and all the posters together. Obviously if you have one research experience and a poster and pub, you're not going to make three entries for that when one would suffice.

Sound about what we ended up saying, @Lawper ?

Thank you so much for the help!


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[Youngm2194]

this is probably a stupid question but do you put each research experience as separate? I did 250hrs one summer one lab volunteer, 300hrs another lab next summer with a pub, and now I have a full time research job (2 years by the time I apply). I know the job would get its own slot but do these two research labs each get their own? I definitely cannot fill all 15 spots, probably 10 max.

Also, I was planning on putting all shadowing in one slot but I was able to shadow a class for surgical residents. Should this be a different slot? This a 2 day intensive trauma surgery class with a live pig lab and it gave me a different perspective, just don't know if it would count as its on activity compared to shadowing.

 

[cactusman]

yeah. being concise is key.

short good

 

[freak7]

short good

ya

 

[liquidcrawler]

Would it be alright to list the following under the same "honors and awards" entry?

Summer research fellowship administered by my honor's college ($3500)
My university's honor's college scholarship, awarded to those with no previous financial aid ($2000)
Best collegiate financial plan, administered through local CFP society ($200)
Best poster in show at regional science conference.

 

[MareNostrummm]

this is probably a stupid question but do you put each research experience as separate? I did 250hrs one summer one lab volunteer, 300hrs another lab next summer with a pub, and now I have a full time research job (2 years by the time I apply). I know the job would get its own slot but do these two research labs each get their own? I definitely cannot fill all 15 spots, probably 10 max.

Also, I was planning on putting all shadowing in one slot but I was able to shadow a class for surgical residents. Should this be a different slot? This a 2 day intensive trauma surgery class with a live pig lab and it gave me a different perspective, just don't know if it would count as its on activity compared to shadowing.

Bump, I have a similar question about multiple unpaid research experiences in different labs.

 

[Youngm2194]

Bump, I have a similar question about multiple unpaid research experiences in different labs.

Im doing 3 separate entries for each. The first one was unpaid, 10 weeks ~250hrs at one med school, the second was 10 week stipend summer program funded by NIMH at another med school with first author pub, third is full time tech/lab manager job that I have 2000+ hours at (a whole year by the time I apply) at another hospital/med school combo.

I plan on separating them because 1) they were all substantial and at different places 2) one is my current job 3) I have very strong rec letters from each PI so I feel like they deserve their own spot and 4) were all a decent amount of hours

 

[MareNostrummm]

Im doing 3 separate entries for each. The first one was unpaid, 10 weeks ~250hrs at one med school, the second was 10 week stipend summer program funded by NIMH at another med school with first author pub, third is full time tech/lab manager job that I have 2000+ hours at (a whole year by the time I apply) at another hospital/med school combo.

I plan on separating them because 1) they were all substantial and at different places 2) one is my current job 3) I have very strong rec letters from each PI so I feel like they deserve their own spot and 4) were all a decent amount of hours

Yeah that sounds really reasonable.

For me I just had about ~50 hours in a neuroscience lab working with behavioral testing of rodents before I graduated at that school. Now I'm at a different neuroscience lab at a different school (this time mostly doing histology, immunofluorescence/IHC projects at the moment) but already have 400+ hours (not including future hours since I'm continuing at least until next August 2018 if I'm accepted to medical school. We have a paper in the works right now that I will be a coauthor for, although it probably won't be published until sometime next year.

I'm also involved in a clinical research project for a couple of hours a week although I'm only really helping with doing literature reviews and writing the paper at the moment (we already have most of the data). The PI said he would put my name on the paper.

I was thinking about just combining the neuroscience lab experiences together since they are related and then putting clinical research as a separate entry. What do you think?

 

[Youngm2194]

Yeah that sounds really reasonable.

For me I just had about ~50 hours in a neuroscience lab working with behavioral testing of rodents before I graduated at that school. Now I'm at a different neuroscience lab at a different school (this time mostly doing histology, immunofluorescence/IHC projects at the moment) but already have 400+ hours (not including future hours since I'm continuing at least until next August 2018 if I'm accepted to medical school. We have a paper in the works right now that I will be a coauthor for, although it probably won't be published until sometime next year.

I'm also involved in a clinical research project for a couple of hours a week although I'm only really helping with doing literature reviews and writing the paper at the moment (we already have most of the data). The PI said he would put my name on the paper.

I was thinking about just combining the neuroscience lab experiences together since they are related and then putting clinical research as a separate entry. What do you think?

Hm I think the 400+ hour one should get its own spot since you mentioned it will be ongoing until to you matriculate (will this be a most meaningful one?) especially if its like a full time or part time job etc. But i guess if they are similar enough you could combine. I just think something you've done a lot of and plan on doing is significant to get its own slot.

Since the heading would be research maybe yoo could combine the other two (50hr one and clinical) and clearly designate that one is bench and one is clinical, maybe put the clinical first? If you have enough slots you could probably list all 3 separately but if thats an issue I would definitely try and combine 2, definitely don't combine all 3 though.

 

[MareNostrummm]

Hm I think the 400+ hour one should get its own spot since you mentioned it will be ongoing until to you matriculate (will this be a most meaningful one?) especially if its like a full time or part time job etc. But i guess if they are similar enough you could combine. I just think something you've done a lot of and plan on doing is significant to get its own slot.

Since the heading would be research maybe yoo could combine the other two (50hr one and clinical) and clearly designate that one is bench and one is clinical, maybe put the clinical first? If you have enough slots you could probably list all 3 separately but if thats an issue I would definitely try and combine 2, definitely don't combine all 3 though.

Yeah the 400+ hour one I'm doing about 20-25 hours a week so its pretty substantial. It will also be a most meaningful one (alongside scribing and being a homeless advocate). I just didn't know if ~50 hours was enough to warrant giving that research activity its own slot. In the end though I'll have 10 activities total if all separate research activities, 9 if I combine two of them, so I'm not worried about running out of slots.

 

[physiciandreams]

Under achievements does making the Dean's List count as an award? If so should I list each semester as a separate entry? And I was the co-founder and president of an organization which received awards from competing in a university competition, can I include these awards or no?

 

[libertyyne]

Under achievements does making the Dean's List count as an award? If so should I list each semester as a separate entry? And I was the co-founder and president of an organization which received awards from competing in a university competition, can I include these awards or no?

Assume everyone has deans list and presidential scholars. I grouped multiple years under one heading for all of those . I would include the awards, but if you do not have enough entries for other more important stuff I would include the awards under the original entry of the organization that you make to save an entry.

 

[physiciandreams]

That makes sense, thank you!

Also how do I list a living-learning program that I was in which is similar to a Honors program, but not of the same caliber. Would I still list that as an Honor?

 

[buckoh24]

I have some questions about the original post. I put all my athletic activities in one and it comes out to being over 1000 hours (cuz I workout 5-6 days a week for about an hour since college started) but have stuff like 150 volunteer hours in one thing and 100 in another. Are you saying we should maybe under report hobby hours so there isnt as huge of a gap? I included hours from high school for stuff like photography to show its been long term but with 15+ years of that, the hours add up. Same with snowboarding (tho its intercollegiate sports but began as a hobby).

Another question is about the high school activities because I have duel enrollment. I went full time to a state school and it counts for about 50ish credits and contributes to my AMCAS GPA. Since I was technically a full time college student but also using those credits for high school, would activities be fine from that time frame? I was only going to put in some achievements/awards earned during that time to show I was juggling those activities while trying to maintain a GPA that affects my AMCAS app. I combined both my academic awards from the college (deans list, honors award, etc) along with athletic awards/scholarships so I dont fill 2 spaces.

 

[MedicalDoge]

Assume everyone has deans list and presidential scholars. I grouped multiple years under one heading for all of those . I would include the awards, but if you do not have enough entries for other more important stuff I would include the awards under the original entry of the organization that you make to save an entry.

Under achievements does making the Dean's List count as an award? If so should I list each semester as a separate entry? And I was the co-founder and president of an organization which received awards from competing in a university competition, can I include these awards or no?

I concur with liberty, try grouping all awards into one entry to avoid wasting space. I grouped my honor society induction, research awards, and the deans list/presidential scholars in one awards section

 

[Med Ed]

I have some questions about the original post. I put all my athletic activities in one and it comes out to being over 1000 hours (cuz I workout 5-6 days a week for about an hour since college started) but have stuff like 150 volunteer hours in one thing and 100 in another. Are you saying we should maybe under report hobby hours so there isnt as huge of a gap? I included hours from high school for stuff like photography to show its been long term but with 15+ years of that, the hours add up. Same with snowboarding (tho its intercollegiate sports but began as a hobby).

Are your athletic activities interesting? D1 athlete? Olympic qualifiers? Black belt in BJJ? Collegiate team sport, at least? If so, that's all fine to include. I do occasionally see entries of just generic, routine exercise. I don't care. Like, at all.

Same with photography. How serious is it? Do you have a portfolio? Are you published? Have you won any awards? If not then it's difficult to get very excited about the details.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad to include a hobby/endeavor or two. You might get lucky somewhere and be interviewed by someone with the same interest. Just don't expect it to mean much in the broader context of your application.

Another question is about the high school activities because I have duel enrollment. I went full time to a state school and it counts for about 50ish credits and contributes to my AMCAS GPA. Since I was technically a full time college student but also using those credits for high school, would activities be fine from that time frame? I was only going to put in some achievements/awards earned during that time to show I was juggling those activities while trying to maintain a GPA that affects my AMCAS app. I combined both my academic awards from the college (deans list, honors award, etc) along with athletic awards/scholarships so I dont fill 2 spaces.

I will get a distillation of your transcript that says your college credits start in X year at X institution. Dual enrollment or not, that year is usually the safest point to begin listing things.

 

[buckoh24]

Are your athletic activities interesting? D1 athlete? Olympic qualifiers? Black belt in BJJ? Collegiate team sport, at least? If so, that's all fine to include. I do occasionally see entries of just generic, routine exercise. I don't care. Like, at all.

Same with photography. How serious is it? Do you have a portfolio? Are you published? Have you won any awards? If not then it's difficult to get very excited about the details.

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad to include a hobby/endeavor or two. You might get lucky somewhere and be interviewed by someone with the same interest. Just don't expect it to mean much in the broader context of your application.



I will get a distillation of your transcript that says your college credits start in X year at X institution. Dual enrollment or not, that year is usually the safest point to begin listing things.

Awesome thanks. The snowboarding was intercollegiate sports and the photography is listed under “artistic endeavor” cuz I show my stuff at small local venues but nothing spectacular. I haven’t won any awards so I’m assuming it will be along the lines of holding as much weight as a hobby without the actual designation. Out of the 14 entries, only about 2 of them are hobby level (3 if you include the snowboard team) but I may cut the “recerearional atheltics” if one has to go cuz I doubt they will care about those since I already have one sport related thing listed.

 

[BlueComet]

I also have a question about the original post. I left highschool when I was 17 by passing a state test. I immediately enrolled in Community college and worked in fast food for 6 months and volunteered for 40 hours at a local hospital - I left the job because I got a better job as a chemistry tutor for my CC and stopped volunteering because I decided to focus on my college classes. Should i list these in my activities? I have to admit working in fast food gave me a lot of service experience and basically showed me the value of an education, as I realized that wasnt what I wanted to do with my life.

Also, Ive been volunteering at a hospital in the nursing program and Ive asked a few doctors that have allowed me to shadow them while they did their rounds on the floor I was assigned too. Ive had success with this a couple times now, which adds up to about 10 hours (if not more). Should i list this as a separate shadowing experience or list it under my volunteering experience?

How bad does it make me look that I have no dedicated shadowing experience? Im a first generation student and only college graduate from my family, I didnt realize I needed to shadow and it has been fairly difficult for me to find one doctor that would allow me to do so regularly. My only experience comes from asking random doctors that come on my floor if I can shadow them, which most have allowed.

 

[libertyyne]

I also have a question about the original post. I left highschool when I was 17 by passing a state test. I immediately enrolled in Community college and worked in fast food for 6 months and volunteered for 40 hours at a local hospital - I left the job because I got a better job as a chemistry tutor for my CC and stopped volunteering because I decided to focus on my college classes. Should i list these in my activities? I have to admit working in fast food gave me a lot of service experience and basically showed me the value of an education, as I realized that wasnt what I wanted to do with my life.

Also, Ive been volunteering at a hospital in the nursing program and Ive asked a few doctors that have allowed me to shadow them while they did their rounds on the floor I was assigned too. Ive had success with this a couple times now, which adds up to about 10 hours (if not more). Should i list this as a separate shadowing experience or list it under my volunteering experience?

How bad does it make me look that I have no dedicated shadowing experience? Im a first generation student and only college graduate from my family, I didnt realize I needed to shadow and it has been fairly difficult for me to find one doctor that would allow me to do so regularly. My only experience comes from asking random doctors that come on my floor if I can shadow them, which most have allowed.

Shadowing is not volunteering. So I wouldn't list it as such.
I would list all jobs even if you have to group them.
You can group your small volunteering sessions under one heading.
You can also group you numerous small shadowing sessions under one heading.

 

[BlueComet]

Shadowing is not volunteering. So I wouldn't list it as such.
I would list all jobs even if you have to group them.
You can group your small volunteering sessions under one heading.
You can also group you numerous small shadowing sessions under one heading.

Does it matter that my shadowing was a result of my volunteering? Its because I dont really have any references for the shadowing as Ive just been shadowing doctors that come on to the floor i was assigned to volunteer too and its almost always been different doctors.

 

[BlueComet]

Also, my EC list looks basically like this:
- Fast food job - 6 months
- Chemistry Lab tech - 1 Year
- Head College Chemistry tutor for my CC - 1.5 years
- Volunteering - 120 + 40 hours. + some shadowing
- Field Biology Quarter - 1 quarter (Should i mention this? It was a very difficult and unique experience, we had to carry out original research in different preserved environments - at one point we had to camp outside for 2 weeks!)
- Student researcher (Job not volunteering) - 2 Years.

This is basically it. The OP said not to apply if I have 5 or less activities, but my activities have been ongoing since I was 17. I left highschool early and I had to make up for those classes in CC so ive always had to take a bunch of classes + work my whole life. I havent had a chance to do much of anything else but I always made sure I worked in a scientific field.

Should i still apply? I dont have the luxury of waiting another year to get more ECs because my parents are getting old and I want to be able to take over for them ASAP.

 

[libertyyne]

Does it matter that my shadowing was a result of my volunteering? Its because I dont really have any references for the shadowing as Ive just been shadowing doctors that come on to the floor i was assigned to volunteer too and its almost always been different doctors.

Ask yourself this, did your activity benefit others? If you were volunteering and stopped doing your task to follow doctors in my mind it is no longer volunteering. But others may feel differently.

 

[ZotZotter]

Also, my EC list looks basically like this:
- Fast food job - 6 months
- Chemistry Lab tech - 1 Year
- Head College Chemistry tutor for my CC - 1.5 years
- Volunteering - 120 + 40 hours. + some shadowing
- Field Biology Quarter - 1 quarter (Should i mention this? It was a very difficult and unique experience, we had to carry out original research in different preserved environments - at one point we had to camp outside for 2 weeks!)
- Student researcher (Job not volunteering) - 2 Years.

I think this is a good base of EC's...depending on what sort of volunteering experience that was, you may need to take the time to do more clinical volunteer work/patient experiences. I don't know how people speak with certainty about how many hours is enough hours so I won't spend more time on that...I just wanted to say that you should definitely include your field biology quarter. If it was work you were really interested, make that apparent on your app. I did a research field quarter in marine bio and I knew it was a unique experience. I worked it into my personal statement/app/interview and I know it played to my advantage. If its unique and you learned from it....include it.

 

[BlueComet]

I think this is a good base of EC's...depending on what sort of volunteering experience that was, you may need to take the time to do more clinical volunteer work/patient experiences. I don't know how people speak with certainty about how many hours is enough hours so I won't spend more time on that...I just wanted to say that you should definitely include your field biology quarter. If it was work you were really interested, make that apparent on your app. I did a research field quarter in marine bio and I knew it was a unique experience. I worked it into my personal statement/app/interview and I know it played to my advantage. If its unique and you learned from it....include it.

Thank you, I will work in my field biology quarter as well.

 

[esob]

How many "leisure activities" is the "minimum." There pertains more atm to TMDSAS but I will be filling out AMCAAS next so it will be helpful for both. Between raising 4 kids/work/TA'ing/tutoring/research/hospice/habitat/food bank/etc., I basically have zero free time to "go windsurfing" or whatever else might make for an interesting leisure activity, lol.

 

[Lucca]

How many "leisure activities" is the "minimum." There pertains more atm to TMDSAS but I will be filling out AMCAAS next so it will be helpful for both. Between raising 4 kids/work/TA'ing/tutoring/research/hospice/habitat/food bank/etc., I basically have zero free time to "go windsurfing" or whatever else might make for an interesting leisure activity, lol.

It’s perfectly acceptable to have 0 leisure activities. It all depends on how you want to present yourself and that means selection not just filling every space

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

How many "leisure activities" is the "minimum." There pertains more atm to TMDSAS but I will be filling out AMCAAS next so it will be helpful for both. Between raising 4 kids/work/TA'ing/tutoring/research/hospice/habitat/food bank/etc., I basically have zero free time to "go windsurfing" or whatever else might make for an interesting leisure activity, lol.

You don’t have a single hobby that you’ve done in the last few years? Like not even running?

 

[bioboy23]

How many activities should you have minimum? 7? 8? I know there isn’t a minimum, but to not look weird lol.

 

[deleted916225]

What kind of activities stand out? The only semi interesting thing I do is longboard with my dogs lmao

 

[esob]

You don’t have a single hobby that you’ve done in the last few years? Like not even running?

I mean I do things such as go to the gym everyday but the feedback I read about listing something like this is mixed. I do play an instrument so I have one legitimate leisure activity. So I guess my question is would it be prudent to list something like going to gym as a leisure activity or does it sound hokey and it is better to just leave it off?

 

[SpoiledMilk]

List the gym and spin it as a healthy avenue where you destress from life's stressors, which adcoms will know commonly occur in medschool and beyond.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I mean I do things such as go to the gym everyday but the feedback I read about listing something like this is mixed. I do play an instrument so I have one legitimate leisure activity. So I guess my question is would it be prudent to list something like going to gym as a leisure activity or does it sound hokey and it is better to just leave it off?

You play an instrument and go to the gym. They just want to see that you’re a human being and not just a premed robot. Playing an instrument makes you interesting. I don’t do body building, so I didn’t list working out on my app. I did list music though.

 

[Catalystik]

I mean I do things such as go to the gym everyday but the feedback I read about listing something like this is mixed. I do play an instrument so I have one legitimate leisure activity. So I guess my question is would it be prudent to list something like going to gym as a leisure activity or does it sound hokey and it is better to just leave it off?

If you have the space, list it, but add more detail to make it intereting and give a point of connection with an adcomm.

[So, you don't go to your kids' soccer games or scout activities-or the equivalent?]

 

[Catalystik]

What kind of activities stand out? The only semi interesting thing I do is longboard with my dogs lmao

Go for it. But explain what it is.

[Are they trained to pull you up a hill? Just interested.]

 

[Catalystik]

How many activities should you have minimum? 7? 8? I know there isn’t a minimum, but to not look weird lol.

Best to have 5 or more. 9-10 is average.

 

[Med Ed]

I mean I do things such as go to the gym everyday but the feedback I read about listing something like this is mixed. I do play an instrument so I have one legitimate leisure activity. So I guess my question is would it be prudent to list something like going to gym as a leisure activity or does it sound hokey and it is better to just leave it off?

Instrument = fine. You may get lucky and have an interviewer who is also musically inclined.

Gym = nobody cares.

 

[esob]

So the prompt says activities "since graduating high school" and since I graduated high school roughly 780 weeks ago and played my instrument on average 4 hrs per week am I expected to list 3100+ hrs lol? For non-trads should we just put the hours while pursuing our degree?

 

[acslater99]

During undergrad/post bacc, I had 5 jobs. Should I list them all or will that be a red-flag to adcoms?

I was never fired in any of the jobs I held. Reasons why I had a lot of jobs was due to finding better paying opportunities.

Should I list 1 or 2 recent jobs instead?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

So the prompt says activities "since graduating high school" and since I graduated high school roughly 780 weeks ago and played my instrument on average 4 hrs per week am I expected to list 3100+ hrs lol? For non-trads should we just put the hours while pursuing our degree?

I’ve played music for 20 years. I put the max amount of 9s (like 99,999 I think).