ERAS and Extracurriculars

[(nicedream)]

Does ERAS have a space for extracurriculars/volunteer activities? Does anyone leave it blank (have little or none)? Would this make a weak application?

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[ExtraCrispy]

Yes, ERAS has windows for both. The good thing, though, is that you can include your pre-med school activities, so if you didn't do a ton in med school b/c ...well....you were learning medicine!...that's acceptable (even expected), and you can include what you did in undergrad, etc.

Just as a warning, though - whatever you put on your application from years long past, make sure you REVIEW what you did in detail. I've had some pretty specific questions during interviews about things I did 7-8 years ago, which definitely threw me off guard.

 

[rugtrousers]

Yes, ERAS has windows for both. The good thing, though, is that you can include your pre-med school activities, so if you didn't do a ton in med school b/c ...well....you were learning medicine!...that's acceptable (even expected), and you can include what you did in undergrad, etc.

Just as a warning, though - whatever you put on your application from years long past, make sure you REVIEW what you did in detail. I've had some pretty specific questions during interviews about things I did 7-8 years ago, which definitely threw me off guard.

I agree with the above (especially about being asked questions about OLD OLD things). Don't dare leave it blank, though. They don't get to know enough about you as it is, and blank activities would leave you with just grades, scores and letters.

 

[Pingu]

Also don't put lame activities, because residents do read them and if you put down something, we might ask you about it. I also find it hard to believe that normal 20-something people have some of the hobbies that y'all put down

 

[Hurricane]

I put a link to my website in that space, as being a web geek is one of my hobbies. I asked the PD at our program if I should or not, and he said that it shows I can express myself, which is good quality to see in psych applicants. However, I forgot that buried among my photos is a picture of me balancing beer bottle on my head, at the National MD/PhD Conference no less. (It was in Aspen, and the altitude really messed with my alcohol tolerance.) At my last interview, one of my interviewers mentioned it, and I remarked I should probably get rid of that, and he said no, leave it, he thought it was great that an applicant could post a picture like that and laugh at themselves. So I guess it will stay. But this is psych. If I were applying to a humorless specialty like derm or something I would probably remove it.

 

[Poety]

Also don't put lame activities, because residents do read them and if you put down something, we might ask you about it. I also find it hard to believe that normal 20-something people have some of the hobbies that y'all put down

Pingu DO TELL WHAT THE WORST/FUNNIEST hobby is that you saw... come on please?!

My hobbies were all extreme sports, so I get asked a LOT about them - and Im a bit eccentric with my animal collection

 

[Pingu]

We've had several people say they like to bird watch...which is a wtf hobby.

Lots of people who like certain types of literature, but when one of our residents who was really into the type of literature that the interviewee said he liked asked him about it, he had no clue.

People who build furniture, play musical instruments, bond with their wives, and on and on. I don't know anyone who has put down actual things people do. That's why I turn to that section immediately, because the most BS will be in that section.

I would be happy to see someone who put: I like to watch football and drink beer with my friends. or I like to shop and watch the lifetime network. or I love indie music and am a groupie. But everyone is always trying to impress people with their maturity and pretentiousness.

 

[Poety]

Pingu that is GREAT!!!

 

[robotsonic]

We've had several people say they like to bird watch...which is a wtf hobby.

People who build furniture, play musical instruments, bond with their wives, and on and on. I don't know anyone who has put down actual things people do.

I would be happy to see someone who put: I like to watch football and drink beer with my friends. or I like to shop and watch the lifetime network. or I love indie music and am a groupie. But everyone is always trying to impress people with their maturity and pretentiousness.

Uh, I actually know a guy (surgeon) who DOES bird watch. Many many people in my med school class play instruments (they even have clubs that do performances). And building furniture sounds like an awesome activity. Why do you think that these are things people don't actually do?

My extra activities section of ERAS was only 2 lines long and completely true, but given your criteria I would be "trying to impress people with my maturity and pretentiousness," which I am certainly not doing. I was honest about my activities (which don't include sitting around drinking beer).

 

[(nicedream)]

Uh, I actually know a guy (surgeon) who DOES bird watch. Many many people in my med school class play instruments (they even have clubs that do performances). And building furniture sounds like an awesome activity. Why do you think that these are things people don't actually do?

My extra activities section of ERAS was only 2 lines long and completely true, but given your criteria I would be "trying to impress people with my maturity and pretentiousness," which I am certainly not doing. I was honest about my activities (which don't include sitting around drinking beer).

I agree. While I also sit around drinking beer, I also have played guitar for 18 years as well as piano, drums, and sing. I don't think me putting that down should strike anyone as strange.

 

[Pingu]

It hasn't been that so much, I knew tons of people who play instruments and do lots of interesting things, it was really in the way that it has been written which leads me to think that it is pretentious.

Also, some, but not all, have been unable to further elaborate when asked about their hobbies. So to be quite honest, I don't care what you put down or even what you do in your free time, just don't lie about it or act like a pompous jerk.

 

[Hurricane]

I was this close to listing "sarcasm" as a hobby. But I chickened out.

A guy in my graduate program listed "oenology" on his application, which is just a pretentious way of saying "I'm a pompous ass of a wine snob who doesn't know half as much about wine as I let on."

 

[GoofyDoc]

I would be happy to see someone who put: I like to watch football and drink beer with my friends. or I like to shop and watch the lifetime network. or I love indie music and am a groupie. But everyone is always trying to impress people with their maturity and pretentiousness.

I wrote that I love to watch "Lost" and play with my baby.

 

[8744]

I like to play Frisbee with my Black Lab Persephone. Some of you who know me know that I got Persephone as a puppy in February after my beloved Border Collie Nora was killed by a speeding car.

 

[electra]

Yeah, don't lie on your application. That looks bad.

Panda, I had two yellow labs that I lost two years ago in a house fire in Cali. I was devastated, so I sympathize about your Nora. When I was at U of M interviewing, the PD had a picture of her six or so yellow labs and that ended up being a fun talking point. Make sure you have a picture of your Persephone!
By the way, now I have a Thisbie.