Anybody Who Has Written A Personal Statement

[OaKA]

Anybody who has written a personal statement, how many extra-curricular activities did you write about?

[Rippy]

Anybody who has written a personal statement, how many extra-curricular activities did you write about?

There's no really set number you need to have. You need to strike a balance between mentioning a decent number, but also not just making it a list.

[Chwirkytheappleboy]

The important thing is what you got out of the experience, not how many different things you did. If you learnt a lot from one or two things, that's far better than doing 10 activities that had no impact on you

[minnako]

As everyone else has said, quality over quantity. It is much more important to say what you learned from each extracurricular, and how that relates to medicine, than it is to list off a lot of them. If you have lots, you can try grouping them if there are any that are really similar and you think gave you the same skills. You may have to leave some out because there will probably not be space to go into what you have learned from most of them.

So, for example, instead of the following:

In addition to crocheting cushion covers, I am the lead guitarist in a new-new wave rock band, write iPhone apps devoted to French history, play in the local football team, take part in synchronised figure skating write an activist blog devoted to complaining about badly decorated cakes, read Dr. Seuss stories to orphans eight times a week, played Orc no. 3 in our school's performance of The Lord Of The Rings, am the main gossip columnist of our school's newspaper, am preparing for bassoon grade 8, and I am also putting together a gallery exhibition of my artwork in the postconsumerist dadaist taste.

You could write more about you get out of them:

I find crocheting and playing the electric guitar similar in two respects: I find they have improved my manual dexterity, and I find them relaxing, both of these will stand me in good stead as a doctor. Playing football and taking part in synchronised figure skating can be challenging, but it has allowed me to learn how to diffuse arguments and work with people in a team under pressure, skills I believe will be useful as a doctor. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to exhibit my artwork, which has given me an experience in working to strict deadlines and explaining my work to a critical audience, developing my confidence.

That's just a stupid example off the top of my head, but you can see that the important thing is picking a few that look relevant, and elaborating on them.

I will say that universities do want your statement to be mostly about medicine, though, so be careful that your extracurriculars don't take up too much space in your personal statement. I find leaving the extracurriculars as the last paragraph works best, personally, as it's a nice note to end on, particularly if you can sum it up by relating back to why you think you want to take on the challenges and benefits of medicine. It's more important to explain what you got from work experience, and why you want to be a doctor than it is to list off loads of extracurriculars. They want to see you have a life outside studying, but they don't want to read too much about it.

[OaKA]

I know you need to get a balance hence the question, however I wanted to get an understanding of how many extra curricular activities people tend to include, so I would be grateful if people could just write a number down.

[!PsyChirurgus!]

I know you need to get a balance hence the question, however I wanted to get an understanding of how many extra curricular activities people tend to include, so I would be grateful if people could just write a number down.

Lesser than or equal to four.

[minnako]

I'd say around 4, based on mine from last year. A bit more won't go amiss, but four is enough.

[pistol_offire]

extra-curriculars are just to show that you are a normal person with normal interests, rather than someone whose life revolves around work. in my statement i devoted one small paragraph to it, the rest was about academics, motivation to study medicine and work experience.

[Rippy]

extra-curriculars are just to show that you are a normal person with normal interests, rather than someone whose life revolves around work. in my statement i devoted one small paragraph to it, the rest was about academics, motivation to study medicine and work experience.

No they aren't.

They also can show what skills you possess, and how those skills equip you well for a career in medicine. Extracurriculars are very important for a medicine application.

[Rippy]

Also, why is everyone saying less than 4? You can easily mention over 4 if you write about each one pretty concisely but still getting your point across. I mean, you don't need to waffle about each one - it's pretty obvious being a team captain shows you have leadership skills, so no need to waste 3 lines explaning that. (though obviously it shouldn't literally be a list either - there is a balance to strike)