hobbies and interests paragraph on personal statement?

[purplesky123]

I have no idea how to relate my interests to a career in medicine

I'm not a very sporty person although I go jogging every week to keep fit and healthy, it often also helps me relax.

I like baking a lot...but how can I make that relate-able?

I love photography and upload pictures onto deviantart and get positive feedback which is really nice and uplifting ^^. but again, it isn't relate-able to medicine at all.

I have talked about how I volunteer with St John's Ambulance and about my other work experience placements but I'm really struggling with this paragraph.

Am I at a disadvantage for not doing DofE or any major sports?

I like playing table tennis with my friends and we play basketball at lunch sometimes but it's just recreational, I'm not on the school team/haven't got certificates to prove it.

please help, how do I tie all of these lose hobbies into one paragraph?

[purplesky123]

Oh I also really like languages and took part in school enrichment opportunities and learned sign language and japanese during year 12... is this relateable to medicine? thanks for taking the time to read this message and I would greatly appreciate any advice :'(

[new2newmedia]

You'll probably get a few different opinions on this but my advice would be:

Firstly, don't feel like you need to say everything you do and certainly don't reel them off as a list.

My feeling is that they don't have to relate to medicine. I think that sports can be quite useful in a "team work" context but it always sounds a bit forced to me. I'm sure there's another way you could talk about that if you wanted. I saw the interests and hobbies section as a way of showing that I was a real person with other interests and that I liked having a go at things so would make the most of what's on offer at university. If you like baking, jogging and languages then that seems like plenty of outside interests to me; just say why you like them and what you get out of it. If you're as honest as possible in your statement then any interviews will be much easier.

Good luck.

[jcak]

I feel new2newmedia has hit the nail on the head with that. Med schools don't want someone who is just academically gifted, they want a real person. What is most important about this is not saying what you do, but what you gain from doing it. A straight up list would do you no good at all. The languages is a good hobby to state because it shows an understanding of other cultures and can show someone who is less narrow minded than the typical academic.

Just think outside of the box and see what you could have taken from these sorts of hobbies, then out of those be truthful and say what you did take from them. Make sure you don't lie about what you took from it, as if you're caught out it shows a lack of integrity and can disqualify your application.

Good luck!

[fibonacci]

Someone once said to me that that paragraph was looked at by the universities primarily to see that you "have a life", so to speak. I didn't relate any of my hobbies to medicine and never felt the need to. The languages could be a good thing to focus on, as a multilingual doctor is bound to be more useful (all other abilities presumed competent). Baking etc should be included as a one liner - i.e. don't spend too much time on this section. Use your character count to focus on more important areas of the PS such as work experience.

[Martigan]

I would agree with New2 and Jcak...