JonAdmissionado wrote:
madammepsychosis wrote:
Anybody have any idea what Wharton is looking for in the hobbies or related activities section of the app? It seems like "hobbies" suggests things like, I enjoy cooking and skiing in my free time, but I don't belong to any club or organization or hold a title with respect to these activities, and there is no start/stop date. I'm debating whether to include these types of hobbies (eg, "Cooking" is my "club" and I have been doing it from xx/2004 to present and spend about 3 hrs per week doing it) or just leave this section blank. Also thinking about adding very old club involvements, like I was on a ski team in high school, in order to indicate that I have been involved in this activity for a long time, but on the other hand maybe it is just stale and unimportant at this point. Thoughts?
Well, I would leave out the ski thing. You hit the nail on the head when you wrote the word "Stale"... If you haven't done it since high school, it's likely not all that relevant. As for the cooking, that can be great, but we need to know that it's more than three hours of you just slapping some tomatoes in the pan to put on your spaghetti! You need to find some concrete way to make it relevant and interesting (like, you have taken courses in three types of cuisine, you know how to make Peking Duck, you test two new recipes a week, etc.... Make it UNIQUE and INTERESTING!
Seems sensible. I do put a lot more into cooking that just basic sustenance (know you were just making a point
) -- I like to challenge myself and cook new and exciting dishes when I can (unfortunately, work and other commitments (MBA apps) don't afford me time to test 2 new recipes a week, but when I do get time I might spend a whole day in the kitchen), love classic French the best -- but, still, how do you work this into the Wharton hobbies section? They give you four entries to fill in: Club/organization, Positions held, Start date/end date, and # hrs per week. There is no room for explanation, other than 250 characters for all your hobbies combined to explain which activity you enjoy the most and why. Is it bad to just leave the hobbies/interests section blank entirely and depend only on the more formal ECs listed in the activities section? I would like to show some of my other interests outside of work to highlight a multifaceted personality, beyond what I will be writing in one of my essays (which conveys just one of my personal passions), but seems like this is the only place to do so (no room on my resume, and even if I did have room I frankly think it a little amateurish to list hobbies on a professional resume). Might just end up scrapping the whole section, though.
I definitely wouldn't scrap this section. This is a very straight-forward area where you get to try and pull yourself "off the page" and show the AdCom a fuller picture of yourself. Just because you're not involved in a cooking club doesn't mean they won't be interested that you like to cook. Cooking says something about you. It says something about you if you say you like to cook and ski on your free time opposed to someone that likes to watch movies and read. Those are two different types of people. They want to know that. Being involved in a club and holding office is, I would guess, a plus for the AdCom but it's not a make-or-break. Don't let great be the enemy of good.