<p>I am going to be a freshman in college and I wondering how I will mention chess when applying for medical school. It is still early, but I’m actually trying to reach national master in a month and a half (I plan on quitting chess once I reach college due to studying). I’m an expert and close to master, but recently I had a tough loss and it is virtually impossible to reach master now. I know that my chess skill isn’t important, but it seems like I’m quitting chess just because of this loss (which may be true since I’m not motivated anymore), but then again I’ve played chess my whole life. If I were to continue chess, I might be able to squeeze in some tournaments during the summers of college. (I’m also planning to volunteer at chess camps)</p>
<p>I don’t think an adcom would ask about my chess title in an interview, and even if I mention chess in my personal statement, I wouldn’t mention that I am a national master. But could I mention national master under Hobbies in the work/activities section (under description) of the amcas, and I think that could really help my application (such as how it has affected me, and it makes me a more unique person)</p>
<p>My parents say that reaching national master doesn’t matter for anything, and they’re upset when I mention it. But it seems that if I don’t mention my chess title, an adcom wouldn’t know that I’m an experienced tournament player, compared to a beginner/club player. And it doesn’t make sense to me to stop playing and mention that I’m an expert since I am relatively close to master, and my rating has been going up. I am leaning towards quitting chess forever, but I don’t know if I’m making a big mistake. I know chess master is much less important compared to shadowing/volunteer/research, but I am still concerned. I also think chess is an important game in a way since there is a lot of critical thinking.</p>
<p>“I don’t think an adcom would ask about my chess title in an interview”
-They absolutely will. Any of your great interest / accomplishment outside of medicine will most likely be discussed much more than you expected,most likely more than your Med. Research Lab. internship, believe it or not. It is extremely important to pursue your personal interests in UG, you will not have these chances later on, you will have no time, Medical students are studying while exercising in gym, sometime they cannot affrod to go out to eat, preparing something at home. The time is really pushed, so please, have great fun doing what you love to do while in UG and do not tailor your life to requirements of Med. schools adcoms, they are looking for real people with real interests who can relate to others.</p>
<p>^Exactly, my thought was “that’s the first thing you’ll get asked about.”</p>
<p>I am a little confused though. If you aren’t a master, then you can’t put that you are on the app. You could just write how much time you spend playing/practicing or put your rating on the app. Your skill is not what will matter. Your passion for the game is what will.</p>
<p>If you enjoy chess–pursue it. What possible downside does it have?</p>
<p>If you don’t want to work toward the national title anymore–that’s fine too.</p>
<p>Med schools are not going to grill you on what level of play you’re at. They’re not going to call you a liar for being a chessplayer without title. Chess will just be one more thing on the list of stuff you do. Of course, it might be the one thing that catches one interviewer’s eye. No one knows; no one can know.</p>
<p>(Happened for D1 who is competitive sport climber. Turned out one of her interviewers had been sport climber in his younger days. It became a contact point that humanized her to that interviewer. The rest of her interviewers? Couldn’t have cared less, but they didn’t hold it against her either.)</p>
<p>You need to engage in activities you enjoy because they bring you pleasure. Pre med is tough; med school is tough. If all you do is study, it makes you a dull stick. Med schools want vibrant, interesting individuals not automatons.</p>
<p>The take-away? If you want to continue competing in chess, it’s OK, but it’s also OK if you don’t.</p>
<p>Just don’t end up one of those sad cases who spends every minute they’re not in class in the library studying 24/7.</p>
<p>I appreciate all the advice. I’ll try to reach master throughout the summers of college. (I have an essay due in the beginning of August, but maybe I could also squeeze in a few tournaments, including a pretty big one this weekend, by that time.) i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown, to clarify I was just assuming that eventually I would be able to reach master throughout college if not in a month and a half. </p>
<p>It makes sense now. Basically if I put down I am a national master (if I become one) in the Hobbies section of work/activities, there’s a pretty good chance an interviewer would ask me about it and discussing it could be good for me. If I just quit chess and don’t become a national master, an interviewer probably wouldn’t care about my chess skill, but then again the first option could be a relatively significant achievement.</p>
<p>Your interviewer may or may not ask about chess even if you do earn a title. It depends on where the interviewer’s interests lie. If the interviewer is a chess person–then it’s talking point. If the interviewer isn’t a chess person, then he may not even notice it on your CV.</p>
<p>"It makes sense now. Basically if I put down I am a national master (if I become one) in the Hobbies section of work/activities, there’s a pretty good chance an interviewer would ask me about it and discussing it could be good for me. If I just quit chess and don’t become a national master, an interviewer probably wouldn’t care about my chess skill, but then again the first option could be a relatively significant achievement. "
-Please, do not do it to yourself, do not do anything strictly for Med. School. Do it if you enjoy it, Quit if you do not. Med. School should have absolutely nothing to do with it.</p>
<p>Ok thanks. I enjoy the game but it is very stressful when I lose, and a few days ago I was thinking way too long near the end of the game and had almost no time at the end even though I was winning. He had 2 pieces and somehow checkmated me in the end. I dropped out of that tournament and just wanted to quit chess. The only way I’d quit chess is if national master doesn’t matter at all. I know reaching national master just for med school is bad and I’m trying not to do that, but considering that I kind of enjoy the game (despite the stress), and that I am already over 2100 (I just need to reach 2200), it would probably only take 10-15 solid/good tournaments (there’s usually a tournament every weekend) to reach 2200.</p>
<p>I’m going to work hard on my essay that’s due in the beginning of August, and even though I won’t reach national master by the end of the summer, I’ll still have a lot of time throughout college. (And it seems like it would be a good thing to play throughout college, as opposed to just reaching national master this summer and quitting chess)</p>
<p>good point wayoutwestmom, an interviewer might not mention it even if I mention national master on my app, but I think it should at least be a plus to be able to mention it on my app (even if I’m assuming most adcoms probably don’t know what a national master is or the difference between expert and national master)</p>
<p>^Interviewers seem to be very aware of details of application. D’s most common topic of conversation was her music minor and her unusual for pre-meds voluntiring. They did not discuss her multi-year Med Research internship as much as she wished. She expected it and was looking forward to it as she liked her Research topic and did presentation and even wrote proposal and obtained grant from 2 sources. it did not happened as much as discussion about Chopin and others including pop bands and some other completely unexpected topics. Interviewers are people too, they get bored with samo samo all day long, when they see something different, they take a note and eager to just engage in more interesting (from their prospective) conversation and then they remember you better. It seems how it played out. There is always a bit of luck in everything.<br>
At your stage when you did not even start the college, I would not even come any close to thinking about Med. School interviews. It has potential to driving you insane. I would just try to enjoy my next 4 years to the fullest while working as hard as possible in all classes to achieve very high GPA. D. had Music minor only because it was her R&R, she fully enjoyed it, it was very easy for her and included some unbelievable experiences like recording her own music in real recording studio and asking music major student to perform her piece at special concert. These experiences will be part of her for the rest of her life. This is the only thing that counts, she did not think about Med. School interviews while enjoying her music classes.</p>
<p>Just mention your involvement in chess. That’s also been a pretty big part of my life. I finally got the candidate master title but plan on quitting everyday training (due to studying) once first semester starts. What’s your USCF right now? What school are you going to next year? (Some campuses have very strong chess clubs filled with IMs, GMs that you could get involved in on the side)</p>
<p>around 2115. I go to a small liberal arts college and I don’t think they have a chess club.</p>
<p>If I list chess as a hobby, wouldn’t I have to play in chess tournaments regularly throughout the summers of college? Or is the number of hours/week irrelevant when listing hobbies? I know it isn’t something I should be concerned with right now.</p>
<p>You could list the # of hours your train. Like if you solve tactics puzzles or work on openings a certain number of hours a week you could list that. Then, when you have time you could play in some tourneys and list those too. I’m sure that you’ll play in some events over the next three years. 2100 + is way higher than most chess enthusiasts ever reach so you’ll still have high credibility for your skills. Get a killer GPA and MCAT score and the rest will just be the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>I think you’re making this way more stressful than it ever needed to be.</p>
<p>If you like chess, play chess.
If chess stresses you out, quit.
If you decide that was a bad move, pick it up again.</p>
<p>If you actually get to the point of applying to med school and want something else to put on your AMCAS, list your chess involvement. If you can’t fit it on AMCAS, mention it in an essay. If an interviewer brings it up, mention that you got to whatever level you got to. If you want to talk about it at an interview, figure out a way to bring it up (eg when they ask you about a challenge you’ve faced or a decision you made).</p>
<p>You really can’t go wrong!</p>