Extracurriculars completely moot for PhD admission?

snarlatron
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:46:54 +0000

Not only do they not help; they can hurt. I was almost turned down because some on the committee didn’t like my mentioning such interests in my personal statement. It evidently should (at least to them) have been one-dimensional: a laser beam focus on academics and the ability and fortitude to see it through.