<p>Exactly - and due respect to the OP, but we’re talking about airsoft here… a pretty juvenile pastime by any stretch of the imagination. (and sorry, but you’re not a “gun technician” for fixing airsoft pistols) I would leave this off not because “its related to guns” (its not, really), but because of what NCG said about leaving off things like video games, etc. If you are a competitive target/skeet shooter, or an Olympic pistol shooter or something like that, by all means include it on your application. These are interesting ECs/hobbies. But “I like to fix toy guns” doesn’t add anything to your application. If you must put something down, make it something about working with electronics, etc. and leave airsoft out of it.</p>
<p>Icarus, while many things in airsoft are juvenile, there is a segment of the airsoft community that is definitely NOT. The higher end competitors can get pretty interesting. I’ve played airsoft with an ex Green Beret, a Vietnam LRRP, a few Rangers, and an ex Russian Spetsnaz guy. The devil is in the details. </p>
<p>I do agree that I would focus on the technical aspects moreso than the gamming aspects!</p>
<p>Ah well that’s a different story. Not including his hobby because the adcom thinks it might be a little juvenile is a better reason than saying the adcom will think he’s a murderous psychopath.</p>
<p>Even the hint of trouble, not necessarily suspicion of being a murderous psychopath, is enough for an adcom to pass on you. Why not pick any of the hundreds of other equally qualified applicants? Perhaps those who enjoy playing the piano, traveling, playing football, photography, collecting stamps, skiing, dancing, scuba diving, golfing, sculpting, or painting in their spare time?</p>
<p>Mentioning that you enjoy shooting others for recreation just won’t lead to anything positive IMO.</p>
<p>I’d agree with asmallchild here. The reality is not so much that they think you’d be a psychopath as that there are so many other applicants. Anything that makes them hesitate in the slightest is going to get your application thrown out pretty quickly.</p>
<p>As far as psychopaths making it into medicine, anyone who thinks a talented antisocial pd individual couldn’t succeed hasn’t met very many psych patients! I recently had a child Px that managed to go several months without a single behavioral incident in a residential facility (even showing such leadership that this kid seemed more like a staff member than a resident). This Px probably convinced many a staff that s/he was a normal kid (and one with extremely high potential at that) despite having been in jail most of his/her life due to previous antisocial and illegal behavior. If a kid with very non-normalizing experiences after having been caught can feign being “the perfect teenager” for several months, how much more could one of the uncaught psychopaths in society fake his/her way into med school.</p>
<p>Although I believe you generally make informative posts, Icarus, your post in this thread comes off as ignorant.</p>
<p>Why is Airsoft more juvenile than, say, paintball? Doesn’t the military simulation aspect of airsoft make it less juvenile (this is reflected in the demographics- in fields, airsoft has an older demographic, including servicemen and ex-military guys)?</p>
<p>Also, please don’t make judgements about being a gun technician without actually knowing what one does.</p>
<p>“I think it requires a lot of engineering, there’s electromagnetics involved (I learned how to solder a MOSFET solid state switching device with a chip and some resistors), mechanics (motor and gear shimming), and Newtonian physics (figuring out the bullet trajectory, adjusting the rifling to combat gravity, etc.)”</p>
<p>You seem to be making the argument that these skills would somehow add to your medically-relevant knowledge of physics; however, to be honest, I simply don’t see the connection. For one thing, I highly doubt you are sitting down writing out equations or even thinking of them in your head as you aim the gun, etc. The reality is that your brain (and nervous system) is basically making these computations in real time and your conscious mind has nothing to do with that process. The physics involved here have very little to do with the physics principles one would encounter in medical school or a hospital unit.</p>
<p>“Why is Airsoft more juvenile than, say, paintball? Doesn’t the military simulation aspect of airsoft make it less juvenile (this is reflected in the demographics- in fields, airsoft has an older demographic, including servicemen and ex-military guys)?”</p>
<p>I don’t believe anyone said it was more juvenile – just that it is as juvenile (or at least that is how many will perceive it to be). The fact of the matter is that you came and asked for people’s opinions and people gave their opinions. Your hobby doesn’t seem to be one that most pre-med and pre-health students see as appropriate for a med school application (not to say it is inappropriate for a health professions student to be involved with but simply not something one would suggest emphasizing when applying to such programs – it does not seem professional or as if it would add much to your application positively and may have some negative connotations attached to it). You don’t have to like it and you can certainly disagree, but that appears to be the consensus overall. If I were you, I’d consider how each thing listed on my application will be seen by someone reviewing my application. Place yourself in the shoes of a med school adcom for the moment, considering their position, needs, concerns, desires, etc., just as you would with patients in a clinical setting!</p>
<p>It’s not more juvenile. In the eyes of adcom, we’re telling you they both look equally juvenile when you consider other personal interests that one could bring up in an interview. Now this is situational. If you walk into your interviewer’s room and you see rifles and NRA stickers everywhere, congratulations, you’ve lucked out! But I’m willing to wager 9.5/10 interviewers will not share your enthusiasm regarding recreational firearms.</p>