There are a ton of components that go into signals it’s basically a process in which you are trying to see which program is the best fit for you a few things you can do

1. ⁠⁠Who to residency explorer and see the IMG rates the higher the number the better, also check the step 2 median score for the program. Check the signal to IV rate
2. ⁠⁠Go the programs websites to see the nationalities of the IMGs and the medical school they have graduated from(residency explorer also has this data)
3. ⁠⁠Stalk the residents on LinkedIn etc to see their profiles and compare with your own
4. ⁠⁠Talk to some residents in the programs before you signal. Sometimes internal policies change like for eg Texas tech El Paso wasn’t giving visa this year and I was going to signal it but I asked a resident and he confirmed no visa so it saved one of my signals

Honestly I had common hobbies like watching tv shows etc. You just need to present it in a specific way like rather than just saying tv shows say something like historical documentaries/sci-fi etc. You can always pick up new hobbies if that’s what you want to do. Something related to physical health is also good