Official 2008 Secondary Essay Prompts Thread

viciouz said:

Since no one posted the stanford essays:

The Committee on Admissions regards the diversity of an entering class as an important factor in serving the educational mission of the school.

The Committee on Admissions strongly encourages you to share unique, personally important, and/or challenging factors in your background, such as the quality of your early educational environment, socioeconomic status, culture, race, ethnicity, or life or work experiences. Please discuss how such factors have influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine.

Please limit your answer to 2,000 characters including spaces.

Why do you feel you are particularly suited for this practice scenario? What knowledge, skills and attitudes have you developed that have prepared you for this career path?

The Stanford School of Medicine curriculum integrates the scientific basis of medicine with clinical practice. A key element of this curriculum is a requirement for in-depth didactic and scholarly activities through participation in a scholarly concentration of your choice. Details of the curriculum and scholarly concentrations are available at http://med.stanford.edu/md/curriculum, which we ask you to review prior to answering the following essay question.

Please limit your answer to 1,000 characters including spaces.

How will the Stanford curriculum, and specifically the requirement for a scholarly concentration, help your personal career goals?

Please limit your answer to 1,000 characters including spaces.

Click to expand...

They were actually posted in another thread, so I already linked to the post above The most recent list includes Stanford.

University of Utah and Howard are out. Howard contains no essays, but the University of Utah is the worst one ever...

Can someone verify the link for the Johns Hopkins secondary? It seems to be inappropriately linked to another Harvard essay.

1) Has anyone been getting Drexel's secondary?

2) Has anyone gotten Morehouse's secondary/know what the prompt is?

3) For those who got the EVMS secondary, how long did it take for it to arrive?

MasonPrehealth said:

Can someone verify the link for the Johns Hopkins secondary? It seems to be inappropriately linked to another Harvard essay.

Click to expand...

https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=jhu-som

Here it is, but I give JHU a C- for the site, it's pretty clunky.

MDee said:

3) For those who got the EVMS secondary, how long did it take for it to arrive?

Click to expand...

I was verified on 6/20, got the secondary email on 7/13. You don't have to wait for the email to start working on it though, here it is: http://www.evms.edu/admissions/supplemental.html

I would go ahead and start working on it, but maybe don't submit it until you get the invite to do so.

Does anybody know if UNM's secondary has a question about alumni relatives?? I'm thinking of applying since my mother went to medical school there, but I was wondering if they even ask that question on the secondary... Thanks!

MDee said:

1) Has anyone been getting Drexel's secondary?

Click to expand...

I got drexel on 8/7.

Concubine said:

University of Utah and Howard are out. Howard contains no essays, but the University of Utah is the worst one ever...

Click to expand...

What are the essays for Utah?

Queenshawtii said:

What are the essays for Utah?

Click to expand...

Utah has the following statements:

1. The personal statement is in addition to the personal comments provided on the AMCAS application. The personal comments from your AMCAS application will not be acceptable as your personal statement, although you may expand on an idea expressed in your personal comments. The personal statement should not be used to list your accomplishments and activities since they are noted elsewhere in your application.

The personal statement is an opportunity for you to present yourself and your motivation for pursuing a career in medicine to the Admissions Committee. Topics for the personal statement may include activities or individuals who have influenced your life and shaped your decision to study medicine. Share what you have learned on a personal level. The statement should be specific, succinct, straightforward and sincere. You should discuss your motivation and your enthusiasm for medicine. The committee is interested in your life long goals, both personally and in medicine, and will want to know that you are committed to excellence in all areas of medicine.

Use the space provided to enter your personal statement. The available space is 4500 characters. You will receive an error message if you exceed the available space. Spell check is not available. You may copy and paste your personal statement from another application/program, e.g., Microsoft Word, WordPerfect.

2. Instructions: If you do not intend to enroll in any courses, explain the learning pursuits in which you will be involved in the space below.

The available space is 2000 characters. Spell check is not available. You may copy and paste your comments from another application/program, e.g., Microsoft Word, WordPerfect.


I received Morehouse in early July. The single essay goes something like:why you want to attend Morehouse an how do you think Morehouse will make you a better doctor?

For Tulane's secondary, question #2 asks what we have been doing since we last attended school, but it doesn't give any space for a reply. In the instructions it says not to go over the space provided, but being as i haven't been in school for over 2 years, theres no way i can fit all my stuff in this space. did anyone have this problem? how did you handle it?

I heard you shouldn't really repeat anything from your PS in your secondary essays but do adcom members who read your secondary essays also read your PS or do you think they give different people separate parts of your app? i didn't think that was the case but someone suggested that to me.

So NYU asks:
1. Has your education been continuous except for standard vacations? If no please explain what you did with your time.
2. If you are not currently in college, describe what you have done since graduation?

I just finished my post-bac and took five years off after my undergrad. Do you think I should talk about what I did for that five years in just the first question or both. Do you think they just want to hear about what I've done since graduating the post-bac program in the second question? Its a little confusing so any advice would be appreciated. Campinele's question is a good one I've been wondering that one myself.

Many people say the first question is asking about undergrad, but I would probably mention post-bac in there and leave everything else like work and other stuff for the second question.

I appreciate the advice, good luck with your apps!

so there are 4 questions for West Virginia secondary and it says, "Please respond to the following questions. Essays should be 1/2 to 1 page single spaced format using a 12-point font."




does that mean you write all the answers on 1/2 to 1 page OR 1/2 to 1 page PER question???

exacto life said:

For Tulane's secondary, question #2 asks what we have been doing since we last attended school, but it doesn't give any space for a reply. In the instructions it says not to go over the space provided, but being as i haven't been in school for over 2 years, theres no way i can fit all my stuff in this space. did anyone have this problem? how did you handle it?

Click to expand...

i made a short list with commas and incomplete sentences, plus I was a bit vague-- but it worked out.

I have a quick question about the secondary process.... my amcas app. has not been verified yet; how many people get secondary apps before their app. is verified?

thanks

Bubblewrap777 said:

I have a quick question about the secondary process.... my amcas app. has not been verified yet; how many people get secondary apps before their app. is verified?

thanks

Click to expand...

Everyone gets an immediate secondary from certain schools like GW and Columbia. Then you have to persuse this thread for the secondaries available on-line right now to anyone. Lastly, you have to wait to be verified before some schools, like Cornell or Duke, send theirs out.

Good Luck

Links to Available Secondary Prompts

Albany Medical College - online, e-mail invite
Albert Einstein - online, e-mail invite
Baylor - online
Boston & update - e-mail invite
Brown - e-mail
Case Western - e-mail invite
Cincinnati - e-mail invite
Columbia - email invite
Cornell - email invitation
Creighton
Dartmouth - online
Drexel - no essays, just EC questions
Duke
ECU (Brody) - email invite
Eastern Virginia Medical School - email invitation, link
Emory - e-mail invite, on or before August 15th
ETSU-Quillen
FSU - email invitation
Georgetown - e-mail invite
GW - email invitation
Harvard - e-mail invite
Howard - no essays
Indiana - Snail mail
Jefferson - e-mail invite
Johns Hopkins
Loyola - snail mail invite, online application
Mayo Medical School - Payment required just to look at primary application? Additional secondary application/fee unknown
Marshall
MCW - e-mail invite, no essays
Meharry - online
Morehouse (look at bottom of post)
MSU-CHM - email invitation
Mt. Sinai - email
MUSC - E-mail invite
Northwestern
NYU and also NYU
New York Medical College- online via email invite, no essays involved
Ohio state - email invitation
OHSU - e-mail invite
Penn State - email
Pitt - e-mail invite
Rochester - snail mail invite, no secondary essays, interview essays
Rosalind Franklin
Rush and here
SLU - e-mail invite
South Carolina - e-mail invite
Stanford
Stony Brook
SUNY Downstate - e-mail invite
SUNY Upstate- e-mail invite, no essays
Temple
Tufts
Tulane - online
University of Alabama - unknown
U at Buffalo - no essays
UChicago-Pritzker - e-mail invite
UC Davis
UCincinnati
UCLA (Geffen) - email invite
UColorado
UConn - online
UC Irvine
UCSD - email invite, 2 page personal statement
UCSF - no essays, update if necessary
UF- email
UIC - e-mail invite
UIowa
UKentucky - e-mail invite
U of Louisville - e-mail invite
UMaryland
UMDNJ-RWJMS - e-mail invitation, no essays
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School - email invite
UMiami - e-mail invite
UMichigan - e-mail invite
UMinn Duluth - e-mail invite
UMC - e-mail invite
U Missouri - email invite
UNC- e-mail invite
UPenn - e-mail invite, no essays
UTSW - TMDSAS should be submitted first
UOk - e-mail invite
USC (Keck) - e-mail
USD - e-mail invite
USF - e-mail invite
USUHS - e-mail invite
Utah
UToledo/MUO
UVA
U Vermont - e-mail invite, no essays
UWisc - e-mail Invite
Vanderbilt
VCU
Wake Forest - email Invite
WashU - email invite
Wayne State - snail mail
Wright State - no essays
Yale - online; prompt


This Year's Official Secondary Discussion Thread
Last Year's 2007 Secondary Thread

Hello everyone. Question--- For Meharry's secondary is it ok to create the account now to get to the secondary? I want to view it to work on it, but I wanted to check first. I guess I should ask Meharry huh?

hi, does anybody know if a character limit for secondary essays includes spaces or not?

starter1259 said:

hi, does anybody know if a character limit for secondary essays includes spaces or not?

Click to expand...

yes it does.

how long did it take you guys to get the email invite for the vermont secondary after your amcas was processed? i think its the last one that i'm waiting for, its been a while.

I was verified on 6/20 and received UVM's secondary on 7/27.

daaaamn. that sucks. cats are already getting interviews.

exacto life said:

how long did it take you guys to get the email invite for the vermont secondary after your amcas was processed? i think its the last one that i'm waiting for, its been a while.

Click to expand...

Wow, really? I added it to AMCAS at the end of July and got it in a week. :S. I finished it over the following weekend. Hopefully you'll get yours soon.

How optional are the optional essays for BU?

Pangi said:

How optional are the optional essays for BU?

Click to expand...

i would say that they are pretty optional.


seriously though, if you have nothing more to add, then leave it blank and don't just fill it with fluff.

Hey all,

I have downloaded the SUNY Downstate secondary in PDF format from the website they provide. However, I am not able to type on to the form in Adobe or Preview (MAC). I have tried to do so on a PC and a MAC. Anybody else experience this?? Solutions??

Thanks.

westside said:

Hey all,

I have downloaded the SUNY Downstate secondary in PDF format from the website they provide. However, I am not able to type on to the form in Adobe or Preview (MAC). I have tried to do so on a PC and a MAC. Anybody else experience this?? Solutions??

Thanks.

Click to expand...

You can do it on a PC with Foxit Reader. There are no solutions with Mac really as of yet. GL!

So are we supposed to type on these PDF secondary applications????

if so, what's a good program to be able to do that?

Here's the entire email I received this morning:

Thank you for your application to Mayo Medical School. To continue the review of your application we request that you submit reference information and complete the essay questions.

Letters of Reference:

We require three letters of reference or a composite letter from a premedical committee. You may submit additional letters if you desire. Your references should be written by persons who know you well and whose opinions have bearing on the likelihood of your success in medical school. At least one of the references should be from a member of the science faculty. A letter from a teaching assistant is acceptable. Please ask your letter writers to include your AMCAS identification number on all letters of reference. Letters are accepted electronically through VirtualEvals and Interfolio. They can be sent via postal mail to the following address:

Mayo Medical School
Letters of Recommendation
Mitchell Student Center B-6
200 SW First St.
Rochester, MN 55905

Essay Questions:

Mayo Medical School strives to provide a unique educational environment for a select group of students who strive to become leaders in medicine. We are interested in knowing how your career goals fit with the mission of Mayo Medical School.

Please select two of the following questions:
1) Describe one sustained service activity that you have engaged in. What needs were identified and how were these needs addressed in this service activity?

2) Describe a person who you have worked with in a service activity. What did you learn from that person?

3) Describe a situation when you had to engage and motivate others to achieve a goal. How did you do it?

4) What innovative solution have you contributed to a problem or research question?

5) What do you do to maintain health and balance in your life?


The specifications for submitting your brief responses to the two essay questions are as follows:

*Name and AMCAS number on document
*One page single-spaced 12 point font Microsoft Word document with answers to both questions
*"Essay" as the subject line, submit document to [email protected].

thedude007007 said:

So are we supposed to type on these PDF secondary applications????

if so, what's a good program to be able to do that?

Click to expand...

Did you not read the post above you? It's ok if you handwrite out the ones that aren't able to be filled out in Adobe, but most of us are anal and want everything to look perfect. Try Foxit Reader.

mvenus929 said:

Did you not read the post above you? It's ok if you handwrite out the ones that aren't able to be filled out in Adobe, but most of us are anal and want everything to look perfect. Try Foxit Reader.

Click to expand...

haha no i didn't. thanks for the quick response.

Someone said above that they had gotten the UW secondary, so will someone post what's on it? Also, what format is it?

-

Any essays for VA?

I was verified over month ago and I still haven't heard from either of the UMDNJ schools (I'm oos). I dont understand whats taking sooooo long, I got secondaries from every other school I applied to...

Hi everyone,

When med schools have an essay that's optional, would you recommend attempting it or just letting it be? I just got my secondary from washu and it has an optional essay about challenges faced etc.. I don't know if I should come up with something (I haven't had anything too traumatic in my life but I could probably write an essay about something..) or should I just let it be?

The way I've been approaching essays is that if it has a topic its not really optional but if they just ask if you have anything else to say, don't fill it in because they have thousands of these things to read. I received secondaries from Columbia and George Washington before my primary was even verified. I didn't know you were supposed to get them in so fast and its been a month. Should I even bother applying? My stats are pretty good.

Thanks! If your stats are good, then I'd give it a shot. It's not exactly late yet. I know tons of people who haven't even started their amcas application yet and they still plan on applying. I think you still have a good chance of being considered even if you are a tad bit late on the deadline. The worst that can happen is that you'll lost the application fee.

I got my secondary from WashU a few days ago and my amcas isn't verified yet either. And there's absolutely nothing in the secondary that I haven't already mentioned in my primary application. This makes me feel like they just want the money... Sigh.

I'm late on the application process, so I'm trying to work on secondaries before I get them (nothing else to do while I wait). Does anyone know what questions are asked on the ECU secondary?

Thanks for the help and good luck everybody!

Thanks a lot guys this list has been very helpful.

MDwannaBe81 said:

I'm late on the application process, so I'm trying to work on secondaries before I get them (nothing else to do while I wait). Does anyone know what questions are asked on the ECU secondary?

Thanks for the help and good luck everybody!

Click to expand...

You can check out the log-in page for ECU's secondary, it has a link to the instructions which includes the essay prompt:
http://core.ecu.edu/BSOMcands/intro.cfm

For my lazy colleagues here is the prompt itself:
"A composition of 300-500 words which reflects your reasons for desiring to study medicine, your future professional aspirations, avocational areas of interest, and your major reaction to contemporary life experienced during the last several years. "

There are also a couple of smaller questions like list your activities during your time after school if you are a non-trad, list any jobs you held during the school year, those kinds of things.

Hope this helps.

Links to Available Secondary Prompts

Albany Medical College - online, e-mail invite
Albert Einstein - online, e-mail invite
Baylor - online
Boston & update - e-mail invite
Brown - e-mail
Case Western - e-mail invite
Cincinnati - e-mail invite
Columbia - email invite
Cornell - email invitation
Creighton
Dartmouth - online
Drexel - no essays, just EC questions
Duke
ECU (Brody) - email invite
Eastern Virginia Medical School - email invitation, link
Emory - e-mail invite, on or before August 15th
ETSU-Quillen
FSU - email invitation
Georgetown - e-mail invite
GW - email invitation
Harvard - e-mail invite
Howard - no essays
Indiana - Snail mail
Jefferson - e-mail invite
Johns Hopkins
Loyola - snail mail invite, online application
Mayo Medical School - Payment required just to look at primary application?
Marshall
MCW - e-mail invite, no essays
Meharry - online
Morehouse (look at bottom of post)
MSU-CHM - email invitation
Mt. Sinai - email
MUSC - E-mail invite
Northwestern
NYU and also NYU
New York Medical College- online via email invite, no essays involved
Ohio state - email invitation
OHSU - e-mail invite
Penn State - email
Pitt - e-mail invite
Rochester - snail mail invite, no secondary essays, interview essays
Rosalind Franklin
Rush and here
SLU - e-mail invite
South Carolina - e-mail invite
Stanford
Stony Brook
SUNY Downstate - e-mail invite
SUNY Upstate- e-mail invite, no essays
Temple
Tufts
Tulane - online
University of Alabama - unknown
U at Buffalo - no essays
UChicago-Pritzker - e-mail invite
UC Davis
UCincinnati
UCLA (Geffen) - email invite
UColorado
UConn - online
UC Irvine
UCSD - email invite, 2 page personal statement
UCSF - no essays, update if necessary
UF- email
UIC - e-mail invite
UIowa
UKentucky - e-mail invite
U of Louisville - e-mail invite
UMaryland
UMDNJ-RWJMS - e-mail invitation, no essays
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School - email invite
UMiami - e-mail invite
UMichigan - e-mail invite
UMinn Duluth - e-mail invite
UMC - e-mail invite
U Missouri - email invite
UNC- e-mail invite
UPenn - e-mail invite, no essays
UTSW - TMDSAS should be submitted first
UOk - e-mail invite
USC (Keck) - e-mail
USD - e-mail invite
USF - e-mail invite
USUHS - e-mail invite
Utah
UToledo/MUO
UVA
U Vermont - e-mail invite, no essays
UWisc - e-mail Invite
Vanderbilt
VCU
Wake Forest - email Invite
WashU - email invite
Wayne State - snail mail
Wright State - no essays
Yale - online; prompt


This Year's Official Secondary Discussion Thread
Last Year's 2007 Secondary Thread

Bre said:

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch...go Tarheels!

does anyone know if oregon screens pre-secondary?

Hmm...I wonder why no one has posted UCLA/Drew. I thought they released their secondary...