secondaries

I'm currently prewriting secondaries for the upcoming cycle and wanted to make sure that I wasn't shooting myself in the foot by not tying every prompt back to medicine. For example, Columbia asks: Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (300 words) I think that I can...

Looking for feedback, updates, encouragement, or whatever you may have to offer if you applied late in the cycle (i.e, primary verified Aug/Sep, secondaries submitted Sep/Oct.) I know I'm not alone, but would love to see where everyone is.

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The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine maintains a strong emphasis on integrating scientific innovation with patient care. In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked the school #1 in multiple specialties (Internal Medicine, Surgery, Rheumatology), #2 in Anesthesiology, and #3 in...

Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I just wanted to make sure that if I can reuse the same essay or at least the foundation of it for the CCOM and AZCOM secondary “why do you believe AZCOM can provide the osteopathic education…” ? I’m worried because they are affiliated with the...

Hi everyone! I am currently very very confused and stressed about whether I made a mistake. For some reason, my committee did not send in my letter at the same time as the rest of my peers (early July), and now the advisor is on vacation. She is supposed to come in this week but I am now...

I just realized that I have my name on a poster for my research lab in a neurosurgery department. Is that something I should have included on my AMCAS application? I am the second author on it, but I have already submitted AMCAS and TMDSAS along with 19 secondaries. I didn't include it...

Hey All, looking for some help deciding on a failure essay. Current ideas are: 1. Failure to apply myself in high school led to extremely limited choices for college. How it felt being told by mentors that I hadn't lived up to my potential. Using that failure and learning how to apply myself...

Hey All, I've been spending a lot of time trying to think of my diversity essay, and to be honest, this one has had me quite stumped. I think my best idea right now is talking about how I've had a passion for building/fixing PCs since middle school, and this has led to building/soldering...

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Hi. I'm pre-writing secondaries rn and I've gotten stuck on the "describe a failure and how you grew from it? prompt. I'm thinking of going with a personal failure. I have a few options but I don't know which one shows failure without making me look completely incompetent. One prompt is about an...

Hi everyone! I am new to SDN and hope you can advise me. I am a traditional TMDSAS IS app for EY25. I have a cGPA of 3.79, great ECs with one poster presentation and a protocol abstract as second author, highly recommended on my committee letter (with all LORs finished.) I am planning to submit...

Listen to this episode wherever you get your favorite podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Show Summary In this episode, Linda Abraham discusses successful secondary applications for medical school. She highlights the key differences between primary and secondary applications and...

Howdy! I'm not sure if the general forum is the "right" place to put this (my apologies if not), but I've been doing some pre-writing, and I've found that I'm often pleased with my first draft, with some changes as needed. Considering that I probably had a dozen drafts of my PS (and it took...

After working with 300+ students to develop and submit their applications, I watch students do the stupidest things (e.g. “I want to write a secondary about how I grew up rich and how I’m proud of it and don’t think I should hide it” – his exact words by the way). I also witness incredible...

Hello. I don’t know if this is just me catastrophizing because I currently have no IIs (just Rs and silence), but it seems like the application cycle is moving faster. I mean…interviews are being scheduled in January of next year, according to some schools. We’re supposedly early in the...

Has anyone been rejected post secondary so far for 2023-2024? I personally have heard nothing back in terms of II, but maybe on the bright side, have I survived some waves of post secondary Rs? Just wanted to know :/

Hi all, I'm debating on whether to mention in secondary essays that my father is from South Africa. He immigrated here in the 80s, and his nationality is part of my culture; I grew up eating babotie and South African pancakes and other foods, taking part in some traditions, and learning some...

What are my chances for the 2023-2024 cycle. I applied already but have not received any interviews yet so someone on edit told me to post here. I have: MCAT: 517 (Chm/Phy : 128 CARRS: 129 Bio/Biochem: 129 Psych/Soc: 131) overall GPA: 3.8 BCPM GPA: 3.77 FL resident

Ok, is it just me, or is the Harvard MSTP secondary kind of odd? The mission of the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD program is “to train the next generation of premier and diverse physician-scientist leaders”. Please describe, in the form of a high-impact abstract of your life experiences to date, how your...

Hello! I'm completing secondaries, and when schools ask the "anything else" question, I have been including that my paper was published after I submitted my AMCAS application. Is it recommended to include this information in a secondary? Or is it better to save it for an update letter so I have...

I talked to someone and they told me that my GPA is not bad enough to need to address it as an inconsistency in a secondary app, but I am just not sure. If I were to address it, I would probably talk about how being a first gen college student with all my family working in food service and...

Hi! I am completing the "Why Us?" secondary question for a school my parent got an engineering Master's from. They had no affiliation with the medical program but really enjoyed their time there. Can I briefly mention this in my response? Thanks :)

I have three ideas for the diversity secondary essay prompt, and I can't decide on which one to run with:

would any admitted students be able to provide feedback to 3-4 core secondary essays?

Hi all! Is there by chance a list of MD schools that vet before sending secondaries? I know there are some schools that just send secondaries once verified, was wondering if there was a comprehensive list of schools that vet (and saves us a whole lotta money T__T) Thanks!

Hello! What are some common dos and do nots for writing secondaries? From speaking with a couple folks I have: Do’s: - Begin with the in state schools - Make clear outlines to address the prompt specifically - Be specific to the med school in question Do Nots: - Copy paste from other prompts...

If I submit my primaries on day 1 of when submission opens up for AMCAS and get verified quickly (I saw on last year's threads that some that submitted day 1 got verified the same day), does that mean secondaries begin rolling in right away? I guess I'm confused on when secondaries begin...

Hi - I am reapplying to med school this cycle and am wondering how much I should change my primaries and secondaries. For TMDSAS, I completely rewrote my PS and diversity essay, but kept the optional essay with some revisions/edits since it mainly pertains to one of my hobbies: writing. For my...

Hello SDN! Thanks in advance for your help. I'm debating between a few topics for my diversity essay. For context, I am a non-Hispanic white woman. edit: removed identifying information, thank you!

Hello, I am currently trudging through secondaries and am curious whether or not I should talk about my faith for certain schools with jesuit/christian/catholic values such as Loyola and Georgetown. Loma Linda is quite obvious, as it blatantly wants me to talk about my involvement in church, but...

Hello all, I am excited to be entering my fifth year of advising medical school and residency applicants! I have helped numerous folks successfully enter medicine or their desired specialty. I offer comprehensive services - primary and secondary application editing, interview preparation and...

Hi everyone, Today I finally received a letter that I have been waiting on for a while. I was unsure if this letter would actually ever come, so I didn't add it to my letter packet and instead opted to have them submit it through AMCAS. I submitted my letter packet a while ago and was marked...

Hey everyone, I studied abroad in junior spring at DIS Study Abroad in Copenhagen and took 5 classes, 4 science ones. In hindsight that might have been a bit too much, and I ended up getting B-'s and even a C- in one that I didn't receive credit for. The grades don't appear on my transcript...

Hi everyone, I am a NY state resident applying to several NY schools. Some of these schools ask in their secondary if you graduated from a NY high school within 5 years of applying for medical school. I graduated in June 2017 and submitted my app in mid-June 2022, with my app being verified in...

I'm taking my Casper on August 11th (tomorrow) and since Casper takes 2-3 weeks to process and be sent to schools, I was contemplating just submitting the secondary essays for both AMCAS and TMDSAS after Casper gets sent out. I don't see the point of submitting the secondary essays before...

I am really struggling to try to find a good challenge essay topic. here are some of the ideas I thought of: - my transition to college: I attended the same small private school from k-12th grade so going to college was a big change. i had trouble making friends during my first year and being a...

I am currently pre-writing secondary essays for WVU, and their prompts have such low word counts! I am writing about my experience in the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) and wanted to know if I could use the abbreviation to save space? In a previous question, I already wrote...

Hello, I have a question about writing my secondaries. I grew up in a low income family and community, from which I saw various perspectives that I wanted to talk about in my secondary essays. However, I didn't check the "disadvantaged" box on my primary application, mainly because I felt that...