evenfeather
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Started by evenfeather
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Have you received more secondaries and are working on completing them? Are you waiting for them to still come?
Previously
If you made your list, make it work. Your success relies on your time/project management skills as it is about getting a high GPA/MCAT.
At this point, three weeks is not going to kill your chances, but you don't want to wind up on an "interview hold" because all the interview spots have been filled.
If you made your list, make it work. Your success relies on your time/project management skills as it is about getting a high GPA/MCAT.
At this point, three weeks is not going to kill your chances, but you don't want to wind up on an "interview hold" because all the interview spots have been filled.
You can scan through each of them and do ones that are shorter or you already have some written material on to increase your pace. If you have less obligations on weekends, you should really crank through them while you have the chance.
Without knowing when you received secondary invites, per school it's hard to say. In general, while it true there isn't a hard two week deadline, a CA applicant with your stats benefits from good secondaries put in earlier than great secondaries sent later.
When I saw you post this on 7/30:
...a few neurons synapsed in my brain, my face flushed, and it pushed me to stop grammar-Nazi-ing myself and just submit the secondaries I had left.
Maybe it will help OP too. Nothing like being told "just getting started? You're already late!" to make a Type A personality squirm in their seat.
OP, it does get easier! It's a little paradoxical but I've found that doing the hardest ones first (in your case, I think Dartmouth) is helpful because it's easier to adapt essays down (by cutting words) than it is trying to elaborate on micro-responses (like USCs for example). On a good, free, focused weekend, I could get 15-20 schools submitted.
It definitely takes getting used to character limits and what you can reasonably say in a given number of words/characters. If you're anything like me, I'd say don't rack your brain trying to economize for every character: if a count is very low, that's the school telling you that they're not interested in the nitty-gritty details. Now that I'm over the hump, I can see how the best advice is just being straightforward in answering the question they're asking (vs the one you wish they had asked). Good luck!
We prefer writing to squirming, much more effective at getting words on paper 🙂 Glad to see folks are paying attention!
OP! If it's a piece of advise that helps you get things down, write your secondaries with the mindset of answering an interview question, say it out loud, keep it simple! We often have clients go through generic or recycled prompts and practice responding to them out loud before writing. It will give you a good sense of your word economy and what you actually think is meaningful.
To this point, READ THE PROMPT. Oh goodness so many people see "marginalized communities" or "diversity" or "interests" and they make assumptions about the rest of the words. Schools often differentiate themselves with subtle differences - it will always save you time and energy to slowly and thoroughly read the prompts themselves.
Also, not everything has to tie back to your Activities, Personal Statement, or medicine, or science even, in general.
If you can answer a prompt with a hobby or memorable event (outside of medicine/volunteering/etc.) or whatever, then use that - it's an easy way to differentiate. Hope this makes it more intuitive what you need to do and helps you find ample material and ease of flow.
As I have advised students, secondary essays are written interviews with an opportunity to edit/finesse your answer. I agree that you should read your essays (including primary application essays and descriptions) aloud or into your voice recorder before you finally submit.
