Last year, the first secondaries didn't go out until mud July. So no reason to worry yet! If there is one piece of advice I can give to you all, it's that you should try your best to not get freaked out by what is or isn't happening with other applicants during the cycle. It's way too easy to get into your own head during this long process. That being said, I will be starting at UK this fall, so I'll do my best to offer help and advice when I can. Good luck to you all and relax!
Historically, there has been no word or character limit. There are some discussions about appropriate essay length in the threads of the last couple years. Looks like a couple people last year reported writing between 200 and 300 words, but as long as you fully answer the prompt without being overly verbose, whatever length it ends up will be fine.
Update to my previous answer: out of curiosity, I did a word count on my UK essays from the 2013-2014 cycle (same questions as this cycle) and found mine were between 220 and 480 words for the essays everyone fills out but 1200 words for the OOS essay (I guess I had a lot to say about that one).Thank you very much doyouhaveaflag. Will try to aim for 300 words.
Did you have any ties to Kentucky?
Awesome congrats!! Do you mind sharing your stats?
From what I understand based on the email, they only screen for interviews. I don't think they mean that they screen for secondaries.
This was in an email I got:
I'm sure it helps to have ties to the state, but it's not necessary. I was accepted OOS with no ties, and I'm from a state that's nowhere near Kentucky.
I wish I could remember what I wrote exactly, and I don't have it written down. If I remember correctly, I was just honest about my lack of connections to the state. Sorry I can't be more help. Also, contrary to popular belief, the first KFC was in my home state of Utah. Go figure.
This is just my opinion since I'm also applying OOS: I don't think they would immediately toss your app into the reject pile just because of your stats HOWEVER since your scores are slightly lower than what is considered competitive, there's just more pressure for you to stand out in your secondary essays to show that your stats are not an accurate reflection of your capabilities and motivation to pursue a medical career.
Okay, I'll start writing my secondaries with that kind of attitude! I just need to really shine during my essays!
I think I would describe your reasons for applying to the school. Despite no "personal" connections--maybe your dad, or anyone else in your family, did not go to medical school there--and being OOS, you must have some reasons for applying there. Make it a "why Kentucky?" essay. My two cents.
I would think they need to start going out soon, right? Typically they give a few weeks notice at least, so even if the earliest interview is the end of August, they should be going out soon. But what do I know?
+1 I think leaving it blank would be a missed opportunity.
Agreed. I try to take advantage of all the space they give me. On an application with no character/word limit, I hope that doesn't come back to bite me because I wrote too much…but as long as the essay is well-organized, concise, and coherent, I would use the space to say something.
I ended up briefly mentioning that I can use unscheduled time to do non-academic and academic learning opportunities and that I am productive, but then I focused on past experiences where I self-taught myself to learn new things like using Photoshop for animations, basic html coding, etc. Not sure if that's what they're looking for but hopefully even though I didn't give academic examples, they'll see that I am capable of making the most of my time...
Congrats echidna001, well of course that is a good sign! I just got interview to be scheduled too!! I don't know how long we'll have to wait but at least we know we will get an II. Hope the formal email isn't too late though because UK interviews fill up lightning fast.
