Hi guys! I'll be an MS1 at Vandy this summer (how weird to write that!), and I literally can't wait for classes to begin. I'm happy to share my experiences this cycle, Vanderbilt-specific or otherwise, and offer advice on anything you guys might find useful.
Here are some tips for the autobiography portion of the secondary. I used it for two schools and got an interview (and eventual acceptance) at both, so I feel at least something in it was successful.
-Don't write it all in one day. Start brainstorming when you're doing something unrelated, like on a long commute or waiting in line. Just think of some ideas and a few possible intros, and jot them down if you have a chance. Come back to it 1-2 days later and see if you still like it, or if any new ideas come to mind. You'll be surprised how much you end up crossing out.
-Have a general theme in mind before you start. This is true for personal statements too, but you're not trying to answer "why medicine" here. Instead, maybe you decide to make the point that you're extremely self-sufficient and able to adapt quickly to many situations. When talking about your early life, try to emphasize those qualities and show through your experiences how they were shaped. Maybe you'll think of new qualities or a different angle as you write. Maybe you'll have multiple overarching ideas in the end, and that's okay. There's no wrong way to tie your story together. Just always keep in mind a general end point with each paragraph you include.
-This is related to the previous point: when talking about your family, the characteristics of the environment in which you grew up, or, in general, when discussing things that are not you, always keep in mind how you will bring it back to YOU. When I stated mine, I really wanted to share all the unique/crazy things about my home country where I lived for 10 years, which is currently a dictatorship with some really interesting facets about its history and daily life. Pretty quickly, I realized my first two paragraphs would be a great start to a literary novel, but hold barely any mention of me. I ended up keeping a chunk of that for the intro, but limited the descriptives to 3 sentences and emphasized how it shaped my childhood (and subsequently, why we left) in the sentences that immediately followed. You don't want the admissions committee getting lost in your childhood ramblings. Always keep the big picture in mind.
-This goes without saying, but please don't repeat things from your personal statement/rest of AMCAS. This secondary question is about your qualities, not your resume points. Regarding the discussion of things you've been doing since graduation, this question comes up on almost every school's secondary so you'll find it useful to have a crafted response for this that you can add to the end. If you've already mentioned those activities elsewhere, it's sufficient to state them and write 1-2 NEW sentences about how they add to your personal growth. Please don't repeat exact sentences that you've used elsewhere in your application - they read and reread your essays, especially at the time you're being considered for acceptance, so in the best scenario this will not fly under the radar.
I hope this helps! Feel free to PM me with any specific questions.
...As a side note, even though Taylor Swift moved to New York, she reportedly still spends a lot of time in Nashville. And who knows, your airport Uber driver may very well have been her previous personal driver, and will take you on a pit stop to see her condo.... (this actually happened to someone at second look). All the more reason to apply!!!
P.P.S. If you want an idea of what Nashville is like, check out my writeup of Vandy on mdapps (which hasn't been updated in a while cause I'm lazy). If that doesn't make you wanna visit the music capital, you must be red-red-red-red-red-redneck crazy.
