2016-2017 Dartmouth College (Geisel) Application Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Any guidance from the admissions team on what the ideal length of the secondary essay should be?.....I am gravitating towards Why Dartmouth?, but 2000 characters seems way to lower to capture why i like this school...any advice from existing Geisel matriculants?
 
NonTradGrad said:
Any guidance from the admissions team on what the ideal length of the secondary essay should be?.....I am gravitating towards Why Dartmouth?, but 2000 characters seems way to lower to capture why i like this school...any advice from existing Geisel matriculants?
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I am matriculating at Geisel next month, and each of my secondary responses was around 600 words. I think my total word count was ~1300 words.
 
skiman3210 said:
For what it's worth, I am matriculating at Geisel next month, and each of my secondary responses was around 600 words. I think my total word count was ~1300 words.
Click to expand...
Now, for this one, I actually want to verify that you do mean words, not characters. For the "plans for upcoming school year," I have like 300 characters, lol. What did you include that brought you up to 600 words?! For instance, Harvard's essay is more open ("Summarize your activities," which I took to include some general personal/life activities, etc.), whereas Geisel specifies "let us know about the nature of your work," so that's all I have so far. Do you think this is an appropriate place to go into how through my job as a nursing aide I have made wonderful connections with residents, dealt with difficult residents/family members, seen the slow decline of mind and body, blah blah blah touchy-feely touchy-feely...?
 
Question: when listing courses, did y'all only list one semester of organic chemistry and did you also list the lab? Most of us will have taken two semesters, but they say they only require one and to not list anything more than what we're using to fill the requirement.
 
I got my secondary invitation yesterday and yet my AMCAS hasn't even been verified yet. I'm wondering how this is even possible?! Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
WineLover777 said:
I got my secondary invitation yesterday and yet my AMCAS hasn't even been verified yet. I'm wondering how this is eve possible?! Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
They send it to everyone who designated them. Guess they're doing it before people are verified now
 
For the secondary, it asks to input our upcoming semester's class schedule. What if our schedule isn't complete? I am still waiting on a course to open and am also waiting to hear back from a program that would place me in a thesis writing course.
 
rukid95 said:
For the secondary, it asks to input our upcoming semester's class schedule. What if our schedule isn't complete? I am still waiting on a course to open and am also waiting to hear back from a program that would place me in a thesis writing course.
Click to expand...
I would just put whatever you think it's gonna be. I'm not looking at it right now, but if I remember right it says to email them if your plans change, so just do that if your class schedule ends up being different than what you think
 
Secondary submitted. So excited about this school! Good luck, everybody.
 
When it says to list classes you will be taking this year, did you guys make an actual bulleted list or write about them in a paragraph? Also did you include extracurriculars as well?
 
I just did bullet points. I don't even remember if they asked for ECs. If they did, then I probably did bullet points.
 
NonTradGrad said:
Any guidance from the admissions team on what the ideal length of the secondary essay should be?.....I am gravitating towards Why Dartmouth?, but 2000 characters seems way to lower to capture why i like this school...any advice from existing Geisel matriculants?
Click to expand...

I called Geisel yesterday and spoke with someone. She told me that there was no word count, and confirmed with the "IT People", whatever that means. =)
 
hurtem&healem said:
Now, for this one, I actually want to verify that you do mean words, not characters. For the "plans for upcoming school year," I have like 300 characters, lol. What did you include that brought you up to 600 words?! For instance, Harvard's essay is more open ("Summarize your activities," which I took to include some general personal/life activities, etc.), whereas Geisel specifies "let us know about the nature of your work," so that's all I have so far. Do you think this is an appropriate place to go into how through my job as a nursing aide I have made wonderful connections with residents, dealt with difficult residents/family members, seen the slow decline of mind and body, blah blah blah touchy-feely touchy-feely...?
Click to expand...

What did you end up going for? I legit had three sentences written for my plans (finishing my masters thesis, and what it is about) and then saw on here people talking about 4 paragraphs and 600 words....thinking about elaborating with feelings or ramblings now.
 
Veggie_Girl said:
What did you end up going for? I legit had three sentences written for my plans (finishing my masters thesis, and what it is about) and then saw on here people talking about 4 paragraphs and 600 words....thinking about elaborating with feelings or ramblings now.
Click to expand...
Going to finish it up tomorrow, will let you know what I settle on. I can tell you right now, though, it's not going to be any more than 1000 characters.
 
hurtem&healem said:
Going to finish it up tomorrow, will let you know what I settle on. I can tell you right now, though, it's not going to be any more than 1000 characters.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Mine are probably the best and longest they can be and they are both just over 1000 characters. Any more and I will probably just bore them with my ramblings.
 
Veggie_Girl said:
Thank you! Mine are probably the best and longest they can be and they are both just over 1000 characters. Any more and I will probably just bore them with my ramblings.
Click to expand...
I beefed up my job description with a little bit about the importance of offering emotional support. It came out to almost exactly 1000 characters. The second essay is just about the same length. I definitely could stretch that out, but I really don't feel any need.
 
Hey everyone, I have a prereq - biochem - that hasn't been completed. I already graduated with all other prereqs, and plan to enroll as a non-degree seeing student to finish this one semester requirement. Are others in a situation similar to mine (not currently enrolled but planning to) and if so how are you indicating this on this secondary? It seems strange to put "in progress" when it technically isn't yet...
 
JeanJ said:
Hey everyone, I have a prereq - biochem - that hasn't been completed. I already graduated with all other prereqs, and plan to enroll as a non-degree seeing student to finish this one semester requirement. Are others in a situation similar to mine (not currently enrolled but planning to) and if so how are you indicating this on this secondary? It seems strange to put "in progress" when it technically isn't yet...
Click to expand...

Perhaps you can indicate it in the prompt that asks for additional info?
Also, I'm sure you indicated it as a future course in your AMCAS. If you did, I'm sure that would be good enough.
 
JeanJ said:
Hey everyone, I have a prereq - biochem - that hasn't been completed. I already graduated with all other prereqs, and plan to enroll as a non-degree seeing student to finish this one semester requirement. Are others in a situation similar to mine (not currently enrolled but planning to) and if so how are you indicating this on this secondary? It seems strange to put "in progress" when it technically isn't yet...
Click to expand...

Hey, I was in a similar situation. I graduated in May and took biochem as a non-degree seeking student at another school during the summer I term. If I still had not taken it, I think I would still list it as "in progress."
 
Just got an email update:

"Thank you for submitting your application materials to The Geisel School of Medicine. Your file is now complete, and will be sent to the Admissions Committee for review."
 
Just submitted my secondary; it's the first one I've completed. Hitting that last "submit" button was probably the most nerve racking part of this process so far, lol.
 
DocJuan said:
Just got an email update:

"Thank you for submitting your application materials to The Geisel School of Medicine. Your file is now complete, and will be sent to the Admissions Committee for review."
Click to expand...

When did you submit the secondary?
 
Secondary submitted 7/5. Complete 7/14! So excited about this school, but it is definitely a reach.
 
smitticks said:
Question for everybody out there!! I already submitted the secondary, and was wondering if someone who is in the process of completing it could help me out. Is there a question that asks about criminal convictions at all? If so, would someone be able to copy and paste THE EXACT question? Thanks a bunch!
Click to expand...
No there is not.
 
Just got this confirmation from Dartmouth "Thank you for submitting your application materials to The Geisel School of Medicine. Your file is now complete, and will be sent to the Admissions Committee for review."

I submitted my secondary 9 days ago on 07/16!
 
jgear645 said:
Just got this confirmation from Dartmouth "Thank you for submitting your application materials to The Geisel School of Medicine. Your file is now complete, and will be sent to the Admissions Committee for review."

I submitted my secondary 9 days ago on 07/16!
Click to expand...
I submitted on 7/15 and received a confirmation on 7/19. Maybe there were quite a few people submitting over the July 16th weekend?
 
Eye on MD said:
I submitted on 7/15 and received a confirmation on 7/19. Maybe there were quite a few people submitting over the July 16th weekend?
Click to expand...

Ooh that's weird but that would make sense. There was quite a delay from your application to mine. I hope that means they are sending out II's soon, specifically and preferably to me hahah
 
Eye on MD said:
I submitted on 7/15 and received a confirmation on 7/19. Maybe there were quite a few people submitting over the July 16th weekend?
Click to expand...

But also everyone as well but I do have quite some self interest in this 😛
 
Question pertaining to my secondary, mainly the "not addressed elsewhere in your application" prompt.
I encountered a man with pancreatic cancer while working as a scribe in the ED, and saw him on two visits a month apart, as he went from a hopefully member of a clinical drug trial to a jaundiced palliative care patient. This event was very powerful to me and strengthened my desire to pursue oncology as a future specialty, as well as one of my first encounters with family hardship and severe illness/debilitation.
Would this story and explanation be sufficient/appropriate for this prompt? I didn't mention this, nor my interests in oncology, in my primary app, so I was wondering if this would work. I thought it would be different from the "Why Dartmouth" or Diversity/Challenge essay.
 
Last edited:
wanderingorion said:
Question pertaining to my secondary, mainly the "not addressed elsewhere in your application" prompt.
I encountered a man with pancreatic cancer while working as a scribe in the ED, and saw him on two visits a month apart, as he went from a hopefully member of a clinical drug trial to a jaundiced palliative care patient. This event was very powerful to me and strengthened my desire to pursue oncology as a future specialty, as well as one of my first encounters with family hardship and severe illness/debilitation.
Would this story and explanation be sufficient/appropriate for this prompt? I didn't mention this, nor my interests in oncology, in my primary app, so I was wondering if this would work. I thought it would be different from the "Why Dartmouth" or Diversity/Challenge essay.
Click to expand...
I say go for it!
 
wanderingorion said:
Question pertaining to my secondary, mainly the "not addressed elsewhere in your application" prompt.
I encountered a man with pancreatic cancer while working as a scribe in the ED, and saw him on two visits a month apart, as he went from a hopefully member of a clinical drug trial to a jaundiced palliative care patient. This event was very powerful to me and strengthened my desire to pursue oncology as a future specialty, as well as one of my first encounters with family hardship and severe illness/debilitation.
Would this story and explanation be sufficient/appropriate for this prompt? I didn't mention this, nor my interests in oncology, in my primary app, so I was wondering if this would work. I thought it would be different from the "Why Dartmouth" or Diversity/Challenge essay.
Click to expand...
Yeah! The way you write about it here, it sounds like you've done a lot of reflection on it and could make it a strong essay.
 
Had this one marked completed today (along with several others). Good luck to everyone! 🙂
 
Completed my secondary on 17th but still no completion email. Should i be worried or give it more time?
 
My committee letter and another independent post-bac letter is in. However, a second post-bac letter holding up app. Would it be wise to email admissions to review file before this letter is in?
 
CerseiLannister said:
My committee letter and another independent post-bac letter is in. However, a second post-bac letter holding up app. Would it be wise to email admissions to review file before this letter is in?
Click to expand...

If you think that the second letter will be very strong, then I would probably wait as this second letter could make you more competitive to the committee.
 
It got asked earlier but never really answered, what are you guys doing about the picture? I would assume it should be submitted since they put it on there, but I don't have a recent picture and I'm not sure if just throwing on a suit and taking an iPhone picture will suffice? Not trolling, just curious as to what you guys have done.
 
Canuck10 said:
It got asked earlier but never really answered, what are you guys doing about the picture? I would assume it should be submitted since they put it on there, but I don't have a recent picture and I'm not sure if just throwing on a suit and taking an iPhone picture will suffice? Not trolling, just curious as to what you guys have done.
Click to expand...
I threw on a suit and took an iPhone picture. I've heard on other threads that that's all they're really looking for with these
 
Canuck10 said:
It got asked earlier but never really answered, what are you guys doing about the picture? I would assume it should be submitted since they put it on there, but I don't have a recent picture and I'm not sure if just throwing on a suit and taking an iPhone picture will suffice? Not trolling, just curious as to what you guys have done.
Click to expand...
Take a professional selfie. That's what I did. Bonus points if it's taken from the chest-up, without pants.
 
Eye on MD said:
Take a professional selfie. That's what I did. Bonus points if it's taken from the chest-up, without pants.
Click to expand...

It's not a real headshot unless you have a suit jacket with tighty-whities on down below
 
I just did a button up, no jacket or tie. Anything professional looking should work, just don't try to use a random Facebook pic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Dartmouth (Geisel)
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
684
Views
196K
juicy_scooby
juicy_scooby
chilly_md
2023-2024 Dartmouth (Geisel)
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
673
Views
215K
Atenolol
A
chilly_md
2022-2023 Dartmouth (Geisel)
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
672
Views
202K
northtown
northtown
wysdoc
2021-2022 Dartmouth (Geisel)
12 13 14 15 16
Replies
792
Views
258K
khujah
K
wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical College of Georgia
11 12 13 14 15
Replies
737
Views
166K
mintyrelish
mintyrelish
Top