2020-2021 Texas A&M

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Texas A&M Secondary Essays

1. Describe briefly any experiences and/or skills that have made you more sensitive or appreciative of other cultures or the human condition. (3500 character maximum).

2. The Texas A&M College of Medicine embraces the Aggie Core Values of Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity and Selfless Service. Briefly discuss what activities demonstrate best that you would be a good custodian of these core values. (3500 character maximum).

3. Describe any circumstances indicative of some hardship, such as, but not limited to, financial difficulties, personal or family illness, a medical condition, a death in the immediate family or educational disadvantage not mentioned in your primary application essays; OR describe any key academic, personal, or financial barriers that COVID-19 may have posed on you or your immediate family. (Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate. The character limit on this essay is 3500).

4. OPTIONAL QUESTION: List the area (or areas) of medicine that appeals to you and briefly explain. (Limit your explanation to 50 words or 250 characters for each area of interest you list.) Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate.

@TheDataKing Here are the A&M secondary prompts
 
For that first prompt, would it be okay to talk about something from our primary that we used in one of the essays?
 
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bugsbunny25 said:
For that first prompt, would it be okay to talk about something from our primary that we used in one of the essays?
Click to expand...
Remember that they already read that primary essay. Can you bring out different perspectives or skills you didn't already mention? And this should be an anecdote or experience from your life, not something general in the news etc.
 
For those of you interested in applying to the EnMed track at Texas A&M:

The secondary for EnMed is different than the one for regular A&M.

However, that secondary will not be "revealed" to you until you submit the regular A&M one.
Get ready for lots of writing!
Wysdoc
 
Anyone know when the secondary portals usually sync with everything? I submitted a few days ago and should be fully complete now
 
Does anyone have the primary application marked as received on the requirement checklist? I transmitted 6/2 and it still blank
 
Hey guys, I have a question about the Core Values secondary. So I talked to my Aggie friend about this, and he said that integrity is the most important value. My concern is how to tell a story about a time I showed integrity. I can tell stories about selfless service and leadership, but I'm completely lost on how to talk about the rest. How do I tell a story of excellence? Some feedback would be much appreciated
 
I know A & M is tailored to get students who have an interest in rural healthcare. I don't really have experience in rural communities in TX, but I do have experience in underserved communities. How do I talk about this while expressing an interest in rural health even though I haven't really had experience in it? Can applicants get accepted without rural health experience?
 
ThreeBody said:
I know A & M is tailored to get students who have an interest in rural healthcare. I don't really have experience in rural communities in TX, but I do have experience in underserved communities. How do I talk about this while expressing an interest in rural health even though I haven't really had experience in it? Can applicants get accepted without rural health experience?
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Sometimes it helps to go back and read the school's web page. A&M also says they emphasize primary care, military medicine, research, and other things.
 
wysdoc said:
Sometimes it helps to go back and read the school's web page. A&M also says they emphasize primary care, military medicine, research, and other things.
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Thank you! I looked over it as well, and I think I can make the secondary more focused on primary care + underserved.
 
Have any of y'all tuned in to the "Courage Sessions" on Facebook?
There is a Texas A&M edition planned for July 2. Go to this Facebook page & scroll down a few to find the Texas A&M one:





Courage Sessions are a new and awesome production of TMDSAS and THES that feature interviews with admissions directors from a variety of Texas schools. If you watch them live, you can type in questions which the moderator will present to the featured adcom.
If you miss the time slot, the sessions are archived to watch later.
 
scimusicgirl said:
Hey guys, I have a question about the Core Values secondary. So I talked to my Aggie friend about this, and he said that integrity is the most important value. My concern is how to tell a story about a time I showed integrity. I can tell stories about selfless service and leadership, but I'm completely lost on how to talk about the rest. How do I tell a story of excellence? Some feedback would be much appreciated
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I don't know what prompted your friend to do this, but there is no one individual most important core value. If you have stories about selfless service and leadership, definitely go with that!
 
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thataggiestudent said:
I don't know what prompted your friend to do this, but there is no one individual most important core value. If you have stories about selfless service and leadership, definitely go with that!
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I'm just so confused on how to address this prompt. I mean, do I come up with life experiences for each of the core values? Is there a way to write this without just doing, "I have integrity because I did ABC, I have excellence because DEF"?

Also, I didn't ask my friend specifically to name a value, just to give me some advice on the prompt, but he said integrity is probably the most important value within the Aggie community.
 
scimusicgirl said:
I'm just so confused on how to address this prompt. I mean, do I come up with life experiences for each of the core values? Is there a way to write this without just doing, "I have integrity because I did ABC, I have excellence because DEF"?

Also, I didn't ask my friend specifically to name a value, just to give me some advice on the prompt, but he said integrity is probably the most important value within the Aggie community.
Click to expand...

I agree that this is a difficult prompt; it was one of the last secondary essays I wrote for TMDSAS schools. A user above said they took a single activity and explained how they demonstrated these core values through this activity. I think is an excellent approach if you have an activity that can represent all of these values. I do not, so I decided to pick three experiences and attribute two values to each activity. I also tried to avoid saying stuff like "I have integrity / I am excellent at ABC" and instead used very brief anecdotes to highlight the importance of the core value. Rather than stating you already have all of these values, which can sound egotistical or arrogant, you should talk about your efforts to develop these values in yourself.

This is, of course, how I approached the prompt, and I can't attest to its success. I can't tell you if it's the best way to approach it, but I hope it at least gives you somewhere to start.
 
bumney said:
I agree that this is a difficult prompt; it was one of the last secondary essays I wrote for TMDSAS schools. A user above said they took a single activity and explained how they demonstrated these core values through this activity. I think is an excellent approach if you have an activity that can represent all of these values. I do not, so I decided to pick three experiences and attribute two values to each activity. I also tried to avoid saying stuff like "I have integrity / I am excellent at ABC" and instead used very brief anecdotes to highlight the importance of the core value. Rather than stating you already have all of these values, which can sound egotistical or arrogant, you should talk about your efforts to develop these values in yourself.

This is, of course, how I approached the prompt, and I can't attest to its success. I can't tell you if it's the best way to approach it, but I hope it at least gives you somewhere to start.
Click to expand...

Yes, this definitely helps! Thank you 🙂
 
wysdoc said:
3. Describe any circumstances indicative of some hardship, such as, but not limited to, financial difficulties, personal or family illness, a medical condition, a death in the immediate family or educational disadvantage not mentioned in your primary application essays; OR describe any key academic, personal, or financial barriers that COVID-19 may have posed on you or your immediate family. (Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate. The character limit on this essay is 3500).
Click to expand...

How are you guys answering this question? I haven't really had any major barriers imposed by COVID-19 except for having to stay at home and having my MCAT postponed a million times...
 
meemaw said:
How are you guys answering this question? I haven't really had any major barriers imposed by COVID-19 except for having to stay at home and having my MCAT postponed a million times...
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You could go from the angle of how it has affected your immediate family. Has a parent been laid off or had work drastically changed? Have you been unable to shop for elderly relatives and had to find another way? You don't have to use up the 3500 characters (wow that's a lot), and definitely don't make it about luxuries that didn't happen like that summer trip to Cabo :whistle:
 
wysdoc said:
You could go from the angle of how it has affected your immediate family. Has a parent been laid off or had work drastically changed? Have you been unable to shop for elderly relatives and had to find another way? You don't have to use up the 3500 characters (wow that's a lot), and definitely don't make it about luxuries that didn't happen like that summer trip to Cabo :whistle:
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Alrighty thank you!
 
Anyone who is in college and was in college last semester was impacted by COVID-19. It would be highly surprising to the application reader if you say otherwise. They might all read similarly but saying not applicable would be dishonest.
 
texasvandy said:
Anyone who is in college and was in college last semester was impacted by COVID-19. It would be highly surprising to the application reader if you say otherwise. They might all read similarly but saying not applicable would be dishonest.
Click to expand...

I was comfortable putting not applicable for this prompt. I agree that COVID-19 impacted everyone, but this prompt is explicitly asking for key barriers in the applicant's life caused by the pandemic.
 
meemaw said:
How are you guys answering this question? I haven't really had any major barriers imposed by COVID-19 except for having to stay at home and having my MCAT postponed a million times...
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Well it says to describe any hardship OR describe ways COVID-19 adversely affected you, right? I'm choosing to go with the former, which for me was exacerbated by COVID-19 but was already ongoing
 
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wysdoc said:
You could go from the angle of how it has affected your immediate family. Has a parent been laid off or had work drastically changed? Have you been unable to shop for elderly relatives and had to find another way? You don't have to use up the 3500 characters (wow that's a lot), and definitely don't make it about luxuries that didn't happen like that summer trip to Cabo :whistle:
Click to expand...
I'm struggling with this one as well. My mother is an essential worker and my father has been retired for years. This question is framed a little differently than your typical adversity essay which seems to include a broader sense of adversity means to you in your life. This question seems to be asking for specific, concrete hardships. Would talking adjusting to an online format for grad school be applicable or is that too general?
 
Hey everyone! So I made a Texas A&M Secondary Application account on June 2nd to view the secondaries, but my TMDSAS application was not transmitted until yesterday. I was waiting for my app to be transmitted before sending secondaries. I was wondering if the 2-week secondary turn around time began from when your application is transmitted, and was hoping someone could help clarify
 
satdixon said:
Hey everyone! So I made a Texas A&M Secondary Application account on June 2nd to view the secondaries, but my TMDSAS application was not transmitted until yesterday. I was waiting for my app to be transmitted before sending secondaries. I was wondering if the 2-week secondary turn around time began from when your application is transmitted, and was hoping someone could help clarify
Click to expand...

Just get them in asap. These aren’t hard rules or anything. And even if they were, it’s already been 5 weeks since June 2nd. So again, just return them ASAP while not skimping on quality.
 
Hzreio said:
Just get them in asap. These aren’t hard rules or anything. And even if they were, it’s already been 5 weeks since June 2nd. So again, just return them ASAP while not skimping on quality.
Click to expand...
Do you know if they look at time from secondary submission based on when your application was transmitted?
 
Just for my peace of mind, how long did it take for them to process your secondary fee and application to be marked ready for review? It says 4-6 weeks can be the amount of time and thats so long (but understandable in our current state of the world).
 
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SolidDoc said:
Just for my peace of mind, how long did it take for them to process your secondary fee and application to be marked ready for review? It says 4-6 weeks can be the amount of time and thats so long (but understandable in our current state of the world).
Click to expand...

It shouldn’t take longer than a day? But maybe that’s bc I submitted 6/4.
 
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