2021-2022 Boston University

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wysdoc

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2021-2022 Boston University Secondary Essay Prompts: (slightly different from last year)

1. Are you expecting to go on to medical school directly after completing your undergraduate degree?*
(Post bac work is NOT considered undergraduate. If attending a post bac program prior to entering medical school, the answer is NO and should be explained.) If you took gap year(s), please use this space to explain what you have been doing prior to applying to medical school. 1400 characters

2. If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (You may skip this question if you have graduated within 4 years.) 1400 characters

3. Please provide a narrative or timeline to describe any features of your educational history that you think may be of particular interest to us.
For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself? Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application or your AMCAS application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. Also use this section to explain any impact that COVID-19 may have had on your educational/research/volunteering or employment plans. 2000 characters

4. Why BUSM?
Boston Medical Center is the largest safety net hospital in New England, serving primarily people who are publicly insured, people of color, immigrants, and low-income people in the Greater Boston Area. Why are you specifically interested in beginning your medical education in this environment, and how do you feel that your previous experiences will prepare you for this unique learning environment? 3000 characters

5. Optional Essay:

Use the space below to provide additional information you feel will provide us with a comprehensive understanding of your strengths as a candidate for a career in medicine. This should include only information NOT already included in your AMCAS or other sections of the BUSM Supplemental Application.
Most applicants leave this blank. Yes, it's really optional. 3000 characters

Good luck to everyone applying!

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For everyone considering applying, here's the previous cycle's secondary questions:
  • If you took gap year(s), please use this space to explain what you have been doing prior to applying to medical school. 1400 characters.
  • Please provide a narrative or timeline to describe any features of your educational history that you think may be of particular interest to us. For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself? Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application or your AMCAS application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section. Also use this section to explain any impact that COVID-19 may have had on your educational/research/volunteering or employment plans. 2000 characters.
  • Boston Medical Center is the largest safety net hospital in New England, serving primarily people who are publicly insured, people of color, immigrants, and low-income people in the Greater Boston Area. Why are you specifically interested in beginning your medical education in this environment, and how do you feel that your previous experiences will prepare you for this unique learning environment? 3000 characters.
 
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Does anyone know if BU reserves a certain number of seats for students from their SMP/other linkage programs. I am trying to figure out if it would be worth it for me to apply without any ties to the school. My MCAT and GPA are around the 50th percentile for their class and my EC's are slightly above average (lots of clinical hours).
 
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Does anyone know if BU reserves a certain number of seats for students from their SMP/other linkage programs. I am trying to figure out if it would be worth it for me to apply without any ties to the school. My MCAT and GPA are around the 50th percentile for their class and my EC's are slightly above average (lots of clinical hours).
Of course they do, but why would this impact your decision? Your stats are still around the 50th %-ile, and your ECs are still slightly above average. Why would whether there are 152 available seats (reported entering class) or 100 seats sway your decision? In any event, I'm sure the actual number is somewhere between the two, since they definitely have a BS/MD program, in addition to any linkages, MD/PhD, SMP, etc.
 
Of course they do, but why would this impact your decision? Your stats are still around the 50th %-ile, and your ECs are still slightly above average. Why would whether there are 152 available seats (reported entering class) or 100 seats sway your decision? In any event, I'm sure the actual number is somewhere between the two, since they definitely have a BS/MD program, in addition to any linkages, MD/PhD, SMP, etc.
Because if 1/3 of the seats are already reserved for students in the BS/MD, SMP, and other linkage programs then that means the other 12000 applicants are competing for only 100 seats or less. In that case I personally would rather focus my time and money on applying to similar schools that aren't reserving a significant number of seats...
 
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Because if 1/3 of the seats are already reserved for students in the BS/MD, SMP, and other linkage programs then that means the other 12000 applicants are competing for only 100 seats or less. In that case I personally would rather focus my time and money on applying to similar schools that aren't reserving a significant number of seats...
Okay, but my humble suggestion would be to focus more on the number of open seats and less on what percent of the total it is. 100 seats is a very respectable number, whether or not another 50 seats are allocated to SMP, BS/MD, MD/PhD, etc.

The problem with BU, if you want to go there, is, as you imply, the fact that it is low yield, not that a disproportionate number of seats are not open to regular MD applicants.
 
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Does anyone else have no Casper score on record despite having Casper say your score has been delivered to BU?
 
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Does anyone else have no Casper score on record despite having Casper say your score has been delivered to BU?
They will probably link them together once we submit the secondary, I'm guessing? I did CASPer on 6/3 and it says the same thing for me.
 
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Are you guys listing all of the coursework you have for the areas they mention on the secondary? Or just what they require to show competency?
 
is anybody still waiting on secondary? I'm OOS but getting kind of concerned.
 
My casper scores were long sent to schools, so probably not because of casper since I am also still waiting.
idk if its that because mine says delivered to Boston i hope we get it soon i actually pre-wrote this one lmao
Same, Casper delivered and prewrote. Really makes you wonder if these batches are random or stratified in some kinda way
 
If it makes you feel better, I am IS with scores sent and have still not received a secondary.
I honestly think everyone should calm down. Based on the fact that only two people have reported receiving it, and no one has actually posted the questions, I don't think it went out in great numbers, if at all. Certainly no stratification just based on the primary.
 
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OOS secondary received today. I was verified before 06/25 but didn't add BU to primary until last night.

Prompts are:
If you took gap year(s), please use this space to explain what you have been doing prior to applying to medical school. (1400 char max)

If you have spent more than 4 years as an undergraduate, please explain below. (1400 char max)

For example, have you lived in another country or experienced a culture unlike your own, or worked in a field that contributed to your understanding of people unlike yourself? Or, have you experienced advanced training in any area, including the fields of art, music, or sports? This is an opportunity to describe learning experiences that may not be covered in other areas of this application or your AMCAS application. It is not necessary to write anything in this section.
Also use this section to explain any impact that COVID-19 may have had on your educational/research/volunteering or employment plans.
(2000 Characters max)

Boston Medical Center is the largest safety net hospital in New England, serving primarily people who are publicly insured, people of color, immigrants, and low-income people in the Greater Boston Area. Why are you specifically interested in beginning your medical education in this environment, and how do you feel that your previous experiences will prepare you for this unique learning environment? (3000 char max)

Use the space below to provide additional information you feel will provide us with a comprehensive understanding of your strengths as a candidate for a career in medicine. This should include only information NOT already included in your AMCAS or other sections of the BUSM Supplemental Application. Most applicants leave this blank. Yes, it's really optional. (3000 char max)

Re-Applicant Comment
This section may be used by re-applicants who wish to highlight specific areas of their application or to outline specific changes since their last application.
(3000 char max)
 
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I honestly think everyone should calm down. Based on the fact that only two people have reported receiving it, and no one has actually posted the questions, I don't think it went out in great numbers, if at all. Certainly no stratification just based on the primary.
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BUSM sends secondaries to all applicants even if their primary has not yet been verified so it'll come to you in due time. They send a lot of emails throughout the cycle that come out at varying times for applicants (e.g. the delay email from 2020-2021) so don't worry that you don't have a secondary yet!
 
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Hey y'all, I posted secondary questions at the top but there is some discrepancy between what I have seen on the character count (1000 vs 1400 for some questions). Clue me in if I need to edit my post please.

Edited - I corrected the character counts to 1400
 
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Nope. In fact, I was wondering if you were a reapplicant? It just seemed strange that so few people reported receiving secondaries, and nobody posted them, which is a time-honored SDN ritual, so I was advising to relax. If very few have it, the rest of us really aren't missing out. :)
 
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Hey y'all, I posted secondary questions at the top but there is some discrepancy between what I have seen on the character count (1000 vs 1400 for some questions). Clue me in if I need to edit my post please.
Hi wysdoc! In the application portal, it does explicitly allow for 1400 characters for the prompts you have as 1000.
 
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Nope. In fact, I was wondering if you were a reapplicant? It just seemed strange that so few people reported receiving secondaries, and nobody posted them, which is a time-honored SDN ritual, so I was advising to relax. If very few have it, the rest of us really aren't missing out. :)
Nope, and I have no special connection to BU. Was verified mid June. Don’t know what’s up, doesn’t really matter to me though because I’m still waiting on an LOR
 
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Wait, what is our BU login name for the portal? It's not accepting my email address or AMCAS ID and there's nothing indicated in the emails or the set-up that there is a separate assigned login name...

edit: nevermind, it's my email after all. For whatever reason, it wasn't accepting it immediately after I set up the account.
 
Does anyone's secondary say Casper score not found? I took mine on May 20th and am unsure why this is the case.
 
Anyone else get an error when they try to save their picture upload?
 
Are any other reapplicants able to talk about what they are writing for this? I'm not too sure what I would want to highlight and my application did not have many changes other than better writing describing my journey and my gap year plans, which is discussed in another prompt already. Thanks :)
Did you ask schools how you can improve?
 
Does anyone know if they grant fee waivers to non AMCAS FAP receivers?
 
Is anyone still waiting for BU to receive their CASPer score? My capser said results have been sent, but BU hasn't updated. It has been almost 5 days.
 
Is anyone still waiting for BU to receive their CASPer score? My capser said results have been sent, but BU hasn't updated. It has been almost 5 days.
+1, another CASPer school I’m applying to said they wouldn’t be uploading scores until later this week. Maybe similar case with BU?
 
Does anyone else have no Casper score on record despite having Casper say your score has been delivered to BU?
i am having the same issue! I messaged the admission's office and they said they are working on this issue with IT. I messaged them back asking if I can submit the app before this issue is resolved and I havent heard back yet.
 
i am having the same issue! I messaged the admission's office and they said they are working on this issue with IT. I messaged them back asking if I can submit the app before this issue is resolved and I havent heard back yet.
Well I already submitted so hopefully it won't come back to bite me lol
 
Same, people are submitting theirs and I am still sitting here waiting lol. Maybe they saw my Casper score and were like "nah this person is crazy"
I doubt it. I scored in the first quartile and got/submitted secondary last week. It's probably just their process of sifting down the nearly 10k apps they get every year.
 
Anyone else get transmitted on the first day and still have not received a secondary yet?
 
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