Autobiographical secondary statements. Good grief how the hell do you do these well?

[mrh125]

How do you start? How much info do you include? How do you not make it a total snoozefest? I've seen two schools that do this and they're definitely the most annoying abomination of a question i've ever been asked on an application.
ex:"
This should be a true autobiographical statement. Topics to be included are family, childhood, primary and secondary school years, undergraduate years, and, if applicable, what you've done since completing your bachelor's degree. You should also discuss the motivational factors which led you to a career in medicine including any disadvantages or obstacles which might put your accomplishments into context.
" limit: 6000 characters

How am I supposed to do this like include collecting pokemon cards at age 5 and not doing anything even remotely relevant to medicine? LOL

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[aspirantmed]

Seems pretty self explanatory. What's the story that's led you to this point, applying to medical school? Who are you, why are you here, and what do you hope to accomplish?

 

[DK2014]

Are you going to ask a question on here about every single secondary question? We can't write your UCSD secondary for you. Write it yourself.

 

[ciestar]

FWIW, I have no idea what I'd write either.

 

[Frostbite22]

I think your main problem is you don't have strong writing skills so every essay you receive is going to be a struggle. And people say English is a joke class. 😉

 

[BeastInfection]

It's a bullsh*t question, but if you're going to answer it, obviously don't bore the adcoms to tears by focusing on the inconsequential. If it were me, I would briefly summarize the basics and then spend some characters fleshing out the big things that really shaped you and brought you to this point/goal in life. If there are interesting or unique things to touch upon--stuff that provides you with a little different perspective from the rest of the crowd--spend some paper space on that. Ultimately, I feel like that's what they're looking for: what brought you to medicine, and what is there in your background that makes you interesting.

This is just my two cents, I'm certainly not an authority and pretty much have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

[mrh125]

Are you going to ask a question on here about every single secondary question? We can't write your UCSD secondary for you. Write it yourself.

lmao dude, who the **** said I was asking anyone to write it for me? Plus I don't think you have the qualifications to write anything for me. it's called asking for clarification online.

 

[mrh125]

FWIW, I have no idea what I'd write either.

yea, im probably just gonna start blabbing and not stop until i made everything in my life into a cohesive statement about medicine.

I think your main problem is you don't have strong writing skills so every essay you receive is going to be a struggle. And people say English is a joke class. 😉

No. I'm not a strong writer, but this is a tad diff. it's an art of weaving inconsequential experiences into something meaningful. Lousy writing just turns every essay into "this needs to be edited a bunch to sound better", which i'm already doing.

It's a bullsh*t question, but if you're going to answer it, obviously don't bore the adcoms to tears by focusing on the inconsequential. If it were me, I would briefly summarize the basics and then spend some characters fleshing out the big things that really shaped you and brought you to this point/goal in life. If there are interesting or unique things to touch upon--stuff that provides you with a little different perspective from the rest of the crowd--spend some paper space on that. Ultimately, I feel like that's what they're looking for: what brought you to medicine, and what is there in your background that makes you interesting.

This is just my two cents, I'm certainly not an authority and pretty much have no idea what I'm talking about.

Thank you.

 

[DK2014]

lmao dude, who the **** said I was asking anyone to write it for me? Plus I don't think you have the qualifications to write anything for me. it's called asking for clarification online.

Careful, you dont want your account to be on hold again. 😉

 

[mrh125]

Careful, you dont want your account to be on hold again. 😉

idgaf you should be put on hold until you can figure out how to answer the question in a more respectful and informative way seeing as this forum is about asking questions, helping others, and answering questions. How about getting with the program? How are you going to deal with people who ask you questions when you're a doctor if you can't answer questions like this and get annoyed by it? You should realize that people are going to ask questions when they need clarification, it's proactive learning and had you not been exposed to this question before you'd be thanking me for asking it in a few months considering this is a very tricky secondary statement compared to most of them. I've done my research and asked the question. if you have nothing to contribute don't comment, it's that simple.

 

[justAstudent]

 

[BeancheBlanco]

Isn't this like the exact same essay as the personal statement? Except that it stresses to include stuff before college and gives you some additional characters to do so.

 

[mrh125]

Isn't this like the exact same essay as the personal statement? Except that it stresses to include stuff before college and gives you some additional characters to do so.

hmm, I never thought of it that way. Good call. thanks 🙂 It's exactly like a slightly longer PS.

 

[BeancheBlanco]

hmm, I never thought of it that way. Good call. thanks 🙂 It's exactly like a slightly longer PS.

but doesn't that make it even more difficult? I'm assuming they don't want you to copy and paste your PS. So you'd have to write a completely new essay to answer the same question.

 

[mrh125]

but doesn't that make it even more difficult? I'm assuming they don't want you to copy and paste your PS. So you'd have to write a completely new essay to answer the same question.

that was going to be my next question. i was thinking of just added a few paragraphs to my PS. I could tweak what I wrote in my PS to emphasize different things I did or describe what I wrote in a different way. this is going to be more complicated than it sounds.

 

[DK2014]

How do you start? How much info do you include? How do you not make it a total snoozefest? I've seen two schools that do this and they're definitely the most annoying abomination of a question i've ever been asked on an application.
ex:"
This should be a true autobiographical statement. Topics to be included are family, childhood, primary and secondary school years, undergraduate years, and, if applicable, what you've done since completing your bachelor's degree. You should also discuss the motivational factors which led you to a career in medicine including any disadvantages or obstacles which might put your accomplishments into context.
" limit: 6000 characters

How am I supposed to do this like include collecting pokemon cards at age 5 and not doing anything even remotely relevant to medicine? LOL

Alright, I'll be constructive, Mr. Davis.

How do you start? Well.. you begin by brainstorming... then writing about your life.. hopefully the highlights of why you are choosing medicine. Keep on editing until it is good writing.

How much info do you include? Anything you feel relevant to medicine.

How do you not make it a total snoozefest? Write in active language. Make your life sound interesting.


Essentially, you could have answered your own questions if you had thought about what you were asking 😀

 

[WillburCobb]

Essentially, you could have answered your own questions if you had thought about what you were asking 😀

I'm not banking on this...

 

[mrh125]

Alright, I'll be constructive, Mr. Davis.

How do you start? Well.. you begin by brainstorming... then writing about your life.. hopefully the highlights of why you are choosing medicine. Keep on editing until it is good writing.

How much info do you include? Anything you feel relevant to medicine.

How do you not make it a total snoozefest? Write in active language. Make your life sound interesting.


Essentially, you could have answered your own questions if you had thought about what you were asking 😀

Bravo took you long enough to do exactly to helpful without the edginess. Just do me a favor and keep the side commentary to yourself since it doesn't contribute anything to the discussion, aside from making you temporarily feel better about yourself.

I'm not banking on this...

Lol good one. You just can't admit the fact that you can't handle me asking questions and have to resort to passive aggression to which there is an easy solution called the ignore function for you. Click my username hit ignore done. 🙂. There is nothing wrong with asking questions even if i have a context with it or an answer of my own which I do. Interacting with others and discussing it is a fundamental part of learning and understanding and helps me develop a better context of the material. It's not asking anyone to do something for me. Instead of moaning and being all-around intolerant because I do things different than you how about understanding? You're not going to be much if you can't bother understanding other people's ways of doing things. Just saying. Work on that

 

[nephron19]

So I think something to consider is possibly creative organization. These can get boring, but think about key aspects of moments in your life that have maybe contributed to you choosing medicine that you haven't really discussed, even if they are tiny. For example, I began mine with a tradition that doesn't really have a chronological date and then took snapshots related to it....you do need some kind of gimmick, sadly. And yea, for people reading this applying in next cycles-take classes that force you to write. As an OOS to the school i think youre referring to, I think that made the difference.

 

[orangeman25]

I think this is actually a spectacular question. You can do anything you want with it, more or less.

 

[samurkai]

that was going to be my next question. i was thinking of just added a few paragraphs to my PS. I could tweak what I wrote in my PS to emphasize different things I did or describe what I wrote in a different way. this is going to be more complicated than it sounds.

It says specifically in last years prompt (assuming you're talking about UCSD's secondary) that "A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable." So no, I would not tweak or add paragraphs to your PS- I think you need to write something completely different.

 

[mrh125]

It says specifically in last years prompt (assuming you're talking about UCSD's secondary) that "A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable." So no, I would not tweak or add paragraphs to your PS- I think you need to write something completely different.

bingo, thanks. yea, I've worked something about now. I appreciate it because I definitely wouldn't have wanted to get my app shredded for reuse of the PS if I did that.

 

[samurkai]

bingo, thanks. yea, I've worked something about now. I appreciate it because I definitely wouldn't have wanted to get my app shredded for reuse of the PS if I did that.

Yeah no problem. Also the phrase was bolded because I literally copy/pasted it out of my secondary word doc- didn't intend to be rude/snarky.

 

[DK2014]

UCSD pre-screen's their primary applications, meaning not everyone gets a chance to submit a secondary... given your 3.6 gpa and sub-30 mcat score, I actually think it's not wise spending time on their secondary until you actually receive it when their median gpa is like a 3.8+ and mcat is 35....

 

[mrh125]

UCSD pre-screen's their primary applications, meaning not everyone gets a chance to submit a secondary... given your 3.6 gpa and sub-30 mcat score, I actually think it's not wise spending time on their secondary until you actually receive it when their median gpa is like a 3.8+ and mcat is 35....

Noted. thanks 🙂. It's one of the bottom on the list and i'm getting pretty close to being complete w/ the others. It'd be awful doing this secondary and not getting it

 

[chenzt]

Noted. thanks 🙂. It's one of the bottom on the list and i'm getting pretty close to being complete w/ the others. It'd be awful doing this secondary and not getting it

Didn't bothered with my Vanderbilt autobiography until September, when they finally sent the secondary request (a month and a half after my verification). I was on vacation when they emailed me the request that I was like... crap, I have to write that behemoth? But luckily by that time, I had so many secondaries done that it was easy to combine a bunch of them and write a couple transition to smooth over between the stories, and voila, a pretty alright autobiography. Spent only a couple days after I was back from vacation so I still had an alright turnaround time (<3wks) FWIW, I got an interview invite three weeks later.

 

[Mad Jack]

I always had a pretty interesting life, so I don't know this feel. I liked questions like this, personally. They let me incorporate the unconventional moments of my life with ease, and allowed me to stand out as s candidate without relying on all the standard BS (grades, ECs, MCAT, etc). I wrote a few of these, which had various bits of my past included. One focused on my love of travel, one on the years I spent living on couches and my vagabondish life after dropping out of high school, while another focused on my love of cooking. You've probably got some interesting moments, interests, and activities. Focus on them and weave a narrative.