How important are secondaries?

[leechy]

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Aside from the fact that you must actually complete them and send in more money, I'm just wondering what people's thoughts are on the actual importance of what you write down in response to secondary questions. I'm not referring to those schools with monster 20 question secondaries - I assume those are pretty important. I'm referring here more to the typical secondary with two or three short essay questions. It seems to me that the AMCAS primary provides a much more thorough picture of who you are, and would therefore be much more important than secondaries. I'm tempted to conclude that we shouldn't have to worry about doing a great job on these secondaries, and that the whole secondary thing is mainly a pretext for schools to collect more money. And yet, I don't want to be rejected after sending in $75 bucks because my response to "Why school x?" wasn't engaging or convincing enough. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Heal&Teach]

Leechy, I totally agree with you. In fact, I made it a point not to spend a lot of time on my secondaries (granted, I have an easier time floating abstract thoughts onto paper). Besides going to each school's website and gathering information about the schools to beef up the answers, I didn't go through any major lengths because I put so much more of myself into the PS. I was never asked about any of the answers that I provided in my secondaries; all concentrated on what I communicated in my primary.

On the importance scale of 1-10, I'd list them about a 6 (that's a 3, plus the fact that you have to send money in with them as you've mentioned, which warrants another 3 points on the scale). 😀

 

[Haybrant]

hi, i am applying right now and still havent turned by amcas in b.c of my personal statement; From the sounds of it you make it seem like the school is already decided who to invite for interviews after the amcas. Does the personal statement really follow you through the entire process then? I was starting to get worried about not having turned my amcas in yet but i dont feel my pers statement is ready..should i keep spending time to perfect it since it seems to be the crucial factor in the application (outside of the numbers)? Thanks!

 

[docmemi]

everything is important or else they wouldnt make you do it. obviously spend time on it and take it very seriously. with that said though, being quick is also important.

 

[Heal&Teach]

hi, i am applying right now and still havent turned by amcas in b.c of my personal statement; From the sounds of it you make it seem like the school is already decided who to invite for interviews after the amcas. Does the personal statement really follow you through the entire process then? I was starting to get worried about not having turned my amcas in yet but i dont feel my pers statement is ready..should i keep spending time to perfect it since it seems to be the crucial factor in the application (outside of the numbers)? Thanks!

docmemi is right - it's all about the total package. However, admissions committees don't always have it figured out once they get your AMCAS (except maybe those schools that screen applications for certain GPAs, MCAT scores, etc.). The secondary can be important in determining who might get an interview between similar applicants. I'm sorry to have minimized the importance of the secondary, but honestly, very few friends that have interviewed were questioned about their secondary beyond the basic ethical or opinion questions (some of which were included in the secondary). I only got questions from two schools during interviews that even addressed these things - all focused on my post-undergrad and graduate experiences.

You don't need to spend a whole bunch of time (as you do with the AMCAS) on them. And I'd also agree that you should speed up the process of getting that personal statement together and getting your application out. I'll say what was communicated to me a few years ago from a woman on a medical school admissions committee - The earlier you get your application in, the more reasons an admissions committee finds to accepts you. The later your get it in (in the flood of applications), the more reasons they find to reject you. Not always true, but a good rule of thumb.

 

[VFrank]

I heard that only your interviewer reads your personal statement (if you even get that far). Is that true?

 

[superdevil]

some people say that secondaries with essays only include the essays to justify asking you for $50-100. in fact, my pre-med advisor (who is very good with her job---apparently unlike most of the advisors that people on SDN bitch about) gave me the simple instructions of "just turn them in as soon as possible."

in all seriousness, unless you are applying to a VERY competitive private school with a small class size (like yale, etc.), they will not likely accept/reject you based on those essays. just turn them in quick and don't do a TERRIBLE job on them.

 

[avicoo]

While it seems that a key factor is making sure you return your secondary in a timely manner, I got the impression that my secondaries were critical in some of the schools' decisions to interview me. This is because most of the schools I interviewed at brought up information from my secondaries that was not included in my AMCAS. I got the impression that my secondaries really improved my profile. Most allowed me to include information such as hobbies, travel, further info about family, and other information that just doesn't seem to fit in well in AMCAS but are still critical to defining who I am.

I would guess that it depends on the school, the person (and what they are able to cover in AMCAS), and other random factors.

Or I could be completely wrong here.

 

[bkmonkey]

I have to agree. Secondaries gave me places to express information I did not include in my original application. Especially important was why I wanted to go to a particular school (yes, believe it or not, schools want to know why you want to go to their particular school). While the ps gives you an opportunity to let schools know about you, secondaries give you the opportunity to go even further in depth. Many secondaries will ask you to express your opinions on given issues. Don't be tempted to just cut and paste your ps!

 

[Haybrant]

While it seems that a key factor is making sure you return your secondary in a timely manner, I got the impression that my secondaries were critical in some of the schools' decisions to interview me. This is because most of the schools I interviewed at brought up information from my secondaries that was not included in my AMCAS. I got the impression that my secondaries really improved my profile. Most allowed me to include information such as hobbies, travel, further info about family, and other information that just doesn't seem to fit in well in AMCAS but are still critical to defining who I am.

I would guess that it depends on the school, the person (and what they are able to cover in AMCAS), and other random factors.

Or I could be completely wrong here.

could you give us a hint as to what schools emphasized your secondary answers in your interview?

 

[bkmonkey]

Let's try an experiment. Maybe somebody here will write in their secondary essays: "I do not like green eggs and ham." Let's see how many interviews they get...

 

[liverotcod]

Let's try an experiment. Maybe somebody here will write in their secondary essays: "I do not like green eggs and ham." Let's see how many interviews they get...

You do not like green eggs and ham?

-Sam I Am

 

[Heal&Teach]

Let's try an experiment. Maybe somebody here will write in their secondary essays: "I do not like green eggs and ham." Let's see how many interviews they get...

Any takers?

 

[bkmonkey]

Or perhaps somebody else could try:

1 cat on a sunny day put on his hat and went out to play
2 cats when the sky was blue put on their hats and went to the zoo
3 cats on a rainy day put on their hats, but had to stay
4 cats when the snow came down put on their hats and went to town
5 cats on a windy day put on their hats and blew away

Adcoms would probably like this one too...

 

[liverotcod]

Let's try an experiment. Maybe somebody here will write in their secondary essays: "I do not like green eggs and ham." Let's see how many interviews they get...

You know, that's ... just ... crazy ... enough ... to work! I'm all over it.

 

[bkmonkey]

You know, that's ... just ... crazy ... enough ... to work! I'm all over it.

I'm sending kudos your way...

 

[liverotcod]

But back to the OP, sounds like the consensus opinion is, they are:
1) not as critical as the AMCAS
2) to be returned very quickly, which implies
3) not to be agonized over, but just written, edited, proofed and sent.

 

[Heal&Teach]

What arbout inclding sme germattical errorrs?

Nice summary liver. 👍

 

[bkmonkey]

What arbout inclding sme germattical errorrs?

Nice summary liver. 👍

oh, that sounds good too...

 

[akimbo]

My father is desperate for me to write all my essays on why writing secondary essays are stupid. He suggests this every time I bring up applications, because he wants to see if anyone actually reads these essays we're writing.

My father is also a former ivy league med school professor. so I wonder if he isn't on to something...

 

[bkmonkey]

My father is desperate for me to write all my essays on why writing secondary essays are stupid. He suggests this every time I bring up applications, because he wants to see if anyone actually reads these essays we're writing.

My father is also a former ivy league med school professor. so I wonder if he isn't on to something...

that's great that your dad wants to use you as a guinea pig.

 

[akimbo]

yeah. great.

I keep telling him that i actually REALLY WANT to get in. I've promised to try it on Law School applications and that seems to make him happy.

 

[bkmonkey]

So are you applying to law school and med school?

 

[akimbo]

nope. just a joke.

i have no desire to go to law school.

 

[bkmonkey]

you had me scared for a second...

 

[akimbo]

Sorry. No reason to be scared.

Strangely enough, when I was small, I wanted to be a doctor and a lawyer. Then I discovered beer.

 

[leechy]

Hey guys, thanks for the insight regarding secondaries... wasn't expecting much of a response on this one after three days, but just goes to show - just when you think a first post might be a dud, it turns out not to *completely* be.


And yes, beer is good.... 👍