How many people actually pre-write their secondaries?

[Dreaming big]

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Hey

I read about people write their secondaries in advance. How many of you guys actually do this? What are some benefits to doing this?

 

[on house arrest]

Hey

I read about people write their secondaries in advance. How many of you guys actually do this? What are some benefits to doing this?

I wrote an outline and a rough draft of most of mine before I got the actual secondary. Once I got the e-mail from the school I spent one or two days refining it and having friends review it for errors. I think the main advantage is getting reviewed, and possibly interviewed earlier.

 

[OGMD]

Out of 33 school I applied to, 21 have essays. I pre-wrote multiple drafts and revised until I was satisfied for every single one.

Overkill? Maybe, but I'm a reapp so I need every advantage.

Benefit: I turn secondaries around in a matter of minutes, even if they require 8 essays.

 

[PreMedder]

Hey

I read about people write their secondaries in advance. How many of you guys actually do this? What are some benefits to doing this?

You should remake this thread but add a poll.

 

[familyaerospace]

I don't apply until next year, but I have an outline of two secondary essays so far.

 

[Trexate]

You should remake this thread but add a poll.

👍

The benefit to doing this is not being blindsided by the vast number of essays you have to write if you are applying broadly, as is recommended.

I didn't write mine ahead of time. But I did browse the forums and had a good idea of what to expect when they came in. I then spent quite a bit of time thinking about how I wanted to answer each, so when the time came to actually write them it was much easier.

It's good you're thinking about this now. It'll help later on. I think a lot of the school specific forums have the secondary essay topics, so you should check those out if you haven't already.

 

[softmed]

I think you should give yourself as many advantages during the process as possible. If you write your secondaries before you get them, you give yourself an advantage because as soon as you get them, you can send them out. Otherwise you end up with rushed essays or sending your secondary out late.

 

[planktonelement]

Like most have said in here, there's a palpable advantage to turning the secondaries around quickly. However, even with this knowledge, I can't get myself to start pre-writing them yet because submitting AMCAS took so much work. I think in a few days I'll be ready to get on them.

 

[Trexate]

Like most have said in here, there's a palpable advantage to turning the secondaries around quickly. However, even with this knowledge, I can't get myself to start pre-writing them yet because submitting AMCAS took so much work. I think in a few days I'll be ready to get on them.

IMO: secondaries were less work. They had more direction than a personal statement and asked pointed questions.

 

[planktonelement]

IMO: secondaries were less work. They had more direction than a personal statement and asked pointed questions.

After looking over some of them, I agree 100%. I'll give them a few days to stew though. Hopefully I won't run out of steam by the 20-somethingtth secondary.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

I don't apply until next year, but I have an outline of two secondary essays so far.

😕

 

[familyaerospace]

😕

I spend a lot of time at home watching a child. When I have time I usually write things, fiction or nonfiction. I am always writing or editing something.

I have my personal statement finished and polished. I have a draft of the disadvantaged essay (close to done) and since I know what several of the questions are going to be assuming the schools do not change it, I have the outline of two of the essays I know I will be asked.

 

[bobow98]

i did the quick and easy ones.
Thank goodness I didn't write a 600 word one on OSU about what is your outlook on your career 10 years post grad from the MD program.

They changed it haha.

 

[Dreaming big]

After looking over some of them, I agree 100%. I'll give them a few days to stew though. Hopefully I won't run out of steam by the 20-somethingtth secondary.

would pre-writing (and by extension, having more polished essays) give you a big advantage in the application process?

 

[flip26]

I intended to do it, but I was so burned out by the time that I got the AMCAS in along with all the other stuff, that I vegetated from early June until the first secondaries showed up in late June and early July.

I just couldn't motivate myself to do them before I got them, but I turned them all around very quickly, usually within a day or two, and a week at the most. I had submitted all of the secondaries I was going to do by around July 20 (this was last year).

After that, I couldn't make myself fill out another secondary, even though I had more come in. I was sick of it, and decided I had done enough, so I quit.

 

[DocBell]

I think it would be great but I was in classes and working. I simply didn't have the time. I would say do it if you can but don't stress if you can't. You are not going to be the only one.

 

[Artest is KING]

How do you find out what the questions are? Is there a data base for this like how there is for the interviews?

Thanks a lot

 

[DocBell]

How do you find out what the questions are? Is there a data base for this like how there is for the interviews?

Thanks a lot

generally by looking at last years secondary application thread.

 

[Artest is KING]

generally by looking at last years secondary application thread.

Is that the only way?

 

[DocBell]

Is that the only way?

depends on what time in the cycle you are applying. Right now most of the secondaries have been released and you can go to this years threads and get the latest info. You can also get it from friends who applied last year but as far as I know schools don't usually release it. Of the places I applied to (which isn't all that many) Rush is the only place that released a sample so we could prewrite.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

Out of 33 school I applied to, 21 have essays. I pre-wrote multiple drafts and revised until I was satisfied for every single one.

Overkill? Maybe, but I'm a reapp so I need every advantage.

Benefit: I turn secondaries around in a matter of minutes, even if they require 8 essays.

This is coming from the really paranoid part of me, but is it possible that schools might get a little if you turn it in after a few minutes, especially if you're one of the first people to get a secondary.

 

[barcoderider]

I didn't but I sort of wish I did. I was a bit worried that I might write an essay and they would change it...and I was being lazy. I'm writing pretty good essays, but some of my apps are getting to be a little late. Will it really matter? I don't think so.

 

[frescoengano]

a very little portion of the applicant population, IMO. the majority of the pre-med ppl i know don't even know about SDN, and therefore, probably don't even think about pre-writing! and i'm pretty sure only a small amount of SDNers actually pre-write their essays...

 

[OGMD]

This is coming from the really paranoid part of me, but is it possible that schools might get a little if you turn it in after a few minutes, especially if you're one of the first people to get a secondary.

If I wasn't reapplying, then I'd be a little more paranoid to do it. But I'm hoping they see it as I learned from my failures last cycle and am committed to getting in this time around by being prepared.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Why would they care when you turned it in? Quality work is quality work, regardless of when you wrote it.

 

[jm192]

I didn't.

I really wish I had. It seemed like alot of them hit at once, and trying to stay on top of class and write a handful of essays is difficult.

Do as much as you can before they get there, IMO.

 

[HakunaMatata22]

I would HIGHLY recommend doing this. Nothing is worse than checking your inbox mid-July and seeing you've received more secondaries, all the while you're still trying to pump out the last bit of them you received last week. If you're able to submit your AMCAS early enough, take full-advantage of the School-Specific Threads, find the prompts used last year, and at least get something down on paper as a rough outline. The editing can be done once the official secondary has been received. I wish I had pre-written more.

all! Happy writing 🙂

 

[wanderer]

I intended to do it, but I was so burned out by the time that I got the AMCAS in along with all the other stuff, that I vegetated from early June until the first secondaries showed up in late June and early July.

I just couldn't motivate myself to do them before I got them, but I turned them all around very quickly, usually within a day or two, and a week at the most. I had submitted all of the secondaries I was going to do by around July 20 (this was last year).

After that, I couldn't make myself fill out another secondary, even though I had more come in. I was sick of it, and decided I had done enough, so I quit.

Similar story here. I planned on pre-writing a good fraction of them. I ended up pre-writing only a couple, and found it hard to find the motivation for the others before I actually had them. For a bunch of schools I did at least have rough drafts before I submitted though. The majority of secondaries are pretty short though. Only about 15-30% would take more than 1-3 hours or so.

I would HIGHLY recommend doing this. Nothing is worse than checking your inbox mid-July and seeing you've received more secondaries, all the while you're still trying to pump out the last bit of them you received last week. If you're able to submit your AMCAS early enough, take full-advantage of the School-Specific Threads, find the prompts used last year, and at least get something down on paper as a rough outline. The editing can be done once the official secondary has been received. I wish I had pre-written more.

all! Happy writing 🙂

What I did was stagger my primary submissions, so that I received about 5 or less secondaries a week. The downside is some schools take their time sending you their secondaries so this can backfire a little bit.

I also set deadlines for myself, such as never taking more than 2 weeks for a long secondary or 1 week for a short one. I got most out within 2-5 days of receival, and only one so far took more than 2 weeks.

 

[brke2]

i think the benefits are obvious. you give yourself more time to write your essays. i found all the prompts on SDN and wrote all my responses immediately following the final edit of my personal statement which was about a month or so before i submitted in june. also, i developed a good relationship with my editor on essayedge dot com and asked if she would edit all my secondaries. we worked out a deal where i would give her $$$ privately through paypal vs through the company and she would edit all my secondaries for a flat fee. I think she edited all my secondaries for around $400-500. This was after I paid the $200 or so to edit my PS through the company. i would turn in my secondaries to her and she would have it back to me in about 2 days or so edited. it MOST definitely helped me out. and it was worth the time and the money.

 

[Dreaming big]

I would HIGHLY recommend doing this. Nothing is worse than checking your inbox mid-July and seeing you've received more secondaries, all the while you're still trying to pump out the last bit of them you received last week. If you're able to submit your AMCAS early enough, take full-advantage of the School-Specific Threads, find the prompts used last year, and at least get something down on paper as a rough outline. The editing can be done once the official secondary has been received. I wish I had pre-written more.

all! Happy writing 🙂

I think the general consensus is that prewriting is awesome

 

[DaisyBuchanan]

I couldn't turn in my primary right on June 1 because I had to wait for my quarter to finish (I reallllly wanted that extra A on my file haha). My stuff was finally all in mid-July, so from SDN I knew I would have to wait til the first week of August for my primary to be verified. The pre-writing I did while waiting for AMCAS verification really helped. I've now turned in almost all my secondaries, just have to wait for a few more to hit my inbox 😎

 

[TommyJohnMD]

My MCAT scores don't come out until the end of the month, so I've written the essays for all the schools I'm thinking of applying to, so I can have applications completed early in September and not be any later than I already am (which really isn't all the much).

 

[Dreaming big]

I couldn't turn in my primary right on June 1 because I had to wait for my quarter to finish (I reallllly wanted that extra A on my file haha). My stuff was finally all in mid-July, so from SDN I knew I would have to wait til the first week of August for my primary to be verified. The pre-writing I did while waiting for AMCAS verification really helped. I've now turned in almost all my secondaries, just have to wait for a few more to hit my inbox 😎

Did you edit your secondaries like you (or most people) edit your PS? or was it less polished?

 

[DaisyBuchanan]

Did you edit your secondaries like you (or most people) edit your PS? or was it less polished?

I edited the crap out of my PS with several different readers, so my secondaries were indeed less polished. I did do a quick edit of them, usually spending under 5 minutes per essay to correct any run-on sentences or whatever else I missed.