how many secondaries have you submitted?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
badasshairday

badasshairday

Vascular and Interventional Radiology
Verified Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Messages
3,923
Reaction score
361
Members do not see this ad.
I just want to see where I am in relation to other SDNers. I have received 5 secondaries so far and submitted my first one last week. I will be submitting the other 4 this week. Mostly likely I'll ahve more to work on this week as well because I applied to 29 schools. I have a feeling I am going to get swamped soon......

I hate writing!

Now I see why english majors have an upperhand in the application cycle. I just can't get my thoughts onto paper. Majoring in Hard sciences FTL. 👎
 
badasshairday said:
I just want to see where I am in relation to other SDNers. I have received 5 secondaries so far and submitted my first one last week. I will be submitting the other 4 this week. Mostly likely I'll ahve more to work on this week as well because I applied to 29 schools. I have a feeling I am going to get swamped soon......

I hate writing!

Now I see why english majors have an upperhand in the application cycle. I just can't get my thoughts onto paper. Majoring in Hard sciences FTL. 👎
Click to expand...

None yet received, none yet completed.

...😴
 
I can do 2, but have done 0 so far. LORs are a real bottleneck in this process. I'd rather keep my money in my bank now and gather what little interest they give me than fork it over so quickly.
 
Yeah seriously. I'm an okay writer but I get ahead of myself sometimes. I was counting on my English major GF to edit the more substantive essays but in typical fashion, she said no. 🙁

As for your question, I'm not yet verified but I've done 3/7 and I'm hoping to finish one tomorrow and I'm probably going to withdraw from another... soo... 4/6 by tomorrow night? I don't see any hurry since my committee letter isn't done yet.
 
I was verified on 6/6, I've gotten 14 secondaries so far, and submitted 11 (I'm waiting on the other 3 until I see my MCAT score on 7/18). My letters were uploaded to VirtalEval on 7/6. I'm trying to turn around my secondaries ASAP so that I'm complete at a bunch of schools once my MCAT score does comes out. I just hope that it's up to snuff and that I don't have to retake in August and notify all of these schools I'll be retaking. And so far, only three schools have put me on a pre-secondary hold pending MCAT scores.

I think I'm turning them around so fast because I've written many of them before I got the secondaries either from reading last year's secondary question thread, or seeing what the questions are from people who receive the secondary before I do, or by recycling other essays I've already written for other secondaries. It's actually not as bad as I thought it'd be. Many of them have no or only optional essays. It's the IL secondaries that are so painful. And of course I'm an IL resident and applying to all of them (but SIU). Why can't they give secondaries with only one or two essays? Then again, some people say that the more questions they ask, the more they really want to get to know you, and it's an opportunity to stand out apart from your stats. But it's still a pain.
 
I have submitted all 14 that I have received. I checked out last year's thread and thought up some ideas for a lot of these from last year's prompts. I had also made a little spreadsheet where I checked for the most common prompt (what am i doing in my year off...) and recycled that. Besides that, I just try to come home after work, do my research on the school and write immediately following that. Then I edit the next day when my mind is fresher.

My premed committee won't be sending out my lor's until mid/late aug the earliest though, so I don't know how helpful this will be for me.
 
Wow, I just got another secondary today. So I have received 6 total. SLU sent me the one today.

I have mostly be sweating over U of Chicago's secondary since thursday because they have two relatively big essays. Hopefully I will be able to submit it by tomorrow.

Also I looked at MCW and Ohio state. MCW doesn't seem to have an essay so that will be submitted tomorrow as well. And Ohio has two 600 word "essays," so hopefully I can turn that around by tuesday. Hopefully SLU and Rosalind Franklin light on or have no essays.

Pheonix, you are fast and super early! verified 6/6! 👍
 
badasshairday said:
Wow, I just got another secondary today. So I have received 6 total. SLU sent me the one today.

I have mostly be sweating over U of Chicago's secondary since thursday because they have two relatively big essays. Hopefully I will be able to submit it by tomorrow.

Also I looked at MCW and Ohio state. Ohio doesn't seem to have an essay so that will be submitted tomorrow as well. And MCW has two 600 word "essays," so hopefully I can turn that around by tuesday. Hopefully SLU and Rosalind Franklin light on or have no essays.

Pheonix, you are fast and super early! verified 6/6! 👍
Click to expand...

Hah! I didn't think any med schools sent out secondaries on a Sunday. Guess I'll have to spend Sundays anticipating and checking for secondaries as well now!

RF's secondary is one question about what "a life in discovery" means to you, and how you have led one. Fun stuff. If it's giving you trouble, or you don't feel like writing a response from scratch, my recommendation is to see if you can modify your Pritzker "fit" essay to fit RF's essay. I think that worked well for me.
 
Submitted 4 or 5 so far, but still have like 5 or 6 that need to get done! UGH buried
 
badasshairday said:
I just want to see where I am in relation to other SDNers. I have received 5 secondaries so far and submitted my first one last week. I will be submitting the other 4 this week. Mostly likely I'll ahve more to work on this week as well because I applied to 29 schools. I have a feeling I am going to get swamped soon......

I hate writing!

Now I see why english majors have an upperhand in the application cycle. I just can't get my thoughts onto paper. Majoring in Hard sciences FTL. 👎
Click to expand...

I've received 18 secondaries, submitted 13, and I am submitting another 3 or 4 tomorrow. I'm not working at all, so this is all I do every day.
 
applied to 12 schools... received and submitted 6 so far
 
I enjoy long walks in the woods, Romantic poetry, and English Breakfast tea.
 
9 submitted so far. Unlike the others, I did not look up last year's prompts or pre-write any essays so I'm not sure how good a job I'm actually doing on these 🙁
 
BigRedPremed said:
9 submitted so far. Unlike the others, I did not look up last year's prompts or pre-write any essays so I'm not sure how good a job I'm actually doing on these 🙁
Click to expand...

I didn't pre-write any, either. I feel like a lot of secondaries aren't that bad, though. I've pretty much been reading the essay prompts, thinking about them for a day or so, then writing them. I then have my dad and brother read them, then make edits, read and revise it once more, then send it out. All in all, a 2-3 day turn around for most of my essays, unless they're really hard.
 
I just feel so tired after spending 10 hours in front of a computer writing all day. The thought of having to do that for any more hours makes my head spin, so I have been resting on Saturdays and working on secondaries on Sundays...that's going to have to change....
 
i was verified 7/2, have received 12 and have submitted 8.

i try to do one each weekend day because I have school and work fulltime during the week. yikes!

i write one, then edit it the next day when my mind is fresh. it works out pretty well.

if i have any questions, i send it to one of my buddies for ideas.
 
I was complete at AMCAS on 6/26, and I have received 3 secondaries (applied to 5 schools) and have them all mostly done....they WILL be sent out this week, no matter what I have to do to make that happen. 🙂 My letters should all be to Interfolio early this week, so hopefully I can get those sent out ASAP.

The worst secondary for me has been the U of Chicago one - one of the essays is "reflecting" on their mission statement. I freaked out about this one for about a week before I even figured out how I was going to tackle it. Now I have it written, but who knows if it's any good.....

All of this writing sucks....I don't mind writing too much usually, but some of these prompts are just horrible! For some reason, I'm also having a hard time with 2 different apps that have the prompt that wants you to describe a challenging or difficult situation you have faced and how you handled it...I came up with an idea, but I'm not sure if it's good or not. You wouldn't think this would be a hard prompt, but for some reason it has been for me....I'm just trying to remind myself of how RELIEVED I will be when I get these all sent out! Good luck to everyone else who is working on these infuriating things!
 
😎 ZEEERO

I'm submitting the day I get my MCAT score, but working on it in the meantime. Starting a journal in the past few weeks has helped me immensely with my essays... just by getting into the habit of reflecting on events and expressing those thoughts on paper.

I gtg... time to watch the sunset and walk on the beach holding hands with my lover.




Kidding. But seriously, if you have writer's block... start a journal and write in it every day.
 
To touch on something a few others have brought up . . . if your committee LOR doesn't go out for, say, another month or so (maybe even more), is it still worth it to focus on a ~2 week turnaround time? Or should I be taking a month or so to write all these essays?
 
Received 10. Will have submitted all 10 by tomorrow morning😀. Still waiting on 6 more. (Loyola's is apparently in the mail? I am having my mail transferred to my summer address, and it may take a while longer...)
 
I've applied to 11 schools and received 6 secondaries. I have completed all 6 as of this morning.
 
ecking said:
I was counting on my English major GF to edit the more substantive essays but in typical fashion, she said no. 🙁
Click to expand...

None of my business, but is she on board with you on this train or not?

My wife didn't want to edit my personal statement, but she did because, well, it's part of the deal. I think it was part of our vows, "For richer or poorer, in times of medical school application and in..."
 
31 Applied / 19 Received / 14 Submitted / 5 In Progress

Correspondence w/ 4 of remaining 12 thus far

8 yet to hear's
 
rogerwilco said:
To touch on something a few others have brought up . . . if your committee LOR doesn't go out for, say, another month or so (maybe even more), is it still worth it to focus on a ~2 week turnaround time? Or should I be taking a month or so to write all these essays?
Click to expand...

If you aren't going to be bombarded with secondaries, then there's no reason to rush them. However, don't just sit and wait around for your LORs to come in before getting them in since any secondaries that come in during after your LORs are submitted have to be sent in ASAP.
 
verified 7/10. applied 33 schools, received 13, finished 7, 6 more to go. Damn UIC....it's like applying all over again.

I am shooting for one complete one per 2 days. We'll see....somehow I keep finding excuses to "take a break" like surfing SDN😛
 
Lacynica said:
verified 7/10. applied 33 schools, received 13, finished 7, 6 more to go. Damn UIC....it's like applying all over again.

I am shooting for one complete one per 2 days. We'll see....somehow I keep finding excuses to "take a break" like surfing SDN😛
Click to expand...

I surf SDN way too much these days.... I just got 4 new secondaries to work on in the past 24 hours, on top of the others from last week i need to work on!
 
done with 7/10 received. applied to 18 schools, 19 programs. 6 of the schools i applied to screen and ive received 1 screening secondary.
 
I've completed 6 of the 7 I have, and I plan to have the 7th (Georgetown) done by the end of the week. I'm applying to 11 schools, but I still haven't heard from 4 of them yet.
 
I don't know if this is a dumb question, but when you apply to say 20 schools. Do you write different essays for each individual one? and for the secondaries you get back, when its the same question do you just copy and paste?

thanks in advance
 
rich1234 said:
I don't know if this is a dumb question, but when you apply to say 20 schools. Do you write different essays for each individual one? and for the secondaries you get back, when its the same question do you just copy and paste?

thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Out of the 6 secondaries I filled out, this only happened once, and I did use the same essay. If you're going to use the same essay, the only thing I would be careful about is that if the essay mentions the name of the school you're applying to, that you change the name of the school before using the essay for another school!
 
Out of the 14 schools I applied to, I have 9 secondaries, and I've completed 7 of them. The goal of submitting all of them within two weeks of getting them slipped by yesterday for those last two, since I seem to have hit a wall regarding writing essays!
 
I've completed 8 secondaries but I think pretty much every single one of them was not screened. Only VCU was screened for sure, maybe Louisville.
 
verified 6/14

Applied to 11 (none screen) / Received 8 / Submitted 7 / Invited for 1 Interview
 
Summer is much busier for me than I expected, especially with the recent acquisition of a boyfriend... and a close friend moving away soon, so I'm kind of slacking a LOT. I need to just start writing. I have three in, and a fourth pretty close, out of the 6 I've gotten back so far. Then there's JHU which I haven't actually received any info from, and Duke and Harvard yet to go. I heard Duke's app is a crazy one.
 
Bluesmurf314 said:
Summer is much busier for me than I expected, especially with the recent acquisition of a boyfriend... and a close friend moving away soon, so I'm kind of slacking a LOT. I need to just start writing. I have three in, and a fourth pretty close, out of the 6 I've gotten back so far. Then there's JHU which I haven't actually received any info from, and Duke and Harvard yet to go. I heard Duke's app is a crazy one.
Click to expand...

You don't get anything from JHU... you just apply. There's a link to their secondary in either of the secondary threads.
 
mvenus929 said:
You don't get anything from JHU... you just apply. There's a link to their secondary in either of the secondary threads.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just figured that out by hanging around the JHU website. I have a good bit of their secondary done too, as I started it when I was all gung-ho back in June. Seems like a long time ago...
 
Aarrrgh... essays... aarrrghhhh!!!!! :d
Just need to vent.
 
How many of you guys have ppl proof reading your essays? Also, who's proof reading them?
 
ilovescrubs said:
How many of you guys have ppl proof reading your essays? Also, who's proof reading them?
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily have people proof them, but I do throw ideas around with a couple of friends.

If I do have someone proof, it's my friend with whom I was in PeaceCorps. Since that's where I decided to become a MD, she really gives good advice about how to best present my experience.
 
I was verified on June 8th, and I've submitted 10 so far, but have only sent LORs to 8 school. I am waiting on one of my letter writers to submit his letter that I need to send to the other 2 schools. He seems to have disappeared. 🙁
 
Submitted 6. Submitting two more by tomorrow. 7 more to go, and counting.
 
Received one so far, it's all filled out, but I'm waiting to hear back about a LOR request before I hit "submit," since I have to enter the referees' names.
 
So tired of all these essays 😴

I applied to 34, received 16, submitted 13
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
How many applicants have type 1 diabetes?
Replies
7
Views
915
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
E
Is it bad that I only have 11 secondaries submitted right now
Replies
8
Views
2K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
T
Finding many punctuation errors in my secondaries
Replies
3
Views
469
Goro
Goro
TibiaOrNotTibia
How Specific in Secondaries?
Replies
4
Views
977
LindaAccepted
LindaAccepted
FutureDOCTORR123456789
how many hours in research should I get
Replies
1
Views
490
CheeesyBoi
CheeesyBoi
Top