So I'm been doing a lot of secondaries lately and I'm just wondering how important are those short/optional essays. Obviously some schools put a lot of emphasize on their essays when they have 5 questions and give you like 2000 characters for each. But what about those ~500 character questions and those optional (anything else you want to tell us) topics? If I have something like immigrating here and learning English is it even worth mentioning in the optional essays?
Importance of Secondary Essays
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Depends on the school.
K
kpcrew
They wouldn't ask you to write about it if they weren't interested in it.
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👍
Seriously, if they ask a question then they probably want an answer. If it is optional and you have something to say, then say it.
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honestly, that's most likely what they want you to think. Medical school admissions are crazy and its getting more and more competitive, I could be wrong-- but little things like that could be used to weed out the students who are just applying to the school as a safety, and keep the ones who seem like they really want to be at that particular medical school.
But at the same time.... if your going to bs the essay and if you think it's going to look like you just pulled something straight out of your butt, it would probably be better to leave it blank. Write the essays like that's the only medical school left on earth!
Best of luck 🙂
But at the same time.... if your going to bs the essay and if you think it's going to look like you just pulled something straight out of your butt, it would probably be better to leave it blank. Write the essays like that's the only medical school left on earth!
Best of luck 🙂
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This. I feel like at some schools the secondary was merely there to get more money from us. In any event, you still should try your best on every single one of them.
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There was one question on Hopkin's secondary "If applicable, talk about the time you weren't in the majority and what happened" or something to that effect. I didn't feel like writing anything because I couldn't think of anything without forcing it. Basically, if you have to BS something, they'll be able to tell. I personally went with the idea that if you have a legitimate topic, talk about it for the optional ones. If you have to make something up or kind of force an event into the topic, then just forget it.
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Plenty of people do it. Nothing wrong with it, though you may have them switched up on you for your cycle.
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I wouldn't recommend pre-writing with an entire school year left ahead of you (assuming you aren't non-trad)...
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How come? I can see how the content of some of my essays might change in the next year but the "why x school" essays and my most challenging experience will stay pretty static...
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Just imagine 10 members of the adcom reading your entire app deciding weather or not to accept you...make them as good as possible.
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*within a reasonable amount of time*
I know people who participate on those ADCOMs, and they don't put a huge amount into secondaries, from what I've heard.
Note: Depends on school.
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It's a choice between taking the time to write perfect essays and submitting them early. IMO I'd submit them as early as possible (turnaround time of no more than a week).
Also, all my interviews asked a lot of questions based on what I wrote in the secondary. That might be something to consider if you want to try to steer the conversation towards one of your strengths.
Edit: I consider optional essays for extraordinary circumstances, not 'I really want to be a doctor/go to your school'. It might be worthwhile to state that you moved here at age X and learned English as an Nth language, but it doesn't have to be long. Just make sure (if you choose to write the optional essay) you put what is the experience, how it's affected you, and how this will help you be a good doctor/great fit for the school.
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Because if you don't have your AMCAS complete, your application may come across as fragmented. And you likely won't complete your AMCAS until you've more or less finished whatever experiences you're doing this school year.
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Disagree with your point about secondaries. You can absolutely submit them more than a week after you receive them. Rushing to meet some arbitrary deadline to the detriment of your essays isn't a smart move. I would start to be concerned after maybe a month.
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Fair enough, I can see that.
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I agree, but also disagree.
Early in the cycle, a month won't be a huge deal. However, late in the cycle as you push the deadline, a month may put you after the last accepted application. That wouldn't be good.
I think it's all a balance of time/quality. Get it in as soon as you are ready, just like everything else on your application.
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It won't help or hurt, as long as the secondary has been sent to you and the school doesn't punish for submitting early (some will invalidate your app).
If you submit it early/same day, your completion may go faster.
