Looking Back at Secondary Responses?

[FCBarca1990]

Has anyone looked back at secondaries they wrote weeks or months ago and regretted using certain responses/sentences? I looked back at a secondary I submitted a month ago, and it kills me knowing that there are lines that I wish I hadn't worded in the way that I did--or topics that probably would have been more appropriate for the question.

With that being said, do secondaries make or break you? I know it varies by the school, but are they generally reviewed for an interview invite or for a holistic consideration of the applicant before admission?

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[wololololololo]

Much like finding out a spelling error on your PS after submitting your primary, there's nothing you can do about it. I would just not look at any submitted secondary essays until you get invited to interview at the school. The previous SDN feature article dealt with secondaries and it said that if your application is otherwise strong, it shouldn't matter too much. Just make sure you actually answered the quesiton.

 

[kpcrew]

I figure if everything else is good, then your wording on your secondaries shouldn't be a big deal. It's not like an English class, as long as you can effectively convey your meaning, it should be fine. There was a nice feature article on secondaries posted a few days ago: http://www.studentdoctor.net/2011/07/medical-school-application-secondary-essays/

 

[FattySlug]

Has anyone looked back at secondaries they wrote weeks or months ago and regretted using certain responses/sentences? I looked back at a secondary I submitted a month ago, and it kills me knowing that there are lines that I wish I hadn't worded in the way that I did--or topics that probably would have been more appropriate for the question.

With that being said, do secondaries make or break you? I know it varies by the school, but are they generally reviewed for an interview invite or for a holistic consideration of the applicant before admission?

I used "two people cramped into one bed" instead of "two people crammed into one bed" and lost 3 nights of sleep. I dare not reread the others.

 

[babydragon]

I think the same is true for everyone. Even MSAR says to structure the secondaries so that the stronger ones will be saved for later. Wish I could redo some and even my PS, but it is what it is. Onto the next secondary...

 

[kansaskid]

I refuse to look over secondary essays that have already been submitted. There's nothing I can do about it now and there's no reason to stress out about it. Oh man, living in Africa has definitely mellowed me out!

 

[user123456]

i wrote 17 schools' secondaries in one week while taking intensive summer classes. when i re-read mine, they actually don't make sense. must vary by school but i don't think they look at secondaries very much for interview invites. after all, they have so much to read from everyone. don't worry