Official 2008 Secondary Questions Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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prznpremed said:
does anyone have any advice as to how to approach this 'life in discovery' essay??? It's a little strange for a prompt... Any successful people from last year?
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No, because then you'll just take ideas from someone and it wont be unique. First, define what the phrase means to you and go from there. Also you didn't post a word limit or anything.
 
prznpremed said:
does anyone have any advice as to how to approach this 'life in discovery' essay??? It's a little strange for a prompt... Any successful people from last year?
Click to expand...

First of all, the whole purpose of essays to is be unique and give insight into YOURSELF. People need to stop asking for advice on what to write here, period.

Second, Anyone else not able to view page 5 of the application due to font/character issues? I need to double check that my Adobe is up-to-date as far as updates but it's annoying me.
 
viciouz said:
No, because then you'll just take ideas from someone and it wont be unique. First, define what the phrase means to you and go from there. Also you didn't post a word limit or anything.
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There is no world limit, the space allotted is for about 2-3 paragraphs. And I was trying to get a general IDEA because several people I know interpretated that prompt in a way that didn't end up working for them. I think it's possible to have a better idea of what they are looking for AND be unique.
 
Whats with the rogue check box in the upper left hand corner of the second page of the george washington secondary?
 
prznpremed said:
does anyone have any advice as to how to approach this 'life in discovery' essay??? It's a little strange for a prompt... Any successful people from last year?
Click to expand...

Ya i agree! At first I thought it was a sort of program or something, then i realized no, they just mean in general.

Still...it's weird.
 
michaeltoole said:
Just received University of Pennsylvania's secondary via email. No essays if you didn't know... took me 5 minutes to complete and pay.
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Wish all secs could be like this. Turned in mine from work during a 15 min incubation. 👍
 
Must have made it past the screen -- received Loyola's forms and instructions to complete their secondary via snail mail today.
 
Misty said:
just got the usf secondary link via email. is anyone else having trouble accessing the online app.?
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yeah they probably wont get it fixed until Monday, but i haven't emailed them or anything.
 
Got this via email from Emory today:

We have received your verified application data from AMCAS.

The site for the 2008 Emory Supplemental Application is still under construction. As soon as the site is complete (on or before August 15), we will send you an email with the instructions for completing the application.

Please be sure that you keep your contact information, particularly your email, updated with AMCAS. Your preferred email address with AMCAS is where we will be sending you the supplemental application information.

We look forward to receiving your application, and we thank you for your interest in Emory School of Medicine!
________________________

Emory University School of Medicine Admissions Team
 
phoenix1 said:
A snail mail secondary? Yikes. I'll try not to pass judgment on the lack of technological aptitude.
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Snail mail instructions on how to complete the online secondary. It has 5-6 essay questions (depending on whether you have updates for them), each of which they want you to keep to 25 lines of text or less. Here are the prompts:

  1. .What do you consider a valuable experience in your personal development? This might be a decision you have made, an achievement of which you are particularly proud, or a person who has influenced your life.
    .
  2. .Describe briefly how you have dealt with a personal or academic problem you have encountered..
  3. .How did you reach your decision to enter medicine? Describe your participation in any health care or other activities which reinforced your decision..
  4. .What self-education, research, or independent scholastic work have you undertaken and what do you feel you have accomplished in this work?.
  5. .If you will not be enrolled as a full-time student during the current academic year, please explain what you will be doing prior to your planned matriculation into medical school..
  6. .Please use this space to bring the information contained on your AMCAS application up-to-date. Indicate grades earned, alterations in your proposed course work or graduation date, address changes, additions to your list of activities, and anything else you feel we should know..
 
About the second essay for Pritzker,

"Tell us about a difficult or challenging situation that you have encountered and how you dealt with it. In your response, identify both the coping skills that you called upon to resolve the dilemma, and the support person(s) from whom you sought advice."

Should I be writing about a perfiod of time that was difficult, like say my Fall semester, or should it be something intense that was a short moment of time like say solving a differential equation in 1 hour or else the world would explode.
 
Ok VCU's secondary asks ...

Have you previously applied to our School Of Medicine?

No Yes If yes, enter year(s):


If yes, what additional qualifications do you have? (limit of 150 characters)

150 characters is nothing. like two short sentences. So by saying qualifications do they mean I should list adjectives like...hardworking, compassionate. I'm not sure, and if they are saying additional...how do I address addtional...am I addiotionally compassionate. I dont get this question. I was just going to explain what I had done in the past year and then realized its only 150 characters so I cant really explain anything.😱
 
I just got Vermont's secondary. I'm out of state and was verified on 6/6, and some people seemed to get them right after primaries were sent out (6/21), so who knows how they're deciding to send the secondaries in batches.

EDIT: Ok, so when I logged in, it wasn't a secondary, but a message telling me that they'll be emailing me instructions regarding the secondary soon. Fake out!
 
I still haven't been able to log into the Wake Forest App Status page to find out if/when I might get the secondary. Has anyone else who initially had trouble been able to get in? When I put in my ID, password and last name, it tells me that they're having technical difficulties and that the site should be working next week.
 
zipmedic said:
Must have made it past the screen -- received Loyola's forms and instructions to complete their secondary via snail mail today.
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eeeek they screen, don't they? i haven't gotten anything. bad sign??😱
 
you're not getting off so easy, buddy.

didn't you see the bottom with 2 big questions?

Here they are:

The admissions committee requests that you write another essay that provides us with some insight into you as a person. The content should NOT repeat anything that we can learn from the AMCAS essay. However, other than that you may discuss any topic you choose. The essay has a limited length, so be certain that you know your material will fit in the allotted space (approximately 500-600 words).

Please share with us your thoughts on specialties and how you plan to choose yours (limit of 250 words).
whateva07 said:
Ok VCU's secondary asks ...

Have you previously applied to our School Of Medicine?

No Yes If yes, enter year(s):


If yes, what additional qualifications do you have? (limit of 150 characters)

150 characters is nothing. like two short sentences. So by saying qualifications do they mean I should list adjectives like...hardworking, compassionate. I'm not sure, and if they are saying additional...how do I address addtional...am I addiotionally compassionate. I dont get this question. I was just going to explain what I had done in the past year and then realized its only 150 characters so I cant really explain anything.😱
Click to expand...
 
prznpremed said:
does anyone have any advice as to how to approach this 'life in discovery' essay??? It's a little strange for a prompt... Any successful people from last year?
Click to expand...

Sure. I would advise trying to modify your Pritzker "fit" essay to become your RF essay if you can. Mine actually worked perfectly as a "life in discovery" essay with just some minor tweaking. Mainly just a new intro sentence and a new conclusion. Depends, of course, on what you wrote for your Pritzker essay and if you even applied there, but if you did, I think it can definitely be a good place to start. Mine even fit perfectly space-wise too. Talk about some great recycling.... Good luck!
 
Jolie South said:
you're not getting off so easy, buddy.

didn't you see the bottom with 2 big questions?

Here they are:

The admissions committee requests that you write another essay that provides us with some insight into you as a person. The content should NOT repeat anything that we can learn from the AMCAS essay. However, other than that you may discuss any topic you choose. The essay has a limited length, so be certain that you know your material will fit in the allotted space (approximately 500-600 words).

Please share with us your thoughts on specialties and how you plan to choose yours (limit of 250 words).
Click to expand...

I saw that. Its this question which has me stumped lol...and should be the easiest of the three.
 
Hey did anyone ever get SLU's essay to work. I can't get it to input my text.
 
This may be a dumb question, but should I always try to fill the word/character limit for the secondary essays? Or is it more like the EC description where it's best to keep it as short and concise as possible. Thanks for the help in advance.
 
When they say Do you wish to include any comments, other than your AMCAS personal statement, to the Admissions Committee?

Does it mean I really should add something.
 
whateva07 said:
When they say Do you wish to include any comments, other than your AMCAS personal statement, to the Admissions Committee?

Does it mean I really should add something.
Click to expand...

I intended to write a few paragraphs about "why slu," but their website didn't really have much to offer...so I just wrote like 3 or 4 sentences about how I think my goals fit with their mission and values. and then i wrote three sentences about bad grades freshman year.
 
MSTP08 said:
In part B:
(optional) Do you have unique experiences or obstacles that you have overcome that were not covered in your application about which you would like to inform our Admissions Committee? (maximum 3000 characters including spaces)

In part C:
If you have already completed you education, if your college or graduate education was interrupted, or if you do not plan to be a full-time student during the current year, describe in chronological order your activities during the time(s) when you were not enrolled as a full-time student.

In part D (MSTP):
Please give a brief description (no longer than 6 sentences) of the area of biomedical science you are most interested in studying.

Side Note:
"The MSTP Admissions Committee expects letters of recommendation submitted on your behalf from all individuals you wrote about as research mentors in the "Significant Research Essay" Section of the AMCAS application."
Click to expand...

For Wash U's Part C ("describe in chronological order your activities"), how much detail are people putting? I'm assuming they don't want my AMCAS ECs in chronological order. Is it enough to list job titles and dates and/or brief descriptions (ie. 2003: Began competitive underwater basket weaving)?
 
WHR said:
This may be a dumb question, but should I always try to fill the word/character limit for the secondary essays? Or is it more like the EC description where it's best to keep it as short and concise as possible. Thanks for the help in advance.
Click to expand...

i don't think it's necessary to fill the limit. just write what you feel is necessary. i just think the limits are so the ADCOMS dont have to read novels.
 
anybody know when these schools send out secondaries? trying to plan out a vacation...

duke
USC
mt sinai
northwestern
stanford
temple
maryland
 
zipmedic said:
They do screen, but I live in Chicago, so I got mine pretty quick. Give it awhile before you start to worry. Good luck!
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I got mine too but I never know what to make of screened secondaries. What exactly is the screen? Is it just having a pulse or do they actually look at the whole application and think that this is a student we could possibly admit. I don't know, but I tend to get overly excited when I get a screened secondary. So anybody know how loyola screens or how many they send secondaries too?
 
For SLU's please describe your current activities. I seriously wrote 4 sentences, but they give a lot of space. What do u other slu ppl think abt this question?
 
UnderdogMD said:
I got mine too but I never know what to make of screened secondaries. What exactly is the screen? Is it just having a pulse or do they actually look at the whole application and think that this is a student we could possibly admit. I don't know, but I tend to get overly excited when I get a screened secondary. So anybody know how loyola screens or how many they send secondaries too?
Click to expand...

Loyola sends secondaries to everyone that meets their minimum criteria (which they don't publish, but I've been told it's mostly a cumulative GPA >= 3.0). There are, however, some schools out there that only send secondaries to folks they plan to interview... Good luck!
 
zipmedic said:
Loyola sends secondaries to everyone that meets their minimum criteria (which they don't publish, but I've been told it's mostly a cumulative GPA >= 3.0). There are, however, some schools out there that only send secondaries to folks they plan to interview... Good luck!
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Loyola's cut-off is at or below a 3.3, seeing as I got their secondary, and my AMCAS overall GPA was a 3.33.
 
zipmedic said:
Loyola sends secondaries to everyone that meets their minimum criteria (which they don't publish, but I've been told it's mostly a cumulative GPA >= 3.0). There are, however, some schools out there that only send secondaries to folks they plan to interview... Good luck!
Click to expand...

Do you know any other schools that send secondaries to people they plan to interview other than Vanderbilt???
 
medking said:
Do you know any other schools that send secondaries to people they plan to interview other than Vanderbilt???
Click to expand...

I believe UNC does for instate applicants.
 
hey guys,
I got University of South Alabama's secondary in the mail today and I have 2 questions
1. they meniton several times that they need a picture that is NOT a snapshot. does this mean that it has to be a professional picture?????

2. do they screen pre-secondary?

Thanks 😕
 
IzzyMarieDMD said:
hey guys,
I got University of South Alabama's secondary in the mail today and I have 2 questions
1. they meniton several times that they need a picture that is NOT a snapshot. does this mean that it has to be a professional picture?????

2. do they screen pre-secondary?

Thanks 😕
Click to expand...

1. I think rather than professional/unprofessional they mean formal/unformal. Dress like you would for an interview and take a passport type face photo.
2. They do screen but who knows what the criteria are.
 
IzzyMarieDMD said:
hey guys,
I got University of South Alabama's secondary in the mail today and I have 2 questions
1. they meniton several times that they need a picture that is NOT a snapshot. does this mean that it has to be a professional picture?????

2. do they screen pre-secondary?

Thanks 😕
Click to expand...

Would you post the questions please.
 
UCSD received my primary on June 25, and I haven't heard from them yet, while it looks like some people have gotten secondaries already. So... two questions:

1) It's looking a little worse for me at this point (with UCSD), right?
2) If they (and med schools in general) reject me pre-secondary, would they notify me, or would they just let me twist in the wind?
 
". Please share with us something about yourself that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and which could be helpful to the Admissions Committee as we review your file."

I feel as though I've nearly pulled every last fiber of myself into these applications. Any suggestions as to where I should start with this?
 
bluemonq said:
2) If they (and med schools in general) reject me pre-secondary, would they notify me, or would they just let me twist in the wind?
Click to expand...

Some schools let you know right away and some won't tell you anything for months, it sucks.

And Snsboy16, you could try writing about why you're interested in that particular school~
 
Anyone submit the Johns Hopkins secondary yet? When I clicked 'submit', the page refreshed (maybe?) and gave me the same page. I clicked 'submit' again, and it did the same thing. I checked my email and now, I have 4 'you have submitted your application' messages from JHU! Now, I'm sure I only clicked it twice...
 
alisa said:
Anyone submit the Johns Hopkins secondary yet? When I clicked 'submit', the page refreshed (maybe?) and gave me the same page. I clicked 'submit' again, and it did the same thing. I checked my email and now, I have 4 'you have submitted your application' messages from JHU! Now, I'm sure I only clicked it twice...
Click to expand...

Luckily, I did not have a problem with JHU.
 
I have a question about Columbia's secondary...when they ask you for your science GPA do you think they mean just Science like aacomas...or the BCPM like Amcas... I know it seems trivial...but there is a .2 difference between the two for me🙂... calc II and stats and I didn't get along so well🙂

Mel🙂
 
Does NYU screen before sending out secondaries? Has anyone gotten a secondary from them yet? What about Mt. Sinai?

Just curious. Thanks!
 
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