OK to BS "do you have specific reason for this school" secondary questions?

[theWUbear]

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I just started checking out secondaries to get an idea of the questions.

SUNY Downstate, for example (and i'm sure many other schools) ask a question to the point of "(Optional) If you have a specific reason why you have chosen to apply to SUNY Downstate's College of Medicine, please explain".

Obviously, upon first glance one might think "now's my chance to write up some BS about their curriculum or something unique about the school and how it fits me".

However, the secondary also asks if you have a specific reason why you have applied to med school in NYC, in parentheses putting "significant other, job transfer, family obligations". These three, significant and serious reasons why one would choose a school or region make me wary about just writing an response to the first one for just to stand out.

Should you always write the optional secondary question if it states "why in specific this school", are there times where it's better to leave it blank (leaving the question for people who, for instance, have family working at the med school, or have been treated at the med school - whatever more legitimate reason) instead of writing some crap about the curriculum?

 

[WingedOx]

even the slightest thing (as long as it's sincere) is probably helpful. I usually mentioned any family/friends who had connections at the university.

/it gets even better when you have to verbally BS those questions at residency interviews.

 

[rHinO1]

If you have to, should you BS a secondary essay? Hell yes! What else are you gonna do?

Get used to stroking those schools'... eh hem... egos 😀

 

[dragon529]

You should always take advantage of the "optional" essays because they give you extra opportunities to "sell yourself." You never know what specific areas adcom members would put their emphasis on, so you want to give them the complete picture.

 

[Longshanks]

Write the essays...

However for SUNY-Downstate the essays (though optional) have specific instructions:
one of the essays is only for people who are not from the five boroughs of NYC, and the other are for those with specific reasons to attend as you've noted: spouse, family, taking care of an ill relative.

It'd be pretty douchebaggy just to make something up when you don't actually having a dying relative or a legitimate reason to attend.

 

[NickNaylor]

You've gotta do your best with those questions. There's only so much you can do since websites will only give you a limited amount of info. Spend a few minutes researching the school and take note of what interests you. Mention those things and you should be good to go.

 

[BrainBuff]

You've gotta do your best with those questions. There's only so much you can do since websites will only give you a limited amount of info. Spend a few minutes researching the school and take note of what interests you. Mention those things and you should be good to go.

This.

And make sure you take the secondaries seriously. Schools are able to sense the BS fairly accurately. After all, they have thousands of kids writing about the same stuff. Put some feeling into it.

 

[wanderer]

A couple of points.

You should try to write as many "optional essays" as possible. I always filled out optional essays and I attribute getting a lot of invites partially to that.

As mentioned before, try to do some research on the school beforehand. Some schools have really nicely set up websites where can you find all the information you want with hardly any effort. Others have very poorly designed website. For the poorly designed website I either look on SDN or google their student handbooks or curriculum. Those usually give me enough information for a secondary. These essays need not be masterpieces. They just need to be decent.

I don't remember what the Downstate secondary looks like. If it's obvious that the particular essay is only for extenuating circumstances then leave it blank.