Optional secondary questions

[Pandaeac]

Hi all,

Many schools have the optional "tell us anything else you want" essay on their secondary. Would it better to use this space to explain why you think you'd be a good fit for/why you want to go to their school, or would it be better to use as an update about your plans for this year? I'm starting a new job that will give me a lot of clinical experience and wasn't able to put this on my primary.

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[FrkyBgStok]

I personally felt it was more of a "I am from this area and have family ties to this area." Or other reasons on why you have a good chance of attending there if accepted.

 

[Pandaeac]

I personally felt it was more of a "I am from this area and have family ties to this area." Or other reasons on why you have a good chance of attending there if accepted.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

Using that space to tell the school why you'd "be a great fit for each other" is kind of like meeting a girl at a bar for the first time and then explaining to her why the two of you would make a great couple.

For #foreveralone pre-med readers: This is not a good thing.

 

[MadRadLad]

Any anecdotes regarding whether or not to use the "Why this school" idea for optional essays? I mean like, acceptances/interviews with or without them?

 

[Pandaeac]

Interesting... two opposite opinions hah. But would using the space to update on my new job be a good idea?

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

If your job ain't on the amcas, go for it.

 

[MVP]

that space is for stuff not already in your application, or for explaining something that needs explaining. i left a lot of those blank if i didn't have anything important else to say

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I've been under the impression that those optional essays are (usually) truly optional, and that schools only want you to fill them out if you actually have something significant to add that isn't covered anywhere else in your application. They're not meant to be used for your copy and paste diversity essay or a "why here" essay unless it's an extremely compelling reason like "I have a sick immediate family member in the area who I want to be close to" or "my wife attends your graduate school".

I suspect that in most cases you would annoy the adcom reading your secondary if you fill in the optional essay just to have something there. The only exception being "optional" essays which are clearly not optional (example: Tuft's secondary has a question that reads "Do you consider yourself a person who would contribute to the diversity of the student body of Tufts University School of Medicine? (Yes/No). If "yes", please explain in 1000 characters").