Prewriting For applications!

[Dr.Forssmann]

I was wondering: to what extent can I write my applications before applications open?

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[ace12345]

You can prewrite secondaries, which is a good thing closer to the application cycle, but plan to spend a lot of time on your personal statement. That took much longer than I anticipated.

 

[dancingmate]

I was wondering: to what extent can I write my applications before applications open?

Yeah definitely focus on your personal statement. I also prewrote the activities section--you have about 700 characters to describe each of ur EC's/work experience and then an extra 1500 or so characters to elaborate on 3 of your most meaningful experiences. For me, it took a bit of time to write these, because I had to pick and choose the points I wanted to make about each activity since there was a limited amount of text allowed. Ofcourse, if you prewrite your activities and personal statement, you can submit as soon as AMCAs submission opens. Good luck 🙂

 

[rfvbnmju]

Write as much as you can beforehand. You'll be glad you did.

It took me a some time to edit and finalize the PS statement.

The EC experience section didn't take too long to do.

As for secondary responses, check this year's thread, most don't change.

Have staples answers for the following questions. I find they come up often. You can use it as a starting point and expand more or cut out stuff depending on length requirement.

Diversity – How will you add a unique dimension (contribue to the diversity) our school community?
Personal Challenge/Ethical Dilemma – Describe a challenge you have overcome and what you learned from the experience.
After College Activities – If you have already graduated, briefly summarize your activities since graduation.
Specific School Interest – Indicate the reasons for your specific interest in X School.
Most Important Activity – From among the activities/exp listed in your AMCAS application, please select one activity that has most impacted your decision to enter medicine.
Qualities – Describe the distinguishable characteristics you possess. How will these characters enhance your success as a medical student and future physician?

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Yeah definitely focus on your personal statement. I also prewrote the activities section--you have about 700 characters to describe each of ur EC's/work experience and then an extra 1500 or so characters to elaborate on 3 of your most meaningful experiences. For me, it took a bit of time to write these, because I had to pick and choose the points I wanted to make about each activity since there was a limited amount of text allowed. Ofcourse, if you prewrite your activities and personal statement, you can submit as soon as AMCAs submission opens. Good luck 🙂

1500 each meaningful activity? Also where can i find the prompts?!? And there are 15 spots for EC's right?

 

[BlueLabel]

I was wondering: to what extent can I write my applications before applications open?

You can definitely prewrite more or less the whole app. At my school we had to do this and turn it in to our professional school advising office 2 weeks before the app opened in order to receive a committee letter.

 

[Bovary]

You can prewrite secondaries, which is a good thing closer to the application cycle, but plan to spend a lot of time on your personal statement. That took much longer than I anticipated.

Is it safe to say that most schools use the same secondary application questions each year? Would it be useful then to go to the school specific threads and copy down the secondaries being requested this year in order to think about pre-writing them for when I apply next cycle?

 

[dismorfik]

I didn't pre write but sure wish I did. Will save you time once secondaries start piling up and time is of the essence.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

I didn't pre write but sure wish I did. Will save you time once secondaries start piling up and time is of the essence.

Indeed.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

1500 each meaningful activity? Also where can i find the prompts?!? And there are 15 spots for EC's right?

 

[SN12357]

I think of the 24 schools I applied to only 1 changed their secondary essays from last year to this one, so prewriting off the prompts from this year is a pretty high yield strategy. Also if you apply in June, but not in the FIRST wave, the prompts will get confirmed/posted pretty quickly, likely before you actually receive your secondary invites.

 

[Pacna]

I was wondering: to what extent can I write my applications before applications open?

Like everyone's been saying -- the personal statement is what's going to make or break you for the most part.

I'd differ from what others are saying in this: You have a LOT of time between now and then. If you did one application per week or two, you would have 12+ secondaries done by the time submission time roles around. Get something on that Word document. Also, "activities" take a long time as well. Take some time to think about what you want to say. I don't think those need to be started before the app opens for pre-submission, but definitely have a framework ready to go.

This process is stressful enough. You don't need to make it moreso by procrastinating. (like I did. Ugh.)

 

[nemo123]

If you look at the allopathic schools forum, the first post will have the prompts for the secondary for that schools for this cycle. Schools rarely change their prompts from year to year so you can prewrite the secondaries to the schools you know you are going to apply to.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Thank you guys for all the advice. I have another question:

When do the AMCAS applications open and when is the first wave of applications sent?

 

[sinombre]

Thank you guys for all the advice. I have another question:

When do the AMCAS applications open and when is the first wave of applications sent?

IIRC, AMCAS usually opens in early may. You can usually submit in early June, and the first verified applications are sent in late June/early July.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

IIRC, AMCAS usually opens in early may. You can usually submit in early June, and the first verified applications are sent in late June/early July.

So you have a month between it opening and submitting?

 

[CyberMaxx]

If you are going to pre-write this early (which by no means do you have to do, there is still tons of time) You want to do the PS before ANYTHING else in my opinion. The reason is that your whole application comes together like a narrative, of which your personal statement is the centerpiece. Knowing what your PS says will help you write secondaries which fit with this narrative, making a more coherent and compelling story.

 

[sinombre]

So you have a month between it opening and submitting?

Yep, roughly a month.

 

[Espadaleader]

Pre-Write everything. Create an AMCAS for this cycle and start Pre-populating it. Put yourself under pressure to "finish" your AMCAS by January. After that spend the next 6 months polishing and editing your application. In April, Pre-Write the Duke secondary (even if you don't want to I to Duke). It's arguably the hardest secondary and if you can Pre-Write that one you will make short work of most of secondaries. Aim to submit your AMCAS within the first week of next cycle to be early and most importantly avoid glitches like in this years AMCAS.

Where should you begin?

Review your summer research personal statements, academic essays etc. If you're applying to medical school, you've written plenty of personal statements so they are a good place to start. Finally, never underestimate yourself or your abilities. It worked for me in a huge way.

 

[Catalystik]

Pre-Write everything. Create an AMCAS for this cycle and start Pre-populating it.

Copy and paste important essays that you've slaved over, like the PS and Experience descriptions, into a saveable document, as historically anything in the previous year's AMCAS application hasn't automatically appeared in the following year's version (unless it was submitted and you're reapplying). If this has changed, hopefully someone will chime in.

Also, It is very tedious to have to reenter all your transcript information and I am unaware of any way this can be made easier the second time.

 

[SN12357]

While I do think prewriting is a good idea, I'm deeply skeptical that the type of intense prewriting (months out) some of you are describing is actually going to help.

You can change a lot over 7-8 months time. I did. I'm a nontrad (so at this point, probably changing less rapidly as a person than a college kid) and if I'd written my essays that far ahead of submitting, they would have been ****tier and less reflective of who I am now. My opinions and reasons for medicine shifted enough that I'm glad I didn't waste time prewriting earlier. If I had either all the time would have been a waste or I would have had a weaker application for sure.

I started mulling over my PS in April/May (really, just contemplating ideas, no writing), wrote it over 2-3 weeks in June, wrote all my secondaries in July and August, and was complete at every school except the one that had a heavy prescreen by the end of August. Cycle is going great so far. I didn't rush anything, either; every single one of my essays went to one of my friends for editing before submission. The first iteration of an essay on a common topic went to at least two people for comments.

I know some people spent months and months on their PS and that's great if it worked for you, but I think that strategy makes little sense for most people and the degree of anxiety this thread is likely to produce is exactly why sdn has such a reputation for neuroticism.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

While I do think prewriting is a good idea, I'm deeply skeptical that the type of intense prewriting (months out) some of you are describing is actually going to help.

You can change a lot over 7-8 months time. I did. I'm a nontrad (so at this point, probably changing less rapidly as a person than a college kid) and if I'd written my essays that far ahead of submitting, they would have been ****tier and less reflective of who I am now. My opinions and reasons for medicine shifted enough that I'm glad I didn't waste time prewriting earlier. If I had either all the time would have been a waste or I would have had a weaker application for sure.

I started mulling over my PS in April/May (really, just contemplating ideas, no writing), wrote it over 2-3 weeks in June, wrote all my secondaries in July and August, and was complete at every school except the one that had a heavy prescreen by the end of August. Cycle is going great so far. I didn't rush anything, either; every single one of my essays went to one of my friends for editing before submission. The first iteration of an essay on a common topic went to at least two people for comments.

I know some people spent months and months on their PS and that's great if it worked for you, but I think that strategy makes little sense for most people and the degree of anxiety this thread is likely to produce is exactly why sdn has such a reputation for neuroticism.

Were your friends premeds? How'd you go about editing your essays?

 

[maliro]

While I do think prewriting is a good idea, I'm deeply skeptical that the type of intense prewriting (months out) some of you are describing is actually going to help.

You can change a lot over 7-8 months time. I did. I'm a nontrad (so at this point, probably changing less rapidly as a person than a college kid) and if I'd written my essays that far ahead of submitting, they would have been ****tier and less reflective of who I am now. My opinions and reasons for medicine shifted enough that I'm glad I didn't waste time prewriting earlier. If I had either all the time would have been a waste or I would have had a weaker application for sure.

I started mulling over my PS in April/May (really, just contemplating ideas, no writing), wrote it over 2-3 weeks in June, wrote all my secondaries in July and August, and was complete at every school except the one that had a heavy prescreen by the end of August. Cycle is going great so far. I didn't rush anything, either; every single one of my essays went to one of my friends for editing before submission. The first iteration of an essay on a common topic went to at least two people for comments.

I know some people spent months and months on their PS and that's great if it worked for you, but I think that strategy makes little sense for most people and the degree of anxiety this thread is likely to produce is exactly why sdn has such a reputation for neuroticism.

+1

I starting thinking about my PS Jan/Feb, wrote it in March. I had a lot of help editing my PS and even with that in May I scrapped it and began on a new topic which took 2 weeks to write. Finding a good toping is the most important and makes the PS a lot easier to write, and I was able to reuse parts of my original PS in the secondaries. May/June I looked at the prompts and pre-wrote the common ones (diversity, biggest challenge, ect). And wrote all the secondaries in July/August. I was pretty much done in the middle of August only due to some schools sending them out very late. I was able to finnish the secondary well within two weeks of receiving each (5-7 days average).

I chose not to pre-write exact secondaries because I hate writing and would have been pissed to write one that didn't get used, and as I had seen what the previous topics were, I could think about that and at least decide what I wanted to write for each type of question, which for me was the time saver.

 

[SN12357]

Were your friends premeds? How'd you go about editing your essays?

For the most part my friends were neither premeds nor in any way connected to the medical profession, just close friends who are very good writers themselves. I did have one med student friend do a content check certain essays when I wanted a perspective from someone who had recently applied.

I used google drive for all my essays, which made it super easy to share documents and get comments from other people. Writing about yourself is awkward and difficult. Getting external feedback is painful but improves the writing immensely (in particular, my editors frequently pointed out that I was accidentally downplaying my accomplishments instead of highlighting them effectively).

 

[kyamh]

I also made a google drive folder with all of my essays - when two schools had similar essays, I pasted both prompts up at the top of the document to make sure I notice any differences in what they were asking for. I pre-made all my essay documents and made little title tags like "not started" "wip" "almost" and "done" to keep track of progress. I also made a spreadsheet with my schools and the various essays to keep on track.

I had two friends (not pre-meds) who had access to all of my essays at all times and they would sometimes go online and look over essays I had changed since the last time they looked (they were absolutely amazing friends throughout the process). In addition, I would periodically ask other friends, including other pre-meds, to look at individual essays I wanted input on. I particularly took advantage of my friends who are applying with me this cycle, especially for essays to schools we had in common since we spent a long time thinking about the prompts.

 

[SN12357]

I also made a google drive folder with all of my essays - when two schools had similar essays, I pasted both prompts up at the top of the document to make sure I notice any differences in what they were asking for. I pre-made all my essay documents and made little title tags like "not started" "wip" "almost" and "done" to keep track of progress. I also made a spreadsheet with my schools and the various essays to keep on track.

I had two friends (not pre-meds) who had access to all of my essays at all times and they would sometimes go online and look over essays I had changed since the last time they looked (they were absolutely amazing friends throughout the process). In addition, I would periodically ask other friends, including other pre-meds, to look at individual essays I wanted input on. I particularly took advantage of my friends who are applying with me this cycle, especially for essays to schools we had in common since we spent a long time thinking about the prompts.

Haha, we have very similar approaches to this process. My spreadsheets are color coded 😉

 

[kyamh]

My spreadsheets are color coded 😉

😍

 

[Kinch]

Is it safe to say that most schools use the same secondary application questions each year? Would it be useful then to go to the school specific threads and copy down the secondaries being requested this year in order to think about pre-writing them for when I apply next cycle?

I prewrote most of my secondaries and it worked out fine for all but one school, which changed three different 300 wordish essays to three completely different ones... I was slightly annoyed hahah.

 

[kyamh]

I prewrote most of my secondaries and it worked out fine for all but one school, which changed three different 300 wordish essays to three completely different ones... I was slightly annoyed hahah.

Since SDN has archives going several years back, you may be able to get a better idea by comparing essays from two consecutive years at a given school to see if they changed...though nothing stops a school from changing its essays for your cycle

 

[Fedxup]

sorry if this is a stupid question. I will be applying next year, based on reading certain things on this form, I saw that you can open your amcas application now and start filling it out for next year ?

 

[kyamh]

sorry if this is a stupid question. I will be applying next year, based on reading certain things on this form, I saw that you can open your amcas application now and start filling it out for next year ?

I'm not sure that your 'completed' application will transfer to the next cycle, I didn't try. I think the reason that it's useful to look at the application format is so that you know exactly what kind of descriptions you will want to write and how long they ought to be. You can look to see the kind of information you will have to gather so, for example, if you took a college course in high school you can dig up your ID number and request a transcript nice and early in the Spring.

Personally, I didn't find filling in the application ahead of time helpful whereas looking at the format of the application was very helpful. The application itself took just a couple of hours to fill in since I had my transcripts etc handy - filling in your coursework is tedious, I would definitely not do this if your application resets for the next cycle. The essays/descriptions took a lot longer, but I was working on those in a separate document on my computer and pasted the text in later.

 

[bpperry]

I think they mean that you can open the 2014 AMCAS to check out the app and essentially write everything down as if you were applying, except save your answers so you can just copy paste them (more or less) into the 2015 cycle.