Purpose of 2ndary

[Docta Rod]

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I understand the overall purpose of secondary applications but do some schools process the primary before making a descision ? On the morehouse website it stated that qualifed applicants recieve a secondary application.

 

[PinkIvy08]

Yes. Some schools "pre-screen" applications, meaning they look at your primary and (usually) based on your numbers, if you're above a certain threshold, they'll send you a secondary. For some schools, it's as long as you get an 8 or above on the MCAT sections, for others it's a 10+, and still for others, its a minimum GPA and MCAT.

I have mixed feelings on it. It's nice, in a way, because it saves you the money of a secondary app fee if all they were going to do is toss your app in the garbage. On the other hand, you'd like to think that once the schools got to know you better in your secondary, they might warm up to you a bit, right?

 

[Docta Rod]

PinkIvy, do they also read the personal statements and everything else on the application before sending the secondaries ?

 

[PinkIvy08]

Um... I think some do and some don't.

My guess for Morehouse (I'm not applying there) would be that they would take time to read your personal statement. They seem like a school that truly cares about the character and quality of their students. However, I'm fairly certain some other schools solely look at your numbers and go from there.

Once again, I'm no expert on Morehouse or their application process, so perhaps someone else can chime in?

 

[njbmd]

Secondary applications are a huge revenue source for many medical schools. If you apply, you automatically get a secondary application with a stiff fee in many cases. Some schools will send secondaries if you are within their criteria for acceptance but these schools are becoming less frequent. The general rule is that secondary applications will generate revenue so that the applicant has to "pay to play". Georgetown has a very steep secondary application fee and is known to send the rejection letter as soon as they cash your check for the secondary application fee.

 

[Docta Rod]

Yes, i do understand and I am particularly worried about it. I just hate being hustled in any type of way. Money does not grow from trees and apparently these medical schools do not care.So, I am going to call each medical school I applied to and ask about their secondaries. If they are the type to hustle and steal w/o prescreening then i will have to think hard about completing the application.

 

[PlatinumPenny]

I think you can look in the MSAR to see if schools screen or not. Might save you some time on calling individual schools