Reapplicant prompt on secondaries

[supersaiyanvegeta]

For schools that have reapplicant questions on secondaries, such as Rochester and Boston (exact prompts below), are you supposed to just list what you have done since your previous application and provide a brief description of your experiences and dates/hours (ex. I have done X + brief description. I have done Y + brief description.. etc) or is it supposed to be more of a reflection (what you learned, how you grew, identifying weaknesses from previous application, etc.)?? With fewer character counts such as Rochester's, there isn't really space to reflect after listing experiences but for Boston's for example that has more characters available, would it be good to include a reflection at the end or would that be viewed as unnecessary?

Rochester: If you previously applied to medical school, briefly describe any experiences you have been part of since your previous application. (1500 characters)

Boston: This section may be used by re-applicants who wish to highlight specific areas of their application or to outline specific changes since their last application. (3000 characters)

@gonnif @Goro @LizzyM

Thanks in advance!!!

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[Rachapkis]

As Gonnif suggests, answer the call of the question (they may differ) and use this as an opportunity to show why you are a better candidate than you were last year.

 

[supersaiyanvegeta]

@gonnif @Goro What if a school's secondary doesn't have a reapplicant-specific prompt and has an optional additional info essay - would it be be advisable to list and describe what I've done since my previous application and reflect upon how how I'm a better candidate? I just received a secondary from a school that pre-screens and their additional info section is only 500 characters, so I'm not sure if I can properly address all of that in that amount of space.

Also, what about secondaries that don't have reapplicant-specific prompts OR additional info essays - do you need to bring up being a reapplicant in the essays they do have like in "greatest challenge" prompts or does it mean they don't want you to address that? I did not talk about being a reapplicant in my primary/personal statement - do schools expect that we address it in either primaries or secondaries one way or another??

 

[Goro]

@gonnif @Goro What if a school's secondary doesn't have a reapplicant-specific prompt and has an optional additional info essay - would it be be advisable to list and describe what I've done since my previous application and reflect upon how how I'm a better candidate? I just received a secondary from a school that pre-screens and their additional info section is only 500 characters, so I'm not sure if I can properly address all of that in that amount of space.

Also, what about secondaries that don't have reapplicant-specific prompts OR additional info essays - do you need to bring up being a reapplicant in the essays they do have like in "greatest challenge" prompts or does it mean they don't want you to address that? I did not talk about being a reapplicant in my primary/personal statement - do schools expect that we address it in either primaries or secondaries one way or another??

No, you shouldn't. And we especially do NOT want to see being a reapplicant in the greatest challenge/adversity/setback prompts. That telegraphs that you do not have a life outside of academics.

Being a re applicant is not a definition of your humanity, a sign of some character flaw, or a black mark on your soul.

The bias against reapplicants is mostly SDN hype. plenty of SDners have been accepted on cycle two simply because they applied late on cycle one. But if your app is lacking in cycle one, then you should do what many med schools advise, and take a gap year to fix the deficits.

Mentioning your improvements in the optional essay sounds fine..