Schools with the least/most time-consuming secondaries

[Neuroguy887]

I am crunched for time and won't be able to devote a lot of time to writing quality essays for 20 different secondary applications. Can anyone recommend me some schools with shorter and less time consuming secondaries and also note the schools with the lengthiest secondaries.

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[torshi]

I am crunched for time and won't be able to devote a lot of time to writing quality essays for 20 different secondary applications. Can anyone recommend me some schools with shorter and less time consuming secondaries and also note the schools with the lengthiest secondaries.

 

[Barcu]

Go through school-specific threads of the schools you are interested in. The secondary questions will be the first post.

Please don't base your school list on secondary length.

 

[ponyo]

Please don't base your school list on secondary length.

seriously. please don't

 

[Neuroguy887]

Lol ok mom any more orders?

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Not Duke.

I took one look at their secondary last year and said screw that.

 

[wololololololo]

Einstein and SUNY Buffalo are the ones I recall although there's probably more. I'd imagine adcoms would find the prospect of wading through 4000 600 word essays (all saying the same thing) unappealing, so I'm surprised more schools don't just take your money.

 

[aSagacious]

Lots of essay questions: Loyola, Louisville, Kentucky
Long single essay: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth

(These are only off the top of my head)
...but yeah, probably not a good idea to base your school selection on this information.

 

[vc7777]

Good news! Technically there is no minimum word count for case western's essays.

In theory, someone crunched for time could answer in the literarily-correct Haiku. This is much harder than it seems, trust me:

Essay prompt:
Describe your research experience?

Answer:
I clean glassware well
Have yet to meet my PI
Results? Negative.

Essay prompt;
What was your greatest moral/ethical challenge?

Answer:
Caught classmate cheating.
Refused to turn himself in.
I reported him.

Essay prompt:
How do you work in small groups?

Answer:
Lead by example.
Participation is key.
Learn to delegate.

Sent from my Android phone using Tapatalk

 

[Astarael]

Off the top of my head, the Mayo Medical School and the Medical College of Wisconsin both don't have a secondary; you just pay the fee and you're done. I wouldn't apply to Mayo unless you have stellar stats though. They matriculate a class of 50, about a quarter of which are from Minnesota. Most people pay the fee and then get rejected a week later

 

[Snuke]

There are a few schools with no essays. Albert Einstein, Havard, and Mayo, as someone said earlier.

The school that took me the longest was Johns - 4 essays plus a longer section to fill in information already stated better on AMCAS.

 

[NoNotYouLionel]

A lot of the Texas schools don't have secondaries, I believe. Of course if you're not a Texas resident, that probably won't be too helpful.

 

[EpicBearMan]

Here are some schools off the top of my head that had no required essay last year.

Saint Louis University
Medical College of Wisconsin
Mayo Medical School
University of Rochester
Harvard University

Here are a couple that have no secondary essay unless you get an interview.

University of Cincinnati
Vanderbilt University

Good luck!

 

[rentedmule]

Lots of essay questions: Loyola, Louisville, Kentucky
Long single essay: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth

(These are only off the top of my head)
...but yeah, probably not a good idea to base your school selection on this information.

That was not a fun secondary... Needless to say I was more than a little annoyed by the fact that I didn't get an interview out of it.

 

[StoicJosher]

This is useful.. Maybe more suggestions??

I know.. I am lazy and dont wanna sift through all the school threads..

 

[sector9]

Well, you could always look through tatertots spreadsheet from last year. It lists the essays, and usually the character/word counts. Most of them won't change
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=10763720&#post10763720

 

[Narmerguy]

Jesus just put a small ounce of effort into this and it's not that hard to select. There's only so many schools whose scores are in your range and are geographically feasible. Out of that you can't discern which ones are worthy of your 1 minute to look at their school thread?

 

[Etorphine]

I approve of this thread.

Do not apply to Duke.

 

[StoicJosher]

Well, you could always look through tatertots spreadsheet from last year. It lists the essays, and usually the character/word counts. Most of them won't change
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=10763720&#post10763720

 

[TobiasFunkeMDFACS]

This is actually an important thread. This tells you which secondaries to fill out first and get them in. At the same time, you want to get started with the harder secondaries before you even get them. That way you have time to put thought into them and write some good essays. My experience from last year:

Hard
Loyola
UChicago
FIU


Medium
Rush
SIU
Hofstra
George Washington
Rosalind Franklin
Wayne State
Tufts
Creighton
Howard University


Easy
U Cincinnati
NYU
NYMC
Boston University
Medical College of Wisconsin
U Toledo
Temple
UPitt
Arizona
UIC

People feel free to change this and add on--I don't have the best memory!

 

[brycepj]

Drexel

 

[penguinism]

This is actually an important thread. This tells you which secondaries to fill out first and get them in. At the same time, you want to get started with the harder secondaries before you even get them. That way you have time to put thought into them and write some good essays. My experience from last year:

Hard
Loyola
UChicago
FIU


Medium
Rush
SIU
Hofstra
George Washington
Rosalind Franklin
Wayne State
Tufts
Creighton
Howard University


Easy
U Cincinnati
NYU
NYMC
Boston University
Medical College of Wisconsin
U Toledo
Temple
UPitt
Arizona
UIC

People feel free to change this and add on--I don't have the best memory!

I have to disagree with some of the above. NYU was one of the more difficult ones (something like 3 mandatory essays and then more if you're non-trad). Pitt took a bit of thought and then more thought to cut down on my word count. Georgetown's is long (5000 char. essay plus two more shorter essays).

UPenn was relatively easy, as was BU and a few others. That's all I can say off the top of my head.

 

[NickNaylor]

Why would you pick a school based on secondary "difficulty?"

That really smacks of stupidity and immaturity.

 

[URHere]

Although I don't agree with this method of selecting schools, I have to say that OHSU's secondary this year is just downright brutal.

 

[gmcguitar4]

Robert Wood Johnson's was miserable

 

[chronicidal]

Long secondaries: Duke, Vanderbilt, Case Western/CCLCM, Northwestern

 

[kpcrew]

I have to disagree with some of the above. NYU was one of the more difficult ones (something like 3 mandatory essays and then more if you're non-trad). Pitt took a bit of thought and then more thought to cut down on my word count. Georgetown's is long (5000 char. essay plus two more shorter essays).

UPenn was relatively easy, as was BU and a few others. That's all I can say off the top of my head.

Yeah I submitted NYU's really late because I took a long time with the essay questions. I thought that one and Stony Brook were the most difficult out of all the schools that I applied to.

 

[Morsetlis]

UCSD had a 10,000 word essay a few years ago.......

 

[apoptosis123]

Longest: UCSD. You basically have to write another personal statement.

 

[kpcrew]

Longest: UCSD. You basically have to write another personal statement.

and cali schools are so hard to get into in the first place =/

 

[ChrisPaul3]

Brown and Georgetown both had really long "Why here?" essays, and NYU had at least 3 essays to write. GW is pretty short but really annoying because they refuse to grow up and use an online application like the rest of the world. BU, Einstein, Cincinnati, and Tufts are all really quick to finish.

 

[Freigeist]

I have to disagree with some of the above. NYU was one of the more difficult ones (something like 3 mandatory essays and then more if you're non-trad). Pitt took a bit of thought and then more thought to cut down on my word count. Georgetown's is long (5000 char. essay plus two more shorter essays).

UPenn was relatively easy, as was BU and a few others. That's all I can say off the top of my head.

+1

Also

Easy: Columbia, Cornell, UMDNJ-NJMS, Harvard
Medium: Jefferson (optional essay about anything), Emory, UPitt
Hard: NYU, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson, UCSD

 

[Morsetlis]

Good news! Technically there is no minimum word count for case western's essays.

In theory, someone crunched for time could answer in the literarily-correct Haiku. This is much harder than it seems, trust me:

Essay prompt:
Describe your research experience?

Answer:
I clean glassware well
Have yet to meet my PI
Results? Negative.

Essay prompt;
What was your greatest moral/ethical challenge?

Answer:
Caught classmate cheating.
Refused to turn himself in.
I reported him.

Essay prompt:
How do you work in small groups?

Answer:
Lead by example.
Participation is key.
Learn to delegate.

Sent from my Android phone using Tapatalk

You are a poet and a gentleman.

 

[Jamie561]

Why would you pick a school based on secondary "difficulty?"

That really smacks of stupidity and immaturity.

Your spurious assumption smacks of stupidity and immaturity.