Secondaries: Meeting the Word Requirement

[neuronerd24]

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Hi! I'm working on my secondaries and I'm wondering about the importance of these word/character limits...

For example, if the limit is 500 words, is it okay to have an essay of only 200? What if it is succinct and explains your idea entirely? Should I still try to extend it?

Thank you! 🙂

 

[neuronerd24]

bump?

 

[Chillbo Baggins]

If you feel that you've said everything you need to say, go for it. On most of my secondaries I used about half of the allotted characters.

 

[thisisansley]

You're fine. The 500 words is a limit as long as you've said what you want to say in less than 500 words, don't worry about it. Unless it gives you a guideline like "your response should be between 250-500 words." (I know UF said something like this.)

 

[neuronerd24]

Okay, good to know! Thanks 🙂

 

[Dral]

Busy ppl do not like TL;DR.

 

[Arkaine]

Keep in mind that secondaries provide you with another opportunity to discuss why you are a strong candidate for medical school and, more importantly, a good fit for that particular school. While I understand a successfully written response to an ethical question may not be that long, I would use the entire word limit to discuss my future plans as a physician or meaningful clinical experiences--aspects of my application that may not have been fully discussed in my personal statement or work/activity descriptions.

 

[Narmerguy]

I wrote what I thought was necessary to express what I had to say. For some questions, such as "what have been your activities since graduation", there's just not that much to say. Rather than wax on for 4,000 character rehashing a small piece of my application, I wrote a strong description of what I've done and left it at that.

Just make sure you're not omitting important things and potentially leaving opportunities on the table.

 

[xffan624]

I wrote what I thought was necessary to express what I had to say. For some questions, such as "what have been your activities since graduation", there's just not that much to say. Rather than wax on for 4,000 character rehashing a small piece of my application, I wrote a strong description of what I've done and left it at that.

Just make sure you're not omitting important things and potentially leaving opportunities on the table.

I always hated that graduation question. It's so focused towards trads. I had 7 years to rehash in just a couple hundred words, lol.

 

[LizzyM]

Don't use < 33% of the maximum . That just looks like you don't care.