Secondaries: Something I wish I would have known...

[superdevil]

---

Members do not see this ad.

secondaries often have irritating essays. i always knew about that. what i didn't know was the nature of the questions (ok, so i knew there would be "why our school?" type questions, but...)

here's a familiar one, which i hate more than i can explain through conventional means of communication, such as language...

from dartmouth's secondary: "Please share with us something about yourself that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and which could be helpful to the Admissions Committee as we review your file."

not addressed elsewhere in my application? bastards! i don't know about any of you, but i bent over backwards to make sure that i listed ALL relevant experiences/activites/etc. on my AMCAS. i wish someone would have told me, "superdevil, when you fill out your AMCAS, purposely omit something very significant and impressive. it will be your 'ace in the hole' for secondaries." but no one did 😡

unlike many of my SDN associates, my "hobbies" really aren't things i can write essays about (i.e., "i am a concert violinist," or "i was the pope for a brief period in the 90s.") . going to heavy metal shows and playing playstation with my friends isn't very profound, you know? what can i say, i'm normal! that's the kind of stuff normal people do! 🙁

seriously, how do you guys answer these questions? sorry for the long-ass rant, i'm just a little stressed, i suppose 😳

 

[superdevil]

Originally Posted by littleroo
I hate these questions too. Actually, I just hate essays in general. I've been using these to talk about my specific interest in each medical school. For instance, I am interested in attending SLU b/c my grandfather went to med school there and he was a great doctor. I'm interested in attending Iowa b/c I have a ton of family closeby and it's a great school. I think essays tailored to each school are a good way to show you're interested in THIS school and not just casting your net far and wide, hoping someone'll accept you.

hey, that's a great idea! i had never thought of using those essays to talk about the schools, i was just thinking i had to come up with some more garbage about me!

hmmm...maybe this won't be SO painful.

anyone else have thoughts/suggestions?

 

[BubbleBobble]

Talking about the school is a wonderful suggestion! I used some of those essays to elaborate on some of my ECs, which have a strict word limit on the AMCAS.

 

[leechy]

Yeah, secondaries majorly suck. I'm currently swamped in them (four down, TEN to go, several more yet to receive), and not really making progress.

Dartmouth -- yes, I just got that yesterday, and I don't like their "tell us something we don't know already". I have some stuff to tell, but it's not quite adcom material. 😉

It's frustrating because I feel like I need to err on the conservative side in my responses, but then my responses sound so cookie-cutter.

 

[Ames980]

i think talking about the school is the best way to go -- or even xyz are my personality traits which is why i will contribute bunches to your school....

though the albany one has me tripped up... 1000 characters describing myself? and on tulane - they want to know about your hobbies? come on now.

 

[Cerbernator]

I have half a mind to just print up my amcas application and send it in as my secondary for half these schools... SERIOUSLY WTF DO I HAVE TO REENTER COURSEWORK AND EC'S?????

 

[Cerbernator]

i think talking about the school is the best way to go -- or even xyz are my personality traits which is why i will contribute bunches to your school....

though the albany one has me tripped up... 1000 characters describing myself? and on tulane - they want to know about your hobbies? come on now.

that Albany was rough, 1000 characters is a short paragraph.

 

[Ames980]

that Albany was rough, 1000 characters is a short paragraph.

i had half a mind to just jot down a bunch of adjectives, though i cant imagine them being impressed with my lack of sentence structure. 😳

 

[brynn7]

i feel like they didnt even look at my amcas. like oh thats cute an amcas...send a secondary and make them rewrite everything. what is the point of primaries if barely any schools screen? why cant we just send an email to the schools we want to have secondaries from and they can send us the stupid email with the stupid link to the stupid secondary? 😡

 

[jlee9531]

i like those type of questions. it allows me to paint a better picture of myself when the structure of the application seems so rigid and narrow.

and what kind of hobbies do you have that you can't really talk about? not everyone is a violinist etc...a lot of us are just regular joes that are have lots of other interests that doesn't have to be "amazing"

 

[DrThom]

I am waiting for the essay :

"If you were a dog, how would your experiences as a canine reinforce your pursuit of medicine"

 

[superdevil]

or they could just condense their own theme:

Please tell the Admissions Committee about an experience you've had this week which is not on your application that you may want to be considered as we review your file. (and, ala Upitt-->) Note that the Admissions Committee is reluctant to accept that you have not had a life-altering experience this week.

 

[blz]

Haha this reminds me of an interview I had with a professor. I gave him all my credentials and a list of every EC and activity i've ever done. So he looks at all my info during the interview and he tears it up. So im like wth and then he goes "now, tell me somethign about yourself that isn't on any of these papers." haha he really broke the ice with that one. that was an interesting experience.

 

[Mr Reddly]

Yeah, secondaries majorly suck. I'm currently swamped in them (four down, TEN to go, several more yet to receive), and not really making progress.

swamped? You call that swamped?
Try doing 50. 😱
And I did it from a hotel (was there for a month) in another state while supporting a clinical trial for work.
Now THAT was swamped. 😛

 

[PreMedAdAG]

la la la lal a
I hate them too!!! Mofo!! I'm sitting at my desk at 10:30pm on a Saturday night working on essays and typing on SDN.. what a huge DORK I am..

I have 17 piled on my desk.. I feel like I'm chipping away at Mt. Everest with a sponge.........


Do you think we could bitch anymore?!? ha ha ha

 

[jlee9531]

la la la lal a
I hate them too!!! Mofo!! I'm sitting at my desk at 10:30pm on a Saturday night working on essays and typing on SDN.. what a huge DORK I am..

I have 17 piled on my desk.. I feel like I'm chipping away at Mt. Everest with a sponge.........


Do you think we could bitch anymore?!? ha ha ha

17? wow you are getting them piled up like i did when i was applying. keep it up and you wont be sleeping very well for the next month 😉.

good luck.