Secondaries Writer's Block

[Hoooba]

I am definetly struggling with the Case Western and Pritzer secondaries. Is everybody using up the character limits (3500 for Case and 2400 for Pritzer)?

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[Flopotomist]

The Case Western one is KILLING me - ugh, I keep sounding like a 1st grader writing about what I did for the summer when I read it grrr... I really really like their MA/MD bioethics program...

 

[thegenius]

Yea, these secondaries are hard. I spent so much emotion and time writing the personal statement that it's hard for me to start, again, writing another page of "Why I want to attend school XXX" or "Describe your volunteer experiences".

I'm beginning to think that these secondary questions are MORE important to the med school than the personal statement we wrote. Why, then, is so much emphasis placed on the personal statement? You don't have a target audience, there are no directions on what to write about, yet we spend an enormous amount of time writing it.

I've read about a dozen personal statements and they all have varying amounts of cheese, including mine. Yet writing about why I want to attend Georgetown and why it will make me a better physician seems more important, prima facie, than what I wrote in the personal statement. I'm sure the PS is important but I've recently kicked down it's importance a few notches.

 

[thegenius]

So does anybody ever offer to proofread secondary responses?

 

[sdnstud]

I am willing to proof-read secondary essays. I got 13 interviews last year, so I have inside info on a few schools. Just PM me.

So does anybody ever offer to proofread secondary responses?

 

[Hoooba]

Hmmm....nobody answered my question

 

[DarkFark]

Ever notice that when you write enough, you get to the point where everything yuou spit out feels like a cliche?

Personally, I'm finding that I'm either answering questions too longwindedly or just without much subtance (either way under or over char limit).

 

[CanIMakeIt]

I hardly ever used up the limit provided by the schools (Case/Chicago/columbia etc) ... I had a standard response to most of the questions and I replaced most of the BS about each school from their website. I don't think the LIMIT is binding....it is more like a guideline and if you are done and satisfied in less words then so be it......quality over quantity ...... less for them to read

Good Luck