Secondary essays (and rant - clickbait)

[honeybee87]

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The only problem with the Reddit on premed is that you need 10 karma points to post or public which is frustrating for me since that’s the only forum I’m subscribed to

 

[PA_dud3]

You are more likely not to get in than to get in if you are an applicant in general, but the SDN minimum criteria of 3.6 and 510...well, you have at least like a 66% chance of acceptance.

It really isn’t THAT hard to get in to medical school. Most applicants are just woefully underprepared.

I am also convinced that there must be some lurking amount of just insanely subpar applicants compared to the "cream of the crop" which is present on SDN.

Really, when you think about it, we view a bad app as something completely different than folks on reddit, and it shows.

 

[907914]

I am also convinced that there must be some lurking amount of just insanely subpar applicants compared to the "cream of the crop" which is present on SDN.

Really, when you think about it, we view a bad app as something completely different than folks on reddit, and it shows.

At most times, I see there are around 500-800 active SDN users and 2500-3500 lurkers (displays on the top right of a computer). Which means there are like 5 times as many lurkers as users? Which is just...weird?

Reddit views a bad app as “Go for it, you will probably still get in.”

SDN views a bad app as “You have a decent statistical shot, but you can certainly do this, this, and this to improve those odds tremendously.”

 

[Moko]

Just want to clarify, that “mistake” I made by using that sentence, would that be a reason to get rejected? The thing is when I read it in my head (and out loud) it didn’t sound weird or catch my attention

Also, the advice on reddit is a lot different as well. There seems to be more medical students in the premed thread, and while I am there, they often give advice that they had blatant mistakes on their secondary yet still received multiple II and acceptances. And I’m here worrying about word choices as a result of the perfection attitude on SDN smh...

I wouldn't call that a mistake. I probably wouldn't have caught it either on my quick read-through.

Not all mistakes and typos will lead to auto-rejection; however, many applications are thrown out due to silly and easily preventable errors, hence the advice on here to double- and triple-check your work before submitting. Obviously it's impossible to know the specifics of each case, but I suspect that those who got acceptances and had "blatant mistakes" on their secondary likely had stellar applications that allowed people to overlook those mistakes, or those mistakes really were not that bad.

Regardless, SDN does attract a lot of humble-braggers and neuroticism, which is why people need to use some common sense when going through any resource, especially anonymous online ones. The other thing to remember is that there are a diversity of opinions among adcoms within and between institutions. So what's said here is not necessarily generalizable to every institution. We can only say what happens at our respective institutions.

 

[Lawpy]

Just in case people aren't aware, there's a lot more to SDN outside the premed forums.

 

[PA_dud3]

Also just in case people aren't aware, there's a lot more to SDN outside the premed forums.

Like Pharmacy!

(from whence I came)

 

[honeybee87]

So my original question wasn’t really answered: can you get rejected due to having an app that is a little wordy? For example, during TWO (and only two) parts of my secondary, I write a sentence that is a little wordy, such as “I have been working to gain more clinical experience by working as a XXXXX.” I did the same thing in another section. So, am I screwed for this school or am I just being neurotic here or what?

 

[PA_dud3]

So my original question wasn’t really answered: can you get rejected due to having an app that is a little wordy? For example, during TWO (and only two) parts of my secondary, I write a sentence that is a little wordy, such as “I have been working to gain more clinical experience by working as a XXXXX.” I did the same thing in another section. So, am I screwed for this school or am I just being neurotic here or what?

I mean, as long as it is not obnoxiously repetitive throughout the essay, I think you'd be fine.

 

[honeybee87]

I wouldn't call that a mistake. I probably wouldn't have caught it either on my quick read-through.

Not all mistakes and typos will lead to auto-rejection; however, many applications are thrown out due to silly and easily preventable errors, hence the advice on here to double- and triple-check your work before submitting. Obviously it's impossible to know the specifics of each case, but I suspect that those who got acceptances and had "blatant mistakes" on their secondary likely had stellar applications that allowed people to overlook those mistakes, or those mistakes really were not that bad.

Regardless, SDN does attract a lot of humble-braggers and neuroticism, which is why people need to use some common sense when going through any resource, especially anonymous online ones. The other thing to remember is that there are a diversity of opinions among adcoms within and between institutions. So what's said here is not necessarily generalizable to every institution. We can only say what happens at our respective institutions.

I see. I’m hoping that I’m not one of those applicants thrown out for that! Thank you for your reply/advice!

 

[honeybee87]

If it helps, I used every single character available on my primary and on every secondary thus far with an average sentence length of like 20-25 words and I have 2 interviews halfway through July. So no, I don’t think you can be TOO wordy.

I meant wordy as in not concise in two sentences out of the entire app like the example I gave lol. But yes, I’m with you there on using most of the character limit for each of my prompts

 

[907914]

I meant wordy as in not concise in two sentences out of the entire app like the example I gave lol. But yes, I’m with you there on using most of the character limit for each of my prompts

Meh, conciseness is overrated. I like my essays like Moto Moto likes his lady hippos.

 

[honeybee87]

Meh, conciseness is overrated. I like my essays like Moto Moto likes his lady hippos.

Lol I think you are missing what I meant when I’m talking about being conscise (using the same word only a few words apart), but I like your sense of humor. Now, can you please bring back the usurper?

 

[907914]

Lol I think you are missing what I meant when I’m talking about being conscise (using the same word only a few words apart), but I like your sense of humor. Now, can you please bring back the usurper?

I think what you mean is redundancy as opposed to conciseness, which Moko gave excellent advice for.

 

[Goro]

So how "polished" do secondaries have to be? I know there's some adcoms on here who state that it needs to be just as good as the primary, but realistically that's just not possible for most students. That being said, I haven't made any erroneous spelling or grammar mistakes, but as I look back to re-use some of my prompts, I see areas that could be improved (I use "provide" twice in the same sentence and could have used a different word instead). Are these areas that adcoms scrutinize? I feel like as an adcom who has to go through a lot of secondaries, they would be more focused on content rather than a few small blemishes on the secondary (not errors, just blemishes that could be improved), especially when everything else is in order like grades, mcat, and EC.

RANT: The more I'm exposed to the medical school application process, the more I feel that SDN explodes/exaggerates things way out of context. An example is an MD letter. A large chunk of schools I have applied for recommend MD letters, but based off of the advice I've seen on SDN about how worthless they are, I failed to ask any of the MDs I work with as a scribe. Another is applying within 2 weeks and the mentality that it is looked down upon if you don't (maybe it's not as good as someone applying immediately, but the consensus makes it appear that I would actually get negative points if I apply within a month instead of 2 weeks. That's just crazy and seems unreasonable). I do think that SDN is a good way to better yourself as an applicant though based off of the level of unrealism on here, it motivated me to do a lot of extra stuff that I otherwise would not have done which has benefited my application.

Sorry for the rant, maybe this is one way people actually reply to my threads though instead of view them and ignore.

To me, polished means well written, answers the prompt, and avoids cliches. It doesn't have to be Pulitzer Prize caliber.

I agree that SDN has its faults. The angst and neuroticism is overwrought, and it can be an echo chamber at times. The mindset that one has to be perfect for med school acceptance actually comes from too many posters who ask "I got a B in Orgo...am I doomed???"

That said, there's far more value to SDN than negatives. One just has to avoid the angst.

BTW, having read clinician LORs for close to 20 years, they really are worthless. Only a handful of MD schools require them. Do schools want them to show that you've done your due diligence, that's all.

 

[907914]

BTW, having read clinician LORs for close to 20 years,

I have a letter from an MD I shadowed who is also my supervisor at work and was in my reserves unit.....but I don't know how much of each of these aspects he talked about....How would you view a letter like that? If of no value, would it be a negative in the context of an otherwise good primary?

 

[Goro]

I have a letter from an MD I shadowed who is also my supervisor at work and was in my reserves unit.....but I don't know how much of each of these aspects he talked about....How would you view a letter like that? If of no value, would it be a negative in the context of an otherwise good primary?

This is much more likely to be a real letter of evaluation (ie, a useful letter) than the typical piece of fluff testimonials we see.

 

[Goro]

And is it just me, or is SDN more dead this cycle? I remember last cycle when someone made a post there were like comments within 10 minutes and each post had at least 10 or so

It's app season. Hence the superfluity of questions about diversity/adversity/challenge/failure prompts, and the people who can't differentiate between them.

Wait for interview season. That's when the pressure gets to people and the trolls come out. It gets even more interesting at the end of the cycle when waitlist Hell breaks people.

 

[Jeremy Bearimy]

You are more likely not to get in than to get in if you are an applicant in general, but the SDN minimum criteria of 3.6 and 510...well, you have at least like a 66% chance of acceptance.

It really isn’t THAT hard to get in to medical school. Most applicants are just woefully underprepared.

Excuse you, some of us are woefully underprepared and still have the gall to post on SDN, thank you very much