Secondary Essays

[PA_dud3]

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So, obviously I am putting the cart well before the horse here, considering how far along I am in my pre-med studies. But I occasionally glance over the various secondary prompts, and I'm going to be honest I'm kinda worried about how well I'll be able to write these essays and how quickly, etc. I don't really have too much that stands out about me besides maybe being first gen and heavily rural (also want to do Rural IM if that makes a difference). I can usually crank out a good 2 page essay in a day or less. How hard is it usually to find time and to write decent secondary essays for most DO schools? When do secondaries usually go out for DO schools and when are they expected to be submitted for the best chance? Is it possible to complete them all without pre-writing if one were to apply to say, 15 schools? On average what are schools looking for length-wise in terms of secondary essays? Sorry for all the questions, but I just like to know about things ahead of time so I can manage things a bit easier, plus I worry a lot, lol.

Thanks for any help, any general info regarding this part of the app process would be appreciated.

 

[Lardy Boy]

If you do a quick search on school specific threads you’ll find prompts from past years. There are word limits on some, but of course it all depends on how good you are as writer. If you’re gifted, you’ll have a much easier time. I’m not so gifted so I pre write, edit, delete, the whole shabang to get a decent essay out. You’ll find time to write if you want to get into medical school. Just make sure they aren’t crappy. Secondaries come as schools receive your primary. Been told to submit within 2 weeks of notification. If you got 15 schools that are sending you secondaries all at once, you’ll have to prioritize. Unless you are the type who wrote for days.

To avoid all this, just start pre-writting them.

 

[BBQisgood4u]

You'll be fine. Many of the secondaries overlap in themes so you'll be prepared. Some people pre-write the secondaries so you'll have plenty of time since the prompts are posted end of June/beginning of July and you're not considered late until Thanksgiving.

 

[hellosnd]

I applied >35 MD and >10 DO (CA applicant lol)f. I pre-wrote my 3 diversity and 3 challenge essays (to fit the different word/character limits) (I ended up re-doing these as they were very mediocre). You ended up getting really good at cut/copy/paste/editing your essays to fit different prompts and character/word requirements. And the schools that have very unique prompts, those were actually fun to write bc it gave you a break from the same 5-10 secondary questions asked by every school. Even the "why this school" prompt could be recycled from other schools ( a lot of schools have similar missions or look for similar things ).

For most schools, I did my best to turn around secondaries in 2 weeks. Some schools specify they want it back in 3 weeks, 10 days, etc.

 

[PA_dud3]

Thank you for the advice everyone! I've always been fairly good at writing essays, and I imagine being a History major I will have plenty of time to improve even more by the time I apply, lol. Thanks again!