Secondary - how to write?

[chillingpanda]

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I'm having a bit trouble writing secondaries. For example I'm working on the vcom secondary, "Describe the top three reasons you have chosen osteopathic medicine as your professional choice in becoming a physician (Please use your own description and not one that widely describes the profession)", am I suppose to make this into a story from the first paragraph or do I just answer the question? Like list the 3 reasons in the first paragraph, then expand on them through my experiences in the other paragraphs. Also, what do they mean "Please use your own description and not one that widely describes the profession", am I not suppose to talk about the DO philosophy, and OMT?

 

[crazymedguy123]

You probably want it to have some interesting writing (at least some story aspects). I think listing at the beginning would be kind of dry/boring.

You can talk about the philosophy/OMT, but you should talk about it in relation to your experiences (have you seen OMT? Where have you seen osteopathy in practice?). Just saying "OMT is cool!" is what they don't want.

 

[chillingpanda]

You probably want it to have some interesting writing (at least some story aspects). I think listing at the beginning would be kind of dry/boring.

You can talk about the philosophy/OMT, but you should talk about it in relation to your experiences (have you seen OMT? Where have you seen osteopathy in practice?). Just saying "OMT is cool!" is what they don't want.

Do you think I should describe what OMT is then talk about my experience with it so the school knows that I know what OMT is? Or should I just write assuming the reader knows OMT?

 

[Magus5454]

Don't describe it.

 

[PickleRickelus]

not going to lie, that was a difficult secondary for me. Here is an exercise that I used to write most of my secondaries (both DO and MD) and I hope it will be helpful to you as well. I have already received IIs from 6 schools so I must be doing something right because I can assure you that my stats are definitely nothing to write home about lol (Lizzy 60-65)

Go to the school's website. Write down their mission statement in addition to any key qualities that they look for such as leadership, altruism, etc. Then, look back on the list of activities from your primary application and describe how each activity embodies a key quality that they look for, a tenet of osteopathic medicine in the case of DO or just the school's mission statement in general. Try to be brief and keep it as a simple bullet point list. Now the hard part is over! Simply summarize that experience using those bullet points as support for answering the question in the form of an engaging narrative that may even touch on other experiences or activities.

Your mileage may vary but this generally worked for me as it forced me to write focused, clear, concise and structured essays.

 

[THEBACKANDFORTH]

i'd use a keyboard

 

[chillingpanda]

not going to lie, that was a difficult secondary for me. Here is an exercise that I used to write most of my secondaries (both DO and MD) and I hope it will be helpful to you as well. I have already received IIs from 6 schools so I must be doing something right because I can assure you that my stats are definitely nothing to write home about lol (Lizzy 60-65)

Go to the school's website. Write down their mission statement in addition to any key qualities that they look for such as leadership, altruism, etc. Then, look back on the list of activities from your primary application and describe how each activity embodies a key quality that they look for, a tenet of osteopathic medicine in the case of DO or just the school's mission statement in general. Try to be brief and keep it as a simple bullet point list. Now the hard part is over! Simply summarize that experience using those bullet points as support for answering the question in the form of an engaging narrative that may even touch on other experiences or activities.

Your mileage may vary but this generally worked for me as it forced me to write focused, clear, concise and structured essays.

can you message me? I tried to do it, but ur profile is private. I want your input on what I'm thinking about writing