secondary questions

[lovedocta07]

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Hey i was just wondering about the application process, i know that after the primary application, a fair amount of applicants get secondaries, and then a relatively few number of people get interviews. is getting your interview mainly dependent on those secondary essays? or do they still go back and look over your entire app (such as the primary/gpa/mcat) before they call you for an interview.

THanks

 

[mokamadness]

So.... the jist of the story that I get: med schools want money, and one way the collect money is to get all the sweet Ben Franklins out of our pocket and into theirs. The 'friendly' way they do that is to blindly send us secondaries...😀 If you look in the MSAR book, you'll see that many schools don't screen before sending us secondaries. Doesn't mean they don't look at the secondaries, just that the application as a whole is important. GPA and MCAT being more 'important' than the secondaries, from what I understand.

 

[runx]

So.... the jist of the story that I get: med schools want money, and one way the collect money is to get all the sweet Ben Franklins out of our pocket and into theirs. The 'friendly' way they do that is to blindly send us secondaries...😀 If you look in the MSAR book, you'll see that many schools don't screen before sending us secondaries. Doesn't mean they don't look at the secondaries, just that the application as a whole is important. GPA and MCAT being more 'important' than the secondaries, from what I understand.

Yeah I'd agree with this based on my experience. Basically, the ability to use being sent a secondary app as an indicator of a given school's level of interest is totally dependent on the school in question. Its not like being invited for interview - universally accepted as a serious indicator of interest. Look around though, when you see that everyone under the sun is getting a secondary app from xyz it might be fair to assume that it is one of those schools that 'holds off' on their screening (not for the sake of $$, oh no no way). MSAR too.

 

[tjluke25]

how much do they actually weigh your secondary essays

 

[Mattabet]

how much do they actually weigh your secondary essays

Sometimes more than the primary, sometimes less. It depends on the adcom. I have a feeling that many of them like their application. So no slacking (if you can help it by the 20th one!)

👍 And agree above. You're gonna get secondaries because they want to pay for their interview process. I've even went to interviews based on my MCAT score where I'm pretty sure that I was already eliminated from consideration based on thin ECs. Fortunately, that's rare if you have a well-rounded application - they don't stand to gain anything by making you travel out and staying in a hotel room (plus, I got a free tote-bag!).