Slammed w/ secondaries!

[sultana]

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I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get started/sorting out secondaries- I've gotten slammed with secondaries all arriving in my mailbox within the last 1-2 weeks and am pretty dang overwhelmed! I know people say to have them in within 2 weeks, but that seems a little hard when you have 5+ arriving on the same day. Anyone else in this situation with some insight?

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Do the ones that don't require and essay all in one day. Not only will it seem as if your load has been lightened, it might motivate you to finish the rest. Getting started is half the battle.

 

[CptCrunch]

Copy/paste, find/replace.

 

[SigurRos]

Copy/paste, find/replace.

+1
you can swing many essays in several ways to acommodate slightly different secondary prompts.

 

[booswim542]

+1
you can swing many essays in several ways to acommodate slightly different secondary prompts.

Well said. Just do them as soon as you can. Keep in mind that the sooner you get them in, the better. I know it seems tough, but set aside 2-3 hours a day to work on them, then go back, proofread, and send in the next day or soon after. Don't sit on them - it puts you at a disadvantage. At the same time, don't get so frustrated that you get writer's block. Good luck!

 

[j-weezy]

Depending on how many you're dealing with, excel could be your next best friend. I know I sound super lame right now, but keeping a spreadsheet of which schools I'm complete at or haven't mailed in a photo/check/LORs has really helped considering I'm applying to 25 places...

oh and ditto on the reusing essays - once you get past 5 or so secondaries you can pretty much copy and paste (unless it's duke arrrgh)

-j

 

[nick_carraway]

Yeah I agree with using an Excel spreadsheet.

The moment I get an email, I log the URL, login/password, deadline, how hard the essays are, whether they want a photo, whether I sent them an update, and then I sort it all by date of receipt.

When I finish, I mark the cells in green. When I receive, I mark the cells in pink. When I get rejected or withdraw, I mark the cells in gray. It allows a visual display of how far I've come/how far I still have to go.

Great tool and infinitely customizable.

Other than than, take a look at the secondaries when you receive them and fill out everything except the essays. Like others have said, send back the ones that require no original thought and then do the rest in order of urgency/receipt and aim for about 3-4 per day.

It gets easier, the more you do. I remember marking some essays as hard when I got them and a week later when I worked on them, I was like... uh... okay copy/paste, done.

 

[sultana]

thanks for the advice people, I feel a little less overwhelmed 🙂

 

[j-weezy]

Yeah I agree with using an Excel spreadsheet.

The moment I get an email, I log the URL, login/password, deadline, how hard the essays are, whether they want a photo, whether I sent them an update, and then I sort it all by date of receipt.

When I finish, I mark the cells in green. When I receive, I mark the cells in pink. When I get rejected or withdraw, I mark the cells in gray. It allows a visual display of how far I've come/how far I still have to go.

Great tool and infinitely customizable.

Other than than, take a look at the secondaries when you receive them and fill out everything except the essays. Like others have said, send back the ones that require no original thought and then do the rest in order of urgency/receipt and aim for about 3-4 per day.

It gets easier, the more you do. I remember marking some essays as hard when I got them and a week later when I worked on them, I was like... uh... okay copy/paste, done.

HAHA...oh man we are so lame. I also color code!!! light green = complete, yellow = received secondary but haven't submitted, pink = submitted but not yet complete, and blue = haven't yet received secondary.

what can i say? excel is excel-lent

-j

 

[futuremd1517]

wait, i'm so freaked out right now. i didn't know you were supposed to submit them within two weeks of receiving them. i have had some for over a month because i keep reprioritizing which i need to submit first. i was trying to do the rolling admissions schools first or the ones who have explicit deadlines like northwestern & uconn. i work 50 hours a week so i can't do more than a couple apps a week. and for many of mine i can't reuse essays. is this really an unsaid rule to return them that quickly???? ahh!!!!! oh, and yes, i use excel as well. and also color code.

 

[nick_carraway]

HAHA...oh man we are so lame. I also color code!!! light green = complete, yellow = received secondary but haven't submitted, pink = submitted but not yet complete, and blue = haven't yet received secondary.

what can i say? excel is excel-lent

-j

Well I can't say that I agree with your color choice, but I guess we can be friends.

Yay for Excel! I even do blocks of secondaries at a time so I can get from one chunk of green to another cuz I hate having lone colors here and there. My friends think I have OCD. My sister thinks I'm autistic. I'm okay with that as long as green touches green 🙂

 

[nick_carraway]

wait, i'm so freaked out right now. i didn't know you were supposed to submit them within two weeks of receiving them. i have had some for over a month because i keep reprioritizing which i need to submit first. i was trying to do the rolling admissions schools first or the ones who have explicit deadlines like northwestern & uconn. i work 50 hours a week so i can't do more than a couple apps a week. and for many of mine i can't reuse essays. is this really an unsaid rule to return them that quickly???? ahh!!!!! oh, and yes, i use excel as well. and also color code.

No, just chill. When I started, it took me forever. Columbia's took me nearly 4 weeks. Other schools I finish on the same day, some I take a week on, and others I take almost 3 weeks.

Do what you can but try to stay on top of it. Work on it on the weekends since you're probably too exhausted when you get home from work. Each weekend do as many as you can and you'll be okay.

Do ones with 2 week deadlines like Case first. Every other school has rolling admission or will review apps in the order they receive them beginning on a certain date so every school is equal in that respect. I suggest specific near-future deadline schools first and then in the order of receipt.

 

[Julietcf14]

My suggestion, for what its worth, is to make a folder and set it up along these lines. First, make an excel spreadsheet do your columns like this:
School Sec. Recieved (y/n) Date rec. Sec Sent(y/n) Date Sent cost

Then put in every school (that way you can keep track of which ones you completed and which ones you have received)


Then make a word file for every school and cut and paste the secondary questions into the file along with the website, any passwords you need, and the date it was received. This way you can work on the secondary any time (especially nice if you have a laptop so you can work on it without the internet). I was able to save all my essays and then go back to similar essays for ideas as new ones came. As you complete them you can make another file called SENT where you put all your finished word files.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[jochi1543]

Columbia's took me nearly 4 weeks.

Dude, it's got like one essay, and that one's an edit/copy/paste one.

*points and laughs*

 

[narretgrez]

nevermind, google didn't fail me! google documents is up again.

 

[nick_carraway]

Dude, it's got like one essay, and that one's an edit/copy/paste one.

*points and laughs*

Ugh it was my first one. I thought Canadians were nice 🙁

 

[OCallag]

For someone who has them piling up fast, my best advice would be to find the one with the most essays that address a multitude of issues (for me, this was Kentucky's). Then go at that one HARDCORE. Seriously, obsess over that one so that you're done with it in, like, a day (for those of you out there reading this that applied to Kentucky you know this is absurd). But after you do that one, you'll be surprised as to how easy the others will be. The rest will be:

1) Personal information
2) "Why University of _________?"
3) A variation of the essays you did for Ludicrous Secondary #1.

Best of luck.

 

[nick_carraway]

For someone who has them piling up fast, my best advice would be to find the one with the most essays that address a multitude of issues (for me, this was Kentucky's). Then go at that one HARDCORE. Seriously, obsess over that one so that you're done with it in, like, a day (for those of you out there reading this that applied to Kentucky you know this is absurd). But after you do that one, you'll be surprised as to how easy the others will be. The rest will be:

1) Personal information
2) "Why University of _________?"
3) A variation of the essays you did for Ludicrous Secondary #1.

Best of luck.

Ooo excellent idea, as well.