Strategies for tackling secondaries

[zamzee]

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Hi All,

I submitted my AMCAS 6/24, was verified 7/11. Received 18/20 secondaries, starting with Yale on 7/1. I've been working on these secondaries every single day, but my strategy is way too slow - I sent my first secondary out 7/28! Maybe I am being way too hung up on quality - for every essay that I've written so far, I get them edited by at least one other person and I also edit them through myself several times. However, waiting for the edits from other people and waiting for my brain to write some good stuff means that it takes me several weeks to complete just one secondary. So far, I've sent out 7 apps, and 2 of those were sent out in the last 2 days.

I do NOT understand how some people can churn them out like a factory and be finished in mid-July. I've been very satisfied with the quality of the essays I've written, and believe they are a very accurate reflection of me, but I'm starting to get anxious about my time delay.

Does anybody have any tips for expediting the process? Did you guys have people edit over them? Do you think it'll hurt me that all of my secondaries are going to be submitted at least a month after I received them? I'm getting really worried that even though I've been delaying the apps because I want to send in my best work and because I love all my schools, the adcoms will think that the delay means I'm not interested.

 

[SBR249]

Sometimes, I think you just may have to sacrifice quality in favor of quantity. It's important to understand the purpose of the prompt and then just address it in the most concise and direct way possible. There's no need for flowery words or elegant prose and all that jazz. You don't need to start with an interesting quote or anecdote. That stuff is for the personal statement on the AMCAS that you already submitted. Just focus on getting your message across cogently and succinctly.

Also, a lot of schools repeat basic prompts such as:

1) Describe a challenge/obstacle you've overcome. How did it affect you, your development, your thinking, your goals? How did you deal with it? How does it make you a better physician

2) Why do you want to come to our school?

3) We like diversity, how do you fit into that picture at our school? What contributions will you make?

4) What are your goals? What kind of career would you like to pursue? Where do you see yourself in 5/10/20 years?

5) Optional information, special circumstances you'd like the adcoms to know.

Once you've done a few, you basically have a set of templates onto which you either graft more details or edit out fluff, depending on the length restrictions and prompt.

 

[CodeBlu]