The content of my secondaries as a reapplicant

[sublimeade]

Hello all! I am new to using SDN so I apologize if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find a general consensus on this.

Can I reuse content from my last secondaries for this application? I have been going through them and editing/updating them as relevant. I am asking not out of laziness, but rather because I have very well-developed essays that are still relevant. Until April 2023, I worked in an ER and my entire application centers around a love for emergency medicine and personal experiences with the death of a family member. I have very insightful essays that are based on specific situations I went through in the ER. I just started a job in nephrology clinical research but only have about 250 hours so far, and don't feel that I've had enough experiences to necessarily write stronger essays with more "relevant" information. Even if I edit and change some things here and there, can I generally keep the same essays? Would medical schools compare my previous years' responses and deem the essays too similar? Would love any advice and thank you!!

Also: I've reached out to schools that I have interviewed with in the past (waitlisted) and they would not give me feedback about whether these essays are why I haven't gotten an acceptance. From family/friends/doctors reading my essays and giving me overwhelmingly positive feedback, I don't think this is the weakest part of my application (stats are very average/nothing special).

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[Mr.Smile12]

Honestly since this is your first post with us, we don't know if/how you were screened out.

Usually we encourage you to write revised essays. With the new chatbots and plagiarism software, you should write original work. Only your IA essay should not need rewriting unless there is something new.

It would help to know the prompts and the length.

Rewriting your essays is the cost you must pay for reapplying. Often your essays may be well written but still not help you with the selection process.

 

[sublimeade]

Honestly since this is your first post with us, we don't know if/how you were screened out.

Usually we encourage you to write revised essays. With the new chatbots and plagiarism software, you should write original work. Only your IA essay should not need rewriting unless there is something new.

It would help to know the prompts and the length.

Rewriting your essays is the cost you must pay for reapplying. Often your essays may be well written but still not help you with the selection process.

Thanks for the reply! Some prompts include writing about an experience that made me more sensitive of cultural differences/the human condition, time where I worked in a group (follow up questions about disagreements, etc), unique ways I served during COVID-19, witnessed someone acting unethically/discriminating. Most of these were about 200-300 words. These are pretty generic prompts that I could write a few essays about, but the clinical situations I wrote about are unique and I feel that I included a lot of perceptive commentary. I was thinking they could still be considered relevant since I worked in the ER only until recently. So even if I revise them to improve them with maybe half having being the same, this would still be frowned upon?

 

[gyngyn]

So even if I revise them to improve them with maybe half having being the same, this would still be frowned upon?

There are only a few reasons someone would do this.
None of them are what you want to project.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for the reply! Some prompts include writing about an experience that made me more sensitive of cultural differences/the human condition, time where I worked in a group (follow up questions about disagreements, etc), unique ways I served during COVID-19, witnessed someone acting unethically/discriminating. Most of these were about 200-300 words. These are pretty generic prompts that I could write a few essays about, but the clinical situations I wrote about are unique and I feel that I included a lot of perceptive commentary. I was thinking they could still be considered relevant since I worked in the ER only until recently. So even if I revise them to improve them with maybe half having being the same, this would still be frowned upon?

In my opinion, the only essays that you should not revise are the ones involving disclosure of IA's or anything that could be reported on your background check; the other is the COVID-19 essay since that is time-restricted and you cannot change history.

The other prompts which ask "tell me about a time..." I would write new responses or significantly revise them. One should have experienced many situations where one has been in a group or had to decide on an ethical decision. They also cannot be so generic that it would tempt the readers to run your essay through a chatbot detector. I used to advise student-applicants to think of at least 3 situations for each of those "tell me about a time" prompts. It gives me a better sense of your maturity and observation skills.

 

[sublimeade]

In my opinion, the only essays that you should not revise are the ones involving disclosure of IA's or anything that could be reported on your background check; the other is the COVID-19 essay since that is time-restricted and you cannot change history.

The other prompts which ask "tell me about a time..." I would write new responses or significantly revise them. One should have experienced many situations where one has been in a group or had to decide on an ethical decision. They also cannot be so generic that it would tempt the readers to run your essay through a chatbot detector. I used to advise student-applicants to think of at least 3 situations for each of those "tell me about a time" prompts. It gives me a better sense of your maturity and observation skills.

Thank you! This was helpful, I will definitely reflect on my experiences and come up with more examples.