The Secondary Photo!

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Doodl3s

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So guys, I'm sure anyone whose been submitting secondaries, AND those who have submitted them in the past, have had to give a photo at some point.

My question is. What did you use? Barring those crazies who got a professional photo done 😀, what did you guys send.

I mean, all they really see is your neck. SO, what if i had a t shirt top, or maybe dress shirt, or suit?
 
I just wore a dress shirt with a tie... They usually specify a passport size photo, so I went and did that
 
I did the same. Dress shirt, tie, face and shoulders. My photo resolution is pretty bad, but it looks ok when cropped down to 2'' x 2''.
 
If you're lazy like me, then put on nice clothes and go to Walgreens. Ask them for a passport photo. They will charge you $10 and give you two copies.
 
I had mine taken by my dad and our dSLR...he is a semi-professional photographer, so that was kinda nice.

My only issue (and not to hijack your thread) was that when I resize the photo down to each school's specific dimensions, the photo become distorted..like too long or too wide...is that normal?
 
Asyouwereatrio said:
I had mine taken by my dad and our dSLR...he is a semi-professional photographer, so that was kinda nice.

My only issue (and not to hijack your thread) was that when I resize the photo down to each school's specific dimensions, the photo become distorted..like too long or too wide...is that normal?
Click to expand...

You need to make sure that you crop it to the same aspect ratio that the school's dimensions call for
 
Give it sex appeal.

As they say, "sex sells." Surely, someone of the opposite gender will see it.
 
columbia asks you to send a PHYSICAL photo, einstein wants digital. so for columbia, i HAVE to get one taken lol
 
I just went to one of those places that does wallet size photos and got like 10 of them. I plan to just trim them down to size (as the ID photos cost more for some reason). I have a nice little jacket on... but definitely not my best picture.
 
firewall62 said:
If you're lazy like me, then put on nice clothes and go to Walgreens. Ask them for a passport photo. They will charge you $10 and give you two copies.
Click to expand...

Or Kinkos. Or Ritz Camera. Or UPS stores. Or Walmart. Walmart is good because they actually sell dress shirts and ties so you can put one on, get the photo and put it back on the rack.
 
I'm going to use my senior portrait from high school... I don't look all that different than I did 3 years ago anyway. 🙂
 
Doodl3s said:
columbia asks you to send a PHYSICAL photo, einstein wants digital. so for columbia, i HAVE to get one taken lol
Click to expand...
Take a digital and send it to a printshop. You should be able to get a page full of prints for ~$5. If you're in NYC, I hear adoramapix does good work.
 
My picture is just me in a collared shirt. Nothing amazing. I took it on my aunt's gorgeous 45 acres of property in Wisconsin.

Of course it likely doesn't matter, but I would just take it yourself if you have the means. You never know what you're gunna get at those places that take them for you...
 
Here is what I did today:

1) Goto Walmart Photo Center and get 2 passport photos ($7.50) and also have them put on a CD ($2.50). I wore a white collared shirt and tie.

2) Use the photo on the CD at epassportphoto.com (free). It will allow you to save a passport photo sheet (multiple photos all with proper passport sizing and style) for printing. You can crop 1 of them out and use it electronically.

Alternatively you can take the picture yourself and use epassportphoto.com and save some cash if that is an issue for you.

Resizing is a pain, for example at SLU they want you to have max dimensions of 250x400, which if you use those dimensions you become distorted. The solution is to resize your epassportphoto.com pic to be 250x250, then the picture comes out correct when uploaded and looks good.

:luck:
 
I wore my undergrad tshirt and stood against a white wall and snapped my own head/shoulders photo...myspace style (sans the weird/sexy/stupid face). Cropped it on my computer to their specifications and sent it in. Didn't receive a single complaint.
 
Law2Doc said:
Or Kinkos. Or Ritz Camera. Or UPS stores. Or Walmart. Walmart is good because they actually sell dress shirts and ties so you can put one on, get the photo and put it back on the rack.
Click to expand...

FTW :laugh:
 
tjquinn said:
I just wore a dress shirt with a tie... They usually specify a passport size photo, so I went and did that
Click to expand...

thats what I did!! Took a whole bunch of pictures, crop, edit, resize, sent it out! Easy stuff
 
I just took it at home against a white wall. hah the lighting doesn't look professional BUT i did save some money...
 
I used my imac camera and took a pic in my "I'm not drunk! I'm just wicked tired from staying out all night drinking." family guy shirt. :laugh:

Seriously, just a nice shirt, bust shot on the imac. The secondary I'm working on asks for it to be digital, so not that big of a deal for me so far.
 
eablackwell said:
I used my imac camera and took a pic in my "I'm not drunk! I'm just wicked tired from staying out all night drinking." family guy shirt. :laugh:

Seriously, just a nice shirt, bust shot on the imac. The secondary I'm working on asks for it to be digital, so not that big of a deal for me so far.
Click to expand...

I was thinking maybe something in a tight mesh with leather pants. 😉
 
1. Family member + camera
2. Photoshop picture (you know, just to get rid of the major blemishes 😉)
3. epassportphoto.com
4. CVS allows you to get 50 free prints if you submit it online. I doubt you'll need 250 passport photos of yourself, but here's a good opportunity to print pictures for decoration in your room, showing them to your grandparents...

Total cost: $0.
 
IHeartSleep said:
1. Family member + camera
2. Photoshop picture (you know, just to get rid of the major blemishes 😉)
3. epassportphoto.com
4. CVS allows you to get 50 free prints if you submit it online. I doubt you'll need 250 passport photos of yourself, but here's a good opportunity to print pictures for decoration in your room, showing them to your grandparents...

Total cost: $0.
Click to expand...
Damn....I wish I had seen that epassportphoto.com thing before...I was hand cropping.
 
I can officially report that epassportphoto.com is AWESOME. Thanks again dude. Picked up my pics an hour after submitting them online and couldn't be happier.
 
lol. For columbia last cycle, I sent in a self-portrait I used for my artist's statement, with my hedgehog on my shoulder. Not a word about it.
 
play-doctor-costume2.jpg


Would that be an appropriate picture?
 
I took a picture standing in front of a 1987 poster from Oxford advertising drawings for The Hobbit by Tolkien. I took about 25 pictures before I got really tired of standing in front of it. I ended up going with the one that makes me look like I should be on the sex offender website. I thought it was funny.
 
Why do they ask for a picture?
 
pavlovb said:
Why do they ask for a picture?
Click to expand...

It is probably to help prevent interviewers from getting names mixed up after interviews. It would suck if they associated your file with someone they interviewed that was a complete tool.
 
Any opinions/suggestions on whether it should be a standard passport-type photo VS a previous taken photo (maybe with a group of people) then cropped to just you?

Obviously a passport photo is the simplest, but I'm super NOT photogenic in those types of pictures and am able to find better-looking pictures of myself in previously taken photos. Then I just crop them down.

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
During last year's admissions cycle, I arrived at an interviewer's office only to have her say (regarding the secondary photo I had provided, which I carefully took in favorable lighting), "This doesn't look like you."

Not gonna make that mistake again.
 
They ask for a picture so they can compare it to the picture they get from the AAMC from your MCAT to make sure it's the same person...
 
Law2Doc said:
Or Kinkos. Or Ritz Camera. Or UPS stores. Or Walmart. Walmart is good because they actually sell dress shirts and ties so you can put one on, get the photo and put it back on the rack.
Click to expand...
👍👍
 
drizzt3117 said:
They ask for a picture so they can compare it to the picture they get from the AAMC from your MCAT to make sure it's the same person...
Click to expand...
Yup. They use it to make sure the same person takes the MCAT, interviews and shows up the first day. I think it's kind of sneaky the AAMC shares our MCAT pictures without informing us.
 
Oh, wow. Until you guys just mentioned it in this thread, I had completely forgotten that they took my picture when I took the MCAT. I was so stressed out, and likely looked like !@#$%. 🙄
 
Dianyla said:
Oh, wow. Until you guys just mentioned it in this thread, I had completely forgotten that they took my picture when I took the MCAT. I was so stressed out, and likely looked like !@#$%. 🙄
Click to expand...


Arghhhhh, it was blurry anyway, so hopefully it shouldn't matter :laugh:
 
If we wear glasses regularly, should we wear it in the photo?
 
My trick.

Get dressed up. Stand in front of a white wall and have someone take your photo with a digital camera.

Have someone with photoshop (or other program capable of saving high resolution photos) copy/paste your photo into the following configuration:

🙂🙂🙂
🙂🙂🙂

then print it on a 4x6 at Walgreens or wherever.

You now have 6 2x2 photos for about 30 cents. 😉
 
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