<<<<vanderbilt's epic secondary>>>>

[Yogi Bear]

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who's completeed vanderbilt's secondary? at a whopping 3000 word limit for three essays, this is by far the toughest secondary for the 2003 application cycle (at lease schools i've applied to). what are u writing for question 3? i'm barely dishing out 100 words for a potential research project....i need 300-400 more words!

 

[cabruen]

Just making sure that you know that the secondary does not need to be completed until you have received an interview invitation. They base their interviews only on the AMCAS application.

I don't know which to hope for -- getting an invitation but then having to do the secondary, or getting a rejection and avoiding a 3000 word nightmare.

 

[jot]

i actyually had to write an autibiogrtaphy for ucsd - so vanderbilt was pretty easy to cut down to. whereas the amcas personal statement was supposed to be a literary tour de force, i don't think you have to worry as much with these seconadaries. make sure to keep it interesting, and at the least try to enjoy yourself while you are writing it - make it interesting for yourself. nothing like writing your memoirs now.

 

[xaelia]

I didn't worry too much about reaching the word limits when I completed my Vanderbilt secondary. I think my ~2000 word autobiography is a little over a 1000 words; I mean, there are real people reading these things, and I'm sure they're going to be more amenable to something to gets the message across in a well-written 1000 words rather than drifting through the topic simply in order to get to 2000 words.

Not to mention, the two shorter essays..."what unique qualities etc." vs. "what research or scholarly activity"...I wrote my unique qualities essay about all my research and filled 500 words with that and was screwed on the next one because it completely overlapped my prior essay. 150 words. 🙂

The truly epic secondary is Duke...ow.

 

[relatively prime]

Whoa... I'd be careful with the word limits... a lot of schools simply cut the rest of the essay off after the limit... even if it's just one word. I wouldn't go over the limit! It's far better to be a little under the word limit than over it.

Go with Jot's 80% rule... try not to have less than 80% of the word limit. You certainly don't have to have exactly the limit! 🙂

I did Vanderbilts... it took me a week, but it was totally worth it. Vanderbilt is an AWESOME school!! The questions are good questions too... they really help you organize your thoughts which really pays off in interviews and other secondaries.