'what have you been doing' secondaries?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Dulcina

=)
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
1,436
Reaction score
4
so there are a bunch of "what have you been doing since graduation" secondaries. are people writing these out in essay format, or list/bullet format. here's the one i have currently:
  • If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation

thanks for the input!
 
so there are a bunch of "what have you been doing since graduation" secondaries. are people writing these out in essay format, or list/bullet format. here's the one i have currently:
  • If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation

thanks for the input!

4000 characters?!

I wrote mine in complete sentences, but it wasn't a developed essay with an intro and conclusion. It was just a list... in sentence format.
 
I'm not doing lists/bullets, but I'm not going full-out essays either. More like "After graduation, I did XX and YY. I've also been doing ZZ." I won't even get close to 4000 characters. I sort of feel like that limit is more for non-traditionals who have a decade of post-graduate experience they need to talk about.
 
yeah, that was harvard's (EDITED) from last year. dont know what's up with their extremely long char limit, im just gonna stick with the one i've written thats like 1100 characters.
 
Last edited:
dont worry about it. they just want to see that you're being productive so dont write "from june - september I sat on my ass and played Grand Theft Auto 4. Then, in October I moved to Australia to take advantage of the coming Aussie summer by surfing during the day and boozing at night. O and I playe GTA4 summore lolz haxxorz."

I think that would get your app shredded.
 
I agree that 4000 characters is a bit much to write about! I would stick with a brief version of what you've done and if you can, maintain a focus on things that show you've been productive and workings towards your goal.
 
Ha. So I just realized for the GWU secondary, I didn't fill out that part asking me what I was doing because I'm now doing my Master's so I considered that to be in school still in not graduated. Should I have included that in that answer instead of leaving blank? I wonder if they will discard my application for obvious stupidity:S p.s. I wrote in the primary that I was a thesis student as one of my activities...?
 
so there are a bunch of "what have you been doing since graduation" secondaries. are people writing these out in essay format, or list/bullet format. here's the one i have currently:
  • If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation

thanks for the input!

I wrote these out in complete sentences, but it was pretty much just a list.
 
This is a silly question but if we're still undergrad students (will take classes next yr full time), is it ok just to leave it blank or should we put N/A or write out explicitly that I will be taking classes?
 
This is a silly question but if we're still undergrad students (will take classes next yr full time), is it ok just to leave it blank or should we put N/A or write out explicitly that I will be taking classes?

I'd say leave it blank. most of the prompts say "IF you have graduated... "
 
Top