what is the best way to BS secondaries of schools you know nothing about?

[patel2]

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let's face it...most of us will be applying to 20+ schools. Of these, probably over 10 will be schools which we know nothing about other than the fact that they fit within our gpa/mcat range according to MSAR, and that they reasonably accept OOS residents. My question is what the best strategy is for going about these secondaries. Is it a good idea to just search their website missions and trying to write based on that. Should you pretend you have some connection or affinity to that city so they think you would possibly attend? What do applicants for 2015 plan to do, and what advice do those from earlier classes have?

 

[Hifey]

let's face it...most of us will be applying to 20+ schools. Of these, probably over 10 will be schools which we know nothing about other than the fact that they fit within our gpa/mcat range according to MSAR, and that they reasonably accept OOS residents. My question is what the best strategy is for going about these secondaries. Is it a good idea to just search their website missions and trying to write based on that. Should you pretend you have some connection or affinity to that city so they think you would possibly attend? What do applicants for 2015 plan to do, and what advice do those from earlier classes have?

Don't BS. Research the school through their websites, recent news articles, chats on here etc. Find something about each school that truly excites you and talk about that. school "missions" are generally all the same so that alone is not going to be enough. See if they emphasize volunteering, or are big on research etc. and tailor it to your own. definitely do NOT pretend you have any connection to the city because they DEFINITELY ask during interviews. At a couple of my interviews I mentioned that family lived nearby and they asked me in detail where they were etc. Just be honest. All the places I got accepted I didn't have any connections to the city. It's really not required unless they really require strong in-state ties.

 

[RunningDiva]

let's face it...most of us will be applying to 20+ schools. Of these, probably over 10 will be schools which we know nothing about other than the fact that they fit within our gpa/mcat range according to MSAR, and that they reasonably accept OOS residents. My question is what the best strategy is for going about these secondaries. Is it a good idea to just search their website missions and trying to write based on that. Should you pretend you have some connection or affinity to that city so they think you would possibly attend? What do applicants for 2015 plan to do, and what advice do those from earlier classes have?

I actually researched schools before hitting the submit button on AMCAS. I figured why waste the 31 per school and then the average 80 on secondaries. If you didn't so this, yes, it behooves you to look at the school website and learn a bit about the school.

How else would know that BU has a strong social mission to treat the entire population of Boston, or that Georgetown wants you to talk about the school's jesuit motto, or that other schools are more primary care focused? It helps to have a genuine reason why you applied there - something about the mission of the school, the curriculum, research, global health, etc. You can use this to write secondaries and explain in an interview why you want to go there. I am fairly certain that adcoms have decent BS radars.

 

[d1ony5u5]

Yes, Hifey's is good advise.

The only thing I would amend would be the importance of the mission statement. Some schools take it pretty seriously because some of their reasoning for emphases they have (Policy, public health, clinically strong program, research, etc) is described there. I got into a state school that is hard to get into as an OOS, and my secondary was all about their mission statement.

Also, ties to the city are usually weak arguments to make in a secondary. You can mention them in passing, but no more, I'd say.

 

[patel2]

Yes, Hifey's is good advise.

The only thing I would amend would be the importance of the mission statement. Some schools take it pretty seriously because some of their reasoning for emphases they have (Policy, public health, clinically strong program, research, etc) is described there. I got into a state school that is hard to get into as an OOS, and my secondary was all about their mission statement.

Also, ties to the city are usually weak arguments to make in a secondary. You can mention them in passing, but no more, I'd say.

but some schools like tulane love people with connections to the city...

 

[NickNaylor]

It's really not that hard to learn about a school. Spend a couple of hours poking around their website. If you're not motivated enough to put that time in to fill out a secondary, perhaps don't apply there.

 

[the humming sea]

Easier than that, use facebook or other social networking and find someone who attends the school and find out what they love about it. It would be awesome to be able to say in your secondary that you chose the school because "a friend said that they had an amazing faculty and the loved that they got to start anatomy dissection within the first 20 minutes of class..."

They are going to be reading a million secondaries that say the same thing, why not take a risk and try to be different?