Yale Secondary

[Trajan]

Quick question regarding the Yale secondary. When it asks us to list our most significant activities and awards from the AMCAS, how much information do we need to repeat from our primary application? Just the title, or are descriptions necessary? I assume that Yale will look at the primary application, so repetition seems silly. However, nothing surprises me in this process any more, so just to be safe I'll ask for your thoughts.

 

[jot]

i just listed things - but the character limit allows for you to list things along with short descrips. it is a repeat, but go ahead and fill it out as if it were the first time i imagine.

 

[isidella]

I just made a list, cut and paste, of the activities. I left out the descriptions; I feared being redundant. It felt like a waste of time. But hey, I guess Yale has its reasons.

 

[lola]

i just listed too.
ran out of space for the job/activities section so had to cut out words in the name of one of the places i worked.

 

[cabruen]

I took two of my best activities from my AMCAS and expounded on them.

 

[Random Access]

[bump]

Any more opinions on this?

 

[jtheater]

This is my first post, but I think I could be helpful with this question as I called the Yale office to ask them what they were looking for and talked to a friend of mine who reads Yale apps. They both said that it your choice to either just list them from your AMCAS or write a description (not a repeat) of the importance. My friend from Yale said a written description "that makes it come alive to the reader" (i.e., not merely what I did and I felt good statement) is best. Hope this helps.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by jtheater
My friend from Yale said a written description "that makes it come alive to the reader" (i.e., not merely what I did and I felt good statement) is best. Hope this helps.

Welcome to SDN! This not only helps, it's the answer to the question, I would think. Nice first post.
Good luck with your apps.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I took what I considered my most significant community service (one activity) and explained why I believe it was such, and expounded upon a particular of it...I believe it will be sufficient, and it's different than the monotounous listing that is repete' ones primary list...

 

[SMW]

I would be careful about paring down your AMCAS list too much. Sometimes, I think, when a school asks you to repeat what's on AMCAS, it's because they want to have it in their format to glance at quickly, (whereas the AMCAS activities section is so hard to look at altogether, pages and pages of type) when they are comparing one applicant to another.

 

[isidella]

Originally posted by jtheater
. . . or write a description (not a repeat) of the importance. My friend from Yale said a written description "that makes it come alive to the reader" (i.e., not merely what I did and I felt good statement) is best.

I think my AMCAS descriptions made my activities "come alive." That is the challenge of having so few characters to work with. If you can make it interesting in just a few words, I find that impressive, but then again, I am not an adcom. I gave Yale a list because that is specifically what they asked for. I just followed the directions.

 

[chopsuey]

Originally posted by isidella
I think my AMCAS descriptions made my activities "come alive." That is the challenge of having so few characters to work with. If you can make it interesting in just a few words, I find that impressive, but then again, I am not an adcom. I gave Yale a list because that is specifically what they asked for. I just followed the directions.

ditto...i considered writing descriptions, but then i looked at the directions again. besides, my add'l info essay was about one of my EC's, anyway.