secondaries

Hello everyone! What is your approach to answering this question for secondaries and/or interviews? I personally struggle with selling myself, and have no idea how to even start to answer this question

Since the number of secondary applications that you receive can be overwhelming, you may be tempted to take a few shortcuts. Some shortcuts are warranted while others are just too risky to consider using. To ensure that you are one of the “lucky” few who receive a medical school interview, avoid...

One of the most popular secondary questions asked by medical schools is “why our program?” Saying why you’re attracted to a particular school can be a hard thing to explain, especially when you’ve looked at so many programs that they’ve all begun to blur. I think that’s why I so often see the...

Hey guys, I'm applying this coming cycle and was brainstorming a couple ideas for the failure/unsuccessful experience secondary essays. I have two ideas I've kinda narrowed down to: Talk about my tutoring experience and how I failed to get through to one of my first students and motivate/help...

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Use the following strategies to get organized and to help you write better secondary essays. Taking the time to think about how you will approach your secondaries can give you the “big picture” perspective you need to do your best work. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, trying a new approach can...

I am a white female, but I think I have been exposed to slightly different environment than applicants with a similar profile to me. They are all related to blue collar, low middle class income: 1. Deep understanding of how addiciton impacts every aspect of life: my brother battled alcohol...

After you have submitted your primary application, the real fun begins! Depending on how many schools you are applying to and the number of school systems, it can be challenging to keep track of all of your secondary applications and deadlines. To help you get organized, I’m sharing a...

For the diversity question: I was raised Jewish and still practice Judaism but I went to a catholic high school because it was much better then my public high school and I wanted to go, we took religious study classes and I routinely went to masses, was taught by nuns and brothers and their was...

Who, on this list, is considered URM? Black/African American Hispanic/Latino Native American Hawaiian Asian White (European Descent) White (Middle Eastern Descent) What do you guys think?

Hey guys, So I was just accused of plagiarizing a summary of a research article. This research article had a lot of scientific terms that could not be changed and I did paraphrase a lot of the aims and discussion to summarize. Apparently I misunderstood the assignment and we were supposed to go...

When do people who've submitted in mid to late august start to hear back from schools?

Hi everyone! I submitted my secondaries very early on, and have not heard anything back with regards to interviews. I'm starting to think that my list may have been too top-heavy (MCAT 521, cGPA 3.6, sGPA 3.5), I applied to mostly top 20 schools. Do y'all think it would be worth it for me to...

Good afternoon, I know my application is no longer considered early, but I wanted to ensure I still have a chance of acceptance. I am applying with a 4.0 science GPA and a 3.97 overall GPA, my MCAT score is 505 (126/126/127/126). I have 230 shadowing hours, 100 volunteer hours, created a club on...

Hi all, This is my first time posting. I am a first time applicant and so far I feel like I've grasped the process. Submitted my primary on June 4th, secondaries in timely manners. I have a decent app, but I know nothing about the post-secondary application process. Some of my friends have...

Hi all, This is my first time posting. I am a first time applicant and so far I feel like I've grasped the process. Submitted my primary on June 4th, secondaries in timely manners. I have a decent app, but I know nothing about the post-secondary application process. Some of my friends have...

Hi! I recently received secondaries from Howard and Meharry, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I should submit them. I already have acceptances at 2 DO schools, and I have interviews at 4 MD schools. My question basically is: Is it even worth it to try to go to Howard and Meharry when I...

Two ideas In my senior year I took on a role in a a peer health organization that required me to act as a leader of a team of four other seniors, one of them that I was friends with. Our team had to research a specific health topic three times per semester and make outreach materials that we...

Hi all! Looking for some feedback on my potential topics for the diversity and adversity secondaries: Adversity 1. Mom's recent health scare where she had post menopausal bleeding and went in to see an OB-GYN who attempted to perform an endometrial biopsy but was unsuccessful bc my mom was...

Hello all! I am currently very overwhelmed with secondaries as I feel like I have no idea what to write about. That's why I came here to get your advice on some secondary essay prompts. Challenge essays: when I was little, we won the green card lottery. Thus, my dad moved to the US when I was...

Hello lovely people of SDN. I am sorry to subject you to another query about the diversity essay, but alas, here I am. I'm really struggling with this one, despite taking @Goro 's advice of determining what's "cool" about me. I feel that many of my interests and endeavors have been pretty...

Hi there, So, like many others I am working on secondary essays, and I am stumbling over one of the most common types of prompts, i.e. the challenge/adversity/failure question. My family is pretty firmly in the White, suburban, lower-middle class, so I have been fortunate to lead a relatively...

Hi all, I am usually a lurker, but seeking some thoughts on the personal/professional challenge essay. I am confused between these three options: 1) Immigrated to the U.S. right before college and got accepted to an elite school. Once in college, struggled with spoken English a lot...

I'm super sleep deprived and I just submitted my University of Michigan secondary calling their school 'UMSOM'....THREE times.....I spent so much time trying to perfect it T.T how did I make such a stupid mistake?? Initially I used UMich but changed it last minute cause I thought that was too...

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I am very aware that many people change their minds about specialties throughout medical school, but is it bad to mention an interest in a specialty in a secondary, specifically if the school is known for that specialty? I have always been interested in pediatrics and am writing my secondary for...

So I’ve read on other threads not to mention any struggles with anxiety/stress because it shows you might have these issues during medical school as well. But then that leaves me with what do I respond to these essay prompts? Specifically I’m talking about the Rowan SOM prompt: Please describe...

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I am in the process of writing secondaries, and was wondering to what extent we should be re-introducing or explaining the topics we discussed in our AMCAS app. Is it fair to assume that any admissions committee would have the entirety of our application to review (i.e. activities list +...

HI all, I am working on the Albany Medical College secondary, specifically the "describe yourself" essay. I have written one essay about living in a rural area, and one about rescuing a friend, but I then had a relatively unique idea. I took a Gallup Strengthsfinder test in college, which...

I am a co-author (second) in an oral presentation at the most recent American Laryngological Association Meeting but for various reasons had not included it in my primary application. Is it worth mentioning this in the "additional information" optional essays for secondaries? If so, how should I...

I'm at a loss for whether or not using "they" as a single, gender-neutral pronoun is appropriate in med school essays. Online grammar sites say that "they" in the singular form is only used in informal writing, and med school essays would probably count as formal writing. But at my undergraduate...

So I've submitted primaries to 30 MD and 6 DO schools. I've pretty much received secondaries for all of them minus 2 or 3. I probably should have thought this through earlier but I'm realizing how expensive it is to submit secondaries and I'm looking to cut down my list. Given my 509...

I am hoping to get some opinions on expanding on my "why our school" response. I've been looking into the various free clinic program that many schools offer to their communities, because free clinic work is my #1 extra-curricular I would like to participate in during my medical school...

I know I may be reading too much into this...but do y'all view the essay prompts differently depending on if they ask about a "challenge" versus "adversity"? To me, an adversity seems to refer more to something bad that happened to you personally, but a challenge is more broad and less severe...

Are all secondary applications waived for FAP students/applicants? I ask this because I plan on applying to 40+ schools w. the FAP.

Given the Jesuit influence at Georgetown and its adoption of the Cura Personalisphilosophy, I recommend covering your clinical, research and community service experience for Georgetown’s secondary application essay. The school places special emphasis on training physicians to treat medically...

Dear SDN community, Hope you are all doing well. If I have to write about a time I failed (and how I responded), what is the general wisdom on writing about my organic chemistry course. I scored around a 55% and a 65% on my first two tests, didn't panic, turned it around, earned an A on the...

For the diversity essays i was initially going to talk about being a Persian immigrant and so on but I realized that that's not what really makes me unique and will probably bore the admissions person so I'm stuck between these two: 1 - throughout my college years I found that racing cars was...