Great news! You just completed your personal statement and the detailed AMCAS work and activities section, so now.
You get to write even MORE essays for nearly all the schools you applied to 🎉 🥳 😐🙄🤬
Talk about overwhelm! So here's what we've done to make secondaries easier for you, than it was for us:
Remember, we're also a large team of med-students, so we can do what every other company or a one-person med-student can't.
We can collaborate.
Which means at least a dozen med-students worked together to create this Complete Med-School Secondaries Guide.
We also just have an accompanying video, presented by Smrithi, one of your MedLife Mentors who also worked on this article. She's also an M1 and admissions coach!
This video and article is filled with insights that would've made our journey much more easier and more successful.
Also remember, if you want to work with one of us so we can help you secure your acceptance.
Let us know any questions! Let's continue.
Table of ContentsAs much as we wish you could relax and give yourself a pat on the back, your medical school secondary applications are currently being processed.
The opportunity to demonstrate why you want to enroll in specific medical programs will be elaborated through your secondary applications.
This is your chance to impress the admissions committee, highlight your unique interests in their program, and emphasize how you will be an asset to the incoming class.
The secondary application is different from your personal statement essay because secondary essays are more targeted and personalized to fit the school you’re applying to.
To some extent, the secondary application process can be more arduous than finishing your primary application.
The AAMC will send your application to the applied medical programs on your behalf after your AMCAS application has been submitted, processed, and confirmed. At that point, you will start getting requests from colleges asking you to finish the secondary applications.
Every applicant who submitted a primary application will likely receive a secondary application, regardless of their likelihood of being admitted.
However, some institutions will examine your GPA and MCAT results to ensure you satisfy their minimal admissions requirements before sending a secondary application.
Colleges frequently reveal the kind of student they seek when asking secondary questions.
Most schools generally pose their questions to answer the following:
Are you a good fit for us?
Are you really motivated to study here?
Additionally, the most common types of questions that medical schools prompt students to answer are about:
1) Diversity
2) Adversity
3) ‘Why us?
Unlike the AMCAS application, secondary applications are unique to each school and concentrate on their particular values and goals.
Waiting for your secondary application could be nerve-wracking. While you will most likely receive an invitation to submit one, you will not know when it will come.
Know that this is one of the most time-consuming (and costly) portions of your medical school application next to the admissions interview. Before you start writing your essays, make sure you’re really committed to paying for that secondary essay and completing it.
Secondary essays are critical to your overall application because they play a significant role in whether or not you will receive an interview. Schools are using them to know if you’re fit for their mission and they will ask questions that reflect this.
As long as you answer the prompts to the best of your ability and do some deep reflection on your experiences, writing good secondary essays is achievable.
Your intent to apply to a school is instantly communicated to that school by AMCAS. In addition, many medical schools automatically send secondary applications to all candidates.
While waiting for the application, a good measure is to pre-write at least a 500-word response to the diversity and adversity prompts. Writing 500 words leaves you with enough room to edit according to the school’s actual prompt.
A good way to organize your essays is by creating three separate Word documents for Diversity, Adversity, and Why Us. Place your pre-written material at the top of the document and the relevant school-specific prompts and answers on subsequent pages. Grouping similar prompts allows you to easily find and reuse related material.
In addition to pre-writing, it can be useful to brainstorm a list of meaningful experiences you’ve had and your takeaways from each. A few well-selected experiences can be worked to fit a variety of different prompts!
While pre-writing your med-school secondary essays can save you time, it’s important not to turn in a pre-written general essay as-is and make sure to customize your response to each school’s specific prompt.
A pre-written general essay may seem vague or nonspecific, and you don’t want to give schools the impression that they are not worth your time. However, if you do pre-write the answers to previous years’ secondary essay prompts, be aware that the prompts do occasionally change, and you may end up writing something you won’t use.
Many students are simultaneously balancing applications with MCAT studies. Others may have pushed their MCAT back and are worried about how it may affect rolling admissions.
One of the most efficient ways to work on your application and be prepared to move forward as soon as your MCAT score is back is to pre-write your secondary essays.
If you are worried about applying late in the cycle, having the essay prompts ready can help you get “caught up”. Many schools send secondary applications as soon as they receive MCAT scores (some will send before).
Writing the secondary essay can be a break from MCAT studying and help you remember your “why” as you apply to medical school and tackle the MCAT.
Tips for balancing prewriting with MCAT Prep:
You should not send your secondary application until you are formally asked to. However, in an unwise effort to advance their application, some candidates discover links and questions listed on online forums so that they can submit secondary materials early.
Medical colleges disapprove of submitting a secondary application before an invitation because it is poor application etiquette. This is the same as arriving at a party without being asked. You definitely do not want to give off the wrong impression by doing this.
Large batches of emails that medical colleges frequently send to applicants may be seen as spam by email servers' filters.
Although it may seem inconvenient, we advise developing the practice of routinely checking your spam folder while you are applying. You can also favorite or star the contacts of your med schools as a priority so that their emails will not be lost.
Secondary essays have statement prompts that you need to answer. Given the limited word count, remember to answer the question directly instead of tiptoeing around it.
You do not want to make the mistake of submitting a poorly answered prompt or an answer that has an agenda of its own. This sends a message to the admissions committee that you may lack comprehension skills and it can make them question your readiness for med school.
Re-read your essays before submission to ensure that they are concise, with each word serving a purpose.
As you now know, med-schools require applicants to write secondary essays to know which candidates are a good fit for their mission. Thus, your essay should reflect this.
We suggest doing some research on the school you’re writing the essay for. What are their values? What requirements do they have for applicants? You can find this information on the school’s website by seeing which programs and activities they highlight. For example, a school that prioritizes service may publish articles about their students’ engagement programs with the community.
Fashion your essay around the school’s specific values and mission to show them that you are an ideal applicant. You can include a sentence about possible extracurricular or research activities you would pursue at the school to show them that you already see yourself as a highly involved member of their community.
Remember that the medical school admissions committee wants a candidate who is intelligent, passionate about medicine, service-oriented, a leader, a team player, responsible, involved, and authentic.
Schools don’t want one-dimensional students; they want individuals who will become dynamic and adaptive physicians. When reflecting on your experiences, choose those that highlight as many of these great qualities as possible, and be vivid in your description of your involvement (remember to show, not tell!)
Secondary applications for medical school are meant to give medical schools more details about applicants than what is contained in the primary application. This can include transcripts, reference letters, and personal statements.
Medical schools use these extra details to assess applicants further and choose the ones who are the best fit for their program.
Completing secondary applications can be a challenging but crucial stage in the admissions process to medical school.
Using these suggestions, you can convince medical schools of your strengths and interests to raise your odds of acceptance.
Instead of primary applications, secondary applications ask particular questions about your objectives, experiences, and viewpoints on various subjects, such as your choice to attend medical school.
The admissions committee read your secondary essays to see how they add to the information in your main application.
Your secondary application is another test to see if you can adequately comprehend instructions (this time, specific instructions from the school), and concentrate on responding to the question posed.
Secondaries are a fantastic opportunity to elaborate on aspects that received less attention in your primary application. But, of course, you have to put in a little work.
You might want to mention some research expertise in your secondary applications if, for instance, your personal statement discusses a primary care experience.
Examining how research has deepened or broadened your interests would demonstrate that you are a more diverse applicant than your initial application indicated.
One experience could help you develop teamwork abilities, allow you to exercise leadership, and better understand how to forge meaningful patient-caregiver relationships.
Additionally, they teach you to advocate for those who need your care and teach you how to deal with access and resource problems.
By highlighting the elements of your experience that best demonstrate your values, interests, and goals, you can help schools understand how you fit with the medical school's values.
Even simpler to customize are more all-encompassing inquiries, such as asking about a difficulty you have encountered. You continuously encounter problems, so choosing the approach that will help you express my viewpoint the best is simple.
Create a spreadsheet or document to keep track of all the application links, essay questions, passwords, usernames, due dates, and other details related to supplementary applications.
You can quickly track all the data required to access your secondary applications in this manner.
You should also have a method in place for monitoring the progress of your secondary applications. You do not want to put in all that effort only to neglect to press the application's "submit" button.
This is your opportunity to show the admissions committee what sets you apart from other applicants. “Standing out” doesn’t mean being a superstar in every category, but reflecting authentically on the experiences you have had and how they have shaped you.
Since your journey is unique to you, highlighting it in your secondary essahard worky immediately puts you in a position that’s unique to everybody else. Sure, you might mention your determination and your hardwork in trying to get to med-school, but so do a hundred (even thousand) other applicants!
It is crucial to customize your responses for each institution despite the temptation to copy and paste your answers from one application to the next.
Demonstrate your research and sincere interest in enrolling in that specific program.
Align and modify your answers depending on the school's mission and values. Remember that each medical school is different.
Since you’re going to be writing many essays for the prompts, you might become tempted by the idea of reusing or recycling your essays. This is acceptable as long as you don’t rush through recycling them. You just have to make sure:
In order to avoid accidental switch-ups, you might want to mark areas that should be personalized to each school. For example, if you mention that you value research, it’s astute to mention a particular research program that each school has.
If you mark all of these areas in a generalized essay, personalizing the essay to each school becomes much easier. While this will prevent submitting an essay with obvious errors, always make sure to double-check and give each secondary a comprehensive read-through before submission.
It’s also important to note here that many schools will tag questions as optional. If there’s an experience or value that you haven't had the opportunity to communicate with the admissions board, this is your opportunity. If you are considering saving a few experiences for your interview - don’t!
Schools use secondary essays to decide whether or not you receive an interview, so don’t hold anything back. However, if an answer really doesn’t come, don’t force it! It’s better to leave an optional prompt blank than to answer it inappropriately.
Filling out and submitting the secondary application for each school separately is the precise and customary method. This is not the most excellent strategy, in my opinion. While we agree that you should focus on one secondary school at the moment, we do not believe you should submit the application immediately.
While you work on the applications for other institutions, save it and leave it sitting there.
Please return to the completed secondary and reread/edit it a day or two later. Between finishing an essay and submitting it, you might come up with fresh or improved concepts. Taking a break in between changes also lets you spot mistakes you might not have noticed previously.
Do not allow careless writing errors to jeopardize your chances of getting to medical school.
Do not substitute a different school name if you recycle answers. This is a common mistake that most students commit. Do not be one of them.
Additionally, be mindful of your grammar and spelling mistakes. If you must hire an editor to proofread your essays, do so.
The bulk of medical schools accept students on a rolling basis. Therefore, sending your application as soon as possible would be in your best interest.
Think about all the other applicants who might be in front of you in the review queue if you file tomorrow rather than today.
Maintain your motivation, take the initiative, and finish those additional applications as quickly as possible without compromising quality.
Every medical school has a specific secondary application that differs from the main application and includes a few focused questions.
Admissions committees typically look for responses to these themes, though the particular questions and quantity will vary based on the school.
You can find a list of all prompts, by school, on this article:
Below are some examples.