what does pre-writing a secondary mean?
FAQ:
1) WHAT IS PRE-WRITING A SECONDARY?
GOT TIRED OF ANSWERING THIS QUESTION A MILLION TIMES
AFTER YOU SUBMIT YOUR AMCAS (AKA THE PRIMARY), YOU WILL START TO RECEIVE SECONDARY APPLICATIONS (AKA APPLICATIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS)
TO MAXIMIZE YOUR TURNAROUND SPEED AND REDUCE YOUR STRESS/ANXIETY, YOU DO WHAT'S CALLED PRE-WRITING
MOST PROGRAMS DO NOT CHANGE PROMPTS SIGNIFICANTLY FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
SO WHILE YOU WAIT FOR SECONDARIES TO ARRIVE ELECTRONICALLY OR SNAILMAILLY, YOU CAN START WORKING ON THEM.
FIND OLD PROMPTS AND STUFF IN THE THREADS OR WEBSITES THAT WE'VE LINKED HERE.
THAT WAY WHEN YOU DO GET YOUR SECONDARY, YOU CAN JUST COPY-PASTE, OR JUST MAKE MINOR EDITS TO SOMETHING YOU WROTE, THEN FIRE IT BACK TO THE MED SCHOOLS.
THIS IS ALL IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOUR CHANCES OF ADMISSION ARE EXPONENTIALLY HIGHER THE EARLIER YOU ARE IN THE APP CYCLE.
2) Facebook discussion thread
1. How does one tackle irritatingly broad secondary prompts with originality and genuineness? (e.g. Describe yourself, How are you unique, How will you contribute to our diversity.)
2. After covering a lot of my experiences and thoughts in the primary (PS and work/activities), I feel like some secondaries are stretching me thin. Do I scrape for new things to share or expand on significant things I already mentioned?
For example, if I’ve discussed hardship in length in my PS, and the secondary prompt is “What is a major hardship you have had and how did you overcome it?” what do I do?
3. Are there do’s and don’t’s to answering the question "What have you been doing in your time off after graduation?" Do I mention things that I might do in a few months (even though I'm not certain)? Is it okay if I'm not too medically or academically involved as long as I'm somewhat productive? (What if I mention travel or learning a new hobby--things I'm enjoying because I normally don't have the time?)
Answers:
K. Lam:
1) There's no shortcut or secret formula. Just be honest. Reflect upon on your own background and your own experiences (and what you learned), and then talk about how they will contribute to your school community. Don't overthink it or try too hard to be "original" because it might backfire.
2) Some repetitions are required because you already covered a lot on the primary application, and THAT'S OKAY! Just try hard to come up with new things you haven't mentioned. If you have to repeat, try to reword and find new angles so that it doesn't look like you are just copy/paste.
3) You CAN mention things that you are actually committed to do in a few months, but don't do that if you are not certain: just be vague then. It doesn't matter what you do: you can be a barista for Starbucks (whcih is actually pretty cool) for all I care as long as you are not just playing videogames all day long.
Anna:
1) I can't tell you exactly HOW to do it, but I can tell you how NOT to do it. ABOVE ALL ELSE, NEVER put down other people to make yourself look better. Just don't. You don't need to do it. You can be a special snowflake and still acknowledge that others are special too, in their own way. Don't compare if you can help it. Just put sincerity and truth into what you believe and make sure you've dug deep enough to know it's true for you.
2) Secondaries suck, they do. Use them as a place to elaborate on what you've done, stuff you've done since the primary that maybe you didn't get to talk about, etc. If not, it's ok. Med schools don't expect you to have magically come up with more stuff since the primary so don't worry too much about that. Usually they just ask for a deeper understanding on cursory stuff you may have just touched on in the primary.
3) You can mention things you MAY do, but I'd say also make sure you're in a place where you can honestly say you care about med still. In the case you don't get in this round (not saying you won't!) you want to make sure you are still doing things that will add to your competitiveness as an applicant. Like my in my "year off" I still was part of a clinical research internship program + volunteered as an EMT + volunteered in research while working to support myself. not saying you need to do that much, but you don't want to just have a year of doing nothing. Do something you love, but hopefully that has something to do tangentially still with med since you want to do it and are gonna be committed to doing it for a long time. If nothing med, at least stay volunteering (if that's the reason you wanna do med) or research (if that's another reason you wanna do med) even if they aren't DIRECTLY med related, since compassion and/or learning should still be a part of who you are (at least hopefully to adcoms.) Otherwise you can also just try something new - that is cool too! I'm just being a bit of a debby downer here/realistic in the case that you don't get in first round. I got my acceptance pretty late and was freaking about having to do another app and was glad I had stayed faithful to doing med related things at least.
Just my two cents, at any rate ;)
1) WHAT IS PRE-WRITING A SECONDARY?
GOT TIRED OF ANSWERING THIS QUESTION A MILLION TIMES
AFTER YOU SUBMIT YOUR AMCAS (AKA THE PRIMARY), YOU WILL START TO RECEIVE SECONDARY APPLICATIONS (AKA APPLICATIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS)
TO MAXIMIZE YOUR TURNAROUND SPEED AND REDUCE YOUR STRESS/ANXIETY, YOU DO WHAT'S CALLED PRE-WRITING
MOST PROGRAMS DO NOT CHANGE PROMPTS SIGNIFICANTLY FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
SO WHILE YOU WAIT FOR SECONDARIES TO ARRIVE ELECTRONICALLY OR SNAILMAILLY, YOU CAN START WORKING ON THEM.
FIND OLD PROMPTS AND STUFF IN THE THREADS OR WEBSITES THAT WE'VE LINKED HERE.
THAT WAY WHEN YOU DO GET YOUR SECONDARY, YOU CAN JUST COPY-PASTE, OR JUST MAKE MINOR EDITS TO SOMETHING YOU WROTE, THEN FIRE IT BACK TO THE MED SCHOOLS.
THIS IS ALL IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOUR CHANCES OF ADMISSION ARE EXPONENTIALLY HIGHER THE EARLIER YOU ARE IN THE APP CYCLE.
2) Facebook discussion thread
1. How does one tackle irritatingly broad secondary prompts with originality and genuineness? (e.g. Describe yourself, How are you unique, How will you contribute to our diversity.)
2. After covering a lot of my experiences and thoughts in the primary (PS and work/activities), I feel like some secondaries are stretching me thin. Do I scrape for new things to share or expand on significant things I already mentioned?
For example, if I’ve discussed hardship in length in my PS, and the secondary prompt is “What is a major hardship you have had and how did you overcome it?” what do I do?
3. Are there do’s and don’t’s to answering the question "What have you been doing in your time off after graduation?" Do I mention things that I might do in a few months (even though I'm not certain)? Is it okay if I'm not too medically or academically involved as long as I'm somewhat productive? (What if I mention travel or learning a new hobby--things I'm enjoying because I normally don't have the time?)
Answers:
K. Lam:
1) There's no shortcut or secret formula. Just be honest. Reflect upon on your own background and your own experiences (and what you learned), and then talk about how they will contribute to your school community. Don't overthink it or try too hard to be "original" because it might backfire.
2) Some repetitions are required because you already covered a lot on the primary application, and THAT'S OKAY! Just try hard to come up with new things you haven't mentioned. If you have to repeat, try to reword and find new angles so that it doesn't look like you are just copy/paste.
3) You CAN mention things that you are actually committed to do in a few months, but don't do that if you are not certain: just be vague then. It doesn't matter what you do: you can be a barista for Starbucks (whcih is actually pretty cool) for all I care as long as you are not just playing videogames all day long.
Anna:
1) I can't tell you exactly HOW to do it, but I can tell you how NOT to do it. ABOVE ALL ELSE, NEVER put down other people to make yourself look better. Just don't. You don't need to do it. You can be a special snowflake and still acknowledge that others are special too, in their own way. Don't compare if you can help it. Just put sincerity and truth into what you believe and make sure you've dug deep enough to know it's true for you.
2) Secondaries suck, they do. Use them as a place to elaborate on what you've done, stuff you've done since the primary that maybe you didn't get to talk about, etc. If not, it's ok. Med schools don't expect you to have magically come up with more stuff since the primary so don't worry too much about that. Usually they just ask for a deeper understanding on cursory stuff you may have just touched on in the primary.
3) You can mention things you MAY do, but I'd say also make sure you're in a place where you can honestly say you care about med still. In the case you don't get in this round (not saying you won't!) you want to make sure you are still doing things that will add to your competitiveness as an applicant. Like my in my "year off" I still was part of a clinical research internship program + volunteered as an EMT + volunteered in research while working to support myself. not saying you need to do that much, but you don't want to just have a year of doing nothing. Do something you love, but hopefully that has something to do tangentially still with med since you want to do it and are gonna be committed to doing it for a long time. If nothing med, at least stay volunteering (if that's the reason you wanna do med) or research (if that's another reason you wanna do med) even if they aren't DIRECTLY med related, since compassion and/or learning should still be a part of who you are (at least hopefully to adcoms.) Otherwise you can also just try something new - that is cool too! I'm just being a bit of a debby downer here/realistic in the case that you don't get in first round. I got my acceptance pretty late and was freaking about having to do another app and was glad I had stayed faithful to doing med related things at least.
Just my two cents, at any rate ;)