Name: Medical School Secondaries – 9 Tips
Uploaded: 2020-06-08T07:15:05.000Z
Duration: 7 min 55 s
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Congratulations on submitting your medical school primary application.

Adverbs of manner

While the primary and personal statement are key, the secondary application is equally important.

Adverbs of degree

This is your chance to show each school that you didn't just shotgun apply to them but

that you actually want to attend their program.

Here are nine tips to crush your secondary applications.

What's going on guys, Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.

The secondary or supplemental application

as the name suggests is the second component to the medical school application.

Each school has a unique secondary application whereas the primary application was a single

common app sent to several schools using either AMCAS for MD schools or AACOMAS for DO schools.

Secondaries consist of a series of short essay questions.

Questions will be unique to each program though there is a fair amount of overlap among them.

If you submitted your primary application in June, expect secondaries to roll in starting

in July and continuing throughout summer.

Now, let's get to the tips for crafting an outstanding secondary.

Secondary applications can be overwhelming and that they arrive in quick succession.

This means you'll be faced with several, possibly even dozens of applications within a one to

This necessitates organization in your approach.

I recommend creating a spreadsheet listing each program with the following components.

Name of the school, date you receive the secondary, submission deadline, number of essay questions,

school ranking and relative ranking of importance to you.

A system like this will allow you to keep track of each school and organize and prioritize

Which brings us to the next point: prioritize certain schools.

You will have to decide on which secondaries to do in which order as you will likely get

Using the spreadsheet you created, you'll have the information needed to make that decision.

There are different ways to approach this.

First, you can apply to your top choice schools first.

This will allow you to get ahead of the curve during rolling admissions maximizing your

Number two, you can also consider applying to the most competitive schools first for

And number three, you can consider submitting some secondaries for the lower ranked or lower

preference schools prior to submitting your higher ranked or higher preference ones.

This will afford you some practice possibly making your later secondary essays more effective.

While this point does have merit, it can quickly be mitigated by the rapid turnaround secondary

application editing that we offer on MedSchoolInsiders.com.

Our advisors are real doctors that have served

on medical school admissions committees so they know what it takes to stand out.

Number three, tailor your response to each medical school.

The more you can tailor and craft your secondary to be appropriate to the program, the better.

Research the program, familiarize yourself with their strengths and tell them why they

Maybe it's certain research areas that interests you, clinical exposure to unique populations

These elements are key to incorporate into your final answer for "why is this medical

At the same time, be honest. It will show if you embellish or stretch the truth.

A great way to get a head start on these essays is by preparing the secondary prompts before

The free Med School Insiders secondary database is updated daily with secondary prompts as

It also contains previous year prompts and high yield writing tips on how to appropriately

It's always a good idea to create an outline prior to writing an essay, but it is particularly

Because secondaries contain multiple questions each, it is important to plan and outline and

answer to each question in an individual application before writing.

This will prevent you from repeating ideas or themes on questions which may overlap.

It's important to have a quick turnaround with your secondaries but do not prioritize

You must have well-written essays with well crafted answers.

Make sure you answer the specific question being asked as the prompts will often be less

Remember to strive to answer the following overarching themes in your responses:

Why am I the right fit for this program and why am I interested in this medical school

Number six, do not repeat your primary application.

This is a crucial piece of advice and a common pitfall for applicants.

The admissions committee already has all the information in your primary.

This is your opportunity to show them something new. Focus on different strengths and experiences

which will demonstrate why you are a great candidate.

If you do touch on an experience that has been described before, be sure to elaborate

or shine a different light on the subject.

Number 7, be careful copying and pasting.

With so many essay prompts coming in, you will invariably have some overlap of similar questions

It is absolutely acceptable to carry over common answers to multiple applications but

If copying and pasting a response, make sure you closely review it and ensure that it adequately

Furthermore, be sure that there is no language or specific component referring to another

school, which would be a clear red flag on your application.

Tailor the response to the specific program if possible.

Number 8, take the appropriate amount of time.

The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said be quick but don't hurry.

It is certainly important to be timely with your responses to prevent falling behind in

the rolling admissions process, but you also do not want to compromise quality.

It is reasonable to take a few days to complete secondaries particularly the important ones.

I would recommend you try to respond within one week.

You can work on multiple applications concurrently to stay fresh,

coming back to the essay in the next day or so to review.

The key is to ensure high quality. Don't hurry, timeliness is only helpful if the application