“Please list five personal hobbies/interests.” I looked at the question on my medical school application and thought, “Do I really write ‘collecting comic books’ here?” It turns out that because I did answer honestly and uniquely (actual response: “Collecting comic books; specifically Batman), I made a positive impression on the admissions committee and was ultimately accepted by my first choice medical school. Sharing the following understanding of the secondary application process will help you on your way to doing the same thing.
As you probably know, the medical school application process is a marathon. It requires patience, determination, perseverance, and lots of endurance. The MCAT is only one stretch of that marathon; after taking the exam and receiving their score, applicants have to login to AMCAS and start the long process of submitting information about undergraduate coursework, extracurricular responsibilities, the personal statement, and the schools to which they want to apply. After this sometimes grueling process is completed and paid for, the primary application gets sent out to every school selected and you can sit back and relax, right?
At this point, it’s tempting to want to take a break. You might want to forget all about computers, test prep books, and anything scholastic and just flee to a tropical island. The problem is that soon your inbox and mailbox are going to get flooded with secondary applications, and it’s extremely important to be prepared for them. The best strategy, actually, is to already have them completed or at least have time built into your schedule for completing them.
There’s a big difference between the primary and secondary applications. The primary application is general – it’s submitted through the AMCAS system, and it goes out to every school you select. The secondary application is specific, differing between each institution, and it can be sent and submitted either digitally or the old-fashioned way (Remember that thing called an envelope? They still make those!). While there may be overlap in the types of questions you’re asked, the best applicant will cater the response to each school, mentioning important things that are unique to that program. Many premeds think of medical school as a 4-year period where they earn their degree and they do not really care, at first, about where they go – they just want to get the degree. You never want to come off looking that way.
The best way to prepare for secondary applications is to do your research. When admissions committees go through secondary applications, they are looking for specific experiences and characteristics that would be a great fit with the culture at the school. When answering the questions on these applications, you want to personalize your responses and be as specific as possible. Visit the school’s website, read about their profile in the Medical Student Admission Requirements (MSAR) guide, take a tour of the campus, and reach out to anyone whom you know that either goes to that school or has ties to that school. If you can network with a current or recently graduated student, make sure you do so! Anything that will give you insight into the campus and the program will give you an edge. Doing so will definitely give you a head start and improve your chances of acceptance, and might even open up your schedule enough to fit in a trip to someplace tropical!
