Simply fill out what is necessary and submit.
Yes, but be careful. Make sure to adhere to each school’s specific guidelines. Also, ask yourself, “Is my answer properly answering this prompt?” Two schools might be asking similar questions but they may be worded differently. This might require two versions of the same answer. For example:
- What makes you unique? How will you contribute to our school’s medical community?
vs. - Are there any special experiences, unique factors, or other information that would help the admissions committee in evaluating you?
Yes. However, this is your opportunity to expand on what you have already written about in your primary application. For example, if the question is asking you to describe your volunteer experiences, do not just copy and paste what you wrote on your “Works and Activities” section. Rather describe your experience but also expand on why it was important and how it impacted you as a person. This is your opportunity to show your motivation and interests.
Read “Weekly Weigh-in: The Adversity Secondary Essay” (https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/weekly-weigh-in-the-adversity-secondary-essay/) to learn how to approach this question.
The answer to this is unclear. Technically you do not need to answer this question. Applicants receive interviews without filling it out. Nonetheless, the optional section is a good opportunity to write a unique essay that might help the admissions committee get to know you better. Here are some potential topics:
- Write about an important activity you recently started.
- If the application does not have a “why X school section”, write why you want to attend the school.
- If you had a difficult life circumstance that impacted your grades, you can describe it here.
- If the application does not have a “what makes you unique” section, you can write about that here.
Read “Weekly Weigh-in: The University Secondary Essay” (https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/weekly-weigh-in-the-university-secondary-essay/) to learn how to approach this question.
This question is an opportunity for you to be genuine about yourself. Most people are not incredibly “unique” in the broad sense of the word. Only a few people can be Olympians or be a certain ethnicity. You can talk about your personality, experiences/background, passions, etc. Read “Weekly Weigh-in: The Diversity Secondary Essay” (https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/weekly-weigh-in-the-diversity-secondary-essay/) to learn more.
ProspectiveDoctor.com has a secondary essay prompt database where you can find secondary questions from each school. StudentDoctor.net’s school specific discussions also always posts the secondary essay prompts on its forum. You can look at all the previous years’ prompts but they won’t necessarily be the same for when you apply. If you are later in the application cycle, you can see the most recent secondary prompts as they become available.
Definitely. Read “Should I Pre-write Secondary Applications” (https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/should-i-prewrite-secondary-applications/) to find out why.
Not necessarily, most schools send secondary applications to everyone who applied to their school regardless of their competitiveness. There are only a few schools that screen their applicants prior to giving out secondary applications.