Secondaries, part 2

I’m a quarter of the way finished with secondaries! Yeah, I need little markers of accomplishment. I’ve completed and submitted 5 thus far.

I’ve decided to add one more school, well really program, to my list. I added UCLA PRIME. PRIME (Programs in Medical Education) programs exist at all 5 University of California medical schools and focus on preparing physicians to serve different underserved population. UCSF is urban, UCD is rural, etc. The PRIME programs are one year longer than standard MD programs and participating students earn a Master’s degree. The UCLA PRIME program “[develops] leaders in medicine addressing policy, care and research in healthcare for the underserved.” I’m attracted to this program’s focus on policy and research and, you know, it is another way to get into UCLA.

Adding UCLA PRIME would bring my school list to 21 except I’m thinking of dropping Rosalind Franklin in Chicago. I haven’t been impressed by their lack of responsiveness to applicants and outdated website. Further, they have a kind of painful secondary, which I wrote about last time, and a high secondary fee. I don’t know, maybe it is arrogant of me to drop this “safety” school but here’s hoping I get in somewhere else.

I received a couple more screened secondaries which I’m happy about. UCLA and UCD both invited me to submit a secondary. I’m still waiting on UCSF, UCSD and UCI.

Secondaries, part 1

The application process continues with secondary applications. A place for schools to learn a little bit more information about applicants and/or a justification to get a check for $70-120 out of applicants. Supposedly it used to be that schools would screen all the primary applicants and then invite a select group of candidates to submit additional materials. Nowadays it seems that most schools just ask for a secondary from every single applicant. Only a handful of schools that I applied to actually screen for secondaries, mostly public schools. I expect to spend around $2000 on secondary application fees.

I think one can tell a lot about the school by what kind of email they send to announce the secondary. Many are congratulatory and even encouraging about the process of application. Lots of “best of luck” and similar type sentiments. My, uh, favorite so far is from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. It is just so over the top pretentious, I love it:

Congratulations on your decision to apply to Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Here the pursuit of excellence is not an end in itself, but a means to improving the human condition.

Later in the email they say:

If you earn a spot on our Alternate List and would like to send additional recommendations, you can update your file at that time…

Really?! So if you put me on your waitlist I get the chance to plead my case via letters of recommendations?

So, what is it that the schools want to know? Almost every secondary includes the typical “Why do you want to attend GENERIC MEDICAL SCHOOL?” I’m actually having a hard time with these questions. I mean, I know how to answer them, quickly peruse school mission statement tell them what they want to hear but I can’t get it together to write these essays.

Some schools also want ridiculous amounts of information in almost no words. For example, Albert Einstein College of Medicine asks me to explain what I have done with my time since college, in detail, including reasons for taking time off and dates. All that in 50 words.

I do have a couple favorite prompts. Again from Mt. Sinai:

What makes you special, someone who will add to the Mount Sinai community? (250 words)

I guess this is the generic “Why are you going to be a good doctor” question but I love that I get to answer it by thinking about what makes me SPECIAL. My other favorite is from Rosalind Franklin University:

At Rosalind Franklin University, we celebrate and support a Life in Discovery. Briefly describe what a Life in Discovery means to you.

Wow, I get to tell you what your cliched Catch Phrase means to me. How exciting!

I have received one screened secondary that I am excited about. The University of Washington invited me to complete a secondary application. Getting in there is kind of bad odds but it is a great school. 3000 out-of-state (OOS) applicants applied last year and only 21 matriculated, 8 of whom were MD-PhD students. I also just saw that tuition is $20,000 more expensive for OOS students than WWAMI residents. Expensive!

Primary Down, Here Come Secondaries

I’m starting this a little late but here’s where I’m at.

Submitted my primary application to AMCAS on the evening of June 11. Waiting for that to be verified and sent to schools hopefully on the first available day, June 24. Then the deluge of secondaries will, I guess, begin and continue through July and August.

I ended up applying to 20 schools:
Albany
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Drexel
Einstein
Harvard
Jefferson
Mt. Sinai
NYU
Rosalind Franklin
Temple
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCLA
UCSF
UIC
USC
UW

Total primary cost: $749.00.