Premeds Drowning in Secondary Essays
Applicants for medical school are experiencing extreme burnout due to the overwhelming number of secondary essays required by various institutions. The process is described as exhausting, time-consuming, and more stressful than the MCAT itself.
SOURCES (60)
“Wow, people weren't kidding how stressful applying to MD/DOs were. I do agree with everyone that the essay writing got overwhelming, especially as secondaries came flooding in like a wave. But in the grand scheme of everything, I feel extremely fortunate to be part of…”
“Someone give me some motivation to finish these secondaries lol. 14/26 done and I’ve got secondary burnout lol. These 7 essay schools are killing me. And the ones with 10,000 optional essays, are yall answering all the optional ones?! submitted by /u/Sweaty-Control-9663 [link] [comments]”
“Recently got a secondary from UCSF with a 3.8 gpa and a sub500 mcat. Should I complete it or would it just be a donation? submitted by /u/No_Marzipan7981 [link] [comments]”
“Crashout incoming....... Applied to 28 MD schools with a 3.9/526 and thousands of clinical hours. Submitted my primary on the first day and turned around all my secondaries within 2 weeks. Radio silence from everywhere.........wondering if there is something dramatically wrong with my app??? (I know it's only September and rationally this is a long process and every school processes applications differently etc etc but I am LOSING MY MIND OUT HERE) ((I just want to see patients why is that s”
“Tbh I'm almost done with secondaries but im not really applying to a bunch. Only 19, both MD and DO. I'm from Florida, but my 507 MCAT isn't exactly close to the median at most med schools here so i doubt i get into an MD program. I just feel like im donating money to some of these programs like Penn State too cuz I just feel like the most generic asian applicant for these programs and i dont qualify for FAP. And then for DO schools, i just look at the COAs to attend, like NYIT, and”
“I was verified last week and started to ramp up and have 10 secondaries in. I think I can get to 20 within the next couple of days but I imagine I will be done with most schools pretty much right before Labor Day. Sept 1-Sept 7. Just wanted to get an honest idea of where I might stand for submitting at this point... submitted by /u/Low-Setting-7352 [link] [comments]”
“When I say easy I mean easy to reuse previous secondaries and not many unique prompts submitted by /u/Accomplished_War7127 [link] [comments]”
“still have like 16 schools to submit am i cooked. MD submitted by /u/Accomplished_War7127 [link] [comments]”
“hello! so i am finishing up my secondaries today and this weekend (almost done yay!) and have pretty good stats 516+ and 3.9+, but with late august secondaries and some with 5-6 weeks delay, am i screwed and should i be worried? i feel like i may have lost many interviews already and i just don't know if i made as big of a mistake as past reddit and admit threads have made it seem. any advice appreciated! submitted by /u/calculatorgirlhaha [link] [comments]”
“Hi all! I'm looking for recommendations for med school advising services, or how to go about looking for those services. About me: I have already done the MCAT (517), I got my bachelor's in biochemistry in 2019, I did undergrad research for two years and have my name on the published paper, I've been teaching high school biology and chemistry, I'm now taking undergraduate classes again as a post-baccalaureate to boost my poor college gpa, and I'm a full time EMT. I need some”
“I swear I have never felt so exhausted from dissecting my entire life. I’ve written about stuff I did when I was in elementary school up to things I did a month ago..I’ve written my heart out into several schools, many of which will just skim it and move on. Then to get rejected by those schools is like someone denying my life😭. Why is this such a humiliation ritual and philosophical, existential process… help😔 submitted by /u/LifeisHellon_Earth [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply MD-only in the 2027-2028 cycle. I would appreciate an honest assessment of my application, particularly how schools might view my MCAT history and gap-year timeline. Academics Graduated from a T20 in 3 years cGPA: 3.81 sGPA: 3.78 MCAT: 501 → 501 → 521 (130/128/131/132) The two 501 attempts were approximately one year before the 521 Clinical EMT: 315 hours MA (internal medicine & gastro): 150 hours Hospital volunteer: 175 hours Research 2 years of clinical r”
“I know people will ask, OOS, URM, 510 MCAT 3.7 CGPA and 3.55 SGPA. If I can do it you can too, I believe in all of you!! submitted by /u/SurpriseOccupation [link] [comments]”
“I just cringe reading them, I regret submitting my top schools first. At what number did everyone's secondaries start improving? submitted by /u/nm811 [link] [comments]”
“Secondaries have been a trip. I got verified on 7/21 and despite prewriting I’ve only submitted (with average writing at absolute best) 15 schools. I’m a non trad student, so studying for the MCAT while working full time ate up all of my PTO when I got closer to the exam, so I’ve been working 50 ish hour weeks during my secondaries. I also have a long distance girlfriend in dental school, and the only time she really had to take a vacation together was in the first week of August, which I obviou”
“hi i jus waiting on one last secondary from Arizona Tucson at this point... has anyone heard anything from them?? based on their MCAT and GPA criteria, i shouldve gotten one?? submitted by /u/DesperateRange9633 [link] [comments]”
“Treat yourself please. It is almost impossible to wake up early everyday to write, just to come home to continue writing. It’s exhausting. Ignore everyone else saying they have completed 2-3 secondaries a day - they are not working full time. You got this ! submitted by /u/youreadingthislol [link] [comments]”
“I had time this summer and wanted to know whether "the MCAT is just a screening tool and doesn’t matter after a certain point" actually holds up in data. So I pulled the public cycle trackers on admit.org for all 20 T20 schools and used Claude to analyze them. The most interesting finding was that above 520, the MCAT stops behaving like a continuous variable. It behaves like tiers, and within the top two tiers your exact score doesn't predict anything, and also that while your MCAT”
“Super nontrad applicant. Career changer. 31yr old ORM. 506 MCAT, bad undergrad GPA but 4.0GPA in rigorous post-bacc program. 1000s of EC hours. I was feeling like the comeback kid, I had the highest grade in my OChem class in my post bacc, and my prof said that in my LOR too, I was truly feeling unstoppable I applied to roughly 30 to 35 schools for two cycles in a row. Only one school interviewed me the first cycle and I was placed on the 2nd tier of their WL. I actually emailed that school and”
“Trying to save some characters. Let's say I wanted to use MCW instead of Medical College of Wisconsin. Is that appropriate? submitted by /u/mischeviousowl88 [link] [comments]”
“515/3.97 checking in here with just one ii in texas so far. i (maybe stupidly) decided to really really work on my secondary writing before i turned them in and wound up turning most in early july when my app was verified in early june. i was talking to someone earlier and he said "oh most schools know that people who turn in the secondary 1-2 days after receiving it really wanna go there and they're most likely to get interview slots". i understand how this is true, but is early j”
“I am the world’s slowest and most indecisive writer but retaking the MCAT was so painful for me so I might have to say secondaries again submitted by /u/BlunderMifflin4 [link] [comments]”
“If I hear this one more time imma lose it🙃 submitted by /u/NefariousnessOne9785 [link] [comments]”
“Basically just the title. Is this putting too much on my plate or are we all doing this? submitted by /u/Yeuigo [link] [comments]”
“Well, all my secondaries are in (25/25). After all my neurotic posts for the past year we are finally here at the waiting stage. Will one bite? Who knows! 😭😭😭 submitted by /u/Mindless-Midnight-46 [link] [comments]”
“I am still missing secondaries from Charles R. Drew, Meharry, Howard, Oregon Health and Science, and Roseman. Has anyone else received secondary from these schools yet? submitted by /u/Remarkable_Bit_4574 [link] [comments]”
“Any advice on how to balance having a social life and the grind of gap years with full time work, applying, MCAT etc. submitted by /u/Various_Conflict7022 [link] [comments]”
“I know this is a psychotic post, but i was verified very early, did not prewrite, submitted all 30 secondaries over the course of end of June to second week of august. Now that I’m not getting any IIs from schools i wish i took more time overall…I pretty much wrote shit and then submitted immediately but all the 20 secondaries I submitted first are rlly bad, feel like I didn’t hit my stride until the last 10 which were all reach schools. submitted by /u/desireofanend [link] [co”
“I took a very long time on my primary and then was burned out for a while before doing secondaries, now at this point I’m only complete at 4 MD schools and 2 of those are well above my stats. And for even for these schools I was complete in the past week which is considered pretty late for TX. I know this is a vague question but I genuinely am bad at interviewing and I feel like I should just spend time on pepping for that (though I have no interview invites yet) instead of writing more secondar”
“Waitlist just moved, and I am rank 1 for a med school I really want. I almost gave up on it because I thought I had no hope and went to a DO school instead for my first month. Now, I don't know what to feel?????? submitted by /u/vhstimes [link] [comments]”
“I'm interested in seeing how much of a detriment it is to submit secondaries without any feedback or polishing with AI. So I'm wondering if any curent medical students have access to the secondaries they wrote that got them into medical school. If so, if those essays were put into AI for feedback "as an adcom," I'm interested in the feedback it would give and what it would score the essays out of 10. In the age of AI, it's super tempting to overthink things and go throu”
“i am submitting quite late this cycle (unexpectedly had to get surgery lol), i rlly don't want to take another gap yr so im thinking abt still applying (will probs be submitting secondaries end of sept bc that's when i'm assuming my primary app will be verified) 3.69 gpa - 4 C+s eek in first 4 sems but a strong upward trend 4.00 masters gpa 520 mcat Fulbright scholar 2026-2027 (aka listed Fulbright as what im doing in my gap yr w expected hours) if i decide to wait and apply until ne”
“I don’t mean water bottles and pens, I mean patagonia, macbooks, ipads, etc. I finished my 30 secondaries and am down to add a few more. submitted by /u/InitialToe5472 [link] [comments]”
“Didn’t do well in undergrad, wasn’t really concerned about medicine until military and emt work came along. Would a masters be looked at over UG? submitted by /u/IamNotGuitar [link] [comments]”
“working full time and writing secondaries have been excruciatingly exhausting. 20/33 done (all submitted late july - early august) If I do 2-3 a day I can finish by Friday next week. Are my chances still okay? GPA: 3.68 BCPM: 3.5 MCAT: 510 Clinical Hours: ~4,300 but with virtual telehealth is ~6800 Volunteer: ~800 Research: ~700 submitted by /u/Creepy_Ad2046 [link] [comments]”
“I'm exhausted. I've written for 15 schools now and still have 10 left, those being the fictional schools like Harvard and NYU. If I see one more prompt that's some variation of "how have your life experiences formed the kind of physician you hope to be one day but it's just different enough that you can't quite copy paste another essay" or, god forbid, "why us" I'm going to lost it. At this point I'm starting to consider whether it's even worth”
“how are some of y’all submitting 3+ schools everyday?? wtf am i doing wrong yes, i didn’t pre write this summer bc i was too burnt out from mcat prep and all the other bs tests and i don’t have the luxury to work on my secondaries besides my off days bc i work in the ED 🥲 i feel like i’m shooting myself in the foot bc i’m not writing fast enough even though i have managed to submit 15/30 schools in 2 weeks (somehow!!!) submitted by /u/Objective_Oven5648 [link] [comments]”
“Hi guys, So, I know some of us have loud families. Did you guys do your medical school interviews at home while your family was speaking in the background or did you do it somewhere else? I could tell them to stay quiet but one of them has dementia.. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! submitted by /u/Fresh-Pear-7509 [link] [comments]”
“Has anyone left all of the anything else secondary essays blank and gotten accepted to medical school? I'm thinking of leaving Harvard's blank for example, idk if this will make me get auto-rejected tho? I feel like I don't have anything that impressive to write and bullshitting will just make me look worse. submitted by /u/nm811 [link] [comments]”
“Finished all secondaries for these but I think maybe I need more baseline idk. orm 4.0 520 pretty average ecs nothing crazy little research no pubs and focus on addiction medicine 4th q casper 7 preveiw e submitted by /u/StunningPush8421 [link] [comments]”
“i wish this was just a hypothetical…. :’( just retook my mcat for the fourth time 2 weeks ago and its def an improvement from my past attempts, but sadly i made the grave mistake of thinking i could do well the year before with a short amt of prep hence my multiple tries (I KNOW I DONT KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING PLEASE DONT YELL AT ME ABT THAT 😭😭😭) but that being said my avg was a 507 on the mcat score im waiting on currently, but my trajectory is looking like a 502 -> 500 -> 503 -> po”
“do I need to bullshit another 400 words say cap rn submitted by /u/cluelessgirl127 [link] [comments]”
“Especially for T50s, I have a ton of research and pretty good stats (sGPA 3.69, cGPA 3.81, 518 MCAT) but my clinical hours and weak nonclinical volunteering hours are making me super worried submitted by /u/ZenDarKritic55 [link] [comments]”
“Does anybody have the Secondary Essay Questions for MCW and UMN? submitted by /u/Flat_Astronaut_5217 [link] [comments]”
“Hello all, 528 MCAT, 3.9 GPA, 200 clinical hours (more like 150 depending on if in home caregiver counts), 500 non-clinical volunteer but not with any underserved sadly. I kept my job as a chemist to support my family but am realizing my clinical hours are so sucky they might kill me. I really need to get an interview/in to either UW-Madison or MCW due to family needs (just had a baby and wife needs support within Wisconsin). Last time around I had similar clinical ~150 and a 519 mcat and receiv”
“Just got my MCAT back yesterday, and scored a great competitive score for MD schools, I did the throwaway method on 8/5, and added more schools upon getting my score back, and am waiting to be verified. I know i'm late, but I Have a guaranteed interview with my dream school no matter when I apply, still will apply to 30+ schools. I have more than 2k+ hours of scribing and research, but I'm tired of both and really don't like doing them whatsoever, only doing them just for security an”
“I was verified around mid-July and have submitted 21 schools, but even with this, I feel I can only submit one per day during the week and two to three on weekends. It feels like so many people are already done with everything. Am I just too slow? submitted by /u/Western_Blob [link] [comments]”
“I got verified yesterday and received most of them within hours but haven’t received one from my target state school. I’m just being a lil neurotic about it 🙃 submitted by /u/kissmeurbeautiful [link] [comments]”
“so I'm done with secondaries but im waiting to hear back and don't know if I should do more secondaries as I wait. I have pretty high stats but I know my ecs are a little eh for top schools so I'm a little scared to see how I fare this cycle... any help appreciated, ty! - trad applicant, 3.99/520 - ca orm (ugh) - 1300h research, 1 poster - 250h hospital and 100h hospice volunteer - 300h dance org volunteer - 1000h dancing - 100h shadowing - 100h tutor I've submitted secondaries t”
“So if I (theoretically) wanted to make a database with all of the secondaries ever sent out by medical schools, what would be the most ethical way of sourcing them? I know SDN and Admit have tons of data there, but I assume I can't just copy what's posted (or can I??). Is there some other public dataset out there? Do I just have to rely on people directly submitting them every year? Do I apply to 200 med schools and get the secondaries directly??? Again, this is all completely theoretica”
“I feel like everyone is breezing over the fact that if you apply to like a handful of schools (12 for me), you have to write a shit ton of mini essays. How the heck are we time managing this???!?!? I have (most of us) until OCTOBER 15TH/NOV 1ST. that's like. ONLY 2 MONTHS. wtf??!??!!?!?!? how is writing 17 perfect essays possible in 2 months. and this determines our future btw.. God. submitted by /u/PositiveLettuce3502 [link] [comments]”
“I applied to 35 schools and just waiting on Keck OOS. This waiting period is so stressful and I’m considering adding more schools to AMCAS and writing more secondaries. Any suggestions or advice or anyone feel the same way? Is that a good idea submitted by /u/Opposite_Anteater798 [link] [comments]”
“SECONDARIES ARE SOUL SUCKING, they suck ur life force after you’ve already given it away in the MCAT and in primaries and in CASPER/PREVIEW and in obtaining hours of clinical experience! No i dont want to write 40 essays of why i want to attend YOUR school out of everyone else! Broski if that was the only question, id be much happier.. but theres a MILLION OTHER questions like, whats the hardest thing you’ve been through? Given that no one likes you, whats ur worst flaw otherwise? How will YOU h”
“Just a bit of a vent here. I'm a nontrad who finished up prereqs in May, took the MCAT two weeks ago. Completely forgot that my flagship state school (Utah) requires the Preview exam and their deadline for taking it is August. The proctoring software only has scheduling slots available in September. So my application won't even be considered. Getting in this cycle would have been a bit of a hail mary but I at least wanted to apply . It's crushing that my application won't even be”
“My lack of motivation to write some these essays is actually astonishing. This may be from burnout from writing TMDSAS essays plus trying to finish Physics II. Ngl the timing is rough bc my final is on Friday which will be the three week deadline for secondaries (I know 2 is ideal but this class has been frying my shit). submitted by /u/Electronic_Cod2178 [link] [comments]”
“3.9GPA, 510 MCAT, URM (Hispanic), Low SES, First Gen, I got my first interview invite! Yay! It's in about three weeks. Ive never had to do an interview this high stakes. And worse it's an MMI interview. I believe I have strong experiences and reflections to draw upon. But im nervous and dont know how to prepare or where to start. Does anybody have any suggestions? submitted by /u/Abuello [link] [comments]”
“Hi guys. So last year I submitted my primary to one school using throwaway. After not getting the MCAT i wanted, I decided to take gap year. So I didn’t submit any secondaries. Now this year, some med schools are asking if I applied to medical school before and reflect on what changed. Do I say N/A or do I have to answer them? I never applied to those specific schools but technically I did submit a primary last year so I am very confused. Any help would be amazing submitted by /u/Con”
“Im finishing up secondaries for schools im applying to and dont have a lot of super reaches (MCAT < 10th) and i was looking for some recommendations, maybe just 1-2 schools. My mcat is 508, 3.94 gpa, 800 clinical, 700 research, 600 non clinical, 1 pub, lots of leadership. Thank you! submitted by /u/Past_Environment_192 [link] [comments]”
“Mine is Kaiser. My 2 week turnaround would have been July 13th but I genuinely can’t write this one for some reason. I hate the prompts so much submitted by /u/Independent_Share844 [link] [comments]”