So you submitted your AMCAS primary and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself. Maybe you even celebrated a little. Then about two weeks later your inbox starts blowing up with medical school secondary essays from every school you applied to and suddenly you’re staring at 20 different essay prompts with deadlines looming and wondering why you ever wanted to be a doctor in the first place.
Welcome to secondary season. It’s brutal but survivable. Here’s how to write your medical school secondary essays fast without sacrificing quality.
What Medical School Secondary Essays Actually Are
Secondary applications are school-specific essays that medical schools send after receiving your verified primary application. Each school has their own set of prompts and they usually want anywhere from 1 to 5 additional essays. Some are short like 100 words. Some are long like 1000 words. Most fall somewhere in between.
The conventional wisdom is that most schools send secondaries to almost everyone who applies. So getting one is NOT a sign that they’re interested in you specifically. It’s just part of the process. Don’t read into it too much.
What they ARE is a way for schools to learn more about you beyond what AMCAS tells them. Schools use medical school secondary essays to assess fit with their program mission, values, and culture. That’s why the prompts tend to ask about things like why this school, diversity, adversity, and your specific career goals.
The Turnaround Time Matters
Here’s the thing that most premeds don’t realize until it’s too late. How quickly you return your secondaries affects when you get reviewed. Schools process applications in the order they become complete and your application isn’t complete until your secondaries are in. So even if you submitted your primary on day one, if you take 2 months to finish secondaries you lose that early advantage.
The goal is to turn around each secondary within 2 weeks of receiving it. One week is even better if you can manage it. That sounds insane when you have 15 to 20 schools sending you essays simultaneously but that’s where pre-writing comes in.
Pre-Writing Is the Move for Medical School Secondary Essays
Most secondary prompts don’t change much from year to year. Schools ask the same questions with maybe minor wording tweaks. So you can look up last year’s prompts for every school on your list and draft responses BEFORE secondaries even arrive.
Where do you find last year’s prompts? Student Doctor Network has threads where people post them. There are also paid services and free Google Docs floating around with compiled prompt databases. A quick search will turn up what you need.
Pre-write drafts for the common prompt types and you can customize them quickly when the real secondaries arrive. This turns a 2-week turnaround into a 2-day turnaround and that’s a massive advantage.
The Most Common Medical School Secondary Essay Types
1. Why This School
Almost every school asks some version of this. They want to know you didn’t just randomly add them to your list. Research specific programs, clinical training sites, research opportunities, community partnerships, or curriculum features that genuinely appeal to you. Be specific. Mentioning things you can find on their homepage in 30 seconds is not enough.
2. Diversity Essay
Schools want to know what unique perspective or background you bring. Diversity doesn’t just mean race or ethnicity although those are valid topics. It can also mean socioeconomic background, geographic origin, unusual life experiences, overcoming specific challenges, or having a non-traditional path to medicine.
3. Adversity or Challenge Essay
Similar to diversity but focused specifically on a difficult experience and how you handled it. Be honest but don’t be a victim. Show resilience, growth, and self-awareness. End on a positive note about what you gained from the experience.
4. Gap Year or Time Off Essay
If you took time off between college and applying to med school, many schools want to know what you did and why. Frame it positively. Whether you worked, traveled, did research, or dealt with personal circumstances, spin it as time that made you a stronger applicant.
5. Career Goals
Where do you see yourself in 10 or 15 years? What specialty interests you and why? You don’t have to commit to a specialty. In fact most schools know you might change your mind. But having a general direction shows thoughtfulness.
6. Community and Service
What communities have you been part of and how have you contributed? This ties into the idea that physicians are community members and leaders, not just clinicians.
Tips for Writing Medical School Secondary Essays Quickly
1. Use a Template Approach
For “Why This School” essays, create a base template that covers your general interests then swap in school-specific details. Keep a spreadsheet of each school’s unique features so you can quickly reference them.
2. Don’t Overthink It
Secondaries don’t need to be literary masterpieces. They need to be clear, honest, specific, and well-written. Spending 6 hours agonizing over a 200-word response is not a good use of your time.
3. Batch Your Writing
Set aside blocks of time to write secondaries for multiple schools at once. Get into a groove. Turn off your phone. Put on some background music and just grind through them. Some people can knock out 3 to 4 schools’ worth of essays in a focused afternoon.
4. Recycle and Adapt
Many prompts across different schools are essentially asking the same thing in different words. Your diversity essay for one school can be adapted for another. Just make sure you customize enough that it doesn’t feel generic and make absolutely sure you don’t accidentally leave another school’s name in the essay. That mistake happens more often than you’d think and it’s an instant rejection.
5. Proofread Everything
Typos and grammatical errors in medical school secondary essays look terrible. Run spell check. Read it out loud. Have someone else look at it. Small errors suggest carelessness and that’s the last impression you want to give.
When to Skip a Secondary
Sometimes you get a secondary from a school and realize you don’t actually want to go there anymore. Maybe you did more research and the school isn’t a good fit. Maybe you got interview invites from your top choices and don’t need as many options. It’s okay to not complete every secondary you receive.
But don’t drop a school just because the essays are hard or you’re tired. If it’s a school you genuinely want to attend, push through and get it done.
How SOS Admissions Can Assist
The secondary pile feeling insurmountable? At SOS Admissions we help students navigate secondary season every year, from pre-writing strategies to essay review and editing. If you want someone to help you write better medical school secondary essays faster or just need a second opinion on your drafts, reach out. We know every school’s prompts inside and out and we can help you put your best foot forward without losing your mind in the process. Contact us at sosadmissions.com to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How quickly should I return my medical school secondary essays?
Aim to return each secondary within two weeks of receiving it. One week is even better. Schools review applications in the order they become complete, so faster turnaround means earlier review.
2. Do all medical schools send secondary applications?
Most schools send secondaries to nearly everyone who applies. Getting a secondary is not a sign of special interest. It’s simply the next step in the application process.
3. Can I reuse the same essays for different schools?
You can adapt similar essays across schools, but always customize for each school’s specific prompt and make sure you remove any references to other schools. Generic essays are easy to spot and can hurt your application.
4. Is it okay to not complete every secondary I receive?
Yes. If you’ve done more research and a school isn’t a good fit, or you’ve received interview invites from top choices, it’s fine to skip some secondaries. Just don’t skip schools you genuinely want to attend because you’re tired.