Checklist for Submitting Your Secondary Essays | Med School Applications

One of the most stressful times as a premed is when the mouse is hovering over the "submit button" for your secondary essays applications. In this video, we're going to cover what you should be checking before you submit to make sure that you are covering everything necessary to make the best impressions and hopefully land that medical school interview.

If you haven't checked out our secondary essay database, do that at secondaryapps.com!

Here are the 5 things to check before submitting your secondary essays:

1. Get feedback on your answers. Show your secondary essays to mentors, advisors, or just family and friends. Ask them to make sure that you're actually answering the question in the prompt. You don't just want to be telling a good story or responding with fluff—you want to ANSWER the question.

2. Fix any grammar errors, typos, and other mistakes. Use Grammarly for a quick check (my affiliate link: https://medicalschoolhq.net/grammarly), but also go over your essays yourself. If you have the time and resources, go to a writing center or someone who can be your editor/proofreader.

3. Ask yourself if you are SHOWING your journey, rather than just telling? Use descriptive language and include narrative storytelling to really engage the reader more than plain statements can.

4. Look at the school's mission again. See if you can add anything to your answers that connects with the school's mission. Are there parts of your story that do connect to the school's mission but you forgot to include? Add those in.

5. Make sure you have the funds available to cover the secondary fees! These are additional fees on top of the original AMCAS or AACOMAS application fees, so they can really add up quite fast. Make sure you're ready to pay those fees when you submit.

For the other videos in our Secondary Application series, you can find those here:
What are Secondary Applications:    • Med School Secondary Essays 101: What Are ...  
Secondary Do's and Don'ts:    • The Dos and Don'ts of Med School Secondary...  
How to Start Writing Your Secondaries:    • 4 Tips for Getting Started on Your Seconda...