<p>Can you please discuss the significance of receiving secondary applications from schools that you have listed on the AMCAS. My daughter says often schools just send them to all applicants. She received two immediately and her MCAT has not been scored yet. So essentially, no big deal. Is this true of all schools? If she doesn't receive a secondary application fairly soon is that significant? Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>Secondaries are just another of the hoops you must jump through in the med school application process, and they mean different things at different schools.</p>
<p>For schools like the ones your daughter has received secondaries from already, which don’t screen and just send secondaries to everyone, it means “Hey, you may or may not have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting into our school, but we won’t tell you until you give us another $100 or so, so pay up!” Pick which of these you actually complete with care. Be realistic about your chances at said school. Otherwise, you might just be making a donation to that school. I’ve heard of people receiving rejections almost as soon as they submit secondaries from schools that don’t screen.</p>
<p>Other schools don’t send secondaries to everyone and “screen” applicants based on any number of factors. Some send secondaries to everyone above a certain GPA/MCAT level. Others actually read all applications and send secondaries to some of those based on a more complex decision-making process. Still others might do it differently. For these schools, a secondary means “We’re interested, and you probably have a chance at our school - tell us more about yourself in these essays - oh, and give us some more money”.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ve heard of some schools that screen and then send a secondary that consists of “sign your name on this blank paper and send it back - don’t forget the money.”
Either way, these are the schools for which you want to complete every secondary you receive.</p>
<p>Icarus- That was very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to respond. She is carefully filling out the secondaries she received,…currently, they were two of her top choices. She is of the thinking that she really doesn’t want to “just apply to every medical school”. She is being very selective. Not sure what her MCATs are yet. That will determine a lot. She knows how competitive the schools are, but she is just hoping she can “get them to open my envelope”</p>
<p>Ya know, I’d like to amend my previous post a bit - you should screen your schools at the primary stage. Rule out schools that you absolutely have no shot at (due to the school not taking out of state students ever, a GPA/MCAT average or cutoff that is way out of your league, etc.) or couldn’t see yourself attending. Once that primary is sent in, you should fill out every secondary you get, because that school should already be one you think you have a shot at (or is a reach that you really would like to go to), etc. Only start screening schools out after you have an acceptance in hand. </p>
<p>Definitely be aware of the first type of school that doesn’t screen applicants and just sends secondaries to everyone whether they have a realistic shot or not. But ideally, you should screen your schools at the primary stage. If you haven’t done that, then do it at the secondaries. Not sure why I thought you should automatically screen out secondaries in that first post. Clearly, my mind is slipping in my old age :)</p>