Secondaries (# to expect)

[davechetrit]

Hey everybody,

 

I'm submitting some of my secondaries as they come, but I've gotten 8 already so far out of only 13 schools that I applied to (and my stats aren't particularly remarkable). This is starting to get very expensive, so I'm trying to narrow them down.

 

Can anybody help me by telling me if there are any schools that just send secondaries to absolutely everybody that I shouldn't bother with? Please be as brutally honest as you have to be (like, you stand no chance of getting into that school, don't waste your money) [GPA: 3.55, MCAT: 33Q, 1000+ hours of volunteering and extracurriculars, limited research experience, but working in a lab THIS year]

 

The secondaries I got so far (in order):

- Boston University

- Dartmouth

- Chicago (Pritzker)

- Penn State

- Columbia

- Case Western Reserve

- Chicago (Rosalind Franklin)

- Georgetown

 

Thanks, appreciate any help you can offer

[blizzah]

I'm no expert buy maybe eliminate the high tier schools? mind you they sent you a secondary because they like you so who knows...lol guess im not that much help sorry

 

also a slight thread hijak...can you get secondaries if all your reference letters aren't yet received. still waiting on my 1 out 2 science faculty ones to get in

 

Almost all schools submit secondaries to everyone, ie. Harvard, Yale, Chicago etc etc.

 

The select few that don't that come to mind are Vanderbilt and Wayne

[Comeon]

Columbia, Dartmouth and Chicago are long shots so I may reconsider those 3 (switch to mid-tier schools and/or remove 1 of them). Cost-wise, I would consider removing Georgetown - they charge over $100 for the secondary and have over 10,000 applications to deal with, which statistically makes it a hard school to get in to.

Best of luck

 

Hey everybody,

 

I'm submitting some of my secondaries as they come, but I've gotten 8 already so far out of only 13 schools that I applied to (and my stats aren't particularly remarkable). This is starting to get very expensive, so I'm trying to narrow them down.

 

Can anybody help me by telling me if there are any schools that just send secondaries to absolutely everybody that I shouldn't bother with? Please be as brutally honest as you have to be (like, you stand no chance of getting into that school, don't waste your money) [GPA: 3.55, MCAT: 33Q, 1000+ hours of volunteering and extracurriculars, limited research experience, but working in a lab THIS year]

 

The secondaries I got so far (in order):

- Boston University

- Dartmouth

- Chicago (Pritzker)

- Penn State

- Columbia

- Case Western Reserve

- Chicago (Rosalind Franklin)

- Georgetown

 

Thanks, appreciate any help you can offer

[keith_015]

I'm submitting some of my secondaries as they come, but I've gotten 8 already so far out of only 13 schools that I applied to (and my stats aren't particularly remarkable). This is starting to get very expensive, so I'm trying to narrow them down.

 

What else were you expecting when you applied? If you didn't want to complete a secondary for a school and pay for it, why did you pay money for it to be on your primary app in the first place?

[Comeon]

That is a good point. The cost of travel, if you have interviews, is going to be greater than what you pay for secondaries. The cost of tuition is going to be even more than that. The application process is expensive, but I think if you can afford it and have made a worthwhile effort on your primary + secondaries, it is worth it to pay up (although I may not agree with this if you are submitting late).

 

What else were you expecting when you applied? If you didn't want to complete a secondary for a school and pay for it, why did you pay money for it to be on your primary app in the first place?