If you are applying to med school, you already know the drill: you pour your heart into the primary application, hit submit, and breathe a sigh of relief. For about two minutes. Then the secondaries roll in.
To be honest, secondary applications almost broke me. They come in waves, with tight deadlines, and every school wants you to basically prove all over again why you are good enough. The essays blur together. Some days it feels like you are just copy-pasting your own life story on repeat.
That is when I discovered the Student Doctor Network secondaries forum. And honestly, it changed the way I handled this stage.
What Are Secondary Applications All About?
Secondary applications are follow-up essays schools send after they have looked at your primary application. Think of them as a test of endurance.
Here is what they usually want to know:
- Why our school? (You will answer this ten different ways)
- Tell us about a challenge you faced.
- How will you contribute to our community?
- What draws you to medicine?
On their own, none of these questions sound bad. The problem is timing. Most schools send them around the same time, and suddenly you have ten essays due in two weeks.
Why Students Rely on Student Doctor Network Secondaries
When I first landed on the SDN forums, I was not sure what to expect. But here is what I found that actually helped me:
- Prompts in Advance: People post the exact essay questions as soon as they get them. Some schools repeat the same ones year after year, so you can even start writing early.
- Word Count Info: Saves you from the “oh no, I wrote 700 words for a 250-word limit” nightmare.
- Trends: You will notice which schools like to ask about diversity, research. Patterns help you prepare smarter.
- Community: Just knowing other students are pulling all-nighters on the same essays makes you feel less alone.
Smart Ways to Use Student Doctor Network Secondaries
- Check last year’s threads. Most prompts do not change much, so you can pre-write answers to the big ones.
- Keep a spreadsheet. I made columns for each school, their prompts, and deadlines. It felt nerdy, but it saved me.
- Pre-write the common stuff. “Why this school” and “Describe a challenge” came up everywhere. Having a base draft ready cut my stress in half.
- Do not compare too much. Some people on SDN submit essays lightning fast. That is cool for them, but your pace is fine.
A Quick Example
Let us say you are applying to 12 schools. Without prep, you will be drowning in 12 different essay sets. But if you had checked Student Doctor Network secondaries ahead of time, you would know that at least eight of those schools are reusing old prompts.
FAQs
Do all schools show up on SDN?
Not officially. Students share the prompts themselves, so coverage depends on how active the community is.
Can I pre-write essays based on SDN?
Yes, and you should. Just do not copy last year’s answers blindly. Make them your own.
Is everything on SDN accurate?
Usually yes, because multiple students confirm the prompts. But always double-check on your school portal.
Conclusion
The secondary application stage is not fun. It is exhausting, repetitive, and stressful. But it is also where you get to show schools who you are beyond numbers and grades. The Student Doctor Network secondaries forum will not do the writing for you, but it can save you time, reduce stress, and remind you that thousands of students have survived this stage before you.