PRE-HEALTH HANDBOOKS

SECONDARY APPLICATIONS

After the schools receive your preliminary applications from the centralized application services, you will (hopefully) receive secondary applications. Some schools do not request secondary applications, but base their decisions on the information contained in your preliminary application and letters of evaluation. Some schools send secondaries to all applicants, some to all in-state applicants. Some schools conduct a review of the preliminary applications to determine whether or not to send each applicant a secondary. You should hear from the school either way. If you do not hear from the school within 3-4 weeks after you receive your applicant profile, you should contact the school to find out the status of your application.

The secondary application usually asks additional questions, and may require more essays. You will probably wind up repeating some of the information contained in your personal statement. This is OK (it means you chose to write about information they were interested in!). However, do not repeat your personal statement. The schools already have this, and are looking for new essays. It may also request other supplementary materials such as letters of evaluation or resumes. Do not send any supplementary materials, including letters of evaluation, to the schools until you are instructed to do so (exception - some schools instruct you to send supplemental materials before you hear from them, such as with some dental schools). Follow all instructions carefully. Send all materials in as soon as possible, and be aware of any deadlines for the secondaries. Make sure your letters of evaluation are received before the deadline. Some people take much longer than they claim to write the letters. It is not their responsibility to make sure the letters are in on time, it is yours. Most schools will inform you when your application is complete. If you do not hear from the school within two weeks after you feel all materials should have arrived, contact the school to make sure your file is complete.

After all information is received by the school, your application will be reviewed to determine whether or not you will be granted an interview. This decision may take quite a while to make. Be patient. You can practice interviewing at the Career Center, which is located in the Business Administration building. The phone number is (803)777-7280.

Procedures for processing and reviewing applications and notifying applicants of interviews and acceptances vary from school to school. The secondary application should explain some of this; if not, contact the schools and familiarize yourself with each school’s procedure so you will know what to expect. However, do not bombard the schools with too many questions. They need time to review your application.

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