Secondaries

[AlSter_PPA]

I'm trying to understand the process of the secondary applications and was wondering if I could get any info. My college roommate applied for medical school our senior year where she sent out the primary applications on the med school equivalent of CASPA (MCAS I think?) and waited to receive secondaries from those schools. Some schools even sent secondaries only to people who made their first cut. Once she received them she was expected to complete them and send them back within a few days.

I'm wondering how similar or different secondary applications are for PA school. When do you fill out secondaries? Is there a separate due date or is it the same as for the CASPA? Do you get them from the school or find them on the school's website? (I feel like I've seen links to secondaries so I'm guessing it's the latter) I'm sure there are questions I don't even know to ask about them so I would appreciate any information at all!
Thanks!

[PaulK]

It used to be that secondaries were always mailed to you by the school when they were considering interviewing you. But it soon became clear that secondaries were a great way for them to 1) sift out some of the less serious candidates (who never completed them) and to 2) make money by charging an application fee with them. Soon many schools began sending out secondaries by default to any student who applied to their school, even if they weren\'t a serious contender. It\'s an ethical issue that schools all seem to handle differently.

Nowadays, some seconds are found on the school website, which make it even easier for them. But if you don\'t see a secondary on their website, they will usually mail it to you. For all the ARC-PA accredited schools, our program list by state tells you if there is a secondary or not.

As a final note, remember that secondaries are your chance to tailor your application to the specific focus and wants of a particular school. So learn about the school and be sure to return them promptly.

[AlSter_PPA]

Thanks for the response! I appreciate knowing that bit of background - it helps to better understand how and why it\'s different for different schools.

So if most secondaries are sent from the school, does that mean that the application due dates refer to the CASPA and don\'t include the secondaries? Or are you supposed to plan ahead enough to have both CASPA and secondary application in by the due date? Thanks again!

[PaulK]

No, application due dates (as it normally goes) refer to when the basic app is due. Secondaries are usually done later. But if schools start to have the secondaries on their websites and instruct applicants to fill one out as a normal part of applying, this might be different.

The application deadlines posted on our PA Programs Directory represent when the basic app is due, not the secondary.

[Wrammani]

I wanted to see this content for each.