- Why this medical school?
- Diversity
- Autobiography
- Challenge
- Meaningful extra-curricular activity
- Gap year
- Other prompts
OUr Students Were Accepted at These Medical Schools the Past 2 Years!
What are medical school secondary application essays?
Secondary applications will typically ask for the following information:
- Payment (~$100)
- General questions (family information, demographics, disciplinary record)
- Course information (classes taken, prerequisites, etc.)
- Extracurriculars (like work and activities, but abbreviated)
- Logistics (special programs of interest, ID photo, technical standards)
- School-specific essay prompts (the bulk of your efforts will be spent here)
Most medical schools use the same application portal for their secondaries. Some common portals are shown below. Additionally, read popular medical school secondary essay prompts below.
Popular Med School Secondary Essay Prompts
Our Cracking Med School Admissions team has organized the medical school secondary essay prompts into various categories:
- Why our medical school?
- Diversity
- Autobiography
- Challenge
- Extra-curricular activity
- Gap year
- Other prompts
Why Our Medical School?
Example “Why our medical school” essay prompts:
- Given the distinctive educational philosophy and integrated curriculum at FSM, describe how your personal characteristics and learning style would fit the institution, and how Feinberg School of Medicine will help you achieve your professional goals. – 200 words (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
- Why have you chosen to apply to the Georgetown University School of Medicine and how do you think your education at Georgetown will prepare you to become a physician for the future? – 1 page, formatted at your discretion (Georgetown University School of Medicine)
- How will you take advantage of the Stanford Medicine Discovery Curriculum and scholarly concentration requirement to achieve your personal career goals? Please limit your answer to 1,000 characters including spaces. (Stanford University School of Medicine)
Tips to answer “Why Our School” medical school application secondary essays:
“Why our school” prompts will ask you to demonstrate your suitability for that specific medical school and/or an aspect of it (i.e. curriculum, mission). The best way to approach this is to research and highlight specific aspects of that school and connect it to your own background and experiences. Do you have a strong teaching background? Then maybe a peer-based learning curriculum would be suitable for you. Or maybe you have done lots of research in a certain field which is strong at that school. Be specific and name programs, physicians, and organizations which you believe would be a good fit for you. Remember: your essay should ultimately focus on who you are and why you would thrive at the school.
“Why our medical school” examples and additional tips:
Diversity
Example Diversity Prompts:
- The Committee on Admissions regards the diversity (broadly defined) of an entering class as an important factor in serving the educational mission of the school. The Committee on Admissions strongly encourages you to share unique, personally important, and/or challenging factors in your background, such as the quality of your early educational environment, socioeconomic status, culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and life or work experiences. Please discuss how factors have influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine. Please limit your answer to 2,000 characters including spaces. (Stanford University School of Medicine)
- Yale School of Medicine values diversity in all its forms. How will your background and experiences contribute to this important focus of our institution and inform your future role as a physician? – 500 Words (Yale School of Medicine)
Tips to answer “Diversity” medical school secondary application essays:
As a doctor, you will need to empathize and connect with patients from a wide range of backgrounds. Therefore, students with unique backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives are highly sought after in building a diverse class. When approaching diversity essays, think broadly about what experiences and insights you have had that would positively contribute to a medical school class. Have you worked with a unique population of patients? Do you come from an underrepresented group in medicine? Have you faced any hardships or experiences that have given you a unique life perspective? Remember, diversity in not limited to racial and ethnic identity (although this can certainly be a strong focus of your diversity essay). As long as you can convincingly articulate a point of view that is specific to you and supported by relevant experiences then you will be able to craft a strong diversity essay!
“Diversity” essay examples and additional tips:
Autobiography
Example Autobiography Prompts:
- AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH This should be a true autobiographical statement. Topics to be included are family, childhood, primary and secondary school years, undergraduate years, and, if applicable, what you’ve done since completing your bachelor’s degree. You should also discuss the motivational factors which led you to a career in medicine including any disadvantages or obstacles which might put your accomplishments into context. A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable. Please note: if you are applying to the MD/PhD program, please include why you are specifically interested in seeking MD/PhD training at UCSD. (UCSD School of Medicine)
- Write a brief autobiography. As completely and precisely as possible, give a picture of yourself, your family, and events you consider important to you. In doing so, identify the values that are of greatest importance to you. If you have completed your undergraduate education, please comment on what you have done or have been doing since graduation. – 1200 words (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine)
Tips to answer “Autobiography” medical school secondary application essays:
While the prospect of writing an autobiography for medical school may initially seem daunting, once you begin the process you will see that it can be one of the easier and more enjoyable types of secondaries to write (besides the length). One strategy to tackle to autobiography essay is to brainstorm relevant anecdotes from different stages of your life. For example, consider anecdotes from…
- Early childhood or your family: these may reflect your background or life experiences
- Your collegiate years: these should capture your values and beliefs
- Your clinical extracurriculars: these should reveal your skills and character traits, ultimately convincing the reader you are well suited for a medical career
- Your nonclinical extracurriculars: these demonstrate that you are compassionate, and care about serving others
- Any major life events: particularly formative events can reveal a lot about you
Afterwards, identify common themes or threads in the different anecdotes you have brainstormed and patch the pieces together. Ideally, these themes could tie into or predate the themes of your medical school application.
Finally, many autobiographical medical school secondary essays will include a section about future goals. This is a great place relate your past experiences to your future aspirations and provide a compelling argument for why you want to attend that medical school in particular.
Challenge
Example Challenge Prompts:
- Please describe a challenge you faced and how you addressed it. (Weill Cornell Medical College)
- Share with us a difficult or challenging situation you have encountered and how you dealt with it. In your response, identify both the coping skills you called upon to resolve the dilemma, and the support person(s) from whom you sought advice. We suggest that you limit your essay to about 550 words. (Pritzker School of Medicine)
- Challenge: Please discuss a challenging situation or obstacle you have faced in the past. Why was it challenging? How did you handle it? Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently? What did you learn? – 500 words (Vanderbilt)
- Briefly describe a situation where you had to overcome adversity; include lessons learned and how you think it will affect your career as a future physician. (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
Tips to answer “challenge” medical school secondary application essays:
Medical school is hard, so admissions committee members want to know that you are resilient and prepared to take on a challenge. Think back to your experiences in undergrad or afterwards. What situations were particularly difficult for you to overcome? When did you have to step outside of your comfort zone? Have you ever had to resolve a serious conflict or ethical dilemma? Make sure you can reflect on what you learned and how insights from the experience may benefit you in the future. Talk about why overcoming that challenge, or even failing to, has made you better having gone through the experience. Remember- medical schools do not expect you to be perfect! But they want to see that you are reflective and can grow from adversity.
One question we frequently hear from students is whether or not to write about mental health issues such as dealing with depression or anxiety in their challenge essay. Or, others write about a challenge in time management and prioritizing their tasks. It’s okay to write about these topics as long as it sounds like you will still thrive in medical school.
Meaningful Activity
Example “Activity” Prompts:
- If you wish to update or expand upon your activities, you may provide additional information below. – Word Count 500 (UCSF School of Medicine)
- Explain an activity that you have been involved in with for at least 6-12 months. What was it about that activity that kept you motivated to continue? What did you learn from that activity? – 1000 Characters (Wayne State University School of Medicine)
- Briefly describe your single, most rewarding experience. Feel free to refer to an experience previously described in your AMCAS application. (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
Tips to answer “activity” medical school secondary application essays:
Take advantage of the open-ended nature of this prompt to expand on one or more of your activities to pique an admissions committee member’s interest in meeting you. It’s important that you don’t copy and paste your “most meaningful essays” in your AMCAS application. The activity you choose for this prompt might be the same as your “most meaningful” AMCAS activity, but you should convey a different.
Medical schools can learn the following from your response to this extracurricular activity secondary essay:
- In what do you invest your time?
- What’s important to you?
- Do you show leadership and potential?
- What impact did you have in your activity?
- Are you able to execute on a goal you have?
- What are the results that you produce?
Gap Year
Example “Gap Year” Prompts:
- If you have taken a gap year(s), please explain what you have been, or will be, doing since graduating from your undergrad institution. – 2000 characters (Baylor College of Medicine
- If you have already graduate, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation (Harvard Medical School)
- Please use the space below to tell us what you have done since completing your undergraduate degree. – 350 words (University of California, San Francisco)
Tips to answer “gap year” medical school secondary application essays:
Gap year essays are open-ended questions which ask you to describe something you have been involved with either during your gap year. While these seem straightforward, it is important to not make the mistake of approaching these essays as you would a resume description. The bulk of your content should still focus on what you learned and how those insights have prepared you for a career in medicine. For example, if you scribed, you can talk about how working closely with your attending allowed you to gain insights into clinical decision making through a more involved role. Or if you worked in a research lab, you can connect your research interests with your future academic interests as a physician. Similar to the activities essay, take advantage of the open-nature of this prompt.
Optional Medical School Secondary Essays
Example “Optional” Prompts:
- Describe a time or situation where you have been unsuccessful or failed. (optional) – 3000 characters (Washington University School of Medicine)
- Do you wish to be considered for the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community? (UC Irvine School of Medicine)
- If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Many applicants will not need to answer this question. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, identification with a minority culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. – 4000 character maximum (Harvard Medical School)
- Is there anything additional that you would like to address that is not already reflected in your application? – 250 words or less (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine)
Tips to answer “Optional” medical school secondary application essays:
We recommend applicants maximize their chances for an interview by completing all secondary essays including optional ones (unless the prompt does not apply to you). Some optional prompts will be very specific, but most are very open ended. Think of these as an opportunity to showcase something you have not already talked about in your application. You do not necessarily have to write about a different activity; instead, you can approach an activity you have already written about from a different perspective. For example, if you talked about how your research experience shaped your future goals as an academic physician, you can instead highlight how research allowed you to hone your work ethic and think about research questions methodically. Ultimately, think of optional prompts as an opportunity to show medical schools another aspect of you.
Cracking Med High Yield Tip: ALWAYS answer optional medical school secondary essays!
