As you begin your medical school application journey, the secondary application phase emerges as a pivotal bridge connecting your premedical background with entrance into graduate medical training. These secondary applications, adorned with an often repetitive tapestry of essays, offer a unique canvas to paint a more intricate portrait of your character, experiences and aspirations.
Here’s some advice on the art of answering common essay prompts on med school secondary applications, emphasizing the importance of compelling storytelling throughout your application.
The Purpose of the Secondary Application
The secondary application is more than a formality — it’s an essential step that adds depth to the on-page persona that admissions committees will assess. It is the last chance you have to make a good impression before an interview is offered, so a subpar performance at this stage may be the last chance you have at admission during this cycle.
This phase allows admissions committees to perceive you in a richer light, beyond mere test scores and accolades. Secondary applications typically comprise a cluster of essays, each allowing you to showcase your unique persona. If written well, they can unveil your motivations, life journey and alignment with the medical profession.
How to Craft a Compelling Secondary Essay Narrative
Effective essay crafting relies on authentic storytelling. Your goal is not just to convey information, but to resonate emotionally with the reader.
[Read: What Are Your Chances of Getting Into Medical School?]
Begin by dedicating some time to introspection. Reflect on your journey, including its highs, lows and turning points. Weave a narrative tapestry that threads together your experiences, values and aspirations. Focus on using vivid imagery and metaphors to engage the reader, making your essays stand out among the many they will read.
Don’t forget to ensure a coherent flow by structuring your essays logically. Again, introspection and planning — using an outline if helpful — are essential.
How to Approach Common Secondary Essay Prompts
The essay prompts you’ll encounter may frequently be similar, and the temptation to copy and paste similar responses to many programs is extremely high, particularly when many secondary application requests come back at once.
However, be very wary of canned responses that work for many essay types and many different programs. This can sometimes work well, but can also result in essays that feel forced, with content that doesn’t quite answer the question. These types of essay flaws are remarkably easy to spot by experienced admissions committee reviewers.
Below are three common secondary application essay prompts and advice on how to approach them.
Common Prompt 1: Why Our Medical School?
It can be challenging to develop a response to this prompt that feels truly unique. In some way, your response will be similar to other applicants’, but how you weave your background, persona and experiences with the school’s mission and goals is how you can stand out.
To master this, delve into meticulous research about the institution. Go beyond the mission statement and goals. What sorts of programs do they offer? What do they choose to highlight multiple times, in prominent places on their website or on their campus? Understand why they are emphasizing various programs, classes, attributes or resources.
[READ: How to Answer the ‘Why This Medical School?’ Essay Question.]
A school is typically less proud of a simulation lab itself and prouder of what that simulation lab allows them to do. Perhaps they train a large number of procedural specialists or match many graduates into careers in trauma.
Work to comprehend a school’s values, unique offerings and cultural fabric. Then work to articulate how your background and experiences align with these facets, without sounding too repetitive of your primary application materials.
The key is to go beyond the surface — pinpoint specific programs, faculty members or initiatives that resonate with your aspirations and to which you are excited to contribute if accepted.
Common Prompt 2: Diversity
The “How will you contribute to diversity on campus?” question is a testament to the evolving medical landscape. Embrace your distinct background and be proud to describe how it will allow you to bring a fresh, unique perspective to the campus and the community.
Recognize also that you don’t have to limit yourself to a traditional definition of diversity. You can also share experiences or interests that make you a diverse applicant.
If you have played harp your entire life and feel it speaks to your personality, including attributes that will be beneficial in medicine, write about it with pride. You can be quite sure that your essay is one the reader has not already read 30 times, and that can at times be an advantage in and of itself.
[Read: How a Music Background Can Help Premed Students]
Of course, no matter your topic, look to emphasize how your perspective enriches the educational mosaic, promoting cross-cultural understanding and empathy within the realm of health care.
Common Prompt 3: Overcoming Adversity and Demonstrating Resilience
The “How have you overcome adversity or a challenge?” prompt invites you to display your mental strength and ability to persevere when things get difficult — a sure bet in the medical field. Again, introspection is crucial.
This is not likely to be the place to describe the one time in high school you got a B+, or an argument you’ve had with a roommate. Highlight a significant challenge, narrate its impact on you and expound on your growth journey.
Do not be shy to include letdowns. A refreshingly honest essay describing rejection from medical school during your first application cycle, and your continued commitment to the long road ahead — including how you have worked to improve as a person and as an aspiring doctor — can be a phenomenal essay if done well.
Make sure to transition to a positive note; don’t seek pity from the reader.
Whatever adversity you choose, remember not to spend too much space describing the actual event. You want to focus most of your energy on discussing the strategies you employed to surmount the obstacle and how the experience honed your resolve and enhanced your ability to excel in the medical sphere.
Emphasize Your Fit With the Medical School
With all of your secondary essays, be sure to weave a cohesive story together without directly repeating any content in your primary application materials.
Emphasize your fit with each school, and do significant research to discover what type of student they are genuinely interested in attracting to their unique program. Discuss experiences that have shaped you, highlight times when you have demonstrated resilience and remember to take each individual essay seriously.
With strategic introspection and eloquent articulation, these essays will pave the path toward achieving the goals and earning the experiences you have — to this point — only written about.
More from U.S. News
Most Common Reasons Medical School Applicants Get Rejected
Routes to Medical School for the High School Student
The Medical School Admissions Cycle: A Month-by-Month Guide
How to Answer Common Essay Prompts on Medical School Secondary Applications originally appeared on usnews.com
