Medical School Secondary — How to Describe Yourself


No worries. Medical school admissions committees look to admit individuals with qualities befitting good doctors. These qualities can be demonstrated through experiences directly related to medicine, as well as through experiences that seemingly have little to do with medicine but cast a very positive light on you.

That said, your personal statement should include at least one experience directly related to medicine. In your essay, you'll want to briefly describe how your interest in medicine developed, followed by how you consistently pursued that interest.


In the “Work and Activities” section on your AMCAS application, you provided the following list of experiences. Please select the experience that you feel has been the most meaningful in influencing your desire to pursue a career in medicine, explain why, and also describe what aspect of that experience best equips you to make an impact in the medical profession. (1,000 character limit)

This blog has provided examples of essays along with tips to craft an excellent medical school personal statement. By avoiding mistakes, you can increase your chances of standing out from the crowd and impressing the admissions committee.

Albanys describe yourself prompt

In the “Work and Activities” section on your AMCAS application, you provided the following list of experiences. Please select the experience that you feel has been the most meaningful in influencing your desire to pursue a career in medicine, explain why, and also describe what aspect of that experience best equips you to make an impact in the medical profession. (1,000 character limit)

Applying to medical school is an exciting decision, but the application process is very competitive. This means when it comes to your application you need to ensure you’ve put your best foot forward and done everything you can to stand out from other applicants. One great way to provide additional information on why you have decided to pursue a career in medicine and why you’re qualified, is your medical school essay. Read these samples to get a good idea on how you can write your own top-notch essay.

Ever since my middle school robotics days when a surgeon invited us to LAC+USC Medical Center to unwrap Tootsie rolls with the da Vinci surgical system, I’ve felt that a physician’s role goes beyond serving patients and families. I feel an additional responsibility to serve as a role model to younger students—especially teenagers—who may be intrigued by STEM fields and medicine. Furthermore, my experience in Mr. Jackson’s classroom demonstrated the substantial benefits of assessing specific individuals’ needs even when it requires diverging slightly from the structured plan. Being flexible to discover how to best engage my students, in some ways, parallels the problem-solving aspect I love about medicine.

Example 1: “Describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted your pathway to medical school. Include any academic, personal, financial or professional barriers, as well as other relevant information.” ()


11 Common Medical School Secondary Questions and How to Answer

This guide walks you through the steps and provides medical school secondary essays examples to help ensure your paper clearly highlights your strengths and passion for medicine.

Describe Yourself Secondary Med School

You might have heard that, given the stigma surrounding many mental health conditions, that you should avoid discussing them in your personal statement, no matter what. However, as with many things related to med school essays, the answer depends on the specific condition, severity, and reason behind sharing it.

Certain conditions have more stigma associated with them than others and are therefore more difficult to sensitively incorporate in your personal statement. But regardless of your specific mental health condition or its severity, it’s important to ask yourself why you would share it. For instance, if the primary reason for sharing your mental health condition is to show adcoms how much adversity you have overcome, then you should probably leave out your condition or reconsider why you would share it. However, if your reason is to describe the insights you developed about people and about medicine, or how your condition served as a springboard for you to pursue certain activities, then it might be worthwhile to share.

Writing about mental health conditions in your personal statement should be approached delicately, so make sure to work with someone who has experience doing so.

Medical School Secondary Essays Examples | Why Are You Unique?

EVMS Secondary Application Tip #3: EVMS is a community-oriented school and they want to recruit medical students who are interested in serving the Virginia community in the future. It is important to note this in your EVMS secondaries. Additionally, make sure to read our blog post about for tips on how to answer “Why EVMS?”

describe yourself in only 1000 characters

This could be anything regarding your characteristics, traits, and behaviors. A helpful tip is to gear your qualities toward medical school. How do your qualities translate into the medical field? Will they benefit you? If so, explain.

Why Us Medical School Essay Example and Writing Tips

The AMCAS® application to medical school asks for a lot of information about yourself. It includes biographical information, courses taken, and work experiences just to name a few. The application also requires you to include a Personal Comments Essay, which is entered in Section 8 of the application. This essay provides an opportunity to distinguish yourself from other applicants and provide admissions officers with more insight into why you have chosen to pursue a career in medicine.