“Diversity” essay examples and additional tips:
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 .
Just like with your medical school personal statement, your personal stories will help your secondary essays stand out and be more memorable to the admissions committee.
Example 1: “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.” (University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine)
Here are examples of commonly seen topics in secondary essays:
Let’s say it again: this is not a competition, so it’s perfectly fine if you haven’t experienced an extreme challenge in your life. If you have, you’ll have an obvious topic to discuss, but a significant difficulty alone doesn’t make a great essay.
Then you need . It’s basically a start-to-finish course on secondaries for medical school applicants who want to share unique and compelling essays (within just a 2 week turnaround time). Inside, you’ll learn all the steps to make your essays stand out while staying fully organized in the jungle of to-dos.
After your AMCAS primary application is transmitted, you will begin to receive medical school secondary essays. While most schools send secondaries to all applicants, certain med schools will screen applicants by academic metrics like GPA and MCAT score and/or content listed on your primary application before extending secondaries. Regardless, submission of your secondary is a prerequisite for interview invitation and subsequently acceptance to medical school, so it’s important for you to stand out in your essays!
This includes video lessons, writing frameworks, my own productivity tips and an extensive essay library with 70+ examples. Plus, you’ll learn the easily overlooked aspects of secondaries you don’t want to miss!
Here are my top tips for secondary application essay writing:
Approaching the diversity essay requires a thoughtful reflection on your unique background, experiences, and perspectives. Be genuine and share specific examples that highlight the ways in which your diversity contributes to the richness of the medical school community. Focus not only on visible aspects of diversity but also on how your individuality has shaped your journey and will enhance the diversity of thought within the medical school. Emphasize the positive impact your background will have on your interactions with patients and colleagues.
An example challenges essay with analysis
To give you a better picture of what exactly medical schools want to know about your experiences with adversity, I’m sharing the exact secondary essay that helped me secure ten acceptances to medical school.
medical school secondary essay prompts
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…
medical school secondary essay prompts
While it's acceptable to touch upon key experiences mentioned in your primary application, it's crucial to avoid outright repetition. Medical school secondary essays provide an opportunity to expand on or approach topics from a different angle. Use these essays strategically to offer new insights, delve deeper into your motivations, and highlight aspects of your candidacy that were not thoroughly covered in the primary application. Make sure each essay contributes unique and valuable information that strengthens your overall application.
medical school secondary essay prompts
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.