Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (Bronx, New York)
Series of yes or no questions. Any ‘yes’ answer requires a brief 100 word explanation.
I have taken time off between high school and college
(Please explain your activities in detail, and your reasons for taking time off, and include dates)
I have taken time off during my undergraduate years
(Please explain your activities in detail, and your reasons for taking time off, and include dates)
I have taken off at least a year since college graduation
(Please explain your activities in detail, and your reasons for taking time off, and include dates)
I plan to take off this year, after just having graduated, while I apply to medical school.
(Please explain what you plan to do this year and please provide confirmation of your plans when they are complete.)
I have taken and received credit for online courses
(Please note that the College does not accept online courses that are not offered by (as opposed to, approved by) your undergraduate or graduate institution. If you have taken online courses, please indicate what courses, where they were taken, and why you elected to take the courses online.)
I have worked part- or full-time, for pay, during the academic year while in college.
(Please indicate when you worked, e.g., freshman year, what months of the year you worked, and how many hours. Briefly describe the work you did.)
I have applied to medical school previously
(Please list schools and year of application, and tell us what actions you have taken to improve your application.)
I have submitted an AMCAS application to Einstein previously
(Please keep in mind that if you completed two prior applications, you are ineligible for reapplication.)
(Please indicate whether you completed the application process for Einstein, the year(s) you applied, and whether you were interviewed.)
I am presently enrolled in the Sue Golding Graduate Division
(Please indicate the year you enrolled, when you plan to take your qualifying examination, and the name of your mentor/department. It is required that your mentor write a letter of recommendation on your behalf.)
I am presently enrolled as an undergraduate student at Yeshiva University
(Please indicate the month and year that you will graduate.)
I had been accepted to medical school previously but chose not to matriculate (Please indicate the name of the school, the year, and your reasons for not matriculating.)
I had been enrolled previously in a medical school
(Please indicate the name of the school, the dates of your enrollment, and your reason for leaving.)
I have not yet completed all of the competencies
(Please indicate what you are missing, and when and how you plan completion.)
I will have a Baccalaureate Degree by the time I matriculate in medical school
(Please indicate why you will not have your Degree.)
I am presently holding a deferred enrollment to a medical/professional school
(Please indicate where you are holding a deferral and why you are applying to Einstein now.)
I have received a grade of “F” during my college/graduate school years
(Please indicate the name of the course and the reason for the failure.)
I have received a grade of “D” during my college/graduate school years
(Please indicate the name of the course and the reason for this grade.)
I have received a grade of “W” during my college/graduate school years
(Please indicate the name of the course and the reason for this grade.)
I have received a grade of “I” during my college/graduate school years
(Please indicate the name of the course and the reason for this grade.)
I have transferred from one college to another during my undergraduate years
(Please explain why you chose to transfer, and indicate the names of the colleges involved.)
I have been the recipient of a warning notice for a non-academic issue that did not result in a disciplinary action
(Please explain when, where and why.)
I have been subject to a disciplinary action and/or an administrative action, expunged or not, while in school
(If yes, please answer the following questions.)
Expunged? No Yes
How many warnings did you receive prior to an action being placed on your record?
(Please explain how all of the above affected you.)
I have disciplinary charges pending
(Please explain in detail.)
I have been convicted of a crime
(Please explain in detail.)
I expect that there will be criminal charges brought against me which are now pending
(Please explain in detail.)
I have been prohibited or suspended from practicing in a professional capacity due to or as a result of alleged misconduct
(Please explain in detail.)
Florida State University College of Medicine (Tallahassee, FL)
A. Applicant Profile
Please limit your answers to 500 words per question.
Travel: Indicate your significant travel experiences and include the circumstances. Optional
Fun and Diversion: Indicate what you do for fun and diversion (hobbies, special interests, etc.) Optional
Miscellaneous: Identify any other traits, habits, experiences, interests, etc., that a professor advisor would not normally learn about you. Optional
Parents: Please provide a brief description of your parents. Optional
Siblings: Please provide a brief description of your siblings. Optional
Practice Vision: In what field of medicine do you envision yourself working ten years from now? Optional
ACT/SAT Scores (if any): Please enter your ACT and SAT scores if you have taken these exams. Optional
B. Pre-Medical Course Requirements
Choose YES or NO for each of the courses below that you have completed, are currently enrolled, and/or anticipate completing prior to matriculating to medical school.
English (or other writing intensive course): 6 credit hours
College Mathematics (Statistics is recommended): 6 credit hours
Biology with Lab: 8 credit hours
Organic Chemistry with Lab: 4 credit hours
Physics with Lab: 8 credit hours
Biochemistry (MUST require at least one Organic Chemistry course as a pre-requisite; lab is recommended): 3 credit hours
C. Self-Critical Analysis
Please limit your answer to 500 words per question.
Write a critical analysis of your personal and scholastic qualifications for the study of medicine, the realization of your professional ambitions, and why you are choosing to apply to the FSU COM.
D. Additional Questions
Please answer the following additional questions.
Did you grow up in a rural area?
If yes, please explain: Optional
I hereby declare my intent to participate in the courses and associated activities of the FSU COM. I also authorize the use of my personal data file for continuing longitudinal studies of the FSU COM if all personal identification is removed. Information derived from all test procedures, both cognitive and non-cognitive, will be considered confidential and will be part of the personal data file usable only in aggregate data studies.
Have you ever been charged with a violation of the law which resulted in, or is still pending could result in, probation, community service, a jail sentence, or the revocation or suspension of your driver's license (including traffic violations which resulted in a fine of $200 or more)?
If yes, please explain: Optional
Have you ever been or are you now under investigation for any academic or legal/conduct problems at any undergraduate or graduate institution?
If yes, please explain: Optional
E. Florida Residency
The Florida State University College of Medicine accepts very few out-of-state applicants. Except under rare circumstances, out of state applicants are considered for admission only if their county of residence is geographically contiguous with the State of Florida, or if they can demonstrate significant ties to the State of Florida.
Is Florida currently your legal State of residence?
If Florida is not currently your legal State of residence, has it ever been your legal state of residence?
If yes, please briefly explain: Optional
If no, please briefly describe any significant ties that you have to the State of Florida (Examples of significant ties include- but are not limited to- attending college within Florida; having close relatives who are residents of Florida; spending substantial amounts of time in Florida): Optional
University of Kansas School of Medicine (Kansas City, KS)
Provide relatively brief (1,000 character maximum) answers to the following questions. Use Notepad or other non-formatting text editors if you would like to copy-paste your answers from drafts prepared elsewhere. If you copy-paste more than 1,000 characters into a text box, you will lose your answer when you click the button. Required fields are marked with an asterisk.*
1. Describe your health care experiences that involved direct exposure to physicians’ clinical duties and how they have shaped your desire to apply to medical school.
2. Describe examples of leadership experience in which you have significantly influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
3. Beyond academics (grades and MCATs), describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to address this challenge.
4. Give an example of what you have done to make your community a better place to live.
5. Describe how you relate to someone who is very different from you. Examples of differences may be cultural, racial, religious, economic, gender/sexual orientation, lifestyle.
6. If you are not a Kansas resident, what is your specific interest in applying to the University of Kansas School of Medicine?
7. If necessary, update the information contained in your AMCAS application. Indicate grades earned, alterations in your proposed course work or graduation time, additions to your extracurricular activities, or other pertinent information.
8. If there are discrepancies in your application that have not been explained in your personal statement, use this space to clarify. Examples may include unexplained gaps in time, multiple undergraduate institutions attended, multiple course withdrawals, inconsistent academic performance, inconsistency between academic performance and MCAT scores.
9. If you are currently enrolled, or plan to be enrolled during the next academic year, in a graduate or professional degree program, please describe your status within the program and your intention to complete the program. You must also request a letter from your graduate program advisor or from the dean of your professional school. This letter must include acknowledgement of your application to medical school and a description of your status in the program.
10. If you are no longer a full-time student, briefly describe your current employment, community, medical, and/or educational activities.
11. For Repeat Applicants Only: Since your last application, note any relevant academic, employment, and personal experiences that enhance your ability to be a better physician.
12. For Combined MD/PhD Program Applicants: Do you also want to be considered as an “MD-only” applicant?
*13. Have you ever been convicted for violation of a regulation or law relating to controlled substances (answer YES or NO)? If yes, provide appropriate explanation(s), including the date(s) of conviction, case number(s), and the jurisdictional court(s) involved.
*14. Have you ever been convicted of a felony (answer YES or NO)? If yes, provide appropriate explanation(s), including the date(s) of conviction, case number(s), and the jurisdictional court(s) involved.
New York University School of Medicine (New York, NY)
MD:
1. If applicable, please comment on significant fluctuations in your academic record which are not explained elsewhere on your application.
2. If you have taken any time off from your studies, either during or after college, please describe what you have done during this time and your reasons for doing so.
3. The Admissions Committee uses a holistic approach to evaluate a wide range of student qualities and life experiences that are complementary to demonstrated academic excellence, strong interpersonal skills and leadership potential. What unique qualities or experiences do you possess that would contribute specifically to the NYU School of Medicine community (2500 characters max)?
4. The ultimate goal of our institution is to produce a population of physicians with a collective desire to improve the health of all segments of our society through outstanding patient care, research and education. In this context, where do you see your future medical career (academic medicine, research, public health, primary care, business/law, etc.) and why? Your answer need not be restricted to one category. If your plans require that you complete a dual degree program, please elaborate here (2500 characters max).
5. Please answer only one of the following three questions (2500 characters max):
○ The most meaningful achievements are often non-academic in nature. Describe the personal accomplishment that makes you most proud. Why is this important to you?
○ Conflicts arise daily from differences in perspectives, priorities, worldviews and traditions. How do you define respect? Describe a situation in which you found it challenging to remain respectful while facing differences?
○ Describe a situation in which working with a colleague, family member or friend has been challenging. How did you resolve, if at all, the situation as a team and what did you gain from the experience that will benefit you as a future health care provider?
MSTP:
Dropdowns to choose 5 faculty with whom you could see yourself working with in the future.
Space to put how many hours of full-time research you’ve done. From the form:
“How many months of full-time research experience have you completed? When estimating this amount, you may convert part-time research into its full-time equivalent. For example, if you conducted part-time research for 1 year for ~50% of the time, this would equal 6 months of full-time research. Please do not include lab experiences associated with a course (e.g., organic chemistry course with lab).”
3 YR MD Tertiary:
The Three-Year MD Pathway provides an accelerated track for a select group of eligible students. All students graduating from the Three-Year MD Pathway will be offered acceptance into the NYU Langone Medical Center residency program they selected at the time of admission by way of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).
You can apply to the Three-Year MD Pathway at any time during your initial application to medical school. The application deadline is November 15, 2018 at 11:59 PM EST. That said, your application will only be reviewed by the admissions committee and the residency programs if you are first accepted into the Four-Year MD Pathway.
Please note that we have an additional entry point into the Three-Year MD Pathway. Should you decide you are not ready to enter the pathway at this time, we have provided our matriculated first year medical students with the opportunity to opt into the Three-Year Pathway in available residency programs towards the end of their first year of medical school at NYU.
Finally, we are piloting an addition to our Three-Year MD Pathway for those applicants to medical school who already have a PhD and wish to obtain their MD to facilitate their research endeavors. This Three-Year PhD-MD Pathway is linked to research-focused residency tracks in some of our residency programs and provides unique benefits to those who wish to develop tomorrow’s biomedical discoveries as our future physician scientists.
1.) Please select the residency program you wish to apply to:
2.) Please describe your motivation for pursuing a residency, detailing how past experiences have shaped your desire to pursue this career path. (2500 char)
3.) What do you believe the three most important qualities are that make for not only a successful resident, but ultimately an ideal physician in this field? (2500 char)
FAQs
1. How much time do I have to complete my secondary essays?
This completely varies from one school to the next – some secondaries are due back within two weeks, others within a month, so it's important to review your secondary essay deadlines and adhere to them strictly. Most importantly, you should not take longer than two weeks to submit your completed essays. Medical schools correlate the speed in which you submit your essays with your level of interest in their program, so it's important to ensure a prompt submission. With this said, do not rush your secondaries at the expense of quality.
2. What is the purpose of secondary essays?
Secondary essays provide admission committees with a chance to get to know you further to help them determine whether you will be a suitable candidate for their program. Through a variety of questions, admission committee members will learn more about your personal and professional characteristics, values, and unique skill set to see if they are in line with their core values and mission statement. The information you provide should not be copied from your AMCAS work and activities section and in general, should expand or provide new information that isn't found elsewhere in your application materials.
3. I have applied to 20 medical schools, how can I possibly complete all secondaries within a 2-week or 1-month timeframe?
You can certainly submit all secondaries on time; the key is to begin writing your secondaries before you have even received your secondary applications. Using the list we have provided above, you can begin creating an outline or a first draft responding to each prompt at the schools in which you applied. Keep in mind that secondary essay prompts can change from one year to the next, but more often than not, the theme of the essay remains the same. For example, one year a secondary essay prompt may ask: “How will you contribute to the diversity at our school?”. The following year it may ask: “Please share a unique, personally important, and/or challenging factor in your background, such as socioeconomic status, culture, race, ethnicity, gender, etc, and explain how this factor has influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine.” What's important here is to recognize that both prompts are asking for you to write a diversity essay. Be sure to look at our medical school secondary essay examples blog to review common prompt themes, so no matter what prompt you are given, you'll have a strategy for addressing each one.
4. Will every medical school I apply to send me secondary applications?
Not necessarily; while some schools send out secondary applications to all students who apply, other schools use primary applications as a way to weed out applicants. In these cases, schools will send secondaries to those they'd like to see continue in the admissions process.
5. If I didn't receive a secondary application, does that mean I have been rejected?
You haven't faced medical school rejection until you receive a rejection letter. Some schools will still consider applicants during a second round of admission review and interview invitation, so even though you did not receive a secondary application, you may still be considered for admission at a later date.
6. Are secondary applications free?
Not usually. In most cases, schools charge a fee that must be included when you send in your secondary essays. On average, this fee ranges from $50-$100, but some schools may charge more and some may charge less.
7. Some of my secondary essay prompts are optional, should I include something in this section?
It's common to see questions such as “is there anything else you'd like the admissions committee to know about you” in your secondary applications. First, it's important to know that even though a certain section may be optional, it could still be used in the overall scoring of your application materials. With this said, it's always important to remember quality over quantity. If you really do have something meaningful to add that could benefit your application, such as explaining any gaps or academic lapses, then it's a good idea to include this information here. An optional section doesn't have to only address a potential weakness in your application, it may also be suitable to use an optional essay to discuss a significant experience or a personal achievement. If on the other hand, you don't have anything else to include that would be beneficial, it's best to leave the prompt blank.
8. I am only allowed 300 words to create my essay. Help!
No matter the length of your secondary essay, your format should remain the same:
- Introduction, body paragraph (s) and conclusion
- Begin with an interesting, memorable opening sentence
- Use 1-3 main experiences to address the prompt
- Show, don't tell
- Finish with a strong conclusion that will leave the reviewer wanting to know more about you
- Ensure your essay is free from any grammatical errors or typos
9. How long will it take me to write a secondary essay?
These are typically shorter than your medical school personal statement, averaging 250-500 words. However, you can have more than one essay to write per school. The average number of secondary essays sent out by schools is 4. So, altogether, you may have to write 1000-2000 words! Remember, you want to use a similar process to writing your personal statement: create an outline, brainstorm ideas, write, edit, revise, and finalize your draft. This whole process will take 2-4 weeks (count on closer to 4 weeks if you are working, taking classes, or have other obligations), although you can work on multiple programs’ secondary essays concurrently. So, ensure you begin preparing your secondary essays either before or right after submitting your primary application to give yourself enough time.
10. Can I use the same answer for more than one program?
If more than one program asks the same or extremely similar question on a secondary essay and has the same word or character limit, yes, you can re-use an answer. However, do ensure you actually read the prompt carefully and adhere to the character limit instead of rushing and just trying to re-use answers. Even if you are re-using an answer or a portion of an answer, ensure you do read through it very carefully to make sure it meets all the requirements of the prompt.
11. Can I re-use an experience I mentioned in my personal statement or sketch?
It’s better to use different experiences if you can. However, if you really wish to, you can re-use an experience, but do not just regurgitate what you wrote word for word on your personal statement or sketch. Programs have most likely already reviewed your primary application so they do not need to read the exact same thing again, and repetition will likely hurt your chances at the program. Instead, think about the experience you want to re-use. Is there a different specific example you can use that is more suitable for the secondary essay? Alternatively, are there different lessons you can highlight that you learned? This way, even if you re-use the same experience, you are using different content to show a separate aspect of it, so it actually deepens the experience and what you gained from it, furthering what you discussed in your personal statement or sketch. Follow this link to find some excellent medical school personal statement examples.
12. What are the most common secondary essay prompts?
1. Why our school or program specifically?
2. Diversity
3. Overcoming challenges (adversity essay)
4. Future goals
5. Academic lapses/breaks
13. How do I address academic lapses, failures, or gaps?
Many students are scared of this type of secondary essay, but there’s no need to panic! This is actually an opportunity for you to address any shortcomings in your application. The key is to take a proactive and positive approach. You should clearly highlight what happened, and any mitigating factors (ex. stress, illness, family situation) but note that these are merely mitigating factors and NOT excuses. You must take responsibility for your shortcomings and end by addressing what strategies you have put in place to ensure this type of situation will not occur again. Be specific when you mention strategies, as this tells adcoms how you will hold yourself accountable.
14. I have no idea what area of medicine I want to pursue. What should I say when the prompt asks about future plans?
Medical schools do not expect you to know exactly what you want to do. It’s quite common for plans to change during medical school, as you gain more experience in the different fields of medicine. If you do have inclinations for a specific field, make sure you give examples to state why that field interests you. If you don’t have any concrete ideas, you can state that you are open to learning more about the different fields of medicine, but don’t leave it there; instead, use the space to talk about what aspects of medicine you do want to include. For example, do you want a purely clinical role? In what type of setting: clinical, hospital, rural, or urban? Do you want to incorporate research or teaching in your role? And why are you so inclined? This way, your answer is still quite in-depth and well thought out, even if you are not sure of the exact area you want to go into.
15. I feel I have only overcome minor challenges in my life. Can I use those experiences in my secondary essays?
Students are often concerned whether their experiences are “good enough” or “important enough.” The important thing to ask yourself is: did the experience truly impact me and did I learn and grow? Did the experience somehow push me further along the journey to pursuing medicine? If so, it does not matter how “big” or “important” your role was. The best experiences to include are those that genuinely impacted you. If you choose these types of experiences, they will genuinely come across strongly in your writing.
Would you like us to help you with your medical school secondary essays?
To your success,
Your friends at BeMo
BeMo Academic Consulting