Medical School Secondary Essays: The Complete Guide 2024 (Examples Included)

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Proven strategies to write your diversity, challenge, “Why us,” gap year, “Anything else you’d like us to know,” leadership, and COVID medical school secondary essays

Two medical school applicants sit sharing their secondary essay drafts with each other in their open notebooks.

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Part 1: Introduction

As a medical school applicant, you’ve worked hard on your submitting the best AMCAS application you can. You’ve written a compelling medical school personal statement, a detailed AMCAS Work and Activities section, and more. Now med schools are sending you school-specific secondary applications that require you to write additional essays?

Given that you’ll need to submit multiple essays for most med schools you’ve applied to, the secondary essay writing process can be incredibly grueling, even more so than completing your primary application.

While secondary essay prompts vary in length and topic, there are two pieces of good news:

  1. Secondary essays are typically shorter than your personal statement.

  2. Some topics come up over and over and over again.

You can use this second fact to your advantage by recycling certain “core essays” with a few modifications for multiple schools. Moreover, you can pre-write recurring essays using our medical school secondary essay prompts database.

(WARNING: Make sure to always answer each school's specific prompt, especially when secondary application fatigue inevitably kicks in. In addition, double check that you've referred to the correct medical schools' names in your secondaries. For example, if you're writing an essay for Tufts, be careful not to mistakenly leave in “Emory” if you're recycling your Emory essay for Tufts.) 

In our nearly 20 years of experience working with medical school applicants, the following six essays—with varying prompts—come up most often:

  1. Diversity essay

  2. Challenge essay (e.g., “Describe a significant challenge you overcame and what you learned from it.”)

  3. “Why us?” essay (e.g., “Why do you hope to attend [our school]?”)

  4. Gap year essay

  5. Leadership essay

  6. “Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay

Rather than list a bunch of general tips on how to write your secondary application essays, in this guide we’ll provide some background for each essay topic before listing and challenging some common misconceptions that limit students’ thinking. Then we’ll offer fresh ways to write each one, as well as strong samples from students who got into prestigious medical schools.

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Part 2: The medical school diversity essay

Example diversity essay prompts

Example 1: “We seek to train physicians who can connect with diverse patient populations with whom they may not share a similar background. Tell us about an experience that has broadened your own worldview or enhanced your ability to understand those unlike yourself and what you learned from it.” (Wake Forest School of Medicine)

Example 2: “The Georgetown University School of Medicine (GUSOM) strives to ensure that its students become respectful physicians, with cultural humility, who embrace all dimensions of caring for the whole person. With our Jesuit values of Cura Personalis, People for Others, and Community in Diversity, we are steadfast in our commitment to racial justice and to addressing the health inequities exacerbated by the recent pandemic. Please describe how your values, life experiences, and your identity will contribute to these GUSOM priorities.” (Georgetown University School of Medicine)

Diversity essay background

Medical schools love advertising the diversity of their student bodies through their class profile statistics, brochures, and pictures of smiling students from various backgrounds. Is this just for show?

Unlikely. Medicine—and other healthcare fields—are most effectively practiced when clinicians are able to understand and respect whomever is seeking service, regardless of their backgrounds. Thus, having a diverse student body creates a stimulating learning environment that incorporates multiple perspectives.

Before we get into misconceptions about the diversity essay, let’s clarify the meaning of “cultural competency” by first offering the NIH’s definition: “Deliver[ing] services that are respectful of and responsive to the health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs of diverse patients."

In other words, cultural competency refers to:

  • The awareness that patients have diverse health beliefs, practices, and needs

  • The effort and willingness to understand these differences

  • The effort and willingness to incorporate these differences to provide effective care that fits patients' contexts

On the other hand, cultural competency does not mean:

  • Believing you know everything about a particular group of people—including your own—and therefore knowing exactly how to treat them

  • Having to learn everything about a particular group of people before you are able to effectively treat them

Diversity essay misconception 1: “I don’t come from a minority background, so I have nothing to write about.”

Let’s clear this up right away: your diversity essay does not have to be about your or others’ ethnocultural or socioeconomic backgrounds. Moving past this notion will expand your thinking and options for choosing a compelling topic many fold.

Diversity can refer to anything that makes you unique or interesting, including:

  • Your great qualities (e.g., being a social connector)

  • Unique experiences (e.g., working as a certified scuba diving instructor)

  • A commitment to service

  • Visions and goals (e.g., using artificial intelligence to improve healthcare).

Think about why diversity is interesting in the first place: everyone is different. If all people came to medicine from a certain ethnic minority or low socioeconomic background, that wouldn’t be so interesting, would it?

If you do want to focus on ethnocultural and socioeconomic diversity, strong essay topics include:

  • Extracurricular activities, pursuits, or organizations committed to diversity and social justice issues

  • Health disparities

  • Demonstration of multicultural competence during patient interactions

  • Navigating your own multicultural identity

Diversity essay misconception 2: “I come from an ethnic minority background that’s already well represented in medicine, so I have nothing unique to share.”

We hear this most often from students of various Asian backgrounds who feel their demographic is so well represented in medicine that they cannot make a case for their uniqueness as a medical school applicant.

However, given Asia's many countries, and the races, cultures, subcultures, languages, religions, and philosophies across and within countries, there's probably a ton you could write about. Although you may feel your background is common in medicine, don’t sell yourself short.

Possible topics include:

  • (If you’re an immigrant) Your immigration and assimilation experience

  • (If you’re not an immigrant but your parents immigrated to the U.S.) A thoughtful account about the values/perspectives/goals your parents tried to instill in you, how they may have clashed with your values growing up in a bicultural environment, and how you resolved these differences

  • Different cultural views on healthcare and how both can be valuable for treating patients

Regardless of the topic you choose, as with all essays, make sure to link it back to your identity and experience by answering these questions:

  • How did you feel?

  • What qualities did you demonstrate?

  • What did you learn?

  • What do you have yet to learn?

  • How do you plan to apply these lessons throughout your education and career?

Diversity essay misconception 3: “The more I write the words ‘diversity,’ ‘cultural/multicultural,’ and ‘underserved,’ the more admissions committees will be impressed by my cultural sensitivity/awareness/competence.”

Quite the opposite. These terms, especially when used repeatedly or inappropriately, can be cliché and come off as dishonest. The best essays are those that are written honestly about who you are and your actual perspectives and interactions with diverse individuals.

Medical school diversity essay example

There are many things a girl could be self-conscious about growing up, such as facial hair, body odor, or weight gain. Growing up with a few extra pounds than my peers, I was usually chosen last for team sports and struggled to run a 10-minute mile during P.E. classes. As I started to despise school athletics, I turned towards other hobbies, such as cooking and Armenian dance, which helped me start anew with a healthier lifestyle. Since then, I have channeled my passions for nutrition and exercise into my volunteering activities, such as leading culinary workshops for low-income residents of Los Angeles, organizing community farmer’s markets, or conducting dance sessions with elderly patients. I appreciate not only being able to bring together a range of people, varying in age, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity, but also helping instill a sense of confidence and excitement that comes with making better lifestyle decisions. I have enjoyed encouraging kids in the inner city to combat similar issues of weight gain and low self-esteem through after-school gardening and physical activity lessons. Now, I hope to share my love for culinary nutrition and fitness with fellow medical students at UCLA. As students, we can become better physicians by passing on health and nutrition information to future patients, improving quality of life for ourselves and others.

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Part 3: The medical school adversity essay

Example adversity essay prompts

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)

Example 2: “Tell us about a challenging problem you faced and how you resolved it. Include how the experience contributed to the person you are today.” (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) 

Adversity essay background

Medical school admissions committees ask about adversity simply to understand how you respond to difficult situations. They want to see that you have the maturity, resilience, and capacity for growth to do well in med school.

In other words, medical schools are not trying to start a competition to determine which students have experienced the greatest adversity in their lifetimes.

Rather, they want to know how you:

  • Manage stress

  • Attempt to resolve issues

  • Reflect on challenges

  • Apply learned lessons in your life

Adversity essay misconception 1: “Nothing really bad has ever happened to me. Neither my family members nor I have suffered a serious illness or death. I also did not overcome poverty or flee to America as a political refugee, etc.” 

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.

There are multiple ways to approach adversity essay prompts, including writing about:

  • Relatable life events (e.g., letting your best friend down, facing major criticism, making new friends after a big move)

  • Situations beyond your control (e.g., your parents’ divorce, a friend’s drug use).

Adversity essay misconception 2: “Fine. I was able to identify some challenges I’ve faced in life. It still doesn’t matter because none of them are significant enough!”

We get it. Medical school admission is a high stakes process, and you want to stand out in every part of your application.

Remember, however, that the best essays aren’t necessarily the ones with the greatest challenges or sob stories. It's your thoughtfulness and handling of those challenges that will set you apart.

To make this process easier, we ask students to create the following list of 3–4 challenges to help them choose a strong topic. Below we’ve also included a common topic as an example:

  • Challenge: Difficult academic adjustment from high school to college with corresponding drop in confidence and drive, as well as questioning fitness for medicine

  • Response: Acknowledged poor study habits and corrected them, humbly asked for help from faculty and classmates

  • Result: Sustained improvement in study habits and grades, developed mentorships with professors

  • Lesson: No shame in asking for guidance and help, better to strengthen weakness than rely on false confidence

Once you’ve listed some challenges and their aftermath, choose the one that demonstrates the greatest maturity, thoughtfulness, and growth. Transparency about your hardships and honesty about your growth help to write great essays. It’s also more than acceptable to discuss how you’re still a work in progress and mention the areas you’d like to continue improving on.

Medical school adversity essay example

I named my one-year-old beagle Fitch, after my favorite clothing store. That fact recurred through my mind as I shouted her name for hours at the break of dawn, wondering how I left the door open and where she could have gone. Was she attacked by roaming bands of coyotes? Killed in a hit-and-run? Lost in the desert mountains? I had raised and taken care of Fitch for years, and so I believed I was solely responsible for her loss and her safe return. Yet, my mother admonished me to not let guilt interfere with my judgments and to reach out for help. Therefore, I enlisted the support of the community, including friends, fellow dog owners, and neighbors, some of whom I had never met before, to find my pudgy, spotted beagle.

Over the next two days, this dedicated group helped me create flyers to post in nearby parks, organize teams for day and night searches, and send neighborhood-wide emails. It’s hard to be prepared for difficult situations like these, so between the sleepless nights and uneventful status updates, I found myself learning to be calm and patient like my neighbors, Bill and Susanna, encouraged me to be. Finally, on the third day, a biker found Fitch behind a dumpster, shivering beneath a pile of debris and branches. Although she was eventually safe, I would not be able to hold and feed her to this day had I not knocked on that first neighbor’s door, opening me up to both the physical and mental strength of the surrounding community.

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Part 4: The medical school “Why us?” essay

Example “Why us?” essay prompts

Example 1: “What makes LLUSM particularly attractive to you?” (Loma Linda University School of Medicine)

Example 2: “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?” (Georgetown University School of Medicine)

“Why us?” essay background

These are everyone’s favorite prompts (we wish our sarcasm could jump through the screen).

The first step to writing an effective “Why us?” essay is to restrain yourself from writing about how great their medical school is or where it's located.

Glad that’s out of the way. Now consider why admissions committees want you to answer this question. After all, they know you’re applying to many other schools and that your GPA and MCAT scores are at least reasonably close to their admission averages.

(Suggested reading: How Many Medical Schools Should I Apply To? Which Ones? and Average GPA and MCAT Score for Every Medical School)

Admissions committees read thousands of essays annually and want to know that you’ve considered them for reasons beyond the obvious (location, prestige, average GPA and MCAT, etc.).

By integrating your qualities, experiences, and aspirations with their specific mission, programs, and resources, you will have a unique opportunity to demonstrate "fit" in your application. Don’t take this for granted!

“Why us?” essay misconception 1: “I should just read a school’s mission statement and research available resources on their website, and then rewrite the same information in essay form.”

The vast majority of students approach the “Why us?” essay this way, so it won’t make your response seem very special.

We basically see the expanded version of the following essay 90+ percent of the time:

I want to go to [School Name] because of their wonderful [program name] and incredible [resources]. {Program] cultivates [attribute] that helps their students become great physicians. In addition, [resources] provide support to help students reach their potential.

You should be able to see how this essay says nothing about why YOU want to go to their school.

Moreover, medical schools already know about all of the programs and resources they offer, so you wouldn’t be providing much value through writing solely about those offerings.

The better approach to this essay would be to look through schools’ websites to find programs and resources that actually interest you and to identify what each school keeps boasting about (e.g., perhaps they mention diversity or early clinical experience multiple times on their homepage). Then consider:

  • How YOUR experiences fit with their offerings

  • What YOU could contribute

  • How YOU would uniquely benefit from their program

For example, if a school focuses a lot on community service and you have similar experiences, mention that. In addition, let the school know how you want to further focus your skills while there. On the other hand, if you have a more research heavy background and are applying to the same school, you could either focus on research or discuss how community service will make you a more well-rounded physician. The more specific you can be, the better.

“Why us?” essay misconception 2: “There’s no other way to find out information about a medical school than by reading their site.”

Looking at a school’s website and demonstrating fit is certainly a tried-and-true approach to answering "Why us?" essay prompts, but it isn’t the only one.

To really impress admissions committees, you could integrate information from current students or recent alumni into your response. Ask these individuals whether they would be willing to share their experiences attending a particular school, and also whether you would be a good fit there given your background and goals.

How do you find these people? The easiest people to contact are those you know personally or through a mutual acquaintance. Otherwise, you could contact a school’s administrative staff and ask whether they could connect you to a current student. While this requires additional work, it will be well worth it for your top school preferences.

If you have to contact a stranger, use the following email template:

Dear [Student Name],

I hope this email finds you well. My name is [Your Name}, and I am currently completing my med school applications. I’m especially interested in attending [School Name] and am therefore hoping to get some more information about the program. [School Name]'s admissions committee gave me your email address as someone who could help me out.

I'd really appreciate it if you would spare 15-20 minutes to answer 3-5 quick questions in the upcoming days. If so, please let me know some days and times that are most convenient for you, your time zone, and the best number to reach you. I’ll do my best to accommodate.

Thanks for your time and consideration. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Best,

[Your Name]

If you have the opportunity to take a campus tour, you should also make it a priority to meet with students and faculty (the latter may require arranging an appointment in advance). Even a brief conversation might generate some interesting insights that you can refer back to in your secondary essays.

Medical school “Why us?” essay example

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Throughout my undergrad years, I’ve found that working hard to involve myself with others and their unique perspectives is one of the most productive ways in which I can learn. For example, I used to believe that illnesses were just a set of tangible symptoms that resulted solely from maladaptive genes. However, after working closely with families in Boston's inner city, I have come to realize how racial, physical, and social factors, such as a lack of access to fresh produce or primary health services, can influence the likelihood of disease. As I obtained a broader understanding of the many factors that contribute to health, I find myself asking new questions and wanting to learn more. How can we properly assess a community’s needs and design appropriate solutions? How can an understanding of sociocultural factors be used to heal current patients and prevent new ones?

I believe that the answers to these questions and others will come from the Community Health Program at the University of Washington (UW). The year-round lecture series on topics, such as “Health Disparities: An Unequal World's Biggest Challenge,” will allow me to engage closely with faculty and students to work towards developing holistic community-based solutions. Furthermore, the UW PEERS clinic and Friends of UW provide an opportunity to work closely with urban Seattle neighborhoods similar to those I have worked with in Boston.

Having connected with a range of Boston families, varying in age, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity, I have improved my sense of self-awareness and cultural sensitivity, attributes I hope to continue developing with the surrounding Seattle community. I am confident that UW and the Community Health Program can further prepare me to be a physician who not only improves the lives of individual patients, but also addresses the needs of entire communities.

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Part 5: The medical school gap year essay

Example gap year essay prompts

Example 1: If you are not attending college during the upcoming academic year, what are your plans? (Weill Cornell Medical College)

Example 2: Are you planning to matriculate into medical school immediately after completing your undergraduate education? If not, please explain what activities and/or careers you have pursued in the time between your college education and your application. (Baylor College of Medicine)

Gap year essay background

Essay prompts that ask about gap years tend to be fairly straightforward. Given that the average age of med school matriculants is currently 24, these days, it’s more common than not for applicants to have taken one or more years off between undergrad and med school. 

If that describes you, here’s how to think about your gap year essay: medical schools simply want to know what you’ve been up to since graduation and how those activities have prepared you to succeed in med school and beyond.

To approach this essay, begin with the factual. Here are the questions you should try to address in your gap year essay:

  • What was your goal in taking a gap year?

  • What did you do during your gap year? Or, if you haven’t taken it yet, what are your plans? Be specific in regard to dates, durations, jobs worked, places traveled to, etc.

  • How did your gap year experiences enhance your preparedness for medical school, your future skill set as a physician, and enrich your point of view about the world and/or the healthcare field? In other words, what did you learn that you’ll carry with you into medicine?

  • Bonus points if you can also connect your gap year experience to a specific program or feature of the medical school you're applying to.

Gap year essay misconception 1: “My gap year was unrelated to medicine so I have nothing to write about.”

If you’ve spent your gap year engaged in something directly related to medicine—say you worked in a research lab or were employed as an EMT—it’s easy to argue that you’re better prepared for med school now than when you were right out of college. But what if you’ve spent your gap year doing something else? 

Even if your gap year experiences were non-medical in nature, you should still explain how they’ve helped you become a stronger med school candidate. 

For example, say your main goal in taking a gap year was to improve your MCAT score, and you spent the year studying for the test while supporting yourself through a bartending job. Not only would you want to talk about much you were able to improve your score, you’d also want to discuss the skills you gained from bartending that are relevant to being a physician, such as social skills, teamwork, and adaptability.

Gap year essay misconception 2: “Writing about how I took a gap year to become a better candidate will make me look bad.”

Sometimes applicants who took a gap year to improve their medical school application profile in some way (a better MCAT score, more clinical experience, completing prerequisites, etc.) worry that talking about this in their essays will make them come off as an underqualified candidate. 

This could not be further from the truth. In reality, so long as your time off has yielded meaningful results, medical schools will see your efforts as evidence that you’re resilient, mature, and working towards constant improvement. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t the ideal candidate straight out of college—what matters is that you’re ready for med school now. 

Medical school gap year essay example

After graduating from college in May, I moved to Mexico City in order to attend a Spanish language school full-time and volunteer on the weekends at a low-income women’s health clinic. My goals in taking a gap year have been to improve my Spanish language skills to fluency while gaining experience in an international health setting. 

I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and plan to return to the area after medical school. While I studied Spanish through the intermediate level in college, given that 45 percent of residents in the LA metropolitan area currently speak Spanish at home, I feel that advancing my Spanish skills beyond the conversational is critical to becoming the best healthcare provider that I can be to patients in LA.

Volunteering at the women’s clinic has also been illuminating. Not only has it accelerated my language acquisition, particularly in that it’s helped me pick up valuable Spanish medical vocabulary, it’s also opened my eyes to how many women do not have adequate access to prenatal care and routine preventative services like cervical cancer screenings. I know that these issues are not unique to Mexico; too many women face the same barriers in the United States. 

As the result of my gap year experiences, I am committed to providing compassionate care for all patients, especially those without financial resources or English fluency, and plan to work towards creating greater healthcare access for disadvantaged patients. I look forward to the opportunity to begin this work as a volunteer at Columbia’s student-run free clinics for vulnerable populations in New York City.

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Part 6: The medical school leadership essay

Example leadership essay prompts

Example 1: “Describe your most unique leadership, entrepreneurial, or creative activity.” (UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine)

Example 2: “The pillars of our curriculum are Leadership, Curiosity, and Commitment. Tell us about how you have embodied one or more of these attributes in your path to medicine thus far. In which of these areas do you see the most opportunity for personal growth and why?” (University of Colorado School of Medicine)

Example 3: Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons)

Leadership essay background

Medical schools are looking for students who are going to drive change in healthcare. They don’t want students who only want to be physicians; they want leaders, too. 

Why is leadership important in a medical context? There are several problems that plague the United States healthcare system today, including rising healthcare costs, inequities in access to care, racial discrimination in medicine, and more. Change begins with doctors—think of Paul Farmer, Vivek Murthy, and Atul Gawande. All of these doctors are leaders in their respective fields and have created structural change in specific areas of medicine, whether it was through research, writing, or policy. 

Medical schools want students who are going to make an effort to solve problems, like the aforementioned physicians. The leadership essay is an opportunity to show admissions committees that you have what it takes to make a difference by reflecting on your own experiences as a leader. 

Leadership essay misconception #1: “I haven’t had any experiences as a leader.”

One does not have to hold formal leadership positions to be considered a leader. For example, working as a teacher could be considered a leadership position even though a teacher might not have a formal title like “President” or “Treasurer.” Leadership could also entail taking care of a family elder or directing a group project. By reflecting on positions and scenarios in which you have made an impact and demonstrated initiative, you will likely find an example of your own leadership.

Of course, it is to your benefit if you have formal leadership positions—it means that someone thought you were worthy enough to be chosen for some sort of responsibility. But, if you don’t, that’s perfectly okay as well. The most important takeaway of this essay won’t necessarily be the status or level of the experience you describe—it’s what you learned and how you describe it.

Leadership essay misconception #2: “It is enough to just describe my leadership experiences and what I did in them.”

These essays are a place for you to reflect on your experiences as a leader and demonstrate what you’ve learned—simply describing your work isn’t going to cut it. 

The idea in this essay is to show growth. If you are applying to medical school, it goes without saying that you have a lot more to learn before you can become a practicing physician. This is true not only when it comes to medical and scientific knowledge, but also when it comes to the personal qualities necessary to be an effective doctor.

In this essay, you will want to discuss your past growth as a leader—highlighting this experience is how you can indicate to medical schools that you will continue to learn and develop as a leader on your road to becoming a physician. Therefore, your essay must be reflective: to discuss past growth, you must deeply analyze your own experiences.

Medical school leadership essay example

During my sophomore year of college, I was selected as the Executive Director of BerkeleyShelter, an undergraduate volunteer organization that operates a shelter for students experiencing houselessness. The next year, I founded HealthGroup, a nonprofit focused on increasing access to affordable medications for individuals with chronic conditions. From these activities, my understanding of what it means to be a leader has begun to change.

At HealthGroup, we tried to drive change by drafting legislation, working with elected representatives, and launching campaigns to raise awareness about issues surrounding medication prices. As the founder, I took it upon myself to come up with a plan for other staff and members to follow. I thought it was my job as a leader to direct the organization’s work.

But, initially, HealthGroup struggled to create any sort of tangible change in prescription medicine prices; there were too many obstacles generated by pre-existing problems within the American healthcare system. In fact, one year after HealthGroups’s conception, not much had changed. Of course, I wasn’t expecting to fix the healthcare system overnight, but I didn’t expect my efforts to have yielded so little.

Before my senior year of college, I began to wonder how I could change HealthGroup: what could I do differently as the leader of the organization? I came to recognize that I hadn’t really given others an opportunity to share their own ideas—I had just assumed that I needed to run the group by myself. Maybe, as a leader, it wasn’t my job to single-handedly decide the organization’s direction but, rather, to create an environment where others could share their thoughts.

Today, HealthGroup has written several bills that have created significant changes in prescription drug access—the results of a 40-person collaboration. 

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Part 7: The medical school “Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay

Example “Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay prompts

Example 1: “Is there anything else you would like us to know?” (Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons)

Example 2: “Please reflect on your primary application and share something not addressed elsewhere that would be helpful to the Admissions Committee as we review your file.” (Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine)

“Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay background

The open-ended nature of “Anything else you’d like us to know?” essays tends to cause confusion for many applicants. Being invited to share anything you want can be intimidating!

The good news is that these types of essays allow you to highlight something about yourself that isn’t well represented elsewhere in your application, and you may even be able to use one of your pre-writes to do it.

There are two basic ways to approach “Anything else you’d like us to know?” essays:

  1. You can submit one of the above pre-writes that hasn’t already been asked for. For example, say a medical school asks you for an “Anything else?” essay but not a “Why us?” essay. In that case, you could slot in your “Why us?” essay here. Just be sure the content of the essay doesn’t repeat details and anecdotes that you’ve already mentioned in another essay you’re submitting to that school.

  2. You can write a completely new essay—if time permits you to do it well. For applicants who choose this route, common topics include strengths that haven’t gotten much attention yet, such as:

  • Extensive volunteer work

  • A strong research background

  • Other impressive achievements or skills

If you decide to write a new essay, take care not to treat the space like a catch-all by simply listing a bunch of skills or experiences, which will make your response sound like a résumé rather than an essay. Instead, give your essay focus by first deciding what you want to communicate to adcoms (for instance, your research bona fides), and then choose a few related examples that can together create a through line towards medicine. Despite the vagueness of the “Anything else?” prompt, your essay should still make an argument.

Even if you choose to write about a strength that isn’t explicitly related to medicine, such as an artistic or athletic achievement, you’ll still want to draw a connection to how it has made you a better medical school candidate.

“Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay misconception 1: “I must answer this prompt even though it’s optional.”

“Anything else you’d like us to know?” essays are often optional, which leaves many applicants struggling to determine whether they should answer the question at all. Some applicants erroneously believe that they must answer it, no matter what.  

Our advice is to not force it. We generally consider these types of essays as falling somewhere between optional and required. 

If you have something to add that would help further differentiate you as an applicant, you should do so, and if you’re able to do this using a pre-write, even better. However, if submitting an essay here would seem completely forced, or if you aren’t able to use a pre-write and don’t have the time to commit to writing a new essay that’s high quality, it probably isn’t worth it. 

The bottom line is to always optimize for quality.

“Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay misconception 2: “Any unused pre-write will work here.”

In many cases, you will be able to take advantage of your unused pre-writes to answer “Anything else you’d like us to know?” prompts. However, before shuffling through your already-written essays, consider whether there indeed is something you want adcoms to know beyond what you've been able to communicate through AMCAS or secondaries. In other words, you should ask yourself if the pre-write you want to use adds anything meaningful to your candidacy. 

You also don't have to necessarily use your “best” secondary here. Instead, consider which of your answers will best fit with the remainder of your application to that school, based on what you've already written for them and what they're looking for in candidates.

Medical school “Anything else you’d like us to know?” essay example

On the first Sunday of every month, I leave the house at 5:30 AM, coffee in hand, so I can be among a group of 20 volunteers who greet a new group of “bully breed” dogs ready to find loving families. Despite being sensitive, loyal pets, these dogs face pervasive negative stereotypes of aggression that make them among the most vulnerable to abuse and euthanasia. Fortunately, the Paws Please rescue culls bully breeds from high-kill shelters in the greater Houston area to give them a second chance at adoption. 

I first became acquainted with Paws Please when my own family adopted an American Staffordshire Terrier, Mary, through them when I was 15. Mary quickly bounded her way into the center of our family, and as a teenager it deeply distressed me whenever I attempted to reconcile the joy she brought us with the fact that she’d come close to being put down. A year later, I decided that I would become a Paws Please volunteer in order to help save dogs like Mary. I began attending the monthly “homecoming day” when I was a junior in high school, and have continued this work through my four years at Rice. 

On homecoming day, every new dog receives grooming, vaccines, microchips, and more. For six years, it’s brought me immense gratification to provide these initial moments of care, sometimes for the first time in a dog’s life. While many dogs come from troubling situations and arrive frightened or in need of medical attention, being part of the experienced volunteer team has taught me a great deal about taking stressful or even upsetting moments in stride, not to mention making effective use of teamwork to “process” large numbers of dogs efficiently but with thoroughness and compassion. In fact, as I’ve completed shadowing hours, medical volunteer work, and other clinical experiences as a premed, I’ve frequently found myself leaning on skills that I first developed through Paws Please, and I believe that these experiences will help shape my competence as a physician. I’m grateful for what my work in animal rescue has taught me and for the chance to make a difference in these dogs’ lives.  

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Part 8: The medical school COVID essay

Example COVID essay prompts:

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.” (UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine)

Example 2: “What have you done during the recent COVID-19 pandemic that will better prepare you to be a medical student and future physician?” (University of Miami Miller School of Medicine)

COVID essay background

During the 2020–2021 application cycle, many medical schools added COVID secondary essay prompts—usually optional—that allowed applicants to discuss how the pandemic had impacted their applications. In the 2021–2022 cycle, as the long-term effects of the pandemic became more evident, many of those formerly optional prompts became required of all applicants.

However, starting in 2023–2024, some schools have reverted to making their COVID prompts optional, and others have removed the prompts from their applications entirely.

Most COVID essay prompts can be divided into the following categories, with some med schools asking for a combination of the two:

  • Prompts that ask you to explain how the pandemic has negatively affected your medical school applications. In these essays, you can discuss disruptions to your education, test taking, and extracurriculars, plus any relevant personal circumstances that prevented you from presenting your best self to adcoms.

  • Prompts in which you’re tasked with reflecting more broadly on the pandemic, whether that’s in the realm of personal challenges you’ve faced or medicine in general.

COVID essay misconception 1: “I should make excuses for everything that’s less than ideal about my application.” 

It’s likely that the pandemic has thrown plenty of obstacles in the way of your medical school applications, but that doesn’t mean they should all receive equal weight in your COVID essay.

Keep the following in mind, particularly when answering prompts that ask how COVID has affected your preparedness for medical school, and especially if those prompts are optional: the essays are meant to account for appreciable challenges to your application process, allowing you to be seen holistically. Med schools want to understand how you’ve been kept from putting your best foot forward.

“Appreciable challenges” will differ for everyone. For some applicants, they might include illness, the death of a loved one, or financial difficulties. For others, they might mean a lack of access to required extracurriculars, like shadowing or research, or fewer opportunities to take the MCAT.

Whatever circumstances affected you, we suggest trying not to lament relatively insignificant frustrations, like receiving a worse grade in a virtual class than you might have in person or having to complete an extracurricular online. If your essay reads like you’re looking for sympathy regarding something minor, you’ll risk seeming insensitive or out of touch.

That said, it’s fine to write that you found virtual learning challenging or that certain opportunities were unavailable to you. Pick the circumstances that affected you most, stick to the facts, and make sure to talk about how you adapted and what you learned, with the goal of showing that you’re still a strong applicant.

COVID essay misconception 2: “Nothing bad happened to me during the pandemic, so I have nothing to write.”

As we just mentioned, everyone’s pandemic experience has been different, and it’s certainly true that some people have been much more fortunate than others. Nevertheless, COVID has affected everyone, and to reiterate what we wrote in the adversity essay section earlier, it’s not a competition to see who’s suffered the most.

Even if you’ve been relatively fortunate during the pandemic, you can still write about your COVID experience if it’s required of you. Describe the ways that you were affected and what you did to meet those challenges. Again, the key is to remain factual rather than seem like you’re seeking pity for relatively minor inconveniences. It’s also okay to acknowledge that you’ve been fortunate.

Additionally, bear in mind that a COVID essay doesn’t inherently need to describe something difficult. If appropriate to the prompt, you can also discuss:

  • Unexpected events or silver linings of the pandemic

  • Ways you’ve changed, lessons you’ve learned, or perspectives you’ve gained

  • How the pandemic informed your views of medicine

COVID essay example

When my college campus closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19, just a few months before my graduation, the momentum I’d felt propelling me into the future was suddenly put on hold. Nevertheless, I recognized that I was fortunate in many ways, including as a student. Although transitioning to online classes was admittedly disorienting, I’d already completed the vast majority of my coursework in person, including all my premed requirements.

However, my post-graduation plans changed dramatically. I was set to take a gap year, during which time I’d planned to complete my medical school applications while working full-time in the genetics lab I’d been a part of for the past year. Because the lab shut down along with the rest of the university, my position was paused and then a few months later cancelled entirely. As a result of losing this additional research experience, I decided to delay applying to medical school for another year.

Looking for ways to stay busy and help others after graduating, I became a virtual volunteer with a domestic abuse crisis text hotline and an online MCAT tutor. After a few months of job searching, I also began working as an ER scribe in August 2020. Although an intense experience, it was deeply gratifying to work with patients during the pandemic, and my clinical knowledge increased rapidly.

In April 2021, I was invited to come back to the genetics lab, which had reopened months before with just a couple researchers. While I’m grateful that, improbably, I’m now able to complete the gap year I’d envisioned pre-pandemic, I also know that the unexpected experiences of the past 16 months have made me a better future physician and reinforced my certainty that medicine is a field I’m excited and proud to be a part of.

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Final thoughts

Secondary applications will likely be one of the most time-consuming, stressful, and exhausting parts of your application process (the other is the medical school admission interview circuit if you’re fortunate to receive multiple invitations).

Nevertheless, you should give yourself some breaks to recharge so that you never rush submissions for the sake of rolling admissions and sacrifice quality.

Like every other piece of written material you submit, aim not only to answer the prompt, but also to give admissions committees deeper insights into what makes YOU so great for their school specifically.

”Dr.

About the Author

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.

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Appendix: Frequently asked questions

Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) we receive about medical school secondary essays that are not answered in this guide.

We encourage you to ask any other questions you have about secondary essays in the comments section below. We’ll make sure to answer your questions ASAP and add some of them to this FAQ section to make it easier for other students to find this information.

When should I expect to receive secondary applications?

Once you certify and submit your primary application and AMCAS receives your official transcripts, they begin verifying your application. You will receive your secondary applications after AMCAS completes verification and releases your primary applications to medical schools.

Because the verification process can take several weeks, it's important to submit your primary application as soon as possible after AMCAS opens submission on May 28. Students who submit AMCAS by early June can expect to begin receiving their secondary applications in late June to early July, positioning themselves to take full advantage of rolling admissions.

Note: Some DO schools send out secondaries as early as mid- to late-June.

(Further reading: The Ideal Medical School Application Timeline)

Will all medical schools send me a secondary application?

The majority will. However, whereas most schools send secondary applications without screening your primary application, some competitive schools will screen. You may experience a slight delay in receiving secondary applications from schools that screen.

How soon after receiving a secondary application should I aim to submit it?

As soon as possible, without sacrificing quality. While you should aim to submit secondaries within two weeks after receiving them, this is not required and you should never forfeit essay quality to do so. Many students believe there is a two-week “rule,” but very few schools actually expect the secondary to come back within two weeks. Moreover, the schools that have this expectation will make this explicit. In the grand scheme, a few days to a week later won’t make a huge difference.

Is it really a good idea to pre-write secondary essays? What if a school changes their secondary prompts during my admissions cycle?

Yes, you should absolutely pre-write secondary essays whenever possible because medical schools rarely change their prompts. In the event that a medical school does change their prompt, you'll likely be able to recycle your already-written essay for other schools.

Are “optional” essays really optional?

Yes. You should only answer an optional prompt when you have appropriate information to discuss. Forced responses will annoy admissions committees and can cast a negative light on the rest of your application.

Which secondaries should I work on first?

We recommend prioritizing your target schools, and specifically those that have the longest secondaries (so you can recycle more material for future applications) and those that you're most interested in attending. (so you can maximize the rolling admissions process at those institutions)

Do I need to submit my secondary essays two weeks after I receive my secondary applications?

Try not to get too caught up on the idea of a “two week” submission deadline. Unless a school has explicitly set a deadline of two weeks, your goal should just be to submit your essays as early as possible while still maintaining the quality of your essays.

If a secondary prompt asks me to explain my preference for a particular location, can I be honest about my reasons?

Various factors impact a med school applicant’s decisions about where to apply. Many applicants make these decisions based on proximity to family or home, for example. There’s nothing wrong with being transparent about your desire to stay close to home, but don’t leave it at that. You don’t want to give adcoms any reason to think that you might have only chosen their school out of convenience, so be sure to also describe how your connection to the local community will make you a great fit on the campus and vice versa. How will you utilize your existing networks and cultural knowledge of the local area to benefit the school?

Is it okay to repeat some information from my primary application on my secondary applications?

As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t be repeating the same anecdotes or details in your secondary essays that you used in your personal statement. However, the experiences listed in the Work & Activities Section of your primary application will almost certainly reappear in your secondary essays. You’ll want to use your secondary essays to provide additional context, so it may help to think of the Work & Activities Section as the movie trailer and the secondary essays as the feature film.

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