Medical School Essays

Medical School Personal Statement & Secondary Essay Prompts

The prompt for the med school personal statement couldn’t be more open-ended. It simply asks why you want to go to medical school. The secondary prompts, on the other hand, address a range of specific issues, and have a shorter character or word limit.

How should you approach the medical school essays? We suggest you begin with the personal statement, for two reasons. First, it’s extremely important, in the sense that it goes to every school you apply to. Second, it gives you an opportunity to distinguish yourself from other applicants by talking about more than just your achievements.

The personal statement (medical school) is, above all, a test of your storytelling abilities. Can you reflect on your experience in a meaningful way that attracts the admissions committee’s attention and makes them want to read more? Can you convince them that you have a genuine motivation for pursuing medicine? Can you do better than just say you want to help people?

You may be tempted to look at medical school essay examples, but then you run the risk of sounding like everyone else. To stand out on the page, you need to spend time thinking about your own experience. If you’re going to work with a medical school essay editing service on this, you don’t need a scientist or someone in the medical field; you need someone highly skilled in drawing out your best possible narrative and helping you put it down on paper. That’s why Our Philosophy applies just as much to medical school essays as other application essays. You’ve already shown off your accomplishments in the other parts of your application; now you need to stop, reflect, and say something that makes a different kind of impression on your reader. 

When you have a personal statement you feel good about, you’ll be in an excellent position to begin the more straightforward medical school secondary essays, which focus on your academic background, professional development, and personal beliefs.

How important are secondary essays (medical school)? They’re extremely important for each individual school, but the overall stakes are lower, because you send a different set of responses to each school. How do you go about responding to the secondary essay prompts (medical school)? The key is clarity. If you think before you write, just as you did for the personal essay, you’ll be able to write these responses confidently and without fuss.

If you’re applying to medical school, your GPA and MCAT are the most important factors. Having said that, a good set of application essays can make all the difference between acceptance and rejection. To do well on this part of the application, you need someone who can help you draw out your best possible narrative to stand out on the page.