What Are Secondary Essays?
After AMCAS verifies your primary application, individual medical schools send their own supplemental ("secondary") applications. Secondaries typically include:
- A school-specific fee (often $80–$150)
- 2–6 essay prompts unique to that school
- Demographic and background questions not covered in AMCAS
Secondaries are where adcoms learn what makes you specifically interested in their program — and how you handle volume and pressure.
The 6 Most Common Prompts
These prompts (or close variants) appear at most schools. Pre-write them in May/June so you can adapt quickly when secondaries arrive:
- Diversity essay. "How will you contribute to the diversity of our medical school class?" Focus on lived experience and perspective, not demographics alone.
- Adversity essay. "Describe a significant challenge you have faced and what you learned." Pick something real that you have processed — not the deepest wound you have.
- Why this school. "Why are you interested in our medical school specifically?" Requires research into curriculum, mission, programs by name.
- Why medicine. "Why do you want to be a physician?" Different angle than your personal statement — adcoms want a fresh take.
- Future practice or specialty. "What kind of physician do you see yourself becoming?" Be specific without locking yourself in.
- Anything else. "Is there anything else you would like the admissions committee to know?" Optional — use only if you have something important to add.
Turnaround Time Matters
Most adcoms track how long you take to return secondaries. The widely cited target is 2 weeks or less. Faster is fine if quality holds; slower (4+ weeks) is read as lower interest in the program.
At rolling-admission schools, every week of delay narrows the remaining interview slots. Returning all secondaries within 2 weeks is one of the most important and most controllable decisions in the application cycle.
How to Pre-Write Secondaries
Most schools reuse the same prompts year after year. Resources like SDN's secondary essay threads compile prior-cycle prompts by school. Process:
- In May, compile a list of expected prompts for each of your target schools.
- Pre-write a core version of each of the 6 common prompts (250–500 word base).
- When real secondaries arrive, adapt each pre-written essay to the exact prompt and word limit. Do not paste verbatim — tailor.
- Add genuinely school-specific content (programs, faculty, mission) for the "why this school" essays.
The "Why This School" Essay
The most common failure mode: generic praise. "I love your collaborative culture" is what every applicant writes. Adcoms screen this out instantly.
Stronger versions cite:
- Specific programs by name (a longitudinal clinic, a specific track, a research initiative)
- Specific community partnerships or service learning sites the school works with
- Curricular structure that fits your learning style (PBL vs. lecture, early clinical exposure)
- Faculty work that aligns with your interests — naming specific researchers if applicable
The test: would your essay fit any other school? If yes, it is not specific enough.
