Search secondary prompts by school, question type, or length.
Loading prompts...
81 prompts
Share a non-academic failure you've experienced. How did you handle it, what did you learn, and how do you generally approach life's challenges?
Indicate any special experiences, unusual factors or other information you feel would be helpful in evaluating you, including, but not limited to, education, employment, extracurricular activities, prevailing over adversity.
Describe the last time you were criticized by a peer or supervisor. How did you handle it?
The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced that helped shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result.
Please describe a personal experience in which you have encountered discrimination.
How will you use your life experience with poverty and housing insecurity as a physician?
Tell us about a time when you faced a significant challenge or setback...
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
Please share with us something unique about your pathway to medical school, including any obstacles you may have faced.
Describe how you have dealt with a personal challenge or major obstacle that you have overcome. Focus on what you learned about yourself and how it will help you during the challenges you might face in medical school.
We recognize that each applicant's journey is unique. If there were any extenuating circumstances that limited your involvement in service, academic, or other preparatory experiences—including MCAT preparation/taking—please share them here. If none, simply type 'N/A' in the response area.
Not achieving a goal or one's desire can sometimes be disheartening. What have you discovered from your setbacks and disappointments and how does this translate to your current way of thinking?
Optional prompt addressing how individual circumstances, barriers, or discrimination have affected your education and medical school application journey.
Physicians, military physicians in particular, often navigate situations that are uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Describe a time when you faced a challenging situation that required you to adapt in the face of uncertainty. What did you learn from the experience, and how do you think you will apply what you learned as an aspiring military physician?
As a medical student and future physician, you will be faced with many uncertain...
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it, and what did you learn from it?
Briefly describe a specific challenge you faced and how you overcame it. What was your approach, what did you learn from the process, and how do you see those skills translating to a career in medicine?
During your career as a physician, you will likely encounter obstacles, and be required to overcome challenges. Please describe your experience with a situation that had an unfavorable outcome, including your reaction, how you might have responded differently, and what you learned about yourself.
Describe a situation in which you didn't get something you felt you deserved.
Describe a time you received feedback about your performance and disagreed with the feedback. What did you disagree with? How did you handle it?
Please discuss one of the below bullet points and answer: Why was it challenging? How did you handle it? Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently? What did you learn? (A challenging situation or obstacle faced; OR academic road bumps such as low performance, failing, dropping/retaking courses)
Describe a time or situation where you have been unsuccessful or failed. What did you learn from this experience and how have you applied this learning to your work and/or life?
The art of medicine requires resilience on the part of its practitioners...
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
Recount a time when you made a decision you regret. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Describe a time where you entered a new environment or situation, how you adapted, what you learned, and how that experience helped you grow in your ability to serve others and contribute to MCW's missions during your education.
Please describe a personal situation of failure, significant challenge or a major obstacle that you have overcome. Include a description of your coping skills and lessons you learned about yourself from that situation.
Give an example when you have shown resilience and how you would overcome academic adversity if encountered in medical school.
Describe a situation in which working with a colleague, family member or friend has been challenging...what did you gain from the experience that will benefit you as a future health care provider?
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
Have you encountered significant personal or professional challenges that have shaped your motivation...
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
If applicable, please describe how your experience with challenges has informed your perspective...
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
Describe a significant sacrifice you had to make for someone else. How did you respond, what help-seeking behaviors did you utilize, and how did the experience shape your resilience, self-awareness, or personal growth?
Describe the effect of an endeavor that didn't go according to your plan.
Discuss a time in your life that demonstrated your resilience and ability to overcome adversity. How did this change you?
Physicians must act with limited information. Describe a time you faced an ambiguous or uncertain situation and navigated it without complete data.
Have you or your family experienced economic hardships, regardless of current income status?
Tell us how your past experiences and/or challenges have defined you.
Please describe any obstacles that you have encountered during your journey to a career in medicine and how you overcame them.
Medicine demands humility, self-awareness, and resilience. Describe a significant challenge or failure you have faced. What did you learn about yourself, and how has it shaped your approach to working with others and handling responsibility? (if applicable)
Discuss a difficult or challenging situation you have encountered and how you dealt with it. What did you learn from this situation?
Describe a time when you received feedback that you did not agree with. How did you handle this situation? What did you learn from this experience?
Discuss hardships (financial, illness, family loss, educational disadvantage) and strategies used to address them.
Share any unique personal experiences or challenges—whether educational, financial, or otherwise—and explain their significance to your pursuit of a medical degree.
Have you experienced any road bumps in your academic career? (Low academic performance, dropping, retaking, or failing courses, etc.)
Please share any instances when a goal of yours was deterred or even halted. What lessons did you learn from this experience, and how did it shape your approach to future challenges?
Have you experienced any hardship or adversity, personally or professionally? If yes, please share your experience with us.
In what ways did the COVID-19 pandemic alter/interrupt your medical school application?
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.
Describe a time when you suffered a setback. How did you respond to this challenge?
Describe a situation where you had to adjust your behavior or response based on new information or changing conditions.
Please describe a time in your life when you faced a significant personal challenge that wasn't related to academics. How did you handle this challenge, and how will the coping skills you've developed help you in medical school and beyond?
Please describe to the Admissions Committee a challenge or disappointment you have overcome and what you learned about yourself from that experience.
Tell us about a personal challenge you have faced in your life thus far and how you demonstrated resilience and grit to overcome it.
Medical school demands significant personal sacrifices, including long hours, emotional stress, and sometimes compromising personal time...
This text is incomplete. The source we found it on cut it off. Read the full question on your actual secondary before you write to it. Have the full text? Send it
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 and the support person(s) from whom you sought advice
What characteristics, qualities, or attributes do you possess that have helped you to deal with conflict and change?
Beyond academics (grades and MCATs), describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to address this challenge.
If you've experienced academic challenges while in college and/or graduate or professional school, please describe and explain below. Please be sure to include withdrawals, incompletes, poor grades, etc.
Describe a time when you experienced an obstacle, challenge or failure. How did it affect you? What did you learn?
Tell us about a time when you had to overcome adversity.
Describe a time when you faced a significant life crisis or an academic, personal, or professional failure. How did you respond, what did you learn, and how did the experience influence your future actions?
Please describe the unique path that has led you to medicine as well as any obstacles or adversity that you had to overcome in achieving this goal. How will this experience affect your career as a physician?
Describe an experience where you attempted a task and realized during the process that you were not ready for it. How did this experience impact your approach to trying new things?
Reflect on personal experiences of resilience and emotional intelligence throughout your life and how this has prepared you in your pursuit of a career in medicine.
Describe a difficult situation you faced, how you responded to this situation and how this helped shape the person you've become.
Explain any impact that COVID-19 may have had on your educational, research, volunteering or employment plans.
Briefly describe a crisis or significant challenge in your life, how you have worked through the crisis or challenge, and what you have learned from this experience.
Please use the space below for anything you might wish to discuss related to the corona virus (COVID-19) public health crisis.
Please describe any extenuating circumstances that may have affected your medical or non-medical service experiences, including any circumstances that impacted your engagement in activities, academics, and MCAT
Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced.
Describe an experience demonstrating resilience and adaptability—the ability to tolerate stressful or changing environments—with persistence and recovery from setbacks. Explain how this prepares you for medical school challenges.
Tell us about a challenge or obstacle you experienced. How did you manage it?
Please briefly describe how the pandemic impacted your ability to pursue experiences like clinical work, shadowing, research, or community service.
Describe an academic, personal, or professional challenge you have encountered, how you responded, and what you learned from facing the challenge. How did it prepare you to be a physician?
Reflect on a time when a failure, or an apparent failure, set you up for later success. Do you have a favorite failure that you now see as a pivotal moment in your personal or professional growth?
It is important to understand that everyone needs help at various times in their lives. Reflecting on the last five years, describe a time you asked for help and what you gained from that experience that has influenced your approach to asking for help.
Describe a time (not related to research) when you were told you had done something wrong. How has the experience changed you?
Describe a non-academic challenge you have faced and explain how you overcame it.
Reflect on a non-academic situation when you had to change course, and how you did so.
How have you built your resilience?
Describe a time or situation where you have been unsuccessful or failed.
Please describe a challenge you faced and how you addressed it.
If there has been a significant economic hardship, please explain the circumstances. If none, please enter N/A.