Secondary Essay Prompts for the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Below are the secondary essay prompts for the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH.
2019 – 2020
- Essay: Additional Information (Optional)
- Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.
- Required Essay: Greatest Challenge
- The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to 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 limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Required Essay: Research
- Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. In addition, please briefly share your motivation for pursuing this research project and reflect on how this experience affected you. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below.
- Required Essay: Small Group Essay
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it?
- Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Required for College Program: Areas of Improvement Essay
- Each year our students target for themselves areas of improvement. Other than the acquisition of new knowledge, what personal area do you think you have that could use strengthening? Design a plan as to how you could improve it.
- Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Required for College Program: Criticism and Feedback Essay
- Tell us about a time when you received unexpected criticism or negative feedback. How did you react? What did you do?
- Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Required for College Program: Career Essay
- How do you see your career ten years from now?
- Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Required for College Program: Teaching Essay
- When were you challenged to teach, coach, or mentor others to learn a new skill or improve an old one? Please describe how it went and what you learned from the experience.
- Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Essay: Gap Year
- Did you take a gap year?
- If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us in no more than four sentences what you are doing during this gap, and why.
- Please upload a picture of yourself. The picture is NOT required, but will help us to remember you. Please note that if your uploaded picture looks sideways to you, it will to us too! We can’t make changes to your photo on our end after you have uploaded and submitted your application.
- If you choose to not upload a photo.
2018 – 2019
Essay: Greatest Challenge
The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to 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 limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
Essay: Gap Year
Did you take a gap year?
Yes / No
If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us in no more than four sentences what you are doing during this gap, and why.
Gap Year
Essay: Small Group Essay
If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it?
Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
Below are the secondary essay prompts for the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
2017 – 2018
- The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine strives to ensure that its students become respectful physicians who embrace all dimensions of caring for the whole person. Please describe how your personal characteristics or life experiences will contribute to the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine community and bring educational benefits to our student body. (1000 characters)
- Is there any further information that you would like the Committee on Admissions to be aware of when reviewing your file that you were not able to notate in another section of this or the AMCAS Application? (1000 characters)
- Why have you chosen to apply to the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and how do you think your education at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will prepare you to become a physician for the future? (1 page, formatted at your discretion, upload as PDF)
2017 – 2018
- Required Essay: Greatest Challenge
- The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to 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 limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs. If the 3,500 character recommendation is exceeded, your essay WILL still be saved in its entirety.
- Required Essay: Research
- Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below.
- Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs. If the 3,500 character recommendation is exceeded, your essay WILL still be saved in its entirety.
- Required Essay: Small Group Essay
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it?Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs. If the 1000 character recommendation is exceeded your essay WILL still be saved in its entirety.
Optional: Additional Information Essay (University Program Only)
- Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.
2016 – 2017
MedEdits advises against using outdated prompts for the current season.
- The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to 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 may have learned about yourself as a result. Please limit your response to 3500 characters.
- One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or in another scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that the definition of research is broadly-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis, and can include both medically and non-medically-related investigations. This essay is optional Please limit your response to 3500 characters.
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it?  Please limit your response to 400 to 1000 characters.
- Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program. This response is optional.
Secondary essay webcast with Dr. Jessica Freedman, founder and president of MedEdits Medical Admissions. Â Read more about Dr. Freedman.

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Topics covered in this presentation:
- When should I submit my secondary essays?
- Pay attention to the word/character limits.
- Can I recycle secondary essay prompts for multiple schools?
- Identify topics that you left out of your primary application.
- And, much more.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Admissions Requirements
Learn more about this school:
Office of Admissions, T-308
Cleveland, OH 44106-4915 USA
(216) 368-3450
Secondary Essay Prompts for Other Schools
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Secondary Essay Prompts By School
University of Arizona College of Medicine (Phoenix)
A.T. Still University–School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA), Mesa
Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (AZCOM), Glendale
University of South Alabama College of Medicine, Mobile
Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM), Dothan
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine–Auburn Campus (VCOM-Auburn), Auburn
Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (ARCOM), Fort Smith
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles
University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine, Riverside
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco
Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine–California (TUCOM-CA), Vallejo
Western University of Health Sciences/ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (Western U/COMP), Pomona
Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM), Parker
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington
Howard University College of Medicine, Washington
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Miami
Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee
University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando
University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Bradenton Campus (LECOM Bradenton), Bradenton
Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-KPCOM), Fort Lauderdale
Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, Augusta
Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta
Georgia Campus–Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM), Suwanee
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago
University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (CCOM), Downers Grove
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City
Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MU-COM), Indianapolis
University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville
University of Pikeville–Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (UP-KYCOM), Pikeville
Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport, Shreveport
Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Bethesda
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
Harvard Medical School, Boston
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor
Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Kalamazoo
Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM), East Lansing
William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (WCUCOM), Hattiesburg
University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, Columbia
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis
A.T. Still University–Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM), Kirksville
Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCU-COM), Kansas City
University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha
Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUNCOM), Henderson
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark
Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway
Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (RowanSOM), Stratford
Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM), Las Cruces
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx
City University of New York School of Medicine, New York
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York
Hofstra North Shore – Northwell School of Medicine, Hempstead
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
New York Medical College, Valhalla
New York University School of Medicine, New York
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine, Brooklyn
State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse
Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester
Weill Cornell Medicine, New York
New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), Old Westbury
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine–New York (TouroCOM-NY), New York City
The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, WinstonSalem
Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM), Lillington
Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown
Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus
The University of Toledo College of Medicine, Toledo
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton
Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM), Athens
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine (OSU-COM), Tulsa
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey
Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
The Commonwealth Medical College, Scranton
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), Erie
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), Philadelphia
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, Caguas
Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine, Bayamon
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan
University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia
University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Greenville, Greenville
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine–Carolinas Campus (VCOM-Carolinas), Spartanburg
Meharry Medical College, Nashville
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Memphis
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville
Lincoln Memorial University–DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM), Harrogate
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Bryan
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, El Paso
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Lubbock
The University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio, San Antonio
University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin
University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, Galveston
University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, Harlingen
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Southwestern Medical
University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine (UIWSOM), San Antonio
University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth/Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNTHSC/TCOM), Ft. Worth
University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke
Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM), Lynchburg
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine–Virginia Campus (VCOM-Virginia), Blacksburg
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine (PNWU-COM), Yakima
*Data collected from MSAR 2022-2023, 2022 Osteopathic Medical College Information Book, and institution website.
Disclaimer: The information on this page was shared by students and/or can be found on each medical school’s website. MedEdits does not guarantee it’s accuracy or authenticity.