Secondary Essay Prompts – Mercer University School of Medicine

2017 – 2018

• The Mercer 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 Mercer 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 Mercer University School of Medicine and how do you think your education at Mercer 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

• Do you consider yourself to have been raised rural? Please explain.
• Do you consider yourself to have been raised or to be residing in an area that is medically underserved or in a county that consists of medically underserved populations? By medically underserved we mean populations vulnerable to poor health due to difficulties accessing adequate health care services. This may be due to factors including but not limited to: education level; poverty; being uninsured or underinsured; lack of a usual source of care other than the emergency department; belonging to a socially marginalized group with poorer health outcomes; cultural or language barriers to receiving quality medical care; distance or lack of transportation to needed medical care. Please explain.
• Upon completion of undergraduate medical education and residency, what do you envision yourself doing?
• The mission of Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) is to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Summarize your work and learning experiences you believe reflect congruence with this mission. There is no need to elaborate on relevant experiences listed in your primary application but please include references to them as appropriate, and summarize them here.
• If you wish to, please briefly explain below to the Admissions Committee experiences, attributes or qualifications you believe are unique to you that can add to the diversity of the educational environment at MUSM.
• Please explain to the Admissions Committee factors that you could not highlight above that would help them better understand your unique circumstances. If you would like to briefly highlight any substantial updates with regard to your application (example, volunteer experiences) that have occurred after you submitted the primary AMCAS application, please summarize them below.

2016 – 2017

MedEdits advises against using outdated prompts for the current season.

• The mission of the Mercer University School of Medicine is to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. How do you plan to contribute to healthcare in rural or underserved Georgia?
• Please describe a service or volunteer activity that you feel best prepared you for the mission of our school?
• The recruitment of a diverse student body is a major goal of Mercer University School of Medicine’s Admissions Committee. Students learn from each other as well as from faculty, and being part of a diverse student body affords additional learning opportunities for every student. Please tell us what facets of your life and education to date would contribute to the achievement of this goal. Such facets might include your early education, socioeconomic status, culture, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and life or work experiences.
• What ethical dilemmas do you foresee that you might encounter in a medical practice in rural and underserved Georgia? Please describe one such incident and how you might resolve it.
• Would you consider yourself disadvantaged as compared to the ‘average’ medical school applicant?
• Please explain to the Admissions Committee other factors that would help them better understand your unique circumstances? (i.e. poor grades, MCAT score, missing information, life circumstances, legal difficulties, additions to your AMCAS application since it was completed, etc.)
• Residency Verification Form. Must be notarized.
• Passport sized photo

*Limit of 230 words per essay.

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.