Baylor College of Medicine Secondary Essay Prompts

These are the secondary application essay prompts for Baylor College of Medicine. To put your best foot forward and maximize your chance of an interview invitation, visit our secondary application editing page.

About Baylor College of Medicine

Secondary Deadline:
Supplemental Application Deadline for M.D./PH.D. – Oct. 1
Supplemental Application Deadline for M.D. only – Nov. 15
Secondary Fee
: $100
FAP Waiver: No
CASPer Required: Yes
Screens Applications: No
Accepts Application Updates: Yes

Mission

Baylor College of Medicine is a health sciences university that creates knowledge and applies science and discoveries to further education, healthcare and community service locally and globally.

Vision

Improving health through science, scholarship and innovation.

Values

  • Respect
    • We promote and support diversity, inclusion and equity
    • We value our colleagues and ourselves as the College’s most valuable assets
    • We earn the loyalty of those we serve through our commitment
  • Integrity
    • Honesty, ethics and openness guide our interactions
    • We encourage transparent analysis of our policies, process, procedures and decisions
    • We are accountable for our actions
  • Innovation
    • We lead through visionary innovation and creativity
    • We foster a healthy culture of change
    • We turn vision into action
  • Teamwork
    • We form mutually beneficial partnerships to achieve results
    • We look past ourselves to focus on the impact of our actions
    • We recognize all who contribute to our work
  • Excellence
    • We focus on quality and value
    • We commit to continuous quality improvement for outstanding outcomes
    • We are effective and efficient

2024-2025

1. In addition to training as a competent physician, please select up to two additional areas of interest from the items below that you may want to pursue during your medical studies. Your responses will have no bearing on applications to joint degrees or special programs to which you might also apply. What knowledge, skills and attitudes have you developed that have prepared you for this career path? (1000 character limit)

  • Clinical Research
  • Healthcare/disparities/medical undeserved communities
  • Academic Medicine
  • Community Health
  • Simulation in medical education
  • Health systems science
  • Telehealth Advocacy

2. Are you planning to matriculate into medical school immediately after completing your undergraduate education? If not, please explain what activities and/or careers you have pursued in the time between your college education and your application. Please explain (no limit) (If yes) No essay needed.

3. 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. You may expand upon but not repeat TMDSAS or AMCAS application information. This section is mandatory. Please make sure you submit an essay or your application will not be reviewed by the committee. (2000 character limit)

2023-2024

1. In addition to training as a competent physician, please select up to two additional areas of interest from the items below that you may want to pursue during your medical studies. Your responses will have no bearing on applications to joint degrees or special programs to which you might also apply. Options include:
  • Clinical Research
  • Healthcare/disparities/medical underserved communities
  • Academic Medicine
  • Community Health
  • Simulation in medical education
  • Health systems science
  • Telehealth
  • Advocacy
    What knowledge, skills and attitudes have you developed that have prepared you for this career path? (1,000 character limit)

    2. Are you planning to matriculate into medical school immediately after completing your undergraduate education? If not, please explain what activities and/or careers you have pursued in the time between your college education and your application. (no limit)

    3. 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. You may expand upon but not repeat TMDSAS or AMCAS application information.
    This section is mandatory.
    Please make sure you submit an essay or your application will not be reviewed by the committee. (2000 character limit).

2022-2023

The secondary application essay prompts from this medical school application cycle are the same as above.

2021-2022

All prompts have a 2,000 character limit.

1. If you have taken a gap year(s), please explain what you have been, or will be, doing since graduating from your undergrad institution. 

2. Is becoming a physician a second career for you? If so, what was your first career choice? 

3 (REQUIRED). 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. You may expand upon but not repeat AMCAS application information. 

2020-2021

The secondary application essay prompts from this medical school application cycle are the same as above.

2019-2020

All prompts have a 2,000 character limit.

1. 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. You may expand upon but not repeat AMCAS application information.

2. What did you do during your gap year?

3. If you are a career changer there is this: Is becoming a physician a second career for you? If so, what was your first career choice?

MSTP

4. Please describe your primary research Interests for the PhD portion of dual degree training including potential Baylor College of Medicine or Rice University faculty with whom you would like to work. (Will not limit final research project or mentor selection).

2018-2019

1. 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. You may expand upon but not repeat AMCAS application information.

2. What did you do during your gap year?

3. If you are a career changer there is this: Is becoming a physician a second career for you? If so, what was your first career choice?

2017-2018

1. 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. You may expand upon but not repeat AMCAS application information.
(2000 character limit)

This is a difficult question because the key is to answer effectively while not repeating what was stated in the primary app. Choose an experience or experiences you feel strongly about and then try to think about how you could explain their importance from a fresh angle. Perhaps there was a deeper or different lesson it taught you than what you previously described. Tie the experience to a tangible skill you gained or lesson you learned which will help you impact the medical profession. If there are experiences or components of your background which were not covered in the primary app, it makes sense to expand upon them here. This may be a more effective approach. Considering choosing something non-medical which helped you grow as a person and future doctor. An interesting personal anecdote is one way to catch the attention of the reader and make this a unique response.

2016-2017

The secondary application essay prompts from this year are the same as above.

Disclaimer: The information on this page was shared by students and/or can be found on the medical school’s website. Med School Insiders does not guarantee the accuracy of the information on this page.

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