Case Western Reserve University Secondary Essay Prompts

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

About Case Western reserve university

Secondary Deadline: December 1, 2024
Secondary Fee: $90
FAP Waiver:
CASPer Required: No
Screens Applications: No
Accepts Application Updates: Yes

Mission

The School’s mission is three-fold: providing excellence in medical education through our unique curriculum, advancing discoveries from our laboratories to patients, and improving the health of our community.

2024-2025

‍Required Responses:

1. 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, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. (2,000 character limit)

2. Personal Growth: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)

3. Cultural Awareness: Many have been reckoning with the impact of systemic injustices on social environments and healthcare equity. Describe a personal experience that has deepened your cultural awareness and humility, and the impact of that learning on how you look at health and healthcare. (1,500 character limit)

4. Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:

1. Research/Scholarly Work: One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or other scholarly project (capstone project, honors thesis, etc.), please reflect on the experience, including how you learned from it, what challenged you, and how it may have impacted you educationally and professionally. If you have not completed research or scholarly project, please indicate that in the text box below. (2,500 character limit)

If the details of your project are included elsewhere in your application no need to repeat them here. We are interested in learning what you took away from the experience(s).
If you are applying to both the University Program and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Program, the research response will default to the CCL Program required response.

2. Additional Information Response: Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)

2023-2024

Required
Greatest Challenge Response:
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, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3500 characters)
Please limit your response to one page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

COVID-related Coursework Response:
If you took coursework that was Pass/No Pass due to pandemic disruptions for 2019-2020 and/or 2020-2021 academic years, please list the courses below.

Gap Year Response:
Did you take a gap year(s)? Yes or No. If Yes: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us what you are doing during this gap, and why. Please limit your response to no more than 1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs. (1000 characters)

Optional
COVID-related Disruptions Response:
The past few years have reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. You may use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial and medical disruptions, etc.If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, please tell us how you were able to explore these areas in alternate ways. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs. (3500 characters)

Applicable to students applying to the 4-year program.

Research Response:
One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or 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 research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. If you have not completed research, please indicate that in the text box below. (3500 characters)
Please limit your response to one page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Additional Information Response:
Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? Please limit your response to 3,500 characters. (3500 characters)

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 click the ‘Skip’ button below to complete the page.

2022-2023

Required Responses For All Applicants:

Greatest Challenge Response: 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, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result.

Please limit your response to one page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Optional Responses For All Applicants:

COVID-related Disruptions Response:

The past few years have reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. You may use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial and medical disruptions, etc.

If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, please tell us how you were able to explore these areas in alternate ways.

Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

COVID-related Coursework Response: If you took coursework that was Pass/No Pass due to pandemic disruptions for for 2019-2020 and/or 2020-2021 academic years, please list the courses below.

Gap Year Response: Did you take a gap year(s)? Yes or No. If Yes:

If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us what you are doing during this gap, and why. Please limit your response to no more than 1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

University Program (4 yr. MD) Applicants:
Optional:

Research Response: One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or 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 research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. If you have not completed research, please indicate that in the text box below.
Please limit your response to one page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Note that if you are applying to both the University Program and the CCLCM, the research response will default to the CCLCM required response.

CCLCM (5 yr. MD) Applicants:
Essay prompts will not be shared this year. They will be available within the application when applicants receive the secondary application.

MSTP (MD/PhD) Applicants:
There are no additional required essays for MSTP applicants in addition to the challenge essay listed above for all applicants to CWRU.

2021-2022

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

2020-2021

1. Essay: Additional Information (Optional)

2. 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.

3. Required Essay: Greatest Challenge

4. 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.

5. Required Essay: Research

6. 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.

7. Required Essay: Small Group Essay

8. 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?

9. Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

10. Required for College Program: Areas of Improvement Essay

11. 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.

12. Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

13.Required for College Program: Criticism and Feedback Essay

14. Tell us about a time when you received unexpected criticism or negative feedback. How did you react? What did you do?

15. Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

16. Required for College Program: Career Essay

17. How do you see your career ten years from now?

18. Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

19. Required for College Program: Teaching Essay

20. 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.

21. Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Essay: Gap Year

22. Did you take a gap year?

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. If you choose to not upload a photo click the ‘Skip’ button below to complete the page.

2019-2020

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

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.

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.

2017-2018

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

1. 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. (3500 char)

2. 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. OPTIONAL 3500 char

3. 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? (300 – 1000 char)

4. 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. OPTIONAL

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.