UC Davis School of Medicine Secondary Essay Prompts
These are the secondary application essay prompts for University of California Davis School of Medicine. To put your best foot forward and maximize your chance of an interview invitation, visit our secondary application editing page.
about University of California Davis School of Medicine
Secondary Deadline: 30 days after receiving the secondary application invite
Secondary Fee: $120
FAP Waiver: Yes
CASPer Required: No
PREview Required: Yes
Screens Applications: Yes
Accepts Application Updates: No
Mission
To provide excellent learner-centered education to a diverse body of medical students and graduate students; cultivating in them the passion to improve lives and transform the health of the communities they will serve as physicians, scientists and health care leaders.
2024-2025
2. Do you have a connection to Northern or Central California? If yes, explain. (500 Characters)
3. Please list the activities you would like to be considered in your application to UC Davis. The secondary activities may be used to highlight your experiences specifically relevant for UC Davis. You may use your most meaningful experiences listed in your initial AMCAS application or select/add others that may be relevant to UC Davis. Please only list three.
The admissions committee will review all AMCAS application activities as well; this an opportunity to highlight your most meaningful and/or relevant to UC Davis School of Medicine. Please list your actual hours completed at the time of your secondary submission, not projected commitment. Therefore, enter your secondary application submission date as your end date for activities still in progress. (3 activities can be listed, 500 Characters for each)
2023-2024
2. Optional: Do you have a connection to Northern or Central California? (500 characters)
3. Activities: Please list the activities you would like to be considered in your application to UC Davis. The secondary activities may be used to highlight your experiences specifically relevant for UC Davis. You may use your most meaningful experiences listed in your initial AMCAS application or select/add others that may be relevant to UC Davis. Please only list three. The admissions committee will review all AMCAS application activities as well; this an opportunity to highlight your most meaningful and/or relevant to UC Davis School of Medicine.
Prompt for activities: Briefly describe this activity and its significance. How did it prepare you for a medical career? Include any supporting information (e.g. your contribution to the project or accomplishment as well as links to any publication, etc) (500 characters each activity)
2022-2023
1. Discuss any elements of your application that you feel might be concerning to the Admissions Committee (This could include explanation of metric trends, institutional actions, legal violations, etc.) Please enter N/A if no concerns to report.
2. Do you have a connection to Northern or Central California? [yes/no] Please explain:
Rural-PRIME:
1. Are you interested in applying to the Rural-PRIME program? If “Yes”: Please describe how your experiences with rural communities make you a good fit for the Rural-PRIME program. Describe your future plans to serve a rural underserved community.
TEACH-MS:
Are you interested in applying to the TEACH-MS program? If “Yes”: Please tell us what experiences have shaped your desire to be a primary care physician in urban underserved communities.
ACE-PC:
Are you interested in applying to the ACE-PC? If “Yes”: Please tell us what attributes or experiences would make you a good fit for an accelerated program in primary care.
REACH:
Are you interested in applying to the REACH program? If “Yes”: Please tell us about your ties to Central California and what you have done, or plan to do, to make a positive change in Central California.
Tribal Health PRIME:
Are you interested in applying to the Tribal Health PRIME? If “Yes”: What experiences have you had with rural and/or underserved communities/populations? More specifically, what involvement have you had with tribal communities/populations?
ARC-MD:
Are you interested in applying to ARC-MD? If “Yes”: Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors (ARC-MD) is a five (5) year honors pathway that mentors students who envision a career as research faculty in a medical school or who want to use research and quality improvement methods to improve health in their community. These students are drawn from diverse backgrounds and committed to research as a foundational aspect of their career. That research may include basic-translational research, clinical-translational research, community engaged research, or policy and advocacy. Prior research experience or related activity as an undergraduate is preferred. Tell us about how you could see yourself as a faculty of the future and how biomedical research will play a role in your career as currently envisioned.”
2021-2022
1. Discuss any elements of your application that you feel might be concerning to the Admissions Committee (This could include explanation of metric trends, institutional actions, legal violations, etc.) Please enter N/A if no concerns to report. (500 characters; spaces count as a character)
2. Do you have a connection to Northern or Central California? If “yes”, please explain (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
Activities
Please list the activities you would like to be considered in your application to UC Davis. You may use your activities listed in your initial AMCAS application or select/add others that may be relevant to UC Davis. Please only list three.
a. Briefly describe this activity and its significance. How did it prepare you for a medical career? Include any supporting information (e.g. your contribution to the project or accomplishment as well as links to any publication, etc) (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
Scholarly Pathways
Are you interested in applying to the Rural-PRIME (Rural Program in Medical Education) Program?
If “Yes” :
a. Please describe how your experiences with rural communities make you a good fit for the Rural-PRIME program (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
b. Describe your future plans to serve a rural underserved community (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
Are you interested in applying to the TEACH-MS (Transforming Education and Community Health for Medical Students) Program?
If “Yes”: Please tell us what experiences have shaped your desire to be a primary care physician in urban underserved communities (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
Are you interested in applying to the ACE-PC (Accelerated Competency-based Education in Primary Care) Program?
If “Yes”: Please tell us what attributes or experiences would make you a good fit for an accelerated program in primary care (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
Are you interested in applying to the REACH (Reimagining Education to Advance central California Health) Program in Medical Education?
If “Yes”: Please tell us about your ties to Central California and what you have done, or plan to do, to make a positive change in Central California (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
Are you interested in applying to ARC-MD (Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors)?
If “Yes”: The UC Davis School of Medicine has an honors pathway, Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors (ARC-MD), to encourage the development of the next generation of school of medicine faculty. These faculty will be drawn from diverse backgrounds, many committed to research as a foundational aspect of their career. Tell us about how you could see yourself as a faculty of the future and how biomedical research might play a role in your career development (500 characters; spaces count as a character).
2020-2021
2019-2020
1. Discuss any elements of your application that you feel might be concerning to the Admissions Committee.
2. Do you have a connection to Northern or Central California?
If you answered ‘yes’ to having a connection to Northern or Central California, please explain below. If you answered ‘no’ type ‘not applicable’
Activities:
3. At UC Davis School of Medicine, we realize that each applicant brings diversity and perspective from a broad range of experiences. In this section, we give you the opportunity to describe in detail the 3 extracurricular activities or experiences that have been most influential in leading you to a career in medicine. We realize that many applicants have identified key experiences in the main application. However, some do not and others identify less than 3. We apologize for any redundancy – feel free to reproduce the comments from your Primary application and expand on them as appropriate.
Briefly describe this activity and its significance. How did it prepare you for a medical career? Include any supporting information (e.g., your contribution to the project or accomplishment as well as links to any publication, etc.).
2018-2019
Essays
Limit your response to 500 characters for the next 3 questions:
1. Discuss any elements of your application that you feel might be concerning to the Admissions Committee.
Do not feel compelled to answer this question, but if there is a portion of the application which needs clarification it is reasonable to do so. If there is a negative portion of the application which has an explanation for the reason, go ahead and provide it. Be sure to not sound like a victim and not to make excuses, but be honest in description of the circumstances and reasons for this issue. One possible example is if you had any health issues requiring you to withdraw from a class and receive an incomplete. Be sure to state what you learned from the experience and how you improved upon it thereafter.
2. Do you have a connection to Northern or Central California? (Y/N)
If you answered ‘yes’ to having a connection to Northern or Central California, please explain below. If you answered ‘no’ type ‘not applicable’.
Answer as applicable to your background. Feel free to describe personal family connections or a prior experience with the area. Incorporating a desire to give back to the community can make your essay stronger. UC Davis has a very strong primary care presence in the medical school and residency so a desire to serve the community will reflect well upon you. Make it genuine though, and do not concoct an answer which is not true or legitimate.
Experiences Section
500 characters or less:
3. At UC Davis School of Medicine we realize that each applicant brings diversity and perspective from a broad range of experiences. In this section we give you the opportunity to describe in detail the 3 extracurricular activities or experiences that have been most influential in leading you to a career in medicine. We realize that many applicants have identified key experiences in the main application. However, some do not and others identify less than 3. We apologize for any redundancy – feel free to reproduce the comments from your Primary application and expand on them as appropriate.
This is a difficult question because the key is to answer effectively while not repeating what was stated in the primary application. Although the prompt allows for redundancy, your application will be stronger if the same concepts are not repeated. Choose an experience you feel strongly about and then try to think about how you could explain its 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. How does that experience make you unique and a good contribution to the diversity of the school?
2017-2018
The secondary application essay prompts from this medical school application cycle are the same as above.
2016-2017
The secondary application essay prompts from this medical school application cycle 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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