Med School Secondary Application FAQ: 11 Questions Answered

We compiled a list of medical school secondary application FAQs to answer the questions we hear most often, from secondary application costs to deadlines and everything in between.

If you’ve submitted your primary application, secondaries are coming. The earliest secondaries start arriving as early as late June, with the bulk landing in July and August. Being prepared before they hit your inbox will give you the best chance of knocking your application out of the park and landing an interview come fall.

The Steps of the Medical School Application Process

To take a quick step back, the application process has a few key steps. First is the primary application, submitted through one of three services: AMCAS for most US medical schools, TMDSAS for Texas schools, and AACOMAS for osteopathic programs. For a full breakdown of how they compare, see our guide to AMCAS, AACOMAS, and TMDSAS.

After your primary is submitted, schools will send secondary applications with their own deadlines. Regardless of what that deadline is, aim to submit within 7-14 days of receiving them. Successful applicants will be offered interviews from fall through the following spring, with acceptances made on a rolling basis.

1 | What Is the Secondary Application?

The secondary application is a school-specific set of essay prompts sent to you after you submit your primary. Unlike the primary, which goes to multiple schools through a single service, each school’s secondary is unique. Most consist of 2-6 short essay questions, though some ask for longer responses.

The core themes are consistent across schools: Why here? Why you? What makes you the right fit for this program specifically? The exact questions will vary, but your answers should always be working toward those three things.

2 | How Long Do Secondaries Take?

It depends on how many schools you’re applying to and how well-prepared you are going in. A single secondary might take a few hours if the prompts are familiar and you’ve already drafted foundational answers. If you’re applying to 25-30 schools and starting from scratch on each one, the cumulative time investment adds up quickly.

This is why pre-writing your secondaries before they arrive is one of the highest-leverage things you can do. Most schools reuse the same or similar prompts year over year, so you can draft strong foundational answers in advance and adapt them as needed. 

3 | Can You Pre-Write Secondary Essays?

Yes, and you should. Most schools reuse the same prompts year over year, which means you can draft strong answers before a single secondary lands in your inbox. This is especially important if you’re applying to 25-30 schools, as we recommend. When secondaries start arriving, they tend to pile up fast, and having foundational answers ready is the difference between submitting within 7-14 days and falling behind.

Start with the schools you’re most interested in and the prompts that appear most frequently across programs, particularly “Why us?” and challenge-or-adversity questions. You’ll adapt and personalize each response, but the core thinking is already done. For a full strategy on how to approach the entire secondary process, read our Medical School Secondary Application Guide.

4 | When Do Secondary Applications Arrive?

When secondary applications arrive depends on when you submit your primary. The sooner you submit, the sooner you’ll receive secondaries and be able to start the interview process.

If you submit your primary at the earliest possible time, the beginning of June, you may begin receiving secondary applications by late June. The bulk will likely arrive in July and August.

5 | When Are Medical School Secondary Applications Due?

Medical school secondary deadlines vary by school, but many land in the fall or early winter. Keep in mind that applicants who submitted their primary later will receive secondaries later. Some schools also set a deadline relative to when you receive the secondary, such as 3 weeks from receipt.

Even though schools give a technical deadline, you should aim to submit your secondary answers within 7-14 days of receiving them.

6 | When Should I Complete Secondaries?

Just like the primary application, the earlier you submit your secondaries, the better.

Most schools are on rolling admissions, so the sooner you complete your primary and secondary, the sooner you are eligible for an interview.

Submit your secondary applications within 1-2 weeks of receiving them. That said, don’t rush, as you risk compromising the quality of your responses. Take these essays seriously and make sure they effectively deliver a strong message. The best way to hit that 7-14 day window without sacrificing quality is to start writing before you receive them. Most schools reuse the same prompts year over year, so you can draft strong foundational answers in advance. By the time your secondaries arrive, you’re refining and personalizing, not starting from scratch.

7 | How Many Schools Should I Expect to Get Secondaries From?

Almost every school you apply to will send you a secondary application. Very few do not, as medical schools profit from secondaries. So, expect to receive a secondary from each school you apply to. Unfortunately, this sometimes means you’ll write secondaries for schools that ultimately don’t grant you an interview. It’s all part of the process, and by completing this necessary component of the application, you’re simply giving yourself the best chance of eventual acceptance.

8 | How Much Do Medical School Secondary Applications Cost?

The cost of secondaries varies by school, but most charge around $100, though fees have been creeping up at many programs in recent years. The cheapest may be $30-50, while the most expensive can exceed $200. This is no paltry sum, and if you’re applying to 25-30 schools, secondary fees alone can add up to $2,000 or more before you’ve had a single interview.

9 | What Are Common Medical School Secondary Essay Prompts?

Here are some examples of common secondary prompts:

• The mission statement of our medical school is “X.” Please state why you are a great fit for our community.
• What aspects of our medical school are most intriguing to you?
• What are your reasons for applying to our program?
• Why have you chosen to apply to our program, and how will we help make you the physician you aspire to be?
• What would you, as an individual, bring to our medical community?
• Indicate any special experiences, unusual factors, or other information you feel would be helpful in evaluating you, i.e., education, employment, extracurricular activities, or prevailing over adversity.
• Please describe one particular extracurricular activity that helped shape you.
• Please describe a moral or ethical dilemma that was particularly memorable and what you learned from this experience.
• Please describe an achievement of which you are particularly proud.
• Please provide a brief autobiographical sketch.
• If you took time off after undergrad, what have you achieved in this time?
• Please address any other issue of importance not otherwise covered in your primary application.

Response length varies widely, from 100 words to a full short essay, but the questions themselves tend to stay consistent from year to year. For detailed guidance on how to answer the most common prompts, read our guide to 11 Common Medical School Secondary Questions.

10 | What Are Schools Looking for in My Answers?

It is important to provide succinct, honest answers to each prompt. Let your experiences speak for themselves rather than telling the admissions committee what to think of them.

Every answer should work toward the same underlying question: why am I the right fit for this program specifically? That requires real research, and not just skimming the school’s website. Look for what actually differentiates the program. Is there a faculty member whose research overlaps with work you’ve done? A curriculum structure that matches how you learn? A community health initiative that connects to your clinical experience? A dual degree track you’ve been planning around?

The more specific you are, the stronger the essay. Generic enthusiasm for a school’s “mission and values” tells an admissions committee nothing. A specific, grounded reason tells them you’ve done the work and that you actually want to be there.

11 | How Should I Order My Secondary Applications?

Go into secondaries with a clear plan, so you know which application to tackle first rather than just working through them in the order they arrive.

Prioritize your top-choice schools early. The sooner they receive your secondary, the sooner they can send an interview invite, and securing interviews at your top-choice programs gives you the best shot at acceptance there.

If you have competitive schools on your list, don’t deprioritize them. You need every advantage you can get, and early submission is one of them.

Completing secondaries from a couple of less competitive schools first can also help you find your footing. The more secondaries you complete, the better you’ll understand how to craft your responses effectively.

If you have several secondaries arrive at once, consider tackling the school with the most questions first. You’ll build out foundational answers to common prompts that you can adapt and refine for other schools as you go.

Get Ahead on Your Secondaries

Most schools reuse the same prompts year over year. Our free Secondary Essay Prompts Database is continuously updated with the latest prompts, fees, and requirements from hundreds of US medical schools. Use it to start pre-writing before your secondaries arrive.