Top 10 Medical Schools that Use This Prompt:

• The Admissions Committee uses a holistic approach to evaluate a wide range of student qualities and life experiences that are complementary to demonstrated academic excellence, strong interpersonal skills and leadership potential. What unique qualities or experiences do you possess that would contribute specifically to the NYU School of Medicine community? (2500 characters) (NYU)

• Please explain your reasons for applying to the Perelman School of Medicine and limit your response to 1,000 characters. (UPenn)

• How will you take advantage of the Stanford Medicine Discovery Curriculum and scholarly concentration requirement to achieve your personal career goals? (1,000 characters including spaces). (Stanford)

• Why are you specifically interested in pursuing your medical education at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine even if you gain acceptances to other highly ranked medical schools? (500 words) (Mayo)

The “Why School” prompt is often the most deceptive in that it encourages applicants to blindly rehash the selling points that schools advertise on their websites. Yes, to an extent you should recognize the school’s strengths, but your personal experiences should always support the rationale that leads you to each particular school. 

People often freak out when they see this essay. They think, oh no! I have to write a million essays about each school! However, unless you have a super direct connection to a particular school, you should focus on writing about yourself first. 

Admissions officers want to get to know you and how you view the world so that they can be convinced that you absolutely want to be a doctor and their school is the perfect fit. Officers don’t get to know you by getting to know your knowledge of the medical school’s residency placement statistics or the rigor of its clinical research. Officers get to know you by learning about your research project on machine learning and neuroscience, or your time as a medical scribe. 

Let’s pretend you’re that person who’s done some machine learning/neuroscience research. Your machine learning project that enables doctors to diagnose cancer more quickly allows you to hop on several clinical research projects that are developing machine learning algorithms for diagnostics. 

If you have that experience, there are likely faculty members in nearly every medical school at least tangentially interested in your work. Rather than spending the majority of a response describing the specifics of the school, talk about the specifics of your experience. Then, make the case that whatever school this essay is written for can enrich your interests. 

Take, for example, this student’s account working with a bipolar patient: 

She crossed her arms and looked away. Dr. Smith, an emergency medicine physician I had shadowed many times, walked in.

“Mrs. Waters, you know you can’t go home yet. Let’s talk about your other options.”

I turned to leave but Dr. Smith motioned to stay as he explained Mrs. Waters’s choices at Palm Valley or Sand’s Hill Behavioral Health. Mrs. Waters was a bipolar patient.

“No! Anywhere but Palm Valley! I’m not going!”

Dr. Smith calmly reasoned with her, but it seemed hopeless. I ventured to help, pulling out a post-it origami paper crane. Dr. Smith gave me a knowing nod.

“Mrs. Waters, this is for you.”

Her previously listless eyes dropped to my hands—then her face lit up.

“Darling, it’s adorable!” She exclaimed, taking the crane in her palm. “Did you make it?”

I answered yes, explaining the folkloric power of making a wish on 1000 paper cranes. I offered her one of my wishes, from having previously folded thousands of cranes. Mrs. Waters’s eyes sparkled as she faced Dr. Smith again.

“Maybe Palm Valley?”

By most definitions of medicine—diagnostics, orders, scans, prescriptions, physical exams—my presence contributed little value. But in the holistic sense of patient care—where physicians serve as healthcare providers, I had joined Mrs. Waters’s care team. 

It’s important to me that the medical school I attend focuses on embracing a holistic view of healthcare. With the Mayo Clinic’s focus on treating patients through both hard and soft solutions, particularly through its Complete Picture Treatment Plans, I know that people like Mrs. Waters will be met with humility, understanding, and a nuanced approach to care.

In this example, the applicant approaches the essay by providing an example that highlights lessons learned from shadowing a doctor. Simultaneously, the writer also articulates a particular position on medical practice. If this position broadly aligns with the mission and philosophy of the medical school the applicant is applying to, she can reuse the essay by keeping the main body text and subtly reconfiguring the final paragraph.

This approach reduces the need for reinventing the wheel with every school. For this type of essay, ask yourself not, “Why do I want to attend this school?” but rather “How does my worldview—expressed through my experience—align with the worldview of this school?”

Why School questions are not about the school. They’re about you.