2019-2020 UT Houston ( McGovern)

[PapaGuava]

Second Prompt:

1. How have your experiences prepared you to become a physician?

2. Describe a time or situation where you have been unsuccessful or failed.
What did you learn from this experience and how have you applied this learning to your work and/or life?

3. What would you like to contribute and be remembered for in medicine?

Good luck to everyone applying!

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[Bones&Bourbon]

Hi all!

Rising MS1 here, starting at McGovern in August. While I can't provide any information about the curriculum (seeing as I have yet to start classes), I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the school, interviewing here, or the application cycle as a whole! Best of luck to all of you.

 

[Agentcross]

2500 characters each.
1. How have your experiences prepared you to become a physician?

2. Describe a time or situation where you have been unsuccessful or failed.
What did you learn from this experience and how have you applied this learning to your work and/or life?

3. What would you like to contribute and be remembered for in medicine?

@PapaGuava

 

[PapaGuava]

Thank you @Agentcross !

 

[deleted985598]

Are secondaries sent to everyone or are they screened? If they're sent to everyone do I need all my supporting documents in before I get it?

 

[wysdoc]

Are secondaries sent to everyone or are they screened? If they're sent to everyone do I need all my supporting documents in before I get it?

They send the secondary to all who apply to McGovern after your primary app has been transmitted. You don't need to wait for all supporting docs. There is a $65 fee associated with the secondary app submission.

 

[eljefemdfuturo]

Rising MS2 here happy to answer any questions y'all may have!

 

[KBRONDEEL]

Rising MS2 here happy to answer any questions y'all may have!

Hi there! So I had a question regarding the first prompt for the secondary. It is very close to what our personal statement is asking for, how did you respond to this prompt without being repetitive? I am having a hard time figuring out an approach to this question without boring the admissions committee!

Thank you!

 

[Agentcross]

Hi there! So I had a question regarding the first prompt for the secondary. It is very close to what our personal statement is asking for, how did you respond to this prompt without being repetitive? I am having a hard time figuring out an approach to this question without boring the admissions committee!

Thank you!

im having the same issue

 

[eljefemdfuturo]

Hi there! So I had a question regarding the first prompt for the secondary. It is very close to what our personal statement is asking for, how did you respond to this prompt without being repetitive? I am having a hard time figuring out an approach to this question without boring the admissions committee!

Thank you!

So we didn’t actually have to write secondaries the year I applied. But reading the advice others on this thread have given, I’d go with what they’re saying

 

[texasvandy]

What are they saying about CASPer on the secondary?

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

Hi there! So I had a question regarding the first prompt for the secondary. It is very close to what our personal statement is asking for, how did you respond to this prompt without being repetitive? I am having a hard time figuring out an approach to this question without boring the admissions committee!

Thank you!

I'd like to reiterate some of the previous sentiments about this question. When answering this prompt, I tried to focus on what I wanted to do as a physician, not why I wanted to become a physician. For example, I'm primarily interested in academic medicine (research, resident and medical student education, etc.); with this in mind, part of my essay was spent talking about why I love research, and why I want to pursue it in the future. Another portion discussed experiences I had with my mentor that made me develop an affinity for teaching others and why medical education is so important. This is in contrast to my personal statement, which was geared towards experiences that helped me identify that medicine was the career path for me.

Best of luck!

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

What are they saying about CASPer on the secondary?

McGovern didn't use CA$$$$$Per last year; however this may not be the case this year..

 

[texasvandy]

McGovern didn't use CA$$$$$Per last year; however this may not be the case this year..

Thank you. I see UT Health Sciences and I was under the impression it was UTH but I checked again and it is UTSA (Long).

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

Thank you. I see UT Health Sciences and I was under the impression it was UTH but I checked again and it is UTSA (Long).

Sure thing. Good luck this cycle!

 

[thegrind33]

Hi all!

Rising MS1 here, starting at McGovern in August. While I can't provide any information about the curriculum (seeing as I have yet to start classes), I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the school, interviewing here, or the application cycle as a whole! Best of luck to all of you.

Do you know the incoming class statistics?

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

Do you know the incoming class statistics?

Stats for the incoming 2019 class have yet to be released. The mean stats for the 2018 incoming class (those who recently finished their MS1 year) were as follows per MSAR: 3.86 GPA, 513 MCAT.

 

[peperjack236]

Stats for the incoming 2019 class have yet to be released. The mean stats for the 2018 incoming class (those who recently finished their MS1 year) were as follows per MSAR: 3.86 GPA, 513 MCAT.

513 MCAT/3.86 GPA are average for people accepted that cycle
The current wrapped up MS1 class (aka matriculated) has a 511 MCAT/3.81 GPA.

Not a huge difference but notable

 

[clutchtho]

Rising MS2 here happy to answer any questions y'all may have!

Hey!

Not sure if you would know how the app process works but might as well ask

basically if i submit sometime this week, prewrite secondaries, get secondaries once my primary is transmitted and submit them asap..lets say sometime like mid July.

Will they actually open my application if all the letters are not in?

Basically, i have 3 in right now and waiting for them to show up on tmdsas but my 4th is taking forever and the later he submits the longer it takes for tmdsas to verify. and if they won't open my app if they see the optional letter is missing, i might be better off just submitting the 3 i have and no more.

Or do you think this is something I should call the school about?

 

[penicillinman]

Hey!

Not sure if you would know how the app process works but might as well ask

basically if i submit sometime this week, prewrite secondaries, get secondaries once my primary is transmitted and submit them asap..lets say sometime like mid July.

Will they actually open my application if all the letters are not in?

Basically, i have 3 in right now and waiting for them to show up on tmdsas but my 4th is taking forever and the later he submits the longer it takes for tmdsas to verify. and if they won't open my app if they see the optional letter is missing, i might be better off just submitting the 3 i have and no more.

Or do you think this is something I should call the school about?

Pretty much the same situation as yours with my fourth letter pending. Also wondering if I should just remove this extra letter since three is really all that’s needed.

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

Hey!

Not sure if you would know how the app process works but might as well ask

basically if i submit sometime this week, prewrite secondaries, get secondaries once my primary is transmitted and submit them asap..lets say sometime like mid July.

Will they actually open my application if all the letters are not in?

Basically, i have 3 in right now and waiting for them to show up on tmdsas but my 4th is taking forever and the later he submits the longer it takes for tmdsas to verify. and if they won't open my app if they see the optional letter is missing, i might be better off just submitting the 3 i have and no more.

Or do you think this is something I should call the school about?

In my experience, most medical schools will only review three letters at the time of your primary application submission, even if you send a fourth. From what I've heard from other applicants, the fourth letter is usually only used if you get waitlisted. I think you're best off submitting the three you have now so that you can get your application in as early as possible. Submit the fourth if you end up in a do-or-die situation, don't let it keep you from submitting your app ASAP.

 

[texasvandy]

Aren't there only 3 letters in TMDSAS?

 

[wysdoc]

In my experience, most medical schools will only review three letters at the time of your primary application submission, even if you send a fourth. From what I've heard from other applicants, the fourth letter is usually only used if you get waitlisted. I think you're best off submitting the three you have now so that you can get your application in as early as possible. Submit the fourth if you end up in a do-or-die situation, don't let it keep you from submitting your app ASAP.

I’m going to disagree with this advice because you cannot add new things to your TMDSAS file after October 1, and this is well before you would ever know you are waitlisted and in fact interviews in Texas are still going on through December and at some schools to Jan and Feb.

 

[wysdoc]

Aren't there only 3 letters in TMDSAS?

in TMDSAS you have the option to send a 4th letter. I think what some people are asking here is "should you include the name of the 4th letter writer if the letter isn't ready yet?" and I would advise not to do that. List your required 3 recommenders. When and if the 4th letter is locked down/ready, add a recommender via the procedures in the handbook.

 

[ped_inc]

I’m also a rising MS1 (OOS) and am available to answer any questions y’all might have! Best of luck to you all.

 

[yaboi98]

I’m also a rising MS1 (OOS) and am available to answer any questions y’all might have! Best of luck to you all.

As someone who has written the essays for this school, how would you go about approaching the first prompt without repeating information from the PS?

 

[Who_Knows]

As someone who has written the essays for this school, how would you go about approaching the first prompt without repeating information from the PS?

I second that. The PS prompt was "Explain your motivation to seek a career in medicine. Be sure to include the value of your experiences that prepare you to be a physician." and this one is "How have your experiences prepared you to be a physician?"

These are almost the same prompts...

 

[gtc17]

I second that. The PS prompt was "Explain your motivation to seek a career in medicine. Be sure to include the value of your experiences that prepare you to be a physician." and this one is "How have your experiences prepared you to be a physician?"

These are almost the same prompts...

As someone who has written the essays for this school, how would you go about approaching the first prompt without repeating information from the PS?

I'm also a rising MS1 and I'll share a bit on how I answered this.

The big difference here for me was I focused my personal statement on my motivations and life, leading to medicine. While I talked about my experiences, I did so in reflection of how that lead to my career choice.

For the secondary, I wrote it like a detailed version of my activities. I picked some meaningful experiences on my path to build an application and learn about the field. I elaborated a paragraph each about how that activity was related to medicine and what I gained from it that was applicable.

I hope that helps a bit.

 

[yaboi98]

I'm also a rising MS1 and I'll share a bit on how I answered this.

The big difference here for me was I focused my personal statement on my motivations and life, leading to medicine. While I talked about my experiences, I did so in reflection of how that lead to my career choice.

For the secondary, I wrote it like a detailed version of my activities. I picked some meaningful experiences on my path to build an application and learn about the field. I elaborated a paragraph each about how that activity was related to medicine and what I gained from it that was applicable.

I hope that helps a bit.

Thank you so much! It helped a lot!

 

[ped_inc]

As someone who has written the essays for this school, how would you go about approaching the first prompt without repeating information from the PS?

My personal statement was about my overall journey that inspired me to become a physician. In my personal statement I highlighted a bunch of different qualities I’ve developed and used stories to show how I developed them. I used the secondary prompt as a way to cover some additional qualities that i developed that I didn’t mention in my personal statement (due to character limit). I then used different stories not mentioned in my personal statement to highlight how I developed them.
So while the prompts are the same it doesn’t mean you have to write the same thing. You now have an additional opportunity to expand on the same topic and give information not included in your personal statement.

 

[JustAUser]

"What would you like to contribute and be remembered for in medicine?"

@BonesAndBourbon @ped_inc @eljefemdfuturo
How did you answer the third prompt? I feel like it's difficult to write very much about it without seeming overambitious. It's not like you can leave it at "I want to be remembered as a compassionate physician who was always ready to help people" because it seems like they're looking for visionary leaders

 

[clutchtho]

"What would you like to contribute and be remembered for in medicine?"

@BonesAndBourbon @ped_inc @eljefemdfuturo
How did you answer the third prompt? I feel like it's difficult to write very much about it without seeming overambitious. It's not like you can leave it at "I want to be remembered as a compassionate physician who was always ready to help people" because it seems like they're looking for visionary leaders

im also applying but yeah i'd definitely try to aim bigger just dont let it come off as douchey

 

[clutchtho]

Not sure if this is the place to put it but if you had to pick one option for prompt 2: failure/unsuccessful

would you talk about leaving another grad program (mistake is entering it, not realizing it was a mistake and lessons can be trying harder to learn from my mistakes and being honest with self)

or

something entirely outside of school/academics (mistake is getting overconfident in my own ability and knowledge and paying the price. lesson is managing self-confidence)

I personally think the second one is a better essay but the first one gives me an opportunity to talk about what could be seen as a red flag on my app. i did address the issue a tiny bit in primaries but more along the lines of what i learned from the experience not the mistake itself.

thanks!

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

"What would you like to contribute and be remembered for in medicine?"

@BonesAndBourbon @ped_inc @eljefemdfuturo
How did you answer the third prompt? I feel like it's difficult to write very much about it without seeming overambitious. It's not like you can leave it at "I want to be remembered as a compassionate physician who was always ready to help people" because it seems like they're looking for visionary leaders

Here's some input I received from my mentor who is on faculty at another institution (they helped me with this essay): do not write about how you want to be remembered as a compassionate and caring physician. Considering the field you're applying to, it's assumed that you want to be compassionate and caring. Admissions committees will assume that every applicant wants to be compassionate. You'd be wasting an essay writing about something the committee is already inferring about you.

My own personal input: focus on what it is that you want to do as a physician. For example, I emphasized my love for academic medicine, specifically research and teaching residents/fellows. I discussed why I believe research and teaching are invaluable with regards to medicine as a field, as well as why I love them.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out with more questions if you have them.

 

[Bones&Bourbon]

Not sure if this is the place to put it but if you had to pick one option for prompt 2: failure/unsuccessful

would you talk about leaving another grad program (mistake is entering it, not realizing it was a mistake and lessons can be trying harder to learn from my mistakes and being honest with self)

or

something entirely outside of school/academics (mistake is getting overconfident in my own ability and knowledge and paying the price. lesson is managing self-confidence)

I personally think the second one is a better essay but the first one gives me an opportunity to talk about what could be seen as a red flag on my app. i did address the issue a tiny bit in primaries but more along the lines of what i learned from the experience not the mistake itself.

thanks!

I'd focus on whichever topic you think will yield the better essay - in your case - the second option. I don't think it would be necessary to use this secondary essay to reiterate things from the first topic if you've already addressed them (albeit briefly) in your primary essays.

 

[JustAUser]

Here's some input I received from my mentor who is on faculty at another institution (they helped me with this essay): do not write about how you want to be remembered as a compassionate and caring physician. Considering the field you're applying to, it's assumed that you want to be compassionate and caring. Admissions committees will assume that every applicant wants to be compassionate. You'd be wasting an essay writing about something the committee is already inferring about you.

My own personal input: focus on what it is that you want to do as a physician. For example, I emphasized my love for academic medicine, specifically research and teaching residents/fellows. I discussed why I believe research and teaching are invaluable with regards to medicine as a field, as well as why I love them.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out with more questions if you have them.

Thank you! That was very helpful and helped clarify how I could go about writing my goals!

 

[ped_inc]

Here's some input I received from my mentor who is on faculty at another institution (they helped me with this essay): do not write about how you want to be remembered as a compassionate and caring physician. Considering the field you're applying to, it's assumed that you want to be compassionate and caring. Admissions committees will assume that every applicant wants to be compassionate. You'd be wasting an essay writing about something the committee is already inferring about you.

My own personal input: focus on what it is that you want to do as a physician. For example, I emphasized my love for academic medicine, specifically research and teaching residents/fellows. I discussed why I believe research and teaching are invaluable with regards to medicine as a field, as well as why I love them.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out with more questions if you have them.

I’m not entirely sure I agree with this. I wrote about wanting to be remembered as a compassionate physician for my third essay and I was accepted to McGovern. I wrote about an important physician mentor in my life and how his greatest strength was compassion and empathy and gave a few examples. I wrote about it for quite a few schools I interviewed at and was accepted to.

ADCOMs aren’t looking for people to say certain things, they want to see WHY and HOW you’ve developed those traits more than what you are talking about.

It’s important to not be fake and say what you think people want to hear. Just be genuine and talk about your strengths.

 

[deleted993768]

Anyone receive the MD-PhD secondary?

 

[dodolol21]

I’m not entirely sure I agree with this. I wrote about wanting to be remembered as a compassionate physician for my third essay and I was accepted to McGovern. I wrote about an important physician mentor in my life and how his greatest strength was compassion and empathy and gave a few examples. I wrote about it for quite a few schools I interviewed at and was accepted to.

ADCOMs aren’t looking for people to say certain things, they want to see WHY and HOW you’ve developed those traits more than what you are talking about.

It’s important to not be fake and say what you think people want to hear. Just be genuine and talk about your strengths.

Being compassionate waa 1/3 things I talked about in that last essay, but I also agree with @ped_inc

 

[deleted993768]

Anyone receive a secondary from them yet? Especially MD-PhD?

 

[clutchtho]

Anyone receive a secondary from them yet? Especially MD-PhD?

when did you submit

i got the secondary asap after transmitted

Do you mean II?

 

[drdreyman]

Anyone receive a secondary from them yet? Especially MD-PhD?

still waiting on MD/PhD secondary. I'm OOS.

 

[deleted993768]

Nah talking about the secondary application. I'm in state and still haven't gotten anything.

 

[spookymulder26]

Nah talking about the secondary application. I'm in state and still haven't gotten anything.

I got the secondary 3 business days after submitting

 

[AgarForLife]

Hi everyone. If I submitted my primary app on July 18th, would being verified by mid-late August be considered late for this school? (3.8 gpa, 510 MCAT) I plan on prewriting my secondaries while I am waiting for my app to be transmitted.

 

[wysdoc]

Hi everyone. If I submitted my primary app on July 18th, would being verified by mid-late August be considered late for this school? (3.8 gpa, 510 MCAT) I plan on prewriting my secondaries while I am waiting for my app to be transmitted.

Your date of submission is fine for any of the Texas schools.

 

[Etopn23]

II, excited

 

[Spybil]

II, excited

Nice! When did u submit and what are ur stats?

 

[Holmeslizzle]

II just now! McGovern is one of my top schools, very happy to be interviewing. LizzyM 69 submitted mid June

 

[swagstaff]

II, OOS LM ~72. Complete early june