2021-2022 Case Western

[wysdoc]

Thank you @CantFindMeNowAdcoms for sharing the secondary prompts!

2021-2022 Case Western Reserve Secondary Essay Prompts:

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 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.


Optional Responses For All Applicants:
1. COVID-related Disruptions Response: The past year has reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. Please use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial, medical disruptions, etc. If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, 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.

2. 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.

3. 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:

1. 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 1 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.

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? Please limit your response to 3,500 characters.


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.

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview feedback:

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Interview Feedback

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[deleted555445]

Woo first post.

Anyone know if they are requiring Casper this year? Just wondering, I see it on their website as a requirement to be complete but they're not available as a school on the Casper distribution list.

 

[serotonin1]

Woo first post.

Anyone know if they are requiring Casper this year? Just wondering, I see it on their website as a requirement to be complete but they're not available as a school on the Casper distribution list.

I don't believe so! Didn't show up as a school requiring it when I scheduled my test.

 

[CWRU.Sman]

I don't believe so! Didn't show up as a school requiring it when I scheduled my test.

Woo first post.

Anyone know if they are requiring Casper this year? Just wondering, I see it on their website as a requirement to be complete but they're not available as a school on the Casper distribution list.

Hey there! We are not requiring CASPer this year. Can you tell me where you saw it on our website? I thought we had scrubbed everything about CASPer. Thanks!

 

[deleted555445]

Hey there! We are not requiring CASPer this year. Can you tell me where you saw it on our website? I thought we had scrubbed everything about CASPer. Thanks!

Awesome, thanks! I think I'm going to spend $12 on a burrito instead!

Admissions Requirements | School of Medicine | School of Medicine | Case Western Reserve University it shows up twice here, once in the question "what makes for a complete application?" and once in the application requirements.

Also, do you mind if I ask why you stopped using it? Did your office not find it helpful?

 

[CWRU.Sman]

Awesome, thanks! I think I'm going to spend $12 on a burrito instead!

Admissions Requirements | School of Medicine | School of Medicine | Case Western Reserve University it shows up twice here, once in the question "what makes for a complete application?" and once in the application requirements.

Also, do you mind if I ask why you stopped using it? Did your office not find it helpful?

Found and fixed! We put it in too many places....

We piloted it last year and our committee decided to go in a different direction. It was not used in screening or visible to interviewers. Enjoy that burrito.

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

Found and fixed! We put it in too many places....

We piloted it last year and our committee decided to go in a different direction. It was not used in screening or visible to interviewers. Enjoy that burrito.

Out of curiosity, and if you are allowed to share, what is the view of CASPr scores from the Admission's committee side of things? Do they provide just a raw percentile, do they give attributes and descriptions, detailed evaluations etc? And what about it made the Admissions Committee go a different direction?

 

[CWRU.Sman]

Out of curiosity, and if you are allowed to share, what is the view of CASPr scores from the Admission's committee side of things? Do they provide just a raw percentile, do they give attributes and descriptions, detailed evaluations etc? And what about it made the Admissions Committee go a different direction?

We just received a raw score that could be converted to a percentile. No descriptors.

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

We just received a raw score that could be converted to a percentile. No descriptors.

That seems less than useless. I understand that hesitancy in adopting it. Thank you very much for answering our questions!

 

[KnightDoc]

That seems less than useless. I understand that hesitancy in adopting it. Thank you very much for answering our questions!

Not sure why you would say that. I'm not a huge fan of the whole SJT thing, but, it is what it is. Altus is protecting its secret sauce by not disclosing to the world so that the consultants and prep companies can deconstruct the test and help us game it. The fact that it even occurred to you to ask someone on a public forum for this, hoping that it might actually be disclosed, is precisely why it is not released to the schools.

Why is a raw score as calculated by Altus any more useless than any grade on your transcript, or any sub section or total score on the MCAT? Schools know what CASPer is testing. Either they care about it or they don't, and they trust Altus to design, administer and score the exam or they don't.

Thanks for trying, but I would have been shocked if the answer was anything else. Remember (if you didn't know), before last year, our pals at Altus didn't even release quartiles to us!

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

Not sure why you would say that. I'm not a huge fan of the whole SJT thing, but, it is what it is. Altus is protecting its secret sauce by not disclosing to the world so that the consultants and prep companies can deconstruct the test and help us game it. The fact that it even occurred to you to ask someone on a public forum for this, hoping that it might actually be disclosed, is precisely why it is not released to the schools.

Why is a raw score as calculated by Altus any more useless than any grade on your transcript, or any sub section or total score on the MCAT? Schools know what CASPer is testing. Either they care about it or they don't, and they trust Altus to design, administer and score the exam or they don't.

The trusting of Altus is the part that is less than useless. A raw score with no context for what was asked, how they were evaluated, what it says about them. Just “This person is a 13 out of 22 on the personality scale” is just nonsense to me.

don’t get me wrong, the tools could be useful - but this implementation feels off.

 

[KnightDoc]

The trusting of Altus is the part that is less than useless. A raw score with no context for what was asked, how they were evaluated, what it says about them. Just “This person is a 13 out of 22 on the personality scale” is just nonsense to me.

don’t get me wrong, the tools could be useful - but this implementation feels off.

I honestly think we are saying the same thing, albeit differently. You're saying SJTs are BS, and I agree. Once a school buys in, however, they have to trust Altus to get it right, because it would be way too easy to game if we had visibility into how it is scored.

The context is that it is "an online situational judgment test that screens applicants for 10 non-cognitive competencies, such as ethics, empathy, problem-solving and collaboration." Either that is BS or it isn't. If it's BS, schools don't bother with it. If it isn't, schools trust Altus to score us against each other correctly.

Again, I'm not a fan, but it would be unreasonable for Altus to release what you think is necessary to make the assessment useful, since that would allow a psychopath to master it, which would REALLY render it useless.

 

[firelilies2]

Secondary Application Questions | MD University Program | Case Western Reserve University

2024-2025 Application Cycle **Updated July 10, 2024** We would like to provide our applicants with the essay prompts for this year’s CWRU secondary ...

case.edu

they posted this year's prompts!

 

[CantFindMeNowAdcoms]

@wysdoc

Posted secondary applications on Case's website:

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 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.


Optional Responses For All Applicants:
COVID-related Disruptions Response: The past year has reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. Please use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial, medical disruptions, etc. If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, 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 1 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.

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? Please limit your response to 3,500 characters.



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.

 

[sleepypremed22]

I'm pre-writing these, and I've found that 1 page and 3500 characters are quite different, at least in double spaced 12 pt font. Should I operate by page limit or character limit when pre-writing?

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

I'm pre-writing these, and I've found that 1 page and 3500 characters are quite different, at least in double spaced 12 pt font. Should I operate by page limit or character limit when pre-writing?

Characters

 

[sleepypremed22]

Characters

Thanks!

 

[milo1130]

Are these secondary questions online or did you receive them? I just got my app verified 6/28 so I am not sure whether they would send them to me yet...

 

[Morningnight]

Are these secondary questions online or did you receive them? I just got my app verified 6/28 so I am not sure whether they would send them to me yet...

Prompts for the university program are on their website.

 

[serotonin1]

Thought that email was the secondary :,,)

 

[deleted555445]

Thought that email was the secondary :,,)

You guys are getting emails :O

 

[CWRU.Sman]

Hi All - This week, we're doing slow roll out of our secondary application with a small group of applicants just to make sure everything is working properly. Everything looks good so far. Soon we'll be sending secondary application invitations out to everyone in our database with a verified AMCAS application. We wish everyone the best this year!

 

[WY503]

Secondary received OOS

 

[sesteretina]

+1

 

[MrPankow]

+1

+2

 

[deleted1074206]

+2

+3

 

[Habber22]

+2

+3

 

[nucleofied]

+2

+3

 

[deleted1037524]

+5 OOS MD

CCLM Prompts (as far as I can tell; these are the 'required' prompts besides the Diversity essay):

Please tell us about ONE research project to which you made a significant contribution. In your essay, describe your role on the project, 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.
Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters) and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

We all have targeted areas for improvement (TAFIs) in our personal and professional lives. Please share a current TAFI you have identified that does not include the acquisition of medical/scientific knowledge. How did you recognize this TAFI, and what steps are you taking to address? How will you measure your progress and know when you have reached your goal?
Please limit your response to 1000 characters and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Please tell us about a time when you prioritized the needs of others before your own, as well as a time when you put your own needs first. For each, please explain your decision making process and the outcome.
Please limit your response to 2000 characters and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

How do you envision your career ten years after medical school graduation?
Please limit your response to 1000 characters and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

 

[serotonin1]

@CWRU.Sman Hello, I hope you are well! Just wanted to let you know that in the "Secondary Received" email, it says we won't be marked complete until CASPer is received. I was still marked complete, but I don't believe CASPer is relevant this year based on the thread above and didn't want other applicants to be concerned. Thank you!

 

[milo1130]

For the optional research essay, I have done some clinical research but did not spearhead the charge, it was more of working as part of a team under a head doctor.... Could this still count?

 

[milo1130]

For the optional research essay, I have done some clinical research but did not spearhead the charge, it was more of working as part of a team under a head doctor.... Could this still count?

This was already mentioned in my primary however

 

[CWRU.Sman]

For the optional research essay, I have done some clinical research but did not spearhead the charge, it was more of working as part of a team under a head doctor.... Could this still count?

Absolutely! This is the most common format of research participation that we read about. Certainly we see applicants share the work they did on an honors thesis or capstone project but when we say that we define research very broadly, we mean it. It doesn't have to necessarily be benchwork.

 

[CWRU.Sman]

@CWRU.Sman Hello, I hope you are well! Just wanted to let you know that in the "Secondary Received" email, it says we won't be marked complete until CASPer is received. I was still marked complete, but I don't believe CASPer is relevant this year based on the thread above and didn't want other applicants to be concerned. Thank you!

Hmm... We'll get that fixed!! Thanks for telling us!

 

[deleted1008763]

@CWRU.Sman

If I indicate that I am applying to both the University MD Program and the College MD Program, will I be considered for both by separate committees? Or will it work where my candidacy for the College MD program will be evaluated and then if I am not chosen the University MD program will evaluate my candidacy?

 

[Unconditionalloves]

@CWRU.Sman

If I indicate that I am applying to both the University MD Program and the College MD Program, will I be considered for both by separate committees? Or will it work where my candidacy for the College MD program will be evaluated and then if I am not chosen the University MD program will evaluate my candidacy?

Read the school site completely, they are separate committees, Grading is different for both programs, and so are the requirements.

 

[deleted1008763]

Read the school site completely, they are separate committees, Grading is different for both programs, and so are the requirements.

Thank you! I found the site explaining my question.

 

[MrPankow]

Thank you! I found the site explaining my question.

Which one is just the regular ol MD program?

 

[Gwynbleidd]

Which one is just the regular ol MD program?

university program

 

[TheOpology]

Does this school offer full tuition scholarships for those that need it? For the 4 year program.

 

[star-lily]

Does this school offer full tuition scholarships for those that need it? For the 4 year program.

I don't know the answer, but are you talking about need-based aid, merit aid, or both?

 

[MrPankow]

Anyone having an issue where the picture tab is not changing to a green check despite having a very clearly uploaded picture showing up?

 

[MrPankow]

Anyone having an issue where the picture tab is not changing to a green check despite having a very clearly uploaded picture showing up?

I hit the "skip" button and my picture remained uploaded and it changed to green so idk I guess that solved the problem

 

[deleted555445]

Anyone having an issue where the picture tab is not changing to a green check despite having a very clearly uploaded picture showing up?

yup, mine says this page is not completed but it definitely is so...

 

[KnightDoc]

Does this school offer full tuition scholarships for those that need it? For the 4 year program.

Most schools offer a mix of loan and grant. Very few guarantee no loans for those with need. I do not think Case is one of them. Hopefully @CWRU.Sman can confirm or deny, as well as amplify as to whether any full tuition scholarships are available to those with need. I know the College Program offers full tuition to all without regard to need.

 

[Unconditionalloves]

Does this school offer full tuition scholarships for those that need it? For the 4 year program.

The college Program is Tuition-Free, the University program will only give need-based aid this year, but what you get will be a guarantee for 4 years.

 

[deleted1008763]

@CWRU.Sman I know that the secondary states that "Note that if you are applying to both the University Program and the College Program, the research response will default to the College Program required response." But just to clarify, will the University Program's admission team have access to my research essay if I am submitting my application to both the College and University program?

 

[Unconditionalloves]

@CWRU.Sman I know that the secondary states that "Note that if you are applying to both the University Program and the College Program, the research response will default to the College Program required response." But just to clarify, will the University Program's admission team have access to my research essay if I am submitting my application to both the College and University program?

You should assume they have access to everything you sent, that with the larger amount of applications the University Program gets, I will guess they will only read what is pertinent to their program. This since the college program is substantially different and looking for a very different kind of student.

 

[deleted1008763]

You should assume they have access to everything you sent, that with the larger amount of applications the University Program gets, I will guess they will only read what is pertinent to their program. This since the college program is substantially different and looking for a very different kind of student.

I just want to make sure the University program reads my research essay, since research is still important to that program.

 

[Unconditionalloves]

I just want to make sure the University program reads my research essay, since research is still important to that program.

The Uni program as a research specific Optional question ( is optional because some students don't have research to speak of )

University Program (4 yr. MD) Applicants:​

Optional:

1. 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 1 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.
  

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? Please limit your response to 3,500 characters.



Just answer this prompt and you be all set!
https://case.edu/medicine/admission...ation-process/secondary-application-questions
Secondary Application Questions | School of Medicine | School of Medicine | Case Western Reserve University