2021-2022 Mt. Sinai (Icahn)

[wysdoc]

Thank you to @Kokytos and @RunningMSN for sharing the secondary prompts!

2021-2022 Mt. Sinai (Icahn) Secondary Essay Prompts

1. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)

2. Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words)

3. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)

4. If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)


MD/PhD Secondary Prompts:

(1) Same as MD above
(2) Please tell us about a time when an experiment didn't go as planned or yielded an unexpected result. How did you approach this challenge and what did you learn? (200 words)
(3) What are your career goals? Describe which features of the MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai you will leverage to achieve them? (200 words)

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview feedback:

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Interview Feedback

Review of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Interview Feedback. Get the latest information, opinions of fellow students, and LizzyM and SDN Rankings.

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[deleted1106140]

.

 

[Shazthepaws]

Secondary received!

 

[aspiring_OBGYN_]

Secondary received!

+1

 

[deleted555445]

+1

+2

 

[surgeonhopeful95]

Secondary received too.

I'm confused about the Other Info section. It asks: "Have you previously applied to the MD or MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (including an Early Assurance Program)?" and if you click yes, it shows only two programs, FlexMed and Institutional Partnership-Military. I applied last year to their regular MD program, which I believe is neither of these options...

 

[sleepypremed22]

+1 for secondary

 

[Kokytos]

+1 for secondary (OOS) @wysdoc

Prompts:
What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)

Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words)

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)

 

[pre-doo-med]

Received Secondary, unsure if I should answer the "If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)"

My family has struggled economically throughout my whole life, they declared bankruptcy when I was a senior year in high school, our house was taken away, and they struggled a lot. This resulted in me working tons of jobs at school and paying my education in loans, but is this worth saying? Or will it not be seen as real adversity? To be honest, I am pretty lucky still, I grew up in a nice area, my parents live in NYC now, not sure if they will think that oh this is dumb.

 

[deleted1106140]

+1 for secondary (OOS) @wysdoc

Prompts:
What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)

Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words)

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)

Thanks! Is the optional essay one of those essays we should only do we if consider ourselves disadvantaged? They mention "or commitment to a particular community", and this has me wondering if we have extensive experience with a particular community, i.e. immigrants, but we aren't disadvantaged, should we write about how we want to help this community?

 

[radsboi]

Secondary received too.

I'm confused about the Other Info section. It asks: "Have you previously applied to the MD or MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (including an Early Assurance Program)?" and if you click yes, it shows only two programs, FlexMed and Institutional Partnership-Military. I applied last year to their regular MD program, which I believe is neither of these options...

+1 there's a little box beneath that opens up that I think you can elaborate on (I talk about reapplication in the other essays so I'm opting to leave it blank). It won't let me mark the section as complete though, but it's not telling me the box is required

what is going on

edit: decided to opt to fill in the box to see if that was the issue...nope. Something is bugged.

 

[NormalUsername42]

Is anybody else having trouble submitting? It keeps telling me that my "Other Info" section is incomplete, but I don't see anything else to do on it.

Edit: Well, at least I know it's not just me now.

 

[Kokytos]

Received Secondary, unsure if I should answer the "If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)"

My family has struggled economically throughout my whole life, they declared bankruptcy when I was a senior year in high school, our house was taken away, and they struggled a lot. This resulted in me working tons of jobs at school and paying my education in loans, but is this worth saying? Or will it not be seen as real adversity? To be honest, I am pretty lucky still, I grew up in a nice area, my parents live in NYC now, not sure if they will think that oh this is dumb.

I think it's worth saying. Sounds like a legitimate problem you had and you worked hard to resolve the problem. Doesn't matter where you are now or where you were before, you shouldn't undermine your own experiences.

 

[Throwawayaccount777]

+2

+3

 

[RunningMSN]

MD/PhD questions:
(1) Same as MD above
(2) Please tell us about a time when an experiment didn't go as planned or yielded an unexpected result. How did you approach this challenge and what did you learn? (200 words)
(3) What are your career goals? Describe which features of the MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai you will leverage to achieve them? (200 words)

 

[Shazthepaws]

Is anybody else having trouble submitting? It keeps telling me that my "Other Info" section is incomplete, but I don't see anything else to do on it.

Edit: Well, at least I know it's not just me now.

Same here

 

[Shazthepaws]

Is anybody else having trouble submitting? It keeps telling me that my "Other Info" section is incomplete, but I don't see anything else to do on it.

Edit: Well, at least I know it's not just me now.

I just fixed it by first clicking the "save for later button" and then it let me press the complete button. I'm not sure if that's what fixed it or it randomly just resolved

 

[NormalUsername42]

I just fixed it by first clicking the "save for later button" and then it let me press the complete button. I'm not sure if that's what fixed it or it randomly just resolved

I think I found a fix. I just clicked random things in the "Selective Programs" and "Linkage Programs", clicked save for later, then unclicked it all because I'm not that special, saved it again, and it shows complete now.

 

[jojofu]

I think I found a fix. I just clicked random things in the "Selective Programs" and "Linkage Programs", clicked save for later, then unclicked it all because I'm not that special, saved it again, and it shows complete now.

Holy **** dude, do you actually have a 4.0 and 528? If so, why the hell did you apply to 39 schools?

 

[NormalUsername42]

Holy **** dude, do you actually have a 4.0 and 528? If so, why the hell did you apply to 39 schools?

I’m really starting to ask myself that same question. For some reason I guess I’m just really afraid I won’t get love from the T20~ and that I might get yield protected from mid tiers. (Maybe I’ve spent too much time on here.) I’ve had the time to prewrite and FAP so time and money aren’t an issue, so I figured why not, right?

 

[deleted1080469]

Is it normal that I still haven't received the secondary? I added Mt. Sinai to my already verified app this morning.

 

[Sasuung]

I think I found a fix. I just clicked random things in the "Selective Programs" and "Linkage Programs", clicked save for later, then unclicked it all because I'm not that special, saved it again, and it shows complete now.

This worked for me.

 

[lupomed123]

Can we add updates to the "Document Upload" section? Or is this mainly used during the interview stage? I recently got a research grant and wanted to mention it somewhere

 

[KnightDoc]

Is it normal that I still haven't received the secondary? I added Mt. Sinai to my already verified app this morning.

Talk about the need for instant gratification!! Yes, it's normal -- everything does not update instantaneously in the system. If you didn't add Mt. Sinai until today, they might not see you until tomorrow. Everyone receiving a secondary today had Mt. Sinai added to their primary prior to today. You're fine.

 

[ednamed]

Thanks! Is the optional essay one of those essays we should only do we if consider ourselves disadvantaged? They mention "or commitment to a particular community", and this has me wondering if we have extensive experience with a particular community, i.e. immigrants, but we aren't disadvantaged, should we write about how we want to help this community?

wondering the same thing... the prompt doesn't seem to explicitly say only to talk about an adversity so I think just using it as a general diversity essay is okay right? That's basically what I wrote, should I not fill out this prompt if I don't have a true adversity?

 

[CatDad26]

is anyone else unable to submit? The "other info" section will not show as complete despite me having everything filled in

 

[NormalUsername42]

is anyone else unable to submit? The "other info" section will not show as complete despite me having everything filled in

What worked for me is checking random boxes in the two box checking questions, saving, unchecking them all, then saving. Showed as complete afterwards.

 

[soonmed99]

Is anybody else having trouble submitting? It keeps telling me that my "Other Info" section is incomplete, but I don't see anything else to do on it.

Edit: Well, at least I know it's not just me now.

I am also having this same issue

 

[MrPankow]

Here is some information regarding interviews and acceptance timelines for Sinai from the email they send out after you submit your secondary. Hope this helps anyone curious.

Applicants who are selected for an interview will be notified via email. The MD program interviews most weeks, Wednesdays and Fridays, from September to February and require a full day’s commitment on the part of the candidate. Details of the virtual interview day will be explained upon invitation.

Please note the following:
Review of applications – July through February
Interviews – September through February
Acceptances – January through March​

 

[Avalongreatest9]

Is anyone's application still say Incomplete even after submitting Secondaries? It seems to indicate my letters are incomplete but when I click on it for further information, it says they received all 3 letters (minimum for the school per its website)

Edit: problem got resolved almost 2 hours after submission, guess it just needed time to update

 

[probably_crying]

For the unjust situation question, do you think it would be bad if it was a situation where I didn't really take action? I unfortunately wasn't able to because of organization affiliation and optics

 

[gankaroo]

Is anyone else having issues copy-pasting their response to Essay 2?

 

[evilcheeze51]

Is anyone else having issues copy-pasting their response to Essay 2?

Yes, I copied and pasted one sentence at a time. I think there is some kind of word-count discrepancy if you copy-paste all at once.

 

[deleted1106140]

Yes, I copied and pasted one sentence at a time. I think there is some kind of word-count discrepancy if you copy-paste all at once.

Also make sure you erase any apostrophes and reinput them manually into the box. For some reason Icahn counts apostrophed words (like The cat's food) as 2 unless you manually input them.

 

[gankaroo]

Also make sure you erase any apostrophes and reinput them manually into the box. For some reason Icahn counts apostrophed words (like The cat's food) as 2 unless you manually input them.

This solved it for me! Thank you!

 

[skg99]

What worked for me is checking random boxes in the two box checking questions, saving, unchecking them all, then saving. Showed as complete afterwards.

Dude, how is your LM 85 lmao?

 

[writingsucks101]

Does anyone know if you're supposed to submit abstracts if you've been published? There's an opportunity to submit documents and they specifically mention abstracts as one but I've never heard of submitting them (I'm also learning more about this app process as I go lol)

 

[cyclistdoc]

+1

 

[MrPankow]

Dude, how is your LM 85 lmao?

He got a 528 MCAT no cap

 

[star-lily]

Also make sure you erase any apostrophes and reinput them manually into the box. For some reason Icahn counts apostrophed words (like The cat's food) as 2 unless you manually input them.

Thank you for this, I was wondering what was going on with that.

 

[skg99]

He got a 528 MCAT no cap

On god? yo, I think I recognize your username from last summer's Reddit MCAT haha

 

[MrPankow]

On god? yo, I think I recognize your username from last summer's Reddit MCAT haha

Lmao yea I was definitely on that subreddit too much

 

[Redman3122]

for those of you reapplying, what are you writing for the "If you answered "Yes" to either one of the questions above and would like to elaborate, please comment below" question?

 

[Sartino404]

for those of you reapplying, what are you writing for the "If you answered "Yes" to either one of the questions above and would like to elaborate, please comment below" question?

More or less a summary of my activities the last year to improve my app, and then a summary of what I'm doing to continue them in the coming year

 

[GrainofSalt]

Hey everyone! Did anybody else get complete without all their LORs in? I just got a complete email but my committee letter hasn't even been written yet. I did upload 2 additional recs onto AMCAS so those were the 2 that Mount Sinai received... which then marked me as complete...

Just to be clear, once the committee letter is upload on AMCAS, it should be automatically forwarded to Mount Sinai... right?

Thanks!

 

[KnightDoc]

Hey everyone! Did anybody else get complete without all their LORs in? I just got a complete email but my committee letter hasn't even been written yet. I did upload 2 additional recs onto AMCAS so those were the 2 that Mount Sinai received... which then marked me as complete...

Just to be clear, once the committee letter is upload on AMCAS, it should be automatically forwarded to Mount Sinai... right?

Thanks!

Yes, but, if you are marked complete, there is no guarantee that they will wait to receive anything else before reviewing your file. If it were me, I'd reach out to them and ask why they are marking me complete when everything has not been received!

 

[GrainofSalt]

Yes, but, if you are marked complete, there is no guarantee that they will wait to receive anything else before reviewing your file. If it were me, I'd reach out to them and ask why they are marking me complete when everything has not been received!

Thank you KnightDoc!

 

[premed7890]

For the unjust question, do you think it is ok to write about something that happened in high school? Or should most secondary answers come from college experiences only?

 

[RunningMSN]

Does anyone know if you're supposed to submit abstracts if you've been published? There's an opportunity to submit documents and they specifically mention abstracts as one but I've never heard of submitting them (I'm also learning more about this app process as I go lol)

+1 to this question.

 

[MrPankow]

For the unjust question, do you think it is ok to write about something that happened in high school? Or should most secondary answers come from college experiences only?

I wrote about something that happened in highschool for the toughest feedback one so I say go for it.