2024-2025 Case Western Reserve

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chilly_md

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2024-2025 Case Western Reserve Secondary Essay Prompts: Read instructions carefully & select a program

University Program Applicants

Required Responses:

  1. Greatest Challenge: 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. (2,000 character limit)
  2. Personal Growth: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
  3. Cultural Awareness: Many have been reckoning with the impact of systemic injustices on social environments and healthcare equity. Describe a personal experience that has deepened your cultural awareness and humility, and the impact of that learning on how you look at health and healthcare. (1,500 character limit)
  4. Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:

  1. Research/Scholarly Work: 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 other scholarly project (capstone project, honors thesis, etc.), please reflect on the experience, including how you learned from it, what challenged you, and how it may have impacted you educationally and professionally. If you have not completed research or scholarly project, please indicate that in the text box below. (2,500 character limit)
  • If the details of your project are included elsewhere in your application no need to repeat them here. We are interested in learning what you took away from the experience(s).
  • If you are applying to both the University Program and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Program, the research response will default to the CCL Program 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? (2,000 character limit)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CCLCM (5 yr. MD) Applicants

Required Responses:

  1. Greatest Challenge Essay: 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 and what you learned about yourself as a result. (2,000 character limit)
  2. Research 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 and whether you contributed to hypothesis generation, 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 your future career goals. (3,500 character limit)
  3. Personal Growth: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
  4. Cultural Awareness: Many have been reckoning with the impact of systemic injustices on social environments and healthcare equity. Describe a personal experience that has deepened your cultural awareness and humility, and the impact of that learning on how you look at health and healthcare. (1,500 character limit)
  5. Career Essay: What does your ideal career entail fifteen years after medical school graduation? (1,000 character limit)
  6. Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:

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? (2,000 character limit)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MSTP (MD/PhD) Applicants: Please refer to the Case Western page here: Secondary Application Questions | MD University Program | Case Western Reserve University

Good luck to all applying!

Interview feedback:


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Our secondary application will start going out next week. Invitations to the secondary will go out in daily batches. While you wait, we've posted our secondary essays in case you want to get a jump on them!
 
Our secondary application will start going out next week. Invitations to the secondary will go out in daily batches. While you wait, we've posted our secondary essays in case you want to get a jump on them!
Thanks!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Our secondary application will start going out next week. Invitations to the secondary will go out in daily batches. While you wait, we've posted our secondary essays in case you want to get a jump on them!

Thank you! I have a quick question. The research essays listed for the University and CCLCM programs are different, but it says one response will default to the other program, so which prompt should we refer to when answering those questions?
 
Thank you! I have a quick question. The research essays listed for the University and CCLCM programs are different, but it says one response will default to the other program, so which prompt should we refer to when answering those questions?
I think they are saying you do the CCLCM research question not the university one, if im not mistaken. It's longer too
 
Anyone get secondary app yet? Website says they should have started going out on Monday.
 
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For the college program, can I use the same essay that I used for personal growth?
Emailed admissions about this, this is what they had to say:

"You can apply to multiple programs via the secondary application and, as you noted, some of the secondary essay questions are similar. Each program has its own application review committee so you can use the same essay to address identical questions between the two program applications; there is no need to write two distinct essays."

So yes, you can repeat the "Personal Growth" essay.
 
For people applying to both the 4 year and 5 year program, are you pasting the same essay? I know it says you can use the same, but do we have to put it in twice
 
For people applying to both the 4 year and 5 year program, are you pasting the same essay? I know it says you can use the same, but do we have to put it in twice
yes you have to put it in twice as they have two separate admissions committees as the above commenter mentioned
 
Genuinely curious: I love research and have enjoyed it throughout college. However, I do not have an outstanding number of research hours nor do I have much productivity (one paper currently undergoing review). Is it worth it to apply to CCLCM or just the University Program?
 
Is anyone writing a Why us? essay for the optional additional information question
I usually write a why us for the optional additional information section, but if we are applying to both CCLCM and UP, how should we go about this? this essay will go to both the programs we apply to right?
 
Genuinely curious: I love research and have enjoyed it throughout college. However, I do not have an outstanding number of research hours nor do I have much productivity (one paper currently undergoing review). Is it worth it to apply to CCLCM or just the University Program?

Shoot your shot. It doesn't cost any extra money, $95 regardless of if you apply to one or both. Schools mostly care about productivity and being able to speak well about your work over hours, as long as you have a baseline amount (maybe 300?). 400 hours engaging with the PI, planning projects, writing protocols/drafting manuscripts is far better than 2k hours mindlessly pipetting or doing bioinformatics. Since you got a paper in the works it sounds like you have something to show, most premeds don't have a single pub.
 
I usually write a why us for the optional additional information section, but if we are applying to both CCLCM and UP, how should we go about this? this essay will go to both the programs we apply to right?
Yes, both programs will see your response. It's ok to tailor your response to why each program might appeal to you for different reasons.
 
yes you have to put it in twice as they have two separate admissions committees as the above commenter mentioned
This is an error on the site and it has been repaired by our platform developer. If you're still getting the duplicate prompt, just submit the same response twice.
 
Emailed admissions about this, this is what they had to say:

"You can apply to multiple programs via the secondary application and, as you noted, some of the secondary essay questions are similar. Each program has its own application review committee so you can use the same essay to address identical questions between the two program applications; there is no need to write two distinct essays."

So yes, you can repeat the "Personal Growth" essay.
This is an error on the site and it has been repaired by our platform developer. If you're still getting the duplicate prompt, just submit the same response twice.
 
For the college program, can I use the same essay that I used for personal growth?
This is an error on the site and it has been repaired by our platform developer. If you're still getting the duplicate prompt, just submit the same response twice.
 
Two questions:

Two faculty from CWRU did a presentation for my university and gave their contact information. Would it be appropriate to reach out to one of them with a question about the application? He had mentioned something about the optional essay that I was curious about.

For the mandatory research essay for CCLCM, would it be appropriate to talk about a literature review that I wrote? It's not exactly methods, results, or interpretation as much as it is synthesizing data to form a new hypothesis going forward so I'm just curious if it would fit the bill or if I should focus on my lab activities.
 

CCLCM (5 yr. MD) Applicants

  1. Research 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 and whether you contributed to hypothesis generation, 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 your future career goals. (3,500 character limit)
I'm wondering how everyone is addressing this prompt if the project that you're working on isn't published yet, and so the findings and work you've done are technically supposed to be confidential and not disclosed until it is?
 
For the optional research reflection essay, would it be a red flag if I only talk about one of the two labs that I listed on my primary? One had a pretty big impact on my outlook and shaped me as a person, but I really only learned technical skills from the second lab.
 
Two questions:

Two faculty from CWRU did a presentation for my university and gave their contact information. Would it be appropriate to reach out to one of them with a question about the application? He had mentioned something about the optional essay that I was curious about.

For the mandatory research essay for CCLCM, would it be appropriate to talk about a literature review that I wrote? It's not exactly methods, results, or interpretation as much as it is synthesizing data to form a new hypothesis going forward so I'm just curious if it would fit the bill or if I should focus on my lab activities.
question 1. yes
question 2. what you're describing really isn't answering the prompt. to be sure, email: [email protected] to get more insight.
 
For the optional research reflection essay, would it be a red flag if I only talk about one of the two labs that I listed on my primary? One had a pretty big impact on my outlook and shaped me as a person, but I really only learned technical skills from the second lab.
not a red flag. red flags are things that make the hair on your neck stand up. 😆
 
I'm wondering how everyone is addressing this prompt if the project that you're working on isn't published yet, and so the findings and work you've done are technically supposed to be confidential and not disclosed until it is?
that's ok, not uncommon. just say that in your response!
 
@CWRU.Sman first and foremost, thanks for all you do and the amazing updates! I understand based on the submission/application complete email that we are unable to send updates/interest letters unless we interview. Beyond submitting the secondary in a timely manner, is there anything an applicant can do to demonstrate their commitment to this program?
 
@CWRU.Sman first and foremost, thanks for all you do and the amazing updates! I understand based on the submission/application complete email that we are unable to send updates/interest letters unless we interview. Beyond submitting the secondary in a timely manner, is there anything an applicant can do to demonstrate their commitment to this program?
the fact that you selected cwru and applied indicates your interest! and promise to name a child "case" or "cw" or something like that. jk
 
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