2025-2026 U Chicago (Pritzker)

BU Medical Sciences
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2025-2026 U Chicago Pritzker Secondary Essay Prompts (MD, corrected)

1.) Students at the Pritzker School of Medicine complete the majority of their clinical training at UChicago Medicine (UCM). UCM, nationally recognized by the AAMC for sustained commitment to community engagement, partnership, and collaboration, has a primary service area where poverty is over double the state level. Additionally, our students lead numerous community-based initiatives throughout Chicago, including six free clinics that primarily serve uninsured patients. Please share with us the personal and professional experiences that have best prepared you to work in this clinical environment. (450 words)

2.) All MD students participate in our longitudinal Scholarship & Discovery research program, which offers protected curricular time, mentoring, and funding for students to pursue their scholarly interests. Please describe your research interests and share how our research opportunities will help you advance your career goals. (450 words)

3.) Medical education requires humility and resilience as students learn to become physicians prepared to deliver exceptional care within a rapidly changing and sometimes challenging healthcare landscape. Share with us a difficult or challenging situation you have encountered and how you dealt with it. In your response, identify both the coping skills you called upon to resolve the situation, and the support person(s) from whom you sought advice. (450 words)

Additional Questions
1.) Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know. For example, if you are not currently completing a degree, please share your planned or current activities for this application cycle. We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words.

2.) If your school has a premedical committee or premedical advisor who composes a letter for each applicant from your school and you chose not to avail yourself of this service, please provide an explanation in the text box below for your decision not to do so. We suggest that you limit your text to about 200 words.

Good luck to all applying!

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University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine - Admission, Tuition, Ranking & Overview | Student Doctor Network

Detail information of University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine including admission, tuition, ranking, and overview.
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Does anyone know how strict they are with the two science letters? I'd love to shoot my shot but I only have one STEM prof letter 🙁
 
premedbarista said:
Does anyone know how strict they are with the two science letters? I'd love to shoot my shot but I only have one STEM prof letter 🙁
Click to expand...
Hmm, it says "two letters of recommendation should come from science faculty." It doesn't necessarily say they have to have taught you - and I do think STEM is a pretty huge field so I think there could be some leeway!
 
hommefatale said:
Hmm, it says "two letters of recommendation should come from science faculty." It doesn't necessarily say they have to have taught you - and I do think STEM is a pretty huge field so I think there could be some leeway!
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I've only got one STEM letter in general, the rest are work/volunteer/nonstem classes. i might just apply anyway bc i really like the school lol
 
+1 OOS

Also, is anyone else seeing that their letters aren't recieved in the portal? Mine are in AMCAS and assigned, but for some reason they don't seem to have them
 
jffyx _net said:
+1 OOS

Same prompts as last year. Also, is anyone else seeing that their letters aren't recieved in the portal? Mine are in AMCAS and assigned, but for some reason they don't seem to have them
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i think ive seen in other threads that sometimes a person has to assign them to each applicant, so i wouldnt worry too much
 
+1 OOS MD/PhD

@wysdoc, here are my prompts. Same as last year:

1. Students at the Pritzker School of Medicine complete the majority of their clinical training at UChicago Medicine (UCM). UCM, nationally recognized by the AAMC for sustained commitment to community engagement, partnership, and collaboration, has a primary service area where poverty is over double the state level. Additionally, our students lead numerous community-based initiatives throughout Chicago, including six free clinics that primarily serve uninsured patients. Please share with us the personal and professional experiences that have best prepared you to work in this clinical environment. (450 words)
2. Medical education requires humility and resilience as students learn to become physicians prepared to deliver exceptional care within a rapidly changing and sometimes challenging healthcare landscape. Share with us a difficult or challenging situation you have encountered and how you dealt with it. In your response, identify both the coping skills you called upon to resolve the dilemma, and the support person(s) from whom you sought advice. (450 words)
3. Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know, including specific research faculty you have communicated with or are interested in, why UChicago is the right MSTP for your research and clinical interests, or what additional training/activities you will accomplish for this current application cycle. We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words.
 
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LambAndWolf said:
Strange for me the first question is different from last year
Click to expand...
Looked more closely at mine...and I think the question stem is slightly different and they got rid of the word "diverse" from the last sentence, but I think the general essay question is still the same (i.e. what I pre-wrote still applies).
 
blonolo said:
Looked more closely at mine...and I think the question stem is slightly different and they got rid of the word "diverse" from the last sentence, but I think the general essay question is still the same (i.e. what I pre-wrote still applies).
Click to expand...
Yeah, unfortunately I was writing more about working with diverse populations than under-resourced populations / those in poverty specifically so I might have to change my pre-writing a bit.
 
+1 OOS MD only.

MD-only also has an additional question:
"All MD students participate in our longitudinal Scholarship & Discovery research program, which offers protected curricular time, mentoring, and funding for students to pursue their scholarly interests. Please describe your research interests and share how our research opportunities will help you advance your career goals. (450 words)"

Same as last year.
 
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+1 OOS MD only

The additional essay question changed I believe @wysdoc

It reads:
Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know, including specific research faculty you have communicated with or are interested in, why UChicago is the right MSTP for your research and clinical interests, or what additional training/activities you will accomplish for this current application cycle. We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words.
 
RoundaboutWay said:
+1 OOS MD only

The additional essay question changed I believe @wysdoc

It reads:
Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know, including specific research faculty you have communicated with or are interested in, why UChicago is the right MSTP for your research and clinical interests, or what additional training/activities you will accomplish for this current application cycle. We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words.
Click to expand...
Would you mind pasting the complete MD-only secondary questions? Thank you
 
wysdoc said:
Would you mind pasting the complete MD-only secondary questions? Thank you
Click to expand...
1.) Students at the Pritzker School of Medicine complete the majority of their clinical training at UChicago Medicine (UCM). UCM, nationally recognized by the AAMC for sustained commitment to community engagement, partnership, and collaboration, has a primary service area where poverty is over double the state level. Additionally, our students lead numerous community-based initiatives throughout Chicago, including six free clinics that primarily serve uninsured patients. Please share with us the personal and professional experiences that have best prepared you to work in this clinical environment.

2.) All MD students participate in our longitudinal Scholarship & Discovery research program, which offers protected curricular time, mentoring, and funding for students to pursue their scholarly interests. Please describe your research interests and share how our research opportunities will help you advance your career goals.

3.) Medical education requires humility and resilience as students learn to become physicians prepared to deliver exceptional care within a rapidly changing and sometimes challenging healthcare landscape. Share with us a difficult or challenging situation you have encountered and how you dealt with it. In your response, identify both the coping skills you called upon to resolve the situation, and the support person(s) from whom you sought advice.

Additional Questions:
1.) Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know, including specific research faculty you have communicated with or are interested in, why UChicago is the right MSTP for your research and clinical interests, or what additional training/activities you will accomplish for this current application cycle. We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words.

2.) If your school has a premedical committee or premedical advisor who composes a letter for each applicant from your school and you chose not to avail yourself of this service, please provide an explanation in the text box below for your decision not to do so. We suggest that you limit your text to about 200 words.


However, I just received an email from them that says the first additional question is displaying incorrectly for MD-only applications and that it is actually the same as last year.
The email reads:
Due to a system error, the first question on the Additional Questions page of our secondary application (Secondary App > Additional Questions) is displaying incorrectly for MD Only applicants. When you complete your secondary, please respond to the intended essay question for MD Only applicants:

Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know. For example, if you are not currently completing a degree, please share your planned or current activities for this application cycle. We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words.

We are working on correcting the prompt in the secondary portal as quickly as possible, but wanted to make you aware of the error and ensure you have the corrected essay question as you work on your secondary application in the meantime. We apologize for the error, and we look forward to reading your application to the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Sincerely,

Office of Admissions
 
Good luck to everyone applying this cycle! I'm an incoming M1 at Pritzker, happy to answer questions people might have 🙂
 
premedbarista said:
I've only got one STEM letter in general, the rest are work/volunteer/nonstem classes. i might just apply anyway bc i really like the school lol
Click to expand...
So im in the same boat. I asked my friend who is on the adcom at another school. He said that they may be permissive of the letter requirement especially if non trad but its not a guarantee. Depends on who reads the application
 
how specific should we get about the research? is it supposed to be more reflective on why this is impactful for us and how itll impact our career or actually technical?
 
For Additional Question #1 ("Please feel free to use this space..."), is this essentially required to be a gap year essay for all gap year applicants?

I'd like to use the space to include a well-written essay about one of my hobbies, but based on the wording ("For example, if you are not currently completing a degree, please share your planned or current activities for this application cycle,"), it sounds like they expect you to talk about gap year activities if that applies to you.
 
dunkcat said:
For Additional Question #1 ("Please feel free to use this space..."), is this essentially required to be a gap year essay for all gap year applicants?

I'd like to use the space to include a well-written essay about one of my hobbies, but based on the wording ("For example, if you are not currently completing a degree, please share your planned or current activities for this application cycle,"), it sounds like they expect you to talk about gap year activities if that applies to you.
Click to expand...
came here to ask the same, especially because I already added the projected hours to my primary
 
dunkcat said:
For Additional Question #1 ("Please feel free to use this space..."), is this essentially required to be a gap year essay for all gap year applicants?

I'd like to use the space to include a well-written essay about one of my hobbies, but based on the wording ("For example, if you are not currently completing a degree, please share your planned or current activities for this application cycle,"), it sounds like they expect you to talk about gap year activities if that applies to you.
Click to expand...
@wysdoc @LizzyM @Mr.Smile12 Any thoughts on this?
 
Yes, it does appear to be about gap year activities if that is your situation. You could, of course, describe any hobbies you continue to pursue (I would hope you put them in the primary), as well as employment and community service you're engaging in.
 
dunkcat said:
For Additional Question #1 ("Please feel free to use this space..."), is this essentially required to be a gap year essay for all gap year applicants?

I'd like to use the space to include a well-written essay about one of my hobbies, but based on the wording ("For example, if you are not currently completing a degree, please share your planned or current activities for this application cycle,"), it sounds like they expect you to talk about gap year activities if that applies to you.
Click to expand...
The prompt is asking you nicely as an optional "blank space/anything else" essay. It encourages but does not require those with gap years to provide details of their activities during their liminal period.

Keep your competencies and personality in mind when looking at your portfolio of essays.
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Getting to Know You with the Big Five Personality Traits | SDN

Have you ever been asked, "How would you describe yourself?" or, "What unique personality traits will you bring to the profession that will help you to be
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bree777 said:
is it fine if the additional essay is >300 words?
Click to expand...
"We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words."

The way that I read that, you should at most be going over the limit by 5-10 words maximum. Ideally, you either hit or are under (but relatively close to) their suggested 300 word limit.
 
dunkcat said:
"We suggest that you limit your text to about 300 words."

The way that I read that, you should at most be going over the limit by 5-10 words maximum. Ideally, you either hit or are under (but relatively close to) their suggested 300 word limit.
Click to expand...
On the portal the max you can input is 300 words. Hard suggestion lol
 
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