2025-2026 U of Houston (Fertitta)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
wysdoc

wysdoc

Plain-spoken Texan
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
Verified Member
Physician
7+ Year Member
Verified Expert
Gold Donor
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Messages
15,806
Reaction score
25,679
Members don't see this ad.
2025-2026 U of Houston (Fertitta) Secondary Essay Prompts: (essay changed from last year)
Please take note: This school has a firm 14-day deadline to complete their secondary
1. I have prior experience in primary care setting (general internal medicine physician, a general pediatrician, or a family medicine physician).
Yes/No

2. I have prior experience in a medical practice or social service for an underserved area:
Yes/No

3. I have prior experience in community or public health:
Yes/No

4. Why are you interested in the primary care field(s) and care of the community as a whole? (2500 character limit)

Good luck to all applying!

Interview Feedback:
www.studentdoctor.net

University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine - Admission, Tuition, Ranking & Overview | Student Doctor Network

Detail information of University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine including admission, tuition, ranking, and overview.
www.studentdoctor.net www.studentdoctor.net
 
Last edited:
Incoming MS1 and also UH alumni. Feel free to ask me about the school, Houston, or application/interview
 
+1 IS @wysdoc

1.I have prior experience in primary care setting (general internal medicine physician, a general pediatrician, or a family medicine physician).
Yes/No

2. I have prior experience in a medical practice or social service for an underserved area:
YesNo

3.I have prior experience in community or public health:
YesNo

4.Why are you interested in the primary care field(s) and care of the community as a whole? (No Word Count)

The first three are just yes/no questions without any additional text to respond even if you click yes.
 
Last edited:
can anyone else not get their secondary essay to show up as completed on the portal?


edit: I was able to submit, essay was over the character limit
 
Last edited:
I understand that they have a fourteen week deadline for submission of the secondary application, but does this include all LoRs? I’ve already submitted the secondary within the deadline and have three of my four LoR’s but am unsure if I’ll receive the last one by the deadline. Anyone happen to know the answer?
 
aspiringdoctor321 said:
I understand that they have a fourteen week deadline for submission of the secondary application, but does this include all LoRs? I’ve already submitted the secondary within the deadline and have three of my four LoR’s but am unsure if I’ll receive the last one by the deadline. Anyone happen to know the answer?
Click to expand...
It is a 14 DAY deadline, not 14 week.
Letters can arrive later.
 
anyone accepted with a 508 or lower last cycle willing to share their profile and experience? I am hoping to get into this school as it aligns with me the most. Just curious if my 508 is competitive.
 
fatcammal1 said:
anyone accepted with a 508 or lower last cycle willing to share their profile and experience? I am hoping to get into this school as it aligns with me the most. Just curious if my 508 is competitive.
Click to expand...
Their 10%tile for accepted students was 498 according to the MSAR
Being able to effectively tie in your past experiences and future goals to their mission fit will be your key to attracting their interest.
 
fatcammal1 said:
anyone accepted with a 508 or lower last cycle willing to share their profile and experience? I am hoping to get into this school as it aligns with me the most. Just curious if my 508 is competitive.
Click to expand...
508 will not be the reason they don’t send an invite or interview.
I’d focus more on making sure your narrative, experiences and essays are good in the primary. For the secondary just make sure to accentuate their mission into your answers. My application didn’t particularly say I was the most interested in primary care specialties, but my philosophy and educational background was hinged on acknowledging socioeconomic factors and public health and how this influenced my decision into medicine.
I do think that experiences that align with their mission will be a great asset. For example, working in public health departments, research for vulnerable populations, volunteering for outreach programs to address health disparities, etc.

Overall, just make sure to keep their mission in mind and you’ll be good. Apply broadly though, admissions is very unpredictable. Good luck!
 
but I was just wondering if anyone had any idea of how selective that secondary is. not tryna get my hopes up too high but i know they sent secondaries earlier this cycle than last so it makes me think they werent that selective. but again the prompt is directly on primary care, which makes me think they were intentional to who they sent it to.
 
I’m a reapplicant and last time I got a secondary but this time I didn’t receive anything. Should I try reaching out?
 
Last edited:
DC3 said:
I’m a replicant and last time I got a secondary but this time I didn’t receive anything. Should I try reaching out?
Click to expand...
maybe they don't accept replicants...
A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid

I would give it another week or two before reaching out to ask.
Does your application reflect a strong interest in primary care?
 
😂 oopsie on the typo, most of my shadowing experience was in primary care! But will do thank you! 🙂
wysdoc said:
maybe they don't accept replicants...
A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid

I would give it another week or two before reaching out to ask.
Does your application reflect a strong interest in primary care?
Click to expand...
 
+1 OOS on 6/10!
Very strong personal statement and activities that align with primary care (my speciality of interest).
Context: I have very strong ties to Texas (my mom was born and raised, I was born there but raised elsewhere, and my dad, stepmom, and younger brothers have lived in Texas the majority of my life)
 
sparks123 said:
Hello! Anyone else haven’t received a secondary yet? I submitted 05/16, verified on 05/28 😪
Click to expand...
UH Fertitta is one of the schools that does some screening for mission fit, specifically for demonstrated interest in primary care and the care of underserved populations in SE Texas and W Louisiana.
 
Just curious what they consider primary care? I got a secondary and submitted it. However, when they ask if you have shadowed for primary care they don’t list OBGYN. They only listed family and internal medicine. I talked about OBGYN a lot in my personal statement and my shadowing was in OBGYN. Some people say OBGYN is primary care and some don’t so idk.
 
madcat5566 said:
Just curious what they consider primary care? I got a secondary and submitted it. However, when they ask if you have shadowed for primary care they don’t list OBGYN. They only listed family and internal medicine. I talked about OBGYN a lot in my personal statement and my shadowing was in OBGYN. Some people say OBGYN is primary care and some don’t so idk.
Click to expand...
I would consider OB and general surgery as primary care
 
texasvandy said:
They are a small school still and are restrictive in secondaries and interviews.

Not sure when they are expanding to 120 students.
Click to expand...
The school got quite a bit of funding in the most recent legislative session, so the dean let us know that they plan to hire more faculty and expand research at the school (to eventually expand the class size). This is the first year with four cohorts of 60 students each, and I believe the plan is to increase the class size to 90 students before eventually expanding to the full 120.
 
Last edited:
Anyone verified around 6/13 get a secondary yet?
 
Verified 05/28, have yet to receive a secondary, app talked about strong interest in primary care 🙁
 
are my chances here over 😭 got verified 6/24 and haven’t received secondary, but i see that people verified later than me have received theirs
 
joyboyy said:
are my chances here over 😭 got verified 6/24 and haven’t received secondary, but i see that people verified later than me have received theirs
Click to expand...
That’s why I asked 😭
 
Submitted primary 6/2. Got verified 6/27. Received secondary today, 7/9. IS LM 74.

Anyone got an idea of the pre-screening rate? MSARS says they get 4800 applicants with 3882 of those IS. They interview 9% of the IS and about 17% of those interviewed matriculate, so I assume acceptance is maybe 20% of those interviewed. Just wondering if they screen out half or more of the applicants?
 
TMDSASSY said:
Submitted primary 6/2. Got verified 6/27. Received secondary today, 7/9. IS LM 74.

Anyone got an idea of the pre-screening rate? MSARS says they get 4800 applicants with 3882 of those IS. They interview 9% of the IS and about 17% of those interviewed matriculate, so I assume acceptance is maybe 20% of those interviewed. Just wondering if they screen out half or more of the applicants?
Click to expand...
Probably closer to 75% since they are interviewing only 350-400.
 
VeriHotIce said:
Verified ED on 6/23 IS. Got secondary yesterday.
Click to expand...
This is the first year UH Fertitta is running an early decision (ED) application, mainly to focus on applicants who are very sure that primary care in the Houston area is their mission, a match to the school's mission.

@VeriHotIce if you are willing to keep us informed on the ED timeline, like when the interviews are happening, that would be great!

FYI to Texas applicants: Applying ED to a school means that you may only apply to your one ED school until the process has come to a conclusion. If you are interviewed and accepted ED, your application year is over and you are committed to attend.
If your interview does not lead to admission, you are released by the ED school and can send your TMDSAS primary to other TMDSAS schools.
 
@wysdoc If they are running an early decision program, would they likely not interview regular decision candidates until the early decision cadidates selected interviews are over.
 
trymednow said:
@wysdoc If they are running an early decision program, would they likely not interview regular decision candidates until the early decision cadidates selected interviews are over.
Click to expand...
This is the first year that UH Fertitta is offering an ED (Early Decision) option.

The ED applicants have until August 1 to turn everything in, so I would expect the ED interviews to happen after that date.
There's no reason the school couldn't start inviting regular decision applicants to interview as well.
But, there's only so many hours in a day, and UH Fertitta is running orientation week for their incoming MS1 students right now.
We'll have to see what happens in the next few weeks.
 
Can I talk about how I specifically want to pursue primary care in Houston in my secondary? I grew up in and my entire family is from Houston and I plan on settling down there, but not sure if this is something I should save for a potential interview.
 
stalepitachips said:
Can I talk about how I specifically want to pursue primary care in Houston in my secondary? I grew up in and my entire family is from Houston and I plan on settling down there, but not sure if this is something I should save for a potential interview.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, it makes sense to have continued interests talked about in an interview and the secondary as long as you can add more information and not repeat the same stuff for the interview
 
stalepitachips said:
Can I talk about how I specifically want to pursue primary care in Houston in my secondary? I grew up in and my entire family is from Houston and I plan on settling down there, but not sure if this is something I should save for a potential interview.
Click to expand...
definitely write that in your secondary essays, because people who want to practice primary care in the Houston area are their specific mission fit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2025-2026 McGovern (UT Health Houston)
2
Replies
81
Views
15K
FranticZhuZhu
F
wysdoc
2025-2026 U Oklahoma
Replies
20
Views
2K
uglywesternblot
uglywesternblot
wysdoc
2025-2026 U Chicago (Pritzker)
Replies
35
Views
9K
AniKar8
AniKar8
wysdoc
2025-2026 U Hawaii (Burns)
Replies
1
Views
1K
NeuroticCalculator
N
wysdoc
2025-2026 U Miami (Miller)
Replies
37
Views
8K
hollyfuzzybear
H
Top