2025-2026 UTMB (Sealy)

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wysdoc

wysdoc

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2025-2026 UTMB (Sealy) Secondary Essay Prompts:

Please respond to two of the six essay prompts below. (300 words or less)

1. Describe a time when you learned in a team. How will this experience help you as a medical student?
2. Describe a time when you made a mistake. How did you acknowledge it, respond, and remediate the situation?
3. Scientific inquiry is important for being a physician. Define a time when you engaged in scientific inquiry and how do you think it would help you be a better physician?
4. What attributes do you look for in your physician(s)? Which of these attributes do you need to develop? How will you develop them?
5. Do you have any work experience and if so, how do you think those skills will help you as a physician?
6. John Sealy School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch serves patients throughout Texas, focusing on Galveston County and the Gulf Coast Region. Are there particular characteristics of our school and/or the Galveston area in terms of location, history, or other attributes that make you especially interested in matriculating here?

A second component of the supplementary application is asynchronous video responses to two questions, which will be submitted via the SparkHire platform. Once invited to complete the supplemental application, applicants will receive a link to complete the SparkHire portion.

CASPer test is required and Duet optional

Good luck to all applying!

Interview Feedback:
www.studentdoctor.net

University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston Admissions, Tuition & Student Feedback | SDN

Admissions data, tuition, degrees, location, interview feedback, essay prompts, and SDN forum links for UTMB on SDN Schools Database.
www.studentdoctor.net www.studentdoctor.net
 
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Secondary received this morning, looks the same as last year but here are the prompts: @wysdoc

Please respond to two of the six essay prompts below. (300 words or less)


1. Describe a time when you learned in a team. How will this experience help you as a medical student?
2. Describe a time when you made a mistake. How did you acknowledge it, respond, and remediate the situation?
3. Scientific inquiry is important for being a physician. Define a time when you engaged in scientific inquiry and how do you think it would help you be a better physician?
4. What attributes do you look for in your physician(s)? Which of these attributes do you need to develop? How will you develop them?
5. Do you have any work experience and if so, how do you think those skills will help you as a physician?
6. John Sealy School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch serves patients throughout Texas, focusing on Galveston County and the Gulf Coast Region. Are there particular characteristics of our school and/or the Galveston area in terms of location, history, or other attributes that make you especially interested in matriculating here?
 
Thanks @PGdoc

Was there any mention of an additional portion of the secondary, recording an asynchronous video response to a question?
This was part of last year's secondary and a separate link was sent to those who got a secondary invitation.
Thanks if you know this
 
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wysdoc said:
Thanks @PGdoc

Was there any mention of an additional portion of the secondary, recording an asynchronous video response to a question?
This was part of last year's secondary and a separate link was sent to those who got a secondary invitation.
Thanks if you know this
Click to expand...
Yes, sorry forgot to mention that. There is still a link for an asynchronous video to be recorded. Also mentions Casper is needed and Duet is optional
 
I am a current MS2 here, happy to answer anything UTMB/ Galvesotn related as y'all ramp up application season!

Good luck to everyone going through this process; it can be both exciting and draining- give yourself grace, be kind to yourself 🙂
 
Is anyone still waiting for their casper to be received by UTMB? another school that i sent my score to at the same time received it but UTMB hasn't yet for some reason
 
dogdog519 said:
Is anyone still waiting for their casper to be received by UTMB? another school that i sent my score to at the same time received it but UTMB hasn't yet for some reason
Click to expand...
It is an admissions office clerical task, and someone has to match incoming scores with your received TMDSAS primary application.
No need to worry about it affecting your timeline and no need to call the office to ask about it.
 
Ok thanks for your reply, I'm just worried that it won't be marked as compete until they are uploaded because it says
"We will not review an application without a CASPer score." I guess I'll just keep checking the portal though!


wysdoc said:
It is an admissions office clerical task, and someone has to match incoming scores with your received TMDSAS primary application.
No need to worry about it affecting your timeline and no need to call the office to ask about it.
Click to expand...
 
dogdog519 said:
Ok thanks for your reply, I'm just worried that it won't be marked as compete until they are uploaded because it says
"We will not review an application without a CASPer score." I guess I'll just keep checking the portal though!
Click to expand...
Their answer is just a simple explanation of the UTMB process. When your application is complete, they will assign it to someone to read.
 
Do essays have to be submitted before SparkHire portion is completed or can they be done in either order?
 
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When should we aim to get the asynchronous video responses done? Does the two week deadline apply here? Should we get this completed prior to expecting to receive an interview invite?
 
dunkcat said:
When should we aim to get the asynchronous video responses done? Does the two week deadline apply here? Should we get this completed prior to expecting to receive an interview invite?
Click to expand...
Would love to know as well.
 
dunkcat said:
When should we aim to get the asynchronous video responses done? Does the two week deadline apply here? Should we get this completed prior to expecting to receive an interview invite?
Click to expand...
ajaxmonkey said:
Would love to know as well.
Click to expand...
The two week deadline does not (to my knowledge) apply here but you will not considered complete until this is done. Other schools (McGovern and Long for example) will send this part of the app once you receive an interview invite.

I’d recommend doing it whenever you have a chance to get it over with!
 
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dunkcat said:
When should we aim to get the asynchronous video responses done? Does the two week deadline apply here? Should we get this completed prior to expecting to receive an interview invite?
Click to expand...
Do it when you have the chance, to be complete before being considered for an interview.
Dress business formal as if you were going to an interview in person. Quiet room, no interruptions for your recording.
 
etxmedstudent36 said:
The two week deadline does indeed apply here and you will not considered complete until this is done. Other schools (McGovern and Long for example) will send this part of the app once you receive an interview invite.

I’d recommend doing it whenever you have a chance to get it over with!
Click to expand...
can you show me in the secondary invite that they have a 2-week deadline? if so this is new for UTMB
 
wysdoc said:
can you show me in the secondary invite that they have a 2-week deadline? if so this is new for UTMB
Click to expand...
Sorry, my mistake. Got this confused with another school. I remember someone in last year’s threads asking about whether it matters that they do one of these on day 1 or the day before it’s due and you getting annoyed.
edit: checked my inbox and saw McGovern is the school that has a deadline for their video interview, but they didn’t send this until the interview invite.
 
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etxmedstudent36 said:
Sorry, my mistake. Got this confused with another school. I remember someone in last year’s threads asking about whether it matters that they do one of these on day 1 or the day before it’s due and you getting annoyed. Maybe that was for Long?
Click to expand...
The 2 week deadline doesnt always work unless the essays are prewritten.
Imagine someone submitting the primary to all schools in Texas and 5 or 10 of them send their secondary invites at once. It is not feasible to turn around on all of them. If they mass send secondary invites for a few thousand, they are not sitting around figuring out who sent them back in 2 weeks. Most of the time, they have to check one application at a time for completion (people could be missing something or the other) to release them to reviewers and one has to wonder who is monitoring this mythical 2 week deadline.
 
texasvandy said:
one has to wonder who is monitoring this mythical 2 week deadline.
Click to expand...
Total guess, but I had assumed that it would come up when the admission committee is sitting around to discuss who to bring in for interview. If you have two applicants with similar 'rating' then maybe it's the tiebreaker?
 
TMDSASSY said:
Total guess, but I had assumed that it would come up when the admission committee is sitting around to discuss who to bring in for interview. If you have two applicants with similar 'rating' then maybe it's the tiebreaker?
Click to expand...
I would be shocked if it got that far.

The assumption is that if you dont submit your essays in 2 weeks, they close your app because everything else is complete. In reality somethings could be missing in your app that block the review. Your essays are not always what is holding back the review process.

Students in a committee review process may not get their rec letter in until July based on what is known about practices at many top colleges.
 
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wysdoc said:
To be complete for UTMB means you have submitted your secondary essays, Casper score is in, and you have done your asynchronous video.
Gotta have all 3 to be considered for an interview.
Click to expand...
I plan to get my secondary submitted this weekend, which is within the two weeks recommended. Should I try to do my asynchronous video this weekend too. Is it also under that same two week deadline?
Also, I have two LORs done. Two more to come next week. UTMB won't be complete until the LORs are in too, right?
 
TMDSASSY said:
I plan to get my secondary submitted this weekend, which is within the two weeks recommended. Should I try to do my asynchronous video this weekend too. Is it also under that same two week deadline?
Also, I have two LORs done. Two more to come next week. UTMB won't be complete until the LORs are in too, right?
Click to expand...
3letters min to be complete
Do the video when you can
 
Does anyone know how interviews are distributed? For example, if someone's application was complete earlier than someone else who got an interview, does that mean they are not a strong applicant?
 
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