Despite what you may think, med schools don’t expect you to be perfect. Everyone has had a “failure” they’ve overcome. So for this Secondary Essay prompt, you might feel a bit vulnerable—good. To get a little Brené Brown: Vulnerability leads to bravery. Look at this essay as an opportunity to showcase your resilience, self-reflection, and growth. When you share a failure, you want to spend about 20% of your answer explaining what happened, then the remaining 80% on the actions you took, and what you learned. Reflect on how you’re feeling now. Hit these beats: Situation. Action. Result. You don’t need to portray yourself as impervious to future failure, just like you’ve grown.
Part 1: The Situation. Dedicate 20 percent of your essay to describing what happened. Be specific yet brief, focusing on information relevant to your mistake. Say you bombed a test. You don't need to mention that the teacher was kind of a jerk or that the topic was boring. Ask yourself: "Do I need to include this detail to show where I fell short?"
Part 2: Actions You Took. The majority of your essay should address actions you've taken since. Have you created an exam study group for your class? Do you now study after every lecture? You want to show that you are not only aware of your mistakes, but you take steps to avoid making the same ones.
Lessons Learned. The final part of your essay should discuss your takeaways from the situation. Make these lessons transferable to other scenarios, especially ones you might encounter in medical school. So for the first test you failed, you might share how you learned you can't cram for exams like you used to in freshman year. Connect these lessons to life as a medical student.
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Part 1: The Situation. Dedicate 20 percent of your essay to describing what happened. Be specific yet brief, focusing on information relevant to your mistake. Say you bombed a test. You don't need to mention that the teacher was kind of a jerk or that the topic was boring. Ask yourself: "Do I need to include this detail to show where I fell short?"
Part 2: Actions You Took. The majority of your essay should address actions you've taken since. Have you created an exam study group for your class? Do you now study after every lecture? You want to show that you are not only aware of your mistakes, but you take steps to avoid making the same ones.
Lessons Learned. The final part of your essay should discuss your takeaways from the situation. Make these lessons transferable to other scenarios, especially ones you might encounter in medical school. So for the first test you failed, you might share how you learned you can't cram for exams like you used to in freshman year. Connect these lessons to life as a medical student.
Check out our blog and/or follow us on Instagram for more application tips!
