Given the Jesuit influence at Georgetown and its adoption of the Cura Personalis philosophy, I recommend covering your clinical, research and community service experience Georgetown’s secondary application essay. The school places special emphasis on training physicians to treat medically underserved communities. Highlight your personal connections, volunteer work and leadership roles in medically underserved communities.
Georgetown University School of Medicine 2016 Essay Questions:
• Two short essays, with character limits of 1,000, and one long essay, with a character limit of 5,000.
• Applicants should use single line spacing and 12 point size font.
• Responses should be constructed strategically to highlight an applicant’s strengths.
Secondary Application Essays:
Short essay #1: Georgetown University School of Medicine strives to ensure that its students become respectful physicians who embrace all dimensions of caring for the whole person. Please describe how your personal characteristics or life experiences will contribute to the Georgetown School of Medicine community and bring educational benefits to our student body. (1,000 characters)
Using an updated draft of your resume or CV as well as a copy of the activities section of your AMCAS application, select those experiences that you feel will be most helpful in sharing with your classmates. Did you learn to speak another language? Have you traveled to other countries to assist medically underserved communities? Do you have experience working with a particular patient population? More personally, what characteristics stand out most about you? How will your particular perspective of the world, based on this individuality, allow you to assist your classmates in becoming better doctors?
Short essay #2: Is there any further information that you would like the Committee on Admissions to be aware of when reviewing your file that you were not able to notate in another section of this or the AMCAS Application? (1,000 characters)
This would be the best place to cover any academic difficulties that you have overcome whether you’ve retaken courses, created an increasing trend in your GPA or retaken the MCAT for a higher score. Focusing on those areas of the application that you have successfully improved can provide compelling evidence of your academic potential and how you will perform in medical school. If this approach is not relevant to your application, you can use this section to update the committee on new publications, activities or awards that may not be on the AMCAS application. Discuss what you have been doing since you started the application process.
Essay: Why have you chosen to apply to Georgetown University School of Medicine, and how do you think your education at Georgetown will prepare you to become a physician for the future? * (1-2 pages).
Since this is such a long essay, it will be helpful to draw upon your previous experiences to demonstrate why your values align with those of Georgetown. Use concrete, specific examples to explain how and why you will integrate easily into their study body. The second part of this essay prompt requires that you focus on the future. After researching their curriculum and special programs, you can explain how each of these will enhance your medical education. Make a list and use this as an outline to guide your response. Focus on the most important points last; they may be forgotten if you include them at the beginning of such a long essay. For that reason, it will be important to provide a concise summary of what you’ve covered in the conclusion.
Application Timeline:
AMCAS Application Due: November 3, 2015
Secondary Application: December 18, 2015
If you would like professional guidance with your Georgetown University School of Medicine application materials, please consider using Accepted’s Medical School Admissions Consulting and Editing Services, which include advising, editing, and interview coaching for GUSOM’s application materials.
Alicia McNease Nimonkar is an Accepted.com advisor and editor specializing in healthcare admissions. Prior to joining Accepted, Alicia worked for five years as Student Advisor at UC Davis’ postbac program where she both evaluated applications and advised students applying successfully to med school and related programs.
Related Resources:
• Interviewing with Impact: How to Make an Impression in Your Med School IVs [Free Guide]
• Medical School Admissions 2015-2016: A Dean’s Perspective [Podcast]
• Successful Medical School Secondary Application Strategies
This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com.
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