How to answer the most common secondary question

[AbujaMan]

Most of the secondaries im getting pretty much have the same question of why do you want to go to our school?

The thing is, pretty much every medical school is aiming for the early clinical approach and tend to provide the students with good research and global opportunities etc. I know some factors like class size and differences in curricula can separate different schools from each other but i feel like my answer for those questions are going to sound to similar. Each school has their own fancy name for their curricula and each have something or someone famous affiliated but these schools obviously do their jobs well.

How can you go about answering this question with something unique other than the same thing that everyone else will say?

Thanks

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[Dedikated2liftn]

Most of the secondaries im getting pretty much have the same question of why do you want to go to our school?

The thing is, pretty much every medical school is aiming for the early clinical approach and tend to provide the students with good research and global opportunities etc. I know some factors like class size and differences in curricula can separate different schools from each other but i feel like my answer for those questions are going to sound to similar. Each school has their own fancy name for their curricula and each have something or someone famous affiliated but these schools obviously do their jobs well.

How can you go about answering this question with something unique other than the same thing that everyone else will say?

Thanks

I'd recommend picking up a copy of the MSAR. For each school, there's detailed information on things suchs as mission statement, core values, student body, curriculum, etc. Additionally, checking the school's website is a good way to go. As far as worrying about what others say, I think this is a bad way to approach the question. Ultimately, you're not going to know and writing something to just to be different, in itself, is not something to shoot for. As I've told others with this, I think the purpose of this question is to see if you've researched the school. As long as you answer with a school specific response, I think you'll be find (at the very least, you won't be hurting yourself).

 

[AbujaMan]

I appreciate the help and I have a little extended question on that.

What about schools that are either slightly out of reach or have a very high applicant pool? I feel as though an out-of-left-field approach may be eye catching and put you up for consideration a bit more? Is it worth the risk to say something extreme or should you just keep it safe?

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

I appreciate the help and I have a little extended question on that.

What about schools that are either slightly out of reach or have a very high applicant pool? I feel as though an out-of-left-field approach may be eye catching and put you up for consideration a bit more? Is it worth the risk to say something extreme or should you just keep it safe?

It really depends on what you're gonna say (and I don't think anything that qualifies as "extreme" would really be something you really want to put on a secondary). I understand that you're trying to distingush yourself (which is a must in this game), but I wouldn't purposefully write responses that are considered "out-of-left-field". Rather than take that approach (extreme/out-in-left-field), I think a more appropriate adjective here is unique. If you strive for that, I think you'll be ok.