I am really struggling with a few secondary questions and would really appreciate some advice.

[Daiichi]

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I find most secondary questions give enough of a prompt for me to craft a good response to it. The two questions I'm seeing that I really have no idea how to answer seem to be these:

1) Why this school? How do you fit our mission statement?

My issue with this is that almost all of these schools have the same generic, pointless mission statement that gives you absolutely no direction. "We want to graduate a class of educators to empower their communities and be great physicians!" - Okay, am I just supposed to write about how how x/y/z school will make me a great physician? That doesn't seem like a great response in any way. I always try and research the school, but the vast majority of the time I feel like there are very few things about the school that is in no way unique enough to craft a unique response. Sometimes I can find a cool program or two the school has, but am I really supposed to pretend that I'm applying to a school because of some mentor program that they have? Doesn't really seem believable. The honest truth is that like everyone else, I'm applying there because it seems like a fine school and I want to diversify my application to get an acceptance. Not exactly great essay material, though.

2) Do you plan on practicing medicine in this community once you graduate?

Many times these are OOS schools that I have no ties to or inclination to live in outside of school. I'm only applying to schools that do not necessarily have an IS-bias (although I'm sure they might have a slight one). I feel like if I'm honest and say no, I have shot myself in the foot. I can lie and say yes, but I'd rather not have to make up reasons for why I plan on living in a place and working there when I cannot show an ties or legitimate reasons for that thought process. How do I approach this question? An example of this would be at Marian Univ in Indianapolis.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

For the "why this school" prompt, I usually do research on the school's curriculum, rotations, any special programs that they may have, etc. and discuss that. Basically, mention something unique about the school to show that you actually did some research and have a desire to attend.

I know most of us choose the schools we apply to because we want to just land an acceptance somewhere, and I'm sure to some degree most adcoms know that. But, I think you still need to make an attempt to show that you know info about the school you're applying to and are interested in attending if actually accepted.

For the practice question, I think it's perfectly okay to give a "meh" answer. There is no way to answer this question 100% truthfully-- you simply don't know how you will feel in 4 years. Maybe you'll fall in love with the area and decide you want to stay. Maybe you'll hate it. The truth is, you just don't know. I would write that you are open to the possibility of practicing in the community, list a few things you like about the area (even if you're not super enthusiastic about it). You can mention your general practice vision, like "I want to practice with the underserved, and whether I do so in this community or elsewhere, I know I will be fulfilled as long as I am helping better whatever community I am in".

 

[OnePodRanger]

I find most secondary questions give enough of a prompt for me to craft a good response to it. The two questions I'm seeing that I really have no idea how to answer seem to be these:

1) Why this school? How do you fit our mission statement?

My issue with this is that almost all of these schools have the same generic, pointless mission statement that gives you absolutely no direction. "We want to graduate a class of educators to empower their communities and be great physicians!" - Okay, am I just supposed to write about how how x/y/z school will make me a great physician? That doesn't seem like a great response in any way. I always try and research the school, but the vast majority of the time I feel like there are very few things about the school that is in no way unique enough to craft a unique response. Sometimes I can find a cool program or two the school has, but am I really supposed to pretend that I'm applying to a school because of some mentor program that they have? Doesn't really seem believable. The honest truth is that like everyone else, I'm applying there because it seems like a fine school and I want to diversify my application to get an acceptance. Not exactly great essay material, though.

2) Do you plan on practicing medicine in this community once you graduate?

Many times these are OOS schools that I have no ties to or inclination to live in outside of school. I'm only applying to schools that do not necessarily have an IS-bias (although I'm sure they might have a slight one). I feel like if I'm honest and say no, I have shot myself in the foot. I can lie and say yes, but I'd rather not have to make up reasons for why I plan on living in a place and working there when I cannot show an ties or legitimate reasons for that thought process. How do I approach this question? An example of this would be at Marian Univ in Indianapolis.

For 1) I did plenty of secondaries to get the idea of what I needed to discuss. Honestly, describe your purpose of why you are interested (research, curriculum, mission, etc.) and relate them to your goals and interests. I will guarantee you that your goals somehow relate to their mission statement. I understand that most of them are generic but the idea is to put your interests into the secondary and use examples from your experiences. For example, if it is about being patient-centered from their statement, try to put an example from your goal.

For 2) just be honest with them. DO schools will understand that not every student desire to be in the rural/medically undeserved areas and that's okay. Just justify why you rather be in the more traditional/urban areas. Health care is needed everywhere but they would like to emphasize the ones who really need healthcare. I applied to Marian as well and I responded to them that I do not have preference to just practice medicine in rural areas but however, if there was an opportunity given to practice there, I would not mind because health care is needed for all populations and physicians eventually retire and the new fresh doctors will come into play and replace their position

Hopefully, this helped answered your question!

 

[austintr]

Since nearly every school's mission statement is unoriginal, that gives you some leeway to take the essay in the direction you want. I used similar prompts to write about where I grew up and the rural physicians that had great impact on me. You don't have to completely pander to them and act like you're ONLY interested in rural primary care if you aren't really curious about that field. Just articulate that you know the importance of rural medicine, even if not firsthand, and consider discussing serving the underserved. A lot of schools emphasize the underserved for good reason: they're the ones that need better access to healthcare the most. This doesn't necessarily mean only people that live out in the sticks. Think about those that are below the poverty line, the uninsured, indigent/homeless populations, immigrants and tribal members, to name a few. There are huge holes in medicine and unless you're going into a cash only cosmetic practice with no pro-bono work, there are plenty of opportunities to serve in metro areas, etc.