Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic Secondary Application Essay Prompts by Year
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There are two sets of Case Western secondaries: 1) Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and 2) Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM). Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (both CWRU and CCLCM) admits students who are strong in academics and research. Submitting an OUTSTANDING Case Western secondaries are vital to receiving an acceptance. It’s important to discuss your research clearly in your Case Western secondary essays.
**Case Western changed its secondary essay prompts for the 2023-2024 cycle.** We would not recommend pre-writing this secondary because the prompts might change again this upcoming 2024-2025 application cycle.
Our Cracking Med School Admissions team has a track record of helping several of our mentees receive acceptances to Case Western year after year. We can help you next! We want to stress that submitting a strong Case Western secondary application is crucial and we can help you through our secondary essay editing packages.
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Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2023 - 2024
Case Western Reserve University Secondary Essay Prompts
- The most successful medical students at our school are generally those who are intrinsically motivated, self-directed learners. Think of a time when you had to pursue a goal without clear external direction. Describe your approach and any new knowledge, perspectives, or skills that you acquired. (1,000 character limit)
- Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
- Did you take a gap year(s)? Yes or No? If Yes: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us what you are doing during this gap, and why. (1,000 characters max)
- Optional – Research/Scholarly Work: One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or another scholarly project, please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. If you have not completed research/scholarly work, you will be able to indicate this in a radio button embedded within this response. (3,500 character limit) Note that if you are applying to both the University Program and the CCLCM, the research response will default to the CCLCM required response – see below.
- Optional – Additional Information Response: Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Secondary Essay Prompts
- Greatest Challenge Essay: The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (2,000 character limit)
- Research Essay: Please tell us about ONE research project to which you made a significant contribution. In your essay, describe your role on the project, the hypothesis of your research and whether you contributed to hypothesis generation, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results, and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. In addition, please briefly share your motivation for pursuing this research project and reflect on how this experience affected your future career goals. (3,500 character limit)
- The most successful medical students at our school are generally those who are intrinsically motivated, self-directed learners. Think of a time when you had to pursue a goal without clear external direction. Describe your approach and any new knowledge, perspectives, or skills that you acquired. (1,000 character limit)
- Career Essay: What does your ideal career entail fifteen years after medical school graduation? (1,000 character limit)
- Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap time. (1,000 character limit)
- OPTIONAL – Additional Information Response: Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)
Case Western MSTP Secondary Essay Prompts
- The most successful medical students at our school are generally those who are intrinsically motivated, self-directed learners. Think of a time when you had to pursue a goal without clear external direction. Describe your approach and any new knowledge, perspectives, or skills that you acquired. (1,000 character limit)
- Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
- PhD Advisor: What do you look for in a PhD advisor, and who at CWRU would interest you? (800 character limit)
- Area of Interest: What is your specific interest in the MSTP at CWRU? (800 character limit)
- Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap time. (1,000 character limit)
Tips to Answer Case Western Secondaries
Case Western Secondaries Pre-Writing Guidance: Because the Case Western secondary changed a lot in the previous cycle, we recommend students to NOT pre-write their Case Western secondaries this year.
Read our Cracking Med Secondary Essay Workbook and Examples to help you with all your secondary essays!
Case Western Secondary Application Tip #1: Answer as many questions as possible on your Case Western secondaries. Our Cracking Med School Admissions team does not view Case Western Medical School secondary essays as optional. For the optional essay about the COVID-19 pandemic, incorporate your personal experiences as well as healthcare current issues you noticed throughout the COVID pandemic. We have an entire healthcare current events blog post here, where you can read more about healthcare disparities and COVID-19.
Case Western Secondary Application Tip #2: For the question, “Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today” and “The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result” make sure you clearly discuss what the challenge was and how you overcame this. Common mistakes students make include:
- Talking about a topic that is too common among premed students, such getting a “C” in organic chemistry.
- Not providing enough context about the challenge they faced.
- Not discussing how they overcame the stressful situation.
Many of our Cracking Med School Admissions students write about challenges they had in their research projects for this question. If you have questions about whether your topic is a good topic to write about, send Dr. Mediratta and Dr. Rizal a question through our contact form below.
Case Western Secondary Application Tip #3: Remember, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine LOVES students who have been engaged with research. Even if the research essay is optional, you definitely HAVE TO answer it!
Furthermore, for the research question, you must describe your research clearly. You are not only judged on your actual research endeavors, but you are also judged on how well you can communicate your research. This is a great secondary application to get our help through secondary essay editing!
Case Western Secondary Application Tip #4: Don’t forget to incorporate a little bit about “Why Case Western Med” throughout your Case Western secondaries. You can definitely write more “Why Case Western” in the optional essay, “Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application?” Talk about projects and research you want to do at Case Western.
- Read our blog post Why this Medical School? Secondary Essay Example
Case Western Secondary Application Tip #5: Have questions about how you can stand out on your Case Western Med secondaries? Contact us below. Need editing help on your secondary? We can help you through our secondary essay packages.
[ Read more secondary essay tips: Washington University in St. Louis, Stanford, Northwestern, University of Chicago ]
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Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2022 – 2023
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Optional) The past year has reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. Please use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial, medical disruptions, etc. If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, tell us how you were able to explore these areas in alternate ways. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- Did you take a gap year(s)? Yes or No? If Yes: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us what you are doing during this gap, and why. (1,000 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or another scholarly project, please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. Please limit your response to 1 page (3,500 character recommendation), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (3,500 characters)
Case Western Secondary Application Optional Questions
- If you took coursework that was Pass/No Pass due to pandemic disruptions for for 2019-2020 and/or 2020-2021 academic years, please list the courses below.
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2021 – 2022
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Optional) The past year has reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. Please use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial, medical disruptions, etc. If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, tell us how you were able to explore these areas in alternate ways. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- Did you take a gap year(s)? Yes or No? If Yes: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us what you are doing during this gap, and why. (1,000 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or another scholarly project, please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 character recommendation), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.
- Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (3,500 characters)
Case Western Secondary Application Optional Questions
- If you took coursework that was Pass/No Pass due to pandemic disruptions for for 2019-2020 and/or 2020-2021 academic years, please list the courses below.
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2020 – 2021
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- The past few months have reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. Please use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial, medical disruptions, etc. It would also be helpful for us to know if any of your planned experiences in shadowing, volunteering, research, employment, or other activities have been suspended due to the pandemic. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300-1000 characters recommendation – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or another scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Secondary Essay Prompts
- How will you contribute to the diversity and inclusion mission of our medical school? (1,000 character recommendation)
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2019 – 2020
- (Required) The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Required) Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. In addition, please briefly share your motivation for pursuing this research project and reflect on how this experience affected you. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below.
- (Required) If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300-1000 characters recommendation – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Required for College Program) Areas of Improvement Essay: Each year our students target for themselves areas of improvement. Other than the acquisition of new knowledge, what personal area do you think you have that could use strengthening? Design a plan as to how you could improve it. (1,000 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Required for College Program) Criticism and Feedback Essay: Tell us about a time when you received unexpected criticism or negative feedback. How did you react? What did you do? (1,000 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Required for College Program) Career Essay: How do you see your career ten years from now? (1,000 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (Required for College Program) Teaching Essay: When were you challenged to teach, coach, or mentor others to learn a new skill or improve an old one? Please describe how it went and what you learned from the experience. (1,000 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- (If Applicable) Gap Year Essay: Did you take a gap year? If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us in no more than four sentences what you are doing during this gap, and why.
(Optional) Additional Information Essay: Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2018 – 2019
- The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max – leave blank line between paragraphs)
- Did you take a gap year? Yes or No? If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us in no more than four sentences what you are doing during this gap, and why.
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300-1000 characters recommendation – leave blank line between paragraphs)
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2017 – 2018
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max)
- Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below (3,500 characters max)
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (1,000 characters max)
- (Optional) Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2016 – 2017
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max)
- (Optional) One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or in another scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that the definition of research is broadly-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis, and can include both medically and non-medically-related investigations. (3,500 characters max)
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (1,000 characters max)
- (Optional) Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2015 – 2016
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max)
- Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below (3,500 characters max)
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (1,000 characters max)
- (Optional) Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.
Case Western Medical School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2014 – 2015
- The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3,500 characters max)
- Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below (3,500 characters max)
- If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (1,000 characters max)