Tips to Answer Keck USC Secondary Essays

USC Secondaries Pre-Writing Guidance: We do not recommend pre-writing this secondary early because USC Keck changes its prompts regularly. The USC secondaries are short though, so once the official prompts come out, you could work on this! However, USC Medical School is not that time sensitive and you don’t have to submit this until August. What’s more important is that you show your excitement about USC Medical School and how awesome your personality is.

Read our How to Answer USC Secondary Questions Tips below! We give our thoughts and examples question by question!

• Download our Cracking Med Secondary Essay Workbook and Examples.

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #1: USC looks for students who are aligned with its mission and culture. Know Keck School of Medicine’s mission. If possible, talk with students who are already medical school students at Keck to understand the med school’s culture.

We are dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals and society by promoting health, preventing and curing disease, advancing biomedical research and educating tomorrow’s physicians and scientists.

Given that the USC secondary essays are short and not directly asking about your medical endeavors, you have to be clever. For example, can your nickname be related to how you want to improve society? But we think the best question to describe your personality and values is in the USC secondaries question: “Describe a situation in which you didn’t get something you felt you deserved.”

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #2: 

For the USC secondary essay question: “What is the most fun you’ve had lately?“

This is not a trick question! You do not have to choose a cool case you had shadowing recently – in fact, this may come off looking fake. Keck really cares about selecting well-rounded medical students who have a variety of interests, so don’t be afraid to share yours here! Genuinely think of a time in the last few months when you had a blast. Was it on a recent vacation? Playing board games with friends? Whatever it is, make sure to describe why you had so much fun. If it was spending time with family, make sure to include how much your family means to you. These secondaries are much more personal than a lot of other schools’, so don’t be afraid to be personal and real in your answer.  

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #3: 

For the USC secondary essay question: “If you had to give yourself a nickname, what would it be?“

When you first read this question, you may be tempted to try to use a nickname you’ve been given in the past. If that nickname has a good story behind it or does a good job at describing you – go for it! However, if not, maybe it’s a good idea to start from scratch. The important part of this question isn’t the nickname itself, but what the nickname says about you. Think of a characteristic about yourself you would like the admissions committee to know about you, maybe one that hasn’t yet shone through in your application. It may be a good idea to choose a characteristic that you believe will allow you to excel as a physician, or a medical student, specifically at USC. Look back at the mission statement – it directly states that they want medical students who will go on to promote health, treat disease, advance research and educate future physicians. You always want to be honest when answering these questions, but try to keep these ideas in mind when forming your answer. Once you know what you want to say about yourself – then trace it back to a nickname that describes it. For example, if you are an adaptable person and want to showcase that trait, you could choose the nickname, “chameleon,” and then describe an instance or two where your adaptability helped you succeed.

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #4: 

For the USC secondary essay question: What are three things you don’t care about at all?

This is probably the most challenging prompt out of them all, and USC knows it. Take a deep breath! This question is tricky, because it could be interpreted two ways: it could be asking you what three things you dislike, or what three things you don’t have any feelings for whatsoever, positive or negative. Since it is generally a good idea to avoid negativity in your essays, I would go with the latter. You could also answer this question in a few different ways. The obvious way is to list material items or things that you simply don’t care about, such as breakfast or candles. While this route is safe, your answers may not be memorable.

A better way to answer this question is to choose things that demonstrate important ideals or values you have, such as not caring about “fame” or “popularity.” If you go this route, be careful not to put others down, and make sure your answer does not come off as pompous. To prevent this, you could acknowledge that it is OK for others to care about this thing, and just explain why you don’t. Try to put a positive spin on it! Another way to answer this question is to use humor. If you go this route, make sure the humor is not at the expense of other people! For example, you could make fun of yourself by saying you don’t care about styling your hair, to your partner’s dismay (just make sure to remember that hygiene is important in a future physician). Finally, you don’t have to stick with one theme! You could choose to pick one “thing” that demonstrates your values, and a couple that show your humor, or vice versa.

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #5: 

For the USC secondary essay question: Describe a situation in which you didn’t get something you felt you deserved?

Similar to the nickname question, the important part of answering this question is not the situation itself, but how you handled it and what you learned from it. In medical school, and in life in general, you are bound to not get things you want sometimes. USC wants to see how you handle yourself when things don’t go as planned. As stated before, USC strives to choose students who are “real people” – so don’t be afraid to choose a real situation in which you faced failure. Maybe you didn’t get an award or research grant you worked really hard for, or your sports team didn’t advance in the championships of a tournament. Try to choose a situation that happened relatively recently, and explain what you learned from it, how you will carry this lesson with you, and how it will make you a better physician and/or person.

Examples: Many students who work with us through secondary essay editing write something related to their academics, clinical experiences, or extracurricular experiences. For example, one student discussed how he did not get a promotion as the Head Scribe while another student discussed how he was not appointed Coach after serving as an Associate Head Coach. One of our other students discussed how she did not get the research result that she had expected.

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #6: 

For the USC secondary essay question: What do you see as the physician’s role in public health?

This question is a really important one for USC, which is why they give you more space to answer. Although USC is a private university, the medical school is located in an underserved area of Los Angeles where people of predominantly lower socioeconomic status reside. Recall that in training at LAC+USC, you will primarily serve underprivileged, marginalized patients. Thus, USC wants medical students who care deeply about health equality and community engagement. As a physician, it is your job to promote the health of both individuals and of society at large. How do you see yourself doing this?

To make your answer stronger, it is always a good idea to tie it back to an experience you’ve had. Have you done any work in the sphere of public health? Do you plan to as a medical student or physician? If so, it is also a good idea to indicate as such and point out how you may plan to do so at USC to convince them further that you are a good fit. USC has many opportunities to get involved in public health. For example, there are plenty of research opportunities in public health that you can get involved in as a medical student – check out https://pphs.usc.edu/research/ to see some of them! Additionally, as a medical student at USC, you can take an additional year during your third year to pursue the combined MD/MPH degree program and get your Masters in Public Health. This is a wonderful, unique opportunity that USC offers its medical students who are interested in public health and health policy. If this piques your interest, mention it in your answer!

USC Medical School Secondary Essays Tip #7: 

Do you need to answer the optional questions for the USC Keck secondary if there are applicable optional questions to your situation? YES!

Many of our students write “Why USC School of Medicine.” This is a missed opportunity if you do not answer the optional essay question.

This question is an opportunity to tell the admissions committee anything else you want them to know that you haven’t had the chance to share yet. You most definitely want to take this opportunity! It shows you care enough about the school to make the extra effort. You could expand on one of your earlier essays, or on another part of your application you didn’t have the chance to elaborate on. You could also use the space to describe why you want to go to USC – or better yet, why USC is a perfect fit for you. Again, it’s important to do your research here.

To read more about how to answer “Why This Medical School” secondary essays, read more here: Why this Medical School? Secondary Essay Example

USC is big on clinical/biomedical research and treating the underserved, among other things. If you are someone who wants to do pursue research in medical school, this would be a good place to mention that, and in doing so highlight your strength in research with examples from your past. It’s common for USC students to take a research year during medical school, and there are many scholarships and programs available at USC to help facilitate this, such as the Dean’s Research Scholar program.

 Additionally, while Keck generally provides great training in each medical specialty, there are a few specialties for which LAC+USC is a particularly good place to be, including emergency medicine. The old emergency room, referred to as “old county,” was first opened in 1878 to treat an underserved population of LA, and although it is no longer used as an Emergency Room due to damage caused by an earthquake in 1994, it is now a registered historic landmark. The movie, “Code Black” was even made about it, and I would definitely recommend giving it a watch. Today, the LAC+USC emergency room remains one of the busiest and most notorious ER’s in the country. If you already know you are interested in emergency medicine, this is an example of something you could bring up in this question to explain why you would be a good fit for USC specifically. Similarly, if you are interested in a different specialty, check out their website to see what opportunities they offer in that field! It’s also a good idea to talk to current medical students, if possible, to see what they love about USC and what they think makes it unique.

USC Medical School Secondary Application Tip #8: The USC secondary application is very different and has a unique set of essays! We’ve helped several students year after year get accepted into USC Keck School of Medicine, and you can be next! We can help you through our secondary essay packages. 

Have questions about how you can stand out? Contact us below. Need editing help on your secondary?

[Read more secondary essay tips: New York Medical College, Boston University, UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), UCI (University of California Irvine)]