Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Secondary Essay Prompts

The 2026-2027 prompts

Collected from public applicant reports. Prompts occasionally change mid cycle, so confirm against your own secondary portal before you submit.

1. 01

   CDU's vision is "Excellent health and wellness for all in a world without health disparities." Using a specific experience from your background — clinical, community, research, or personal — describe how this vision has already shaped your path and how you plan to advance it as a CDU physician.

   No stated limit

   How to answer: Be specific to this school: name what you would use or give back here (a track, a clinic, a community it serves) or a real tie to the place, and connect each to something you have already done. If another school's name could be swapped in, rewrite it.

2. 02

   Beyond stating your commitment, illustrate it: describe a specific moment when you took meaningful action to address the health needs of an underserved or underrepresented community. What did you do, what did you learn, and how has it shaped the physician you intend to become?

   No stated limit

   How to answer: Choose the service you stayed with longest and show what you learned from the people you served. Hours matter less than what changed because you were there.

3. 03

   What draws you to CDU specifically — not medicine generally? Identify concrete elements of CDU's mission, curriculum, community, or location that align with your goals and are not easily found elsewhere. Be specific about why CDU is the right fit for you.

   No stated limit

   How to answer: Same approach as prompt 01.

4. 04

   Describe a specific instance in which you experienced or witnessed discrimination. What was the impact on you or others involved? How did this experience shape your understanding of equity, and how will it inform your practice as a physician?

   No stated limit

   How to answer: Tell one specific story from your background or a group you have been part of, then say what it lets you notice or do that classmates might not. Show it through what happened rather than adjectives about yourself.

5. 05

   Describe a concrete vision for your post-residency impact: Which community do you intend to serve, what unmet need will you address, and what specific role — clinical, advocacy, research, or policy — do you see yourself playing? Be as specific as possible about place, population, and purpose.

   No stated limit

   How to answer: Name a direction you can back with experiences you have had, not just a specialty title. It is fine to say your plans may change; show how you think about the path.

6. 06

   How will you use your personal experience with poverty and housing insecurity as a physician? Describe how it has shaped your perspective on health, access to care, or the doctor-patient relationship. How will this lived experience inform the way you approach patients facing similar circumstances?

   800 characters

   How to answer: Keep the setup short and spend most of the space on what you did and what you do differently now. Readers judge the reflection, not the size of the hardship.

How to write these well

• Turn secondaries around within 7 to 14 days of receiving them. Schools read speed as interest, and slow essays land in a bigger pile.
• Pre-write the universal question types (diversity, challenge, why us) once, then adapt per school. Adapting is rewriting the school specific half, not swapping the name.
• Name real programs. A why us answer that cites a specific clinic, track, or community partnership reads ten times stronger than praise for reputation or location.
• Stay under the limit without padding to reach it. Readers are working through thousands of these; a tight answer is a kindness they remember.

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