East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine Secondary Essay Prompts

The 2025-2026 prompts

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

1. 01

   Why have you chosen to apply to Quillen College of Medicine? How do your personal and professional goals align with Quillen's mission and values?

   1500 characters
2. 02

   Quillen College of Medicine's curriculum is designed to foster excellence in clinical practice through active, in-person participation and peer co-learning. This approach requires individual preparation, engagement in participatory class sessions, and a commitment to mutual coaching among peers. We believe that meaningful learning extends beyond academics and can be found in all areas of life. To help us understand how you will thrive in our community, please reflect on the significance of this learning model in your personal and professional development. In your response, consider the following: Describe a time when you navigated a challenging group learning experience. What was your role, and how did you contribute to the group's success? Discuss the value you find in learning through teaching and coaching your peers. How does this approach enhance your understanding and application of material? You are encouraged to draw from both academic and non-academic experiences to illustrate your points.

   1500 characters
3. 03

   Choose one of the following: a. As a physician, you will have the unique opportunity to foster positive change within your patients and community. Reflect on how your life experiences have shaped your values and attitudes towards others, especially those from different backgrounds or with differing values. How have these experiences prepared you to treat all patients with respect, care, compassion, and dignity, even when their beliefs differ from your own b. Describe a specific initiative or project you have undertaken to improve your community. What motivated you to get involved, and what impact did your efforts have? In your response, please highlight any challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and what you learned from the experience c. Use this space to tell the committee anything else about yourself that you have not had the opportunity to present elsewhere in your application.

   1500 characters

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.
• Heads up: this school also requires CASPer, so build that into your timeline alongside the essays.

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