Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine Auburn Campus Secondary Essay Prompts

The 2025-2026 prompts

Want these drafted from your own story? Start with MedCoach

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

1. 01

   Describe a significant challenge you have experienced in your life. Please share the strategies you employed to overcome the challenge, and what you learned from the experience.

   500 words
2. 02

   How do your professional ambitions align with osteopathic medicine? What influenced your decision to apply to VCOM?

   500 words
3. 03

   In the event you have ever applied to VCOM, what improvements have you made to your application?

   500 wordsOptional
4. 04

   If you have not completed all the prerequisite coursework, with a grade of C or better, please state how you intend on completing it prior to matriculation.

   500 wordsOptional

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.

More schools in AL