Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth Secondary Essay Prompts

The 2026-2027 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

   Please indicate your plans for 2026-2027. If in school, list the courses you will be taking. If working, tell us about your job. If your plans or courses change, subsequently, please inform the Admissions Office by email at [email protected]. For course changes, we only need to be notified about changes related to prerequisite courses.

   250 words
2. 02

   Please reflect on your primary application and share something not addressed in your experiences or personal statement that would be helpful to the Admissions Committee as we review your file.

   300 words
3. 03

   Are there specific aspects of the Geisel School of Medicine that draw you to apply? What are the characteristics and strengths you will bring to our program, and how will you contribute to our community?

   300 words
4. 04

   Dartmouth values a culture of inquiry and respect and encourages dialogues that harness diversity and openness of thought. Reflect on a situation where you felt different from those around you, or one where your perspective differed from others.

   250 words

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.