Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine at The Chicago School – IllinoisCOM 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

   Reflect on an experience from your education or personal background that shaped your understanding of how individual identities, lived experiences, and cultural perspectives influence healthcare. How did this experience shape your perspective, and how might it guide your contributions to IllinoisCOM and the communities you serve and your engagement with the principles and practice of osteopathic medicine?

   500 words
2. 02

   As IllinoisCOM evolves, how do you envision contributing to the college's developing identity, culture, and long-term impact? What does this opportunity represent to you personally, and how might you help shape the future of the college and its role in the broader healthcare community?

   500 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.

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