Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University 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

   Tell us about your special interest in the first choice campus you selected.

   2000 characters
2. 02

   Founded on a historic commitment to expanding access to education and healthcare, the Lewis Katz School of Medicine emphasizes a mission rooted in training physicians who combine scientific excellence with deep humanistic commitment. Our mission and vision highlight the importance of compassionate care, community engagement, and a drive to improve health outcomes through innovation, advocacy, and service. Please share how your experiences and/or activities reflect these values and how they shape the physician you hope to become.

   2000 characters
3. 03

   The Admissions Committee would like to know more about you. Katz seeks an engaged student body with a wide variety of experiences, perspectives, and interests to enhance the medical school experience for everyone. Please use the space below to describe what makes you unique as an applicant, an obstacle that you had to overcome, or how you will contribute to the Katz community.

   2000 characters
4. 04

   What are your plans for the current year - June 2026 until June 2027?

   2000 characters
5. 05

   Please confirm whether your institutional action (IA) disclosure on your AMCAS application is correct. If you need to update it, please explain:

   2000 charactersOptional

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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