Oregon Health & Science University School 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

   Tell of a patient experience that influenced your perspective on becoming a physician.

   1550 characters
2. 02

   Describe the effect of an endeavor that didn't go according to your plan.

   1550 characters
3. 03

   Discuss a time in your life that demonstrated your resilience and ability to overcome adversity. How did this change you?

   1550 characters
4. 04

   How does intellectual and academic struggle fit into your identity as a future physician?

   2050 characters
5. 05

   Discuss your experience of recent personal feedback that was difficult to receive.

   1550 characters
6. 06

   Describe a time when you had to reconsider or change a deeply held belief or perspective. What prompted this change?

   1550 characters
7. 07

   Describe a time personal obligations had to be prioritized over school or work. What did it teach you about managing competing priorities?

   1550 characters
8. 08

   Are there any additional ties to the state of Oregon you wish to share? If yes, use the space below. If no, leave blank. Please note that this does not factor toward your consideration as an Oregon resident or Oregon Heritage.

   No stated limitOptional
9. 09

   We know that many of our applicants in the OHSU UME Program may have familial relationships with individuals who are OHSU faculty, residents, staff, or current students who serve as evaluators in our admissions process. We have added this question in hopes to prevent perceived or actual conflicts of interest that can occur when an applicant has a family member (or someone with a similar close personal relationship) they may encounter through the admissions process. If you have any such connections, please list those individuals' names and departments below. If no, leave blank.

   No stated limitOptional
10. 10

    Based on your own experiences or the experiences of family and friends, do you believe that the area in which you grew up was adequately served by the available health care professionals? Were there enough physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other health care service providers and how did that affect your experience and relationship with health care? Please explain.

    4000 characters
11. 11

    While you were growing up, did you experience any of the following types of adversity? (Economic, Educational, Ethnic/Cultural, Family). Please describe the nature of the adversity and how social, economic, academic, or other circumstances affected you and your opportunities.

    4000 charactersOptional
12. 12

    We acknowledge that our application is not fully comprehensive. If there is anything additional you would like to let us know about you, please briefly state it here.

    550 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.

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