Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania 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

   Have you taken or are you planning to take time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation? If yes, please describe your activities during this time.

   700 characters
2. 02

   Have you participated in any global activities outside of the U.S. prior to submitting your AMCAS application?

   1000 characters
3. 03

   How would your life experiences contribute to the Perelman and Penn community, and how do they inform your decision to pursue a medical education?

   1000 characters
4. 04

   We all periodically have to make decisions under challenging circumstances. Physicians and physician-scientists sometimes need to proceed and act with limited information. Please describe a time when you faced a situation that was ambiguous, confusing, or uncertain, and how you navigated the matter despite lacking all of the necessary information.

   3000 characters
5. 05

   Have you or your family experienced economic hardships, regardless of current income status?

   1000 characters
6. 06

   Please share your reasons for applying to the Perelman School of Medicine.

   1000 characters

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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