Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic 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

   How did you learn about osteopathic medicine and why is it a good fit for you?

   1000 words
2. 02

   Explain why you are interested in attending Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine:

   1000 words
3. 03

   We seek to train physicians who can connect with diverse patient populations with whom they may not share a similar background. Tell us about an experience that has broadened your own worldview or enhanced your ability to understand those unlike yourself and what you learned from it.

   1000 words
4. 04

   Please describe any significant barriers or challenges you may have overcome in the pursuit of your personal/professional goals:

   1000 wordsOptional
5. 05

   Please prepare an essay that explains why you want to participate in the Problem-Based Learning Curriculum (PBLC) and why you are a good fit for this curricular track.

   1000 wordsOptional

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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