University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix 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

   Have you previously applied to any medical school (select yes if you submitted a primary or secondary application)? Yes/No If yes, please reflect upon your prior application. In what ways have you grown personally, academically, and professionally, and how do these changes make you a stronger applicant this cycle?

   1000 charactersOptional
2. 02

   What about yourself are you most proud of? How will this shape the way you care for others and contribute to the well-being of the communities you serve?

   1000 characters
3. 03

   Describe an experience that challenged the way you see the world. How did it influence your ability to understand others and meet them where they are?

   1000 characters
4. 04

   Servant Leadership is a core value and attribute we deem essential for our students to possess. Share an example where you took initiative to support others while putting their needs ahead of your own. What personal values guided your actions, and how will those values shape the way you care for patients?

   1000 characters
5. 05

   As you consider your future in medicine, what aspects of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix mission, values, and community culture resonate most with you? How do you see these elements contributing to your development as a physician, and in what ways do you hope to add to and strengthen this community?

   1000 characters
6. 06

   One of the core missions of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix is to train physicians who will serve the people and communities of Arizona. Please share your connection to the state—or, if you do not have one, what draws you to care for patients here. How do you envision contributing to the health and well-being of Arizona's communities as a future physician?

   1000 charactersOptional
7. 07

   We understand that an application may not fully capture everything that makes a candidate unique. We invite you to use this space to share something not already addressed in your primary or secondary application that you believe would help the Admissions Committee better understand you as an applicant. This may include gaps in your education, personal or academic achievements, or challenges you have overcome.

   1000 charactersOptional
8. 08

   As part of our commitment to evaluating and strengthening our outreach efforts, we ask applicants to share any involvement in formal pipeline or preparatory programs hosted by the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix. Participation in these programs is not required and will not impact your application review. If you participated in any of the following—Summer Scrubs, Saturday Scrubs, Pre-Med Academy, Pre-Med Summer School, InstaMed, Cardiology Academy, or the Flinn Scholars program—please list each program and describe your role or level of involvement.

   1000 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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