University of Massachusetts Medical School 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

   How will your lived experiences, your background, your identity or that which makes you unique contribute to the diverse community and learning environment at UMass Chan?

   200 words
2. 02

   Describe a specific situation in which you persevered through more than usually challenging circumstances. What did you learn from that experience that you have continued to use?

   200 words
3. 03

   Describe your role in a project that identified a problem, studied it, launched a solution and tested its effectiveness.

   200 words
4. 04

   Describe a situation where you learned something important about yourself that you did not previously know. How did you use that insight to change your approach in the future?

   200 words
5. 05

   Please describe an example of your personal and/or professional experience with and understanding of systemic inequity, exclusion, or lack of representation in health care in the United States. How did you arrive at this understanding?

   200 words
6. 06

   If you have previously applied to medical school, describe how you have strengthened your candidacy. If you have not previously applied to medical school please enter "N/A".

   200 words
7. 07

   Please discuss any part of your application that you believe requires further explanation such as low grades or scores or gaps in time that are not explained elsewhere.

   200 wordsOptional
8. 08

   If applying for the PURCH Pathway at Baystate: Please describe how a focus on population health and healthcare disparities will benefit you in your training and/or career?

   500 wordsOptional
9. 09

   If applying for the LEAD@Lahey Pathway at Lahey: Based on your interests and life experiences, please describe how you might be a good fit for the LEAD@Lahey Pathway at UMass Chan Medical School? What unique experiences and perspectives might you bring to the class?

   250 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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