University of Minnesota Medical School 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

   The Mission of the University of Minnesota Medical School is to be a leader in enhancing the health of people through the education of skilled, compassionate and socially responsible physicians. The Medical School is dedicated to preeminent primary care medicine, exemplary specialty care and innovative research. Reflect on and describe how your experiences to date support your dedication to this mission.

   1500 characters
2. 02

   The University of Minnesota is a land grant institution with a mission to care for all of the people of our state. We aim to educate future clinicians toward this goal. Please reflect on how you might contribute to a learning environment comprised of a wide variety of individuals and provide specific examples from your professional and/or personal experiences.

   1500 characters
3. 03

   Describe a time when you used critical thinking to solve a problem. Please provide specific examples of your process and what you learned from the experience.

   1500 characters
4. 04

   Describe a time when you experienced an obstacle, challenge or failure. How did it affect you? What did you learn?

   1500 characters
5. 05

   Why do you want to go to medical school in the state of Minnesota?

   1500 characters
6. 06

   How have your individual experiences and identity shaped who you are and who you will be as a physician?

   1500 characters
7. 07

   What other pertinent information would you like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee? This is an opportunity for you to discuss an aspect of your journey to medicine that you have not already presented in your application. You may also update us with any current experiences that were not included in your AMCAS application.

   1500 charactersOptional
8. 08

   Please highlight up to 3 experiences that support your application to the Rural Health Mission.

   1500 charactersOptional
9. 09

   Describe how you plan to contribute to the health needs of rural and Greater Minnesota communities.

   1500 charactersOptional
10. 10

    Please highlight up to 3 experiences that support your application to the Indigenous Health and Community Mission.

    1500 charactersOptional
11. 11

    Describe how you plan to contribute to the health needs of Indigenous communities.

    1500 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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