University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine Secondary Essay Prompts

The 2024-2025 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

   Given the mission statement of the school, please explain how your experiences and long-term goals would help meet the mission.

   1500 characters
2. 02

   Given the diversity statement of the school, explain how your background and experiences with diversity will bring value to the school.

   1500 characters
3. 03

   Briefly describe a crisis or significant challenge in your life, how you have worked through the crisis or challenge, and what you have learned from this experience.

   1500 characters
4. 04

   For repeat applicants only. Since your last application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? Please note any relevant academic, employment, clinical and personal experience.

   1500 charactersOptional
5. 05

   For non-South Dakota residents applying to the regular MD program, please describe your ties to South Dakota.

   1500 charactersOptional
6. 06

   Please use the space below for anything you might wish to discuss related to the corona virus (COVID-19) public health crisis. Possible topics might include, for example: your biggest lessons and insights from the pandemic; creative ways in which you were able to serve your community during the crisis; how the pandemic has affected your outlook on the role of medicine.

   5000 characters
7. 07

   Please enter the city, state and date range you have resided in each location. Example: Vermillion, SD; 1/1/1990 - 7/31/2008 Sioux Falls, SD; 8/1/2008 - 5/31/2018. Enter your residency history below.

   500 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.