Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Secondary Questions

Here are Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s secondary questions.

2024-2025

We would like to provide our applicants with the essay prompts for this year’s CWRU secondary application.  Throughout the week of July 15th, secondary application invitations will be emailed to CWRU applicants with a verified AMCAS application and an MCAT score of greater than or equal to 495.

Applicants are able to select which of our MD program(s) they would like to apply to within the secondary application, and this selection will then dictate which essay prompts are displayed. We hope that this early availability will alleviate some of the stress that may be associated with the application process, and will allow our applicants more time to craft their essay responses while waiting for other processes, such as AMCAS application verification or an MCAT administration, that are required for application completion.

Please note that spaces are counted as characters in our secondary application platform. You will only need to provide one response for prompts that are shared by programs and each program will have access to that response. You won’t have to write multiple responses for the same prompt.

University Program Applicants

Required Responses:

1. Greatest Challenge: The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. (2,000 character limit)
2. Personal Growth: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
3. Cultural Awareness: Many have been reckoning with the impact of systemic injustices on social environments and healthcare equity. Describe a personal experience that has deepened your cultural awareness and humility, and the impact of that learning on how you look at health and healthcare. (1,500 character limit)
4. Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:

1. Research/Scholarly Work: One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or other scholarly project (capstone project, honors thesis, etc.), please reflect on the experience, including how you learned from it, what challenged you, and how it may have impacted you educationally and professionally. If you have not completed research or scholarly project, please indicate that in the text box below. (2,500 character limit)

• If the details of your project are included elsewhere in your application no need to repeat them here. We are interested in learning what you took away from the experience(s).
• If you are applying to both the University Program and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Program, the research response will default to the CCL Program required response.

2. Additional Information Response:  Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)

CCLCM (5 yr. MD) Applicants

Required Responses:

1. Greatest Challenge Essay: The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (2,000 character limit)
2. Research Essay:  Please tell us about ONE research project to which you made a significant contribution. In your essay, describe your role on the project, the hypothesis of your research and whether you contributed to hypothesis generation, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results, and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. In addition, please briefly share your motivation for pursuing this research project and reflect on how this experience affected your future career goals. (3,500 character limit)
3. Personal Growth: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
4. Cultural Awareness: Many have been reckoning with the impact of systemic injustices on social environments and healthcare equity. Describe a personal experience that has deepened your cultural awareness and humility, and the impact of that learning on how you look at health and healthcare. (1,500 character limit)
5. Career Essay: What does your ideal career entail fifteen years after medical school graduation? (1,000 character limit)
6. Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:

Additional Information Response:  Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)

MSTP (MD/PhD) Applicants

Required Responses:

1. Greatest Challenge Essay: The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (2,000 character limit) **Updated July 10, 2023**
2. Personal Growth: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)
3. Cultural Awareness: Many have been reckoning with the impact of systemic injustices on social environments and healthcare equity. Describe a personal experience that has deepened your cultural awareness and humility, and the impact of that learning on how you look at health and healthcare. (1,500 character limit)
4. PhD Advisor: What do you look for in a PhD advisor, and who at CWRU would interest you? (800 character limit)
5. Area of Interest: What is your specific interest in the MSTP at CWRU? (800 character limit)
6. Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap time. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:

Additional Information Response:  Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)

2023-2024

Required Short Answer Responses:​

Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Directed Learning: The most successful medical students at our school are generally those who are intrinsically motivated, self-directed learners. Think of a time when you had to pursue a goal without clear external direction. Describe your approach and any new knowledge, perspectives, or skills that you acquired. (1,000 character limit)

Lessons Learned: Evolving Perspectives on Personal Growth and Decision-Making: Based on your current maturity and wisdom, reflect upon an experience from the past few years that you would handle differently today. (1,000 character limit)

Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us why you made this decision and what you will be doing or have done during this gap time. (1,000 character limit)

Optional Responses:​

Research/Scholarly Work: One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve2 Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a prerequisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or another scholarly project, please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non-medically-related investigations. If you have not completed research/scholarly work, you will be able to indicate this in a radio button embedded within this response. (3,500 character limit)

Note that if you are applying to both the University Program and the CCLCM, the research response will default to the CCLCM required response.

2. Additional Information Response: Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee that may not be captured in the rest of your application? (2,000 character limit)

2021-2022

Required:
The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience, how you handled the uncertainty or stress, and what you learned about yourself as a result. Please limit your response to 1 page (approx 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Optional:
The past year has reflected an unprecedented time in world history, and we are aware that many have experienced significant disruptions in numerous aspects of their lives. Please use the text field below to share with us how you may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic, financial, medical disruptions, etc. If medically-related or patient-based experiences were interrupted, tell us how you were able to explore these areas in alternate ways. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Did you take a gap year(s)? Yes or No. If Yes: If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us what you are doing during this gap, and why. Please limit your response to no more than 1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

2020-2021

The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

2019-2020

Essay: Additional Information (Optional)

Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.

Required Essay: Greatest Challenge

The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Required Essay: Research

Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. In addition, please briefly share your motivation for pursuing this research project and reflect on how this experience affected you. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below.

Required Essay: Small Group Essay

If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it?

Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Required for College Program: Areas of Improvement Essay

Each year our students target for themselves areas of improvement. Other than the acquisition of new knowledge, what personal area do you think you have that could use strengthening? Design a plan as to how you could improve it.

Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Required for College Program: Criticism and Feedback Essay

Tell us about a time when you received unexpected criticism or negative feedback. How did you react? What did you do?

Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Required for College Program: Career Essay

How do you see your career ten years from now?

Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Required for College Program: Teaching Essay

When were you challenged to teach, coach, or mentor others to learn a new skill or improve an old one? Please describe how it went and what you learned from the experience.

Please limit your response to 500-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Essay: Gap Year

Did you take a gap year?

If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us in no more than four sentences what you are doing during this gap, and why.

Please upload a picture of yourself. The picture is NOT required, but will help us to remember you. Please note that if your uploaded picture looks sideways to you, it will to us too! We can’t make changes to your photo on our end after you have uploaded and submitted your application.

If you choose to not upload a photo click the ‘Skip’ button below to complete the page.

2018-2019

Essay: Greatest Challenge

The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. Please limit your response to 1 page (about 3,500 characters), and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Essay: Gap Year

Did you take a gap year? Yes / No

If you are taking time off between college graduation and medical school matriculation, please tell us in no more than four sentences what you are doing during this gap, and why.

Essay: Small Group Essay

If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it?

Please limit your response to 300-1000 characters, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

2017 – 2018

The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you learned about yourself as a result. (3500 char)

Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below (3500 char)

If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300-1000 char)

Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program. OPTIONAL

2016-2017

1. The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you may have learned about yourself as a result. (3500 char)

2. One of the four pillars of the Western Reserve Curriculum is Research and Scholarship. Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in research or in another scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that the definition of research is broadly-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis, and can include both medically and non-medically-related investigations. OPTIONAL (3500 char)

3. If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300 – 1000 char)

4. Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program. OPTIONAL

2015 – 2016

The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you may have learned about yourself as a result. (3500 char.)

Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below. (3500 char)

If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300-1000 char)

Is there any further information that you wish to share with the Admissions Committee? This optional response will only be considered by the University Program.

2014 – 2015

The admissions committee is interested in gaining more insight into you as a person. Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. Please include how you got through the experience and what you may have learned about yourself as a result. (3500 char.)

Please describe the hypothesis of your research, why the methods were selected to answer that hypothesis, your results and interpretation of your results with respect to future findings. If you have not participated in research or scholarly work, please indicate so in the text area below. (3500 char)

If you were working on a small group project and you thought that another student wasn’t carrying his/her load, how would you handle it? (300-1000 char)