Baylor College of Medicine Secondary Application Essay Tips [2022 - 2023]

*Note: Baylor College of Medicine applications are now submitted solely through the TMDSAS application. Only MD/PHD will use the AMCAS application platform.

Review the Principles for BCM prior to writing your secondary essays. Baylor College of Medicine places special emphasis on recruiting students from diverse backgrounds and from ethnicities that are underrepresented in medicine. Highlight your personal connections, volunteer work, and leadership roles in medically underserved communities.

Baylor College of Medicine 2022-23 secondary application essay questions

Baylor College of Medicine essay #1

In addition to training as a competent physician, please select up to two additional areas of interest from the items below that you may want to pursue during your medical studies. Your responses will have no bearing on applications to joint degrees or special programs to which you might also apply.

Options include:

Clinical Research
Healthcare/disparities/medical underserved communities
Academic Medicine
Community Health
Simulation in medical education
Health systems science
Telehealth
Advocacy

(connected to #1) What knowledge, skills and attitudes have you developed that have prepared you for this career path? (1000 characters)

BCOM wants to know how you’re suited for their programs. Their expectation is that in choosing up to two areas of interest, you have spent some quality time engaged in the interests you choose. Introduce the experience (what was it?), explain your responsibilities, and what you learned, how this experience deepened your awareness of inequity, how this experience impacted patient care, or how this experience showed you what twenty-first century medicine will entail. Provide an insightful vision of medicine and its complexities, disparities, or innovations to convey that they are true, active interests of yours.

Baylor College of Medicine essay #2

Are you planning to matriculate into medical school immediately after completing your undergraduate education? If not, please explain what activities and/or careers you have pursued in the time between your college education and your application. (limit not stated)

Most matriculating first year medical students have taken a gap year. A gap year is often regarded as an opportunity to deepen one’s preparedness for medical school. Your involvement in some type of physician-oriented work, research, clinical work, or patient care should be a deeply committed use of your time. Many applicants work full-time in research during their gap year while also volunteering. Some applicants work as EMTs, patient care aides, or techs. Others work at institutes (the National Institutes of Health [NIH], for instance).

If you work in non-healthcare-related employment out of necessity, explain the circumstances, tell a story that reveals your responsibilities beyond being a dutiful premed student. Are you caring for a sick relative? Has your family faced financial hardship? Are you a parent of young children? These stories should convey your fortitude, maturity and unflinching resolve to be responsible and still become a doctor.

If you work in non-healthcare-related employment and are seeking a career change, many schools of medicine are open to this. In this circumstance, “why medicine?” becomes a critical question to address in the personal statement, as the schools will be looking for true dedication and conviction. One way to demonstrate this conviction is to describe volunteer work oriented to patient care, wellness, or altruism.

In addition, career-changers may be able to show that a first career has already developed skills and qualities important in medicine. For example, a teacher explains concepts and an engineer evaluates and solves problems. Additionally, as non-traditional applicants, career-changers are desirable applicants because they have experience being steadfastly employed in a professional capacity and have grown from the experience.

Baylor College of Medicine essay #3

Indicate any special experiences, unusual factors or other information you feel would be helpful in evaluating you, including, but not limited to, education, employment, extracurricular activities, prevailing over adversity. You may expand upon but not repeat TMDSAS or AMCAS application information. (2,000 characters.)

Using a timeline you have created of your life that includes all significant events and/or an updated copy of your resume or CV, check off the items you have already covered in your primary application. Create a list from the remaining items that you have not covered which are related to clinical, research, work, or leadership in community service. Are there any items that relate to how you have overcome adversity? Strategically selecting the activities or events that will reveal more about you as a person, create an outline using this short list. Free-write to cover as much detail as you can from your outline. After taking a break, edit the material to ensure you have a clear introductory sentence, solid body with explanations, and a concise conclusion that sums up your experiences.

Applying to Baylor College of Medicine? Here are some stats:

Baylor College of Medicine average MCAT score: 517

Baylor College of Medicine average GPA: 3.87

Baylor Acceptance Rate: 4.3%

For more stats, check out the Medical School Selectivity Index.

You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are in life. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your medical school applications. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Check out our flexible consulting packages today!

Dr. Mary Mahoney, Ph.D. has over 20 years of experience as an advisor and essay reviewer for med school applicants. She is a tenured English Professor with an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and a PhD in Literature and Writing from the University of Houston. For the last twenty years, Mary has served as a grad school advisor and essay reviewer for med school applicants. Want Mary to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Alicia McNease Nimonkar worked for 5 years as the Student Advisor & Director at the UC Davis School of Medicine’s postbac program where she both evaluated applications and advised students applying successfully to med school and other health professional programs. She has served Accepted’s clients since 2012 with roughly a 90% success rate. She has a Master of Arts in Composition and Rhetoric as well as Literature. Want Alicia to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!