by Mary Mahoney
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Secondary Application Essay Tips [2024 – 2025]
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine maintains a strong emphasis on integrating scientific innovation with patient care. In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked the school #1 in multiple specialties (Internal Medicine, Surgery, Rheumatology), #2 in Anesthesiology, and #3 in Psychiatry.
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine follows a “Genes to Society” curriculum that emphasizes human adaptation, genotypes, and risk factors rather than “normal” human biology and “abnormal” disease. Johns Hopkins has a long tradition of training physician-leaders who are committed to both clinical medicine and improving health on a larger scale, whether through research, innovation, education, or health care delivery.
In July 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies made a transformative $1 billion gift to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, aimed at reducing the financial barriers for medical students. This donation will make medical school free for students from families with a household income of less than $300,000 per year, which includes 95% of American families. For students from families with annual incomes of less than $175,000, the gift will also cover living expenses and fees.
This initiative addresses a significant issue in the United States – the declining number of healthcare professionals due to the high cost of medical education. By easing the financial burden, Johns Hopkins hopes to attract a more diverse range of talented students, empowering them to pursue careers in medicine without the heavy burden of debt.
The gift also extends beyond the School of Medicine (SOM), increasing financial aid for students at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and several other graduate schools. This investment builds on previous philanthropic efforts by Michael Bloomberg (a 1964 Hopkins alumnus), including a historic $1.8 billion gift in 2018 to support undergraduate financial aid.
Johns Hopkins SOM secondary application essay questions
Think of your secondary essays as opportunities to demonstrate your in-kind character and to envision the future of medicine in keeping with the school’s vision.
Essay #1
Please review the Johns Hopkins Medicine Website. Are there any areas of medicine or a particular medical specialty at Johns Hopkins that interests you and why? If so, please comment. (400 word limit)
This prompt has been revised to make sure applicants zero in on the school’s medical program and specialties. If you have your heart set on one of its specialties, go ahead and mention this. Also, it is okay to say that you are interested in multiple fields and list a few that you want to explore. To support your interest, briefly describe your exposure/experiences in each specialty and why they appeal to you. How do you hope to further medical knowledge in this area? In other words, how will you contribute to making this field better?
Essay #2
Briefly describe your single, most rewarding experience. Feel free to refer to an experience previously described in your AMCAS application if needed. (400 word limit)
If something exceptional has happened since you submitted your primary (e.g., a new job, a research breakthrough) and you want to include it, here is your chance. However, be sure to tell the story, not just list a credential, award, or opportunity as you might in your resume or curriculum vitae. How you tell this story also matters; you want to appeal to your readers rather than distance yourself from them.
It’s likely that many applicants will choose one of their three most meaningful activities and give it a spin, making it into a longer story for this essay. This is your opportunity to include information that did not fit in your primary “most meaningful experience” description. To show your fit with Johns Hopkins, try to show how the experience has motivated you to contribute further in your chosen field. Explain with insight and depth what resonates meaningfully about the experience for you and then for medicine.
There is an opportunity here to take an innovative approach to this prompt that could work well. Then be certain to connect the dots to how this “outside the box” experience relates to you and also to medicine, physicians, public health, or research.
Essay #3
Briefly describe a situation where you had to overcome adversity. Include lessons learned and how you think it will affect your career as a future physician. (400 word limit)
Adversity is a condition or fate that is undesirable, often bringing about feelings of distress, calamity, or misfortune. The key to answering this question is showing your true colors, demonstrating your inner strength, a resolve that rectifies the situation, makes a bad situation better, or triggers lasting change, growth, and/or resilience. Adversity could be related to marginalization, discrimination, sudden responsibility, illness, or disability, but it does not have to be that profound. You could write about a hardship that brought your family closer, or perhaps a teamwork situation that you would handle differently in the future. How have you made a bad situation better? How might you handle the situation differently next time?
No matter what your subject, your response to this prompt needs to show insight, maturity, and successful reflection in conclusion. Lastly, explain how adversity and resilience apply to medicine.
Essay #4
Briefly describe a situation where you were not in the majority. What did you learn from the experience? (400 word limit)
This is a “self-awareness” question, and the key is to show how you grew from the situation. You might be tempted to spend most of the essay discussing the circumstance; however, your essay will be stronger if you describe the situation briefly, then spend more time discussing what you learned about yourself as a result. Main points could involve trust, communication, diversity, empathy, or inclusion.
Essay #5
Wonder encapsulates a feeling of rapt attention … it draws the observer in. Tell us about a time in recent years that you experienced wonder in your everyday life. Although experiences related to your clinical or research work may be the first to come to mind, we encourage you to think of an experience that is unrelated to medicine or science. What did you learn from that experience? (500 word limit)
The keywords in this prompt are “wonder,” “everyday life,” and “learn.” Have you ever had a moment of amazement during a seemingly routine or mundane activity? Possibilities include time spent in nature; with a child, pet, or an older relative; and doing a hobby or even a chore. The prompt specifically asks you to look outside of your clinical and research activities, so do not choose something related to medicine. This is a chance to be creative and to show your ability to learn and grow, no matter where you are.
Many experiences and observations can be deeply engrossing. How does what you are writing about facilitate contemplation and awe? This is a subjective response, an exploratory and explanatory one. You’ll need to let go of being rational and empirical and move in the direction of the sublime, or musicality, perception, and poetics. Did you see the solar eclipse? Did you observe a mother respond to an emergency with the strength of ten men?
In science, awe and wonder are spaces of ideas and understanding that can lead to innovation and discovery. That is likely why Johns Hopkins asks this question. Take the stethoscope, for instance. In the 1860s, a French doctor wanted to auscultate a female patient’s chest but felt that putting his ear to her chest would transgress boundaries. So he innovated a solution and made a cone out of paper to listen to her heart that way.
However, for this prompt, choose a story from real life to show deep observation, then state what it means and what you learned from it.
Essay #6
Please review the Johns Hopkins Medicine Equity Statement before answering the question below.
The Johns Hopkins Medicine Equity Statement:
At Johns Hopkins Medicine, we believe that everyone has a role in promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity in health care, research, and education.
We must acknowledge, actively address, and work toward effectively managing our negative biases, so that we collectively make decisions that improve the lives of our patients, our colleagues, our learners, and our community.
We stand against discrimination and oppression in all their forms.
It is vital that we achieve equity for all, including those who are most vulnerable.
The purpose of this essay is to get to know you as an individual and a potential medical student. Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to apply to Johns Hopkins Medicine and what has influenced your desire to become a physician in a Medical community that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion. You may address any subject you wish, such as being a first-generation college student, or being a part of a minority group, (whether because of your gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnicity, socio-economic status, political affiliation, first-generation status, religion, etc.) or being the child of undocumented immigrants or being undocumented yourself, etc. (500 word limit)
Some medical school applicants have family stories of immigration, second languages, and health inequity that surfaced in their lives as a struggle or disparity, having created more hardship for people who might have already experienced more adversity than others. Who we are, how we succeed, and how we make sense of the world resonates for every medical school applicant, every doctor, and every patient. Therefore, noting that medical school communities had become for many a diaspora, a space of displacement rather than inclusion, has now become a call to action. One deep reason to maintain diversity as a value for medical schools is to redefine homogeneous truths that tend to the values of privileged groups.
In turn, we can become better equipped to dismantle structural bias in medical institutions, whether those are schools of medicine, clinics, hospitals, or community programs, by instituting diversity and inclusion as actions that in some way help rectify the disparity in access to medicine for less-advantaged groups, whether as future physicians or as patients. How would you describe yourself and your experience amid this cultural tapestry? How did you find a path to educational success in light of your background and identity? Tell this story.
Essay #7
Would you like to share any additional information with the Admissions Committee about yourself that cannot be found elsewhere in your application?
This space can also address any extenuating circumstances (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, areas of weakness, etc.) that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. (300 word limit)
The key to answering an “extenuating circumstances” prompt is to take responsibility for whatever happened and show what you did to turn a less than ideal situation around. Sometimes, these are growth and maturity stories (e.g., the freshman “flunk”), sometimes they are related to family circumstances, and other times they can be about adjusting to higher education, finding out one has a disability (e.g., like ADHD), and what you did to turn the situation around. Keep in mind that a bump in the road is likely more common than not among high-achieving students. So there is no room for chagrin, embarrassment, or blame, only growth, insight, and success.
Dr. Mary Mahoney, PhD, is the medical humanities director at Elmira College and has more than 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 past 20 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!
Related Resources:
