Accepted Admissions Blog

Given UWSOM’s top ranking in primary care, they will be looking for applicants with a strong interest in patient education and community health.  This secondary application will require that you provide an autobiographical essay and answer three to four short essay questions.  In constructing your responses, focus on highlighting those life experiences that will demonstrate your commitment to community service and leadership and reveal the depth of your maturity, compassion and integrity.  If you are from a rural background or Washington, Wyoming, Alaska or Montana, be sure to reference your life experiences in these areas since UWSOM has a special program called WWAMI that is designed to serve the needs of these communities.    

University of Washington 2015 Secondary Application Essay Questions:

• One autobiographical essay, with no character limit, and three short essays with 250 word limits are requested.
• One additional short essay is required for re-applicants with a 250 word limit.
• Applicants should use single line spacing and 12 point size font.
• Responses should be constructed strategically to highlight all of an applicant’s strengths, especially since the application will be reviewed holistically.

Application Tip: Check out this application advice from the Dean of Admissions at UWSOM

The following are required in the Secondary Application:

1. An autobiographical statement which should include:

• the origin and development of your motivation to be a physician
• your prior experiences in health care
• steps taken to explore a career in medicine
• your eventual goals as a physician
• and other issues of importance

The Personal Comments section of the AMCAS application may be used to satisfy this requirement, or an additional autobiography may be submitted with your secondary materials. Your AMCAS personal statement will already be on file with our office.

This essay is optional.  However, to demonstrate your interest in their program, submit an additional autobiographical statement.  Be strategic in your approach—focusing on clinical or research experiences that you have not discussed in your personal statement.  It may be helpful to draft a timeline of your life experiences and to focus on those that you have not yet covered in detail.  Is there anything that you would like the admissions committee to know about how your interest in medicine developed or your approach to patient care in your clinical experience?  How will a medical education influence your life goals?  What unique experiences or talents do you have that will influence how you practice medicine?         

2. Three additional short essays (250 word limit each)

1. How have your experiences prepared you to be a physician?

Since you will be providing an in depth autobiographical statement that will complement your personal statement, I recommend providing a “big picture” summary in response to this short essay response.  It will be important to cover the number of years you have of relevant experience—community service, research, and clinical experience.  What did you learn from these experiences?  How did these activities influence your decision to pursue a medical education?  What did you learn about yourself as you became actively involved in community health?

2. How do you imagine your personal and professional lives intersecting 10 years from now?

For this essay response, it is important to focus on how your healthy lifestyle choices, talents and hobbies will impact your practice of medicine.  How do you create balance in your life between your academic responsibilities, family, friends and your other activities?  What talents and hobbies influence your connection to the community?  In what ways do you foster a commitment to lifelong learning?      

3. What obstacles to your goals have you experienced and how have you dealt with them?

Be sure to select a life experience in which you have actively worked to overcome challenges to achieve your goals.  Maintain a positive focus and provide all the facts relevant to the situation.  It can be helpful to establish a cause and effect relationship between the elements.  What were your goals?  What obstacles arose in the situation?  What approach did you take to address the issue(s)? What were the results? I recommend selecting a situation that has a clearly positive outcome as a direct result of your active efforts.        

For re-applicants: From your most recent application until now, how have you strengthened your application?

As a re-applicant, you are demonstrating the depth of your determination to attend medical school by reapplying.  Reiterate that determination in your response to this question.  Strategically focus on the improvements you have made to your application—your new GPA, MCAT score, and life experiences.  Focus on how the time you have spent improving your application has made you a better and more focused applicant.     

UWSOM Application Timeline:

If you would like professional guidance with your University of Washington School of Medicine application materials, please consider using Accepted’s Medical School Admissions Consulting and Editing Services, which include advising, editing, and interview coaching for the UWSOM application materials.

Alicia Nimonkar is an Accepted.com advisor and editor specializing in healthcare admissions. Prior to joining Accepted, Alicia worked for five years as Student Advisor at UC Davis’ postbac program where she both evaluated applications and advised students applying successfully to med school and related programs. Explore Accepted.com’s services to see how Alicia can help you achieve your professional dreams in healthcare.