12 prompts in the archive
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)
COVID-related Disruptions Response: 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.
COVID-related Coursework Response: If you took coursework that was Pass/No Pass due to pandemic disruptions for for 2019-2020 and/or 2020-2021 academic years, please list the courses below.
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) (Changed as of July 10, 2023 See Admin note below #13)
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)
Gap Year(s) if applicable: If you will have a time gap 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 time. (1,000 character limit)
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)
Career Essay: What does your ideal career entail fifteen years after medical school graduation? (1,000 character limit)
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)
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)
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. 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 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 Lerner College Program required response.
Context of Care: Social and structural factors can influence health outcomes and impact how healthcare is delivered within communities. Briefly describe an experience that has broadened your perspective or increased your understanding of people whose life experiences, backgrounds, or circumstances may differ from your own. How did this experience shape your views on health, healthcare access, and/or healthcare delivery? (1,500 character limit)