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Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

New York, NY

Historical and predicted secondary essay prompts. Use these to understand how schools have framed their questions over time.

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11 prompts in the archive

Describe a time when you needed to ask for help. (200 words)

200 words2023-2024Historical

Provide a one to three sentence summary of your current research interest. Limit your response to 100 words or less

100 words2023-2024Historical

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year.

100 words2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026School Staple

What are your career goals? Describe which features of the MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai you will leverage to achieve them? (200 words)

200 words2021-2022, 2023-2024Historical

What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it, and what did you learn from it?

250 words2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026School Staple

Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address this situation, if at all?

250 words2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026School Staple

Were there any adverse circumstances in your premedical preparatory journey including but not limited to impact from COVID-19?

100 words2023-2024, 2024-2025Historical

Please tell us why you have chosen to apply to the MD-PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

250 words2024-2025Historical

If you are committed to a particular community or if there is an important aspect of your background not addressed elsewhere in the application, we invite you to do so here. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine.

150 words2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026School Staple

Same as MD above

No character/word limit2021-2022Historical

Please tell us about a time when an experiment didn't go as planned or yielded an unexpected result. How did you approach this challenge and what did you learn?

200 words2021-2022Historical