Mt Sinai Secondary Essays: Tips to Stand Out (2024)

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, otherwise known as Mount Sinai Medical School, is getting harder to get accepted each year. Icahn School of Medicine is becoming increasingly innovative and interdisciplinary. Many of the premedical students we have advised over the years are visionaries in healthcare and have passions in narrative medicine, computer science, and artificial intelligence. It is extremely important to express your healthcare passions in your Mt Sinai secondary essays. Read more below for tips to STAND OUT on your Mt Sinai secondary essays! We will help you dissect and brainstorm ideas.

Mount Sinai Medical School is located in Manhattan, New York City, making it an ideal place for students seeking for urban action!

The Mount Sinai Secondary application gets longer and longer over the years. Make sure to start on this early! We think this is a great secondary application to start pre-writing because the prompts don’t change too much and they are medium length. If you have any questions, contact our Cracking Med School Admissions team. We can help you tailor your Mt Sinai secondary through our secondary essay packages.

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD Essay Prompts

1. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words max)
2. If you are committed to a particular community or if there is an important aspect of your identity not addressed elsewhere in the application, we invite you to do so here. Briefly also explain how such factors may have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (150 words max)
3. Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words max)
4. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
5. Are there significant gaps in time that are unaccounted for in your application? [Yes/No]
6. (Optional) Were there any adverse circ*mstances in your premedical preparatory journey including but not limited to impact from COVID-19? (100 words max)

Icahn School of Medicine at Mout Sinai removed its optional diversity essay from last year.

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD/PhD Essay Prompts

1. Answer all questions in the Icahn Medical School essays except: Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all?
2. 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 words max)
3. 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 max)
4. Provide a one to three sentence summary of your current research interest. (100 words max)

Other Mount Sinai Secondary Questions

Icahn Medical School has other Y/N questions for medical school applicants.

• Have you previously applied to the MD or MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/Mount Sinai School of Medicine (including an Early Assurance Program such as FlexMed)? Y/N
• Have you, in the past years, applied to any other medical school? Y/N
• Are there significant gaps in time that are unaccounted for in your application? Y/N

Tips to Answer Mount Sinai Secondary Essays

Mount Sinai Secondaries Pre-Writing & Timing Guidance: We think that the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai secondaries are great to start pre-writing! They are not too hard and the prompts don’t change frequently. However, Mount Sinai is not a time sensitive school and this is a secondary application you can submit until late August or early September. Quality is more important than timing (rushing to submit the Mt Sinai secondary essays).

• Download ourCracking Med Secondary Essay Workbook and Examples.

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays Tip #1:It is important to strategize your essays. What is the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Admissions Committee looking for? Dr. Rizal has helped premeds get accepted at Mount Sinai and has hung out with friends / mentees at the school for the past 15 years. It’s important to note that the Icahn School of Admissions committee looks at what students do outside of academics and scholarly inquiry in non-science fields. The adcom committee wants to see how you will improve healthcare and tackle healthcare issues from a non-clinical perspective. Remember, that Mount Sinai has a FlexMed program, reflecting that it looks to recruit non-traditional medical students! Finally, the Icahn Medical School admissions committee is looking for individuals who will contribute to the non-competitive nature and collaborative learning environment at Mount Sinai Medical School. Make sure to download our Cracking Med School Admissions secondary essays guide.

In the past few years, Dr. Mediratta & Dr. Rizal have noticed patterns in which types of applicants receive interview invites. It’s important to stress these points in your Mount Sinai secondary essays:

• Innovation – what are your innovative ideas to improve
• Data / Artificial Intelligence / Computer Science – we’ve seen an increase in students with data, AI, and computer science backgrounds receive interview invites. Not having these skillsets will not preclude you from getting interviews, but having these skills can be a plus for Icahn Medical School! Read Dr. Rizal’s U.S. News article –Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare: What Premeds Should Know
• Desire to improve healthcare throughout his or her medical career – Icahn School of Medicine wants to attract students who care about healthcare broadly in addition to patient care.
• Leadership – The students who get interviews at Icahn School of Medicine often also get invites to Harvard, Stanford, and Duke. All these schools are looking for the next leaders in medicine.

Several of our students get interview invites and acceptances to Mount Sinai School of Medicine each year. Make sure to contact us to help you stand out on your essays!

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays Tip #2: Answering the Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai secondary application question, “What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?” is tough. One overly common topic is receiving feedback to improve grades. While this is an OKAY topic, our Dr. Mediratta and Dr. Rizal typically are not fans of this essay and encourage our students to think about another topic.

Some topics we thought worked last year included:

• Feedback from a research PI
• Feedback from a work manager or boss
• Feedback from your friend
• Feedback from a patient

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays Tip #3: Highlight your leadership, passion to change healthcare, and impact on society. The questions are geared towards learning more about what you did in gap years and your extra-curricular activities. Tell stories to convey your impact and leadership. For example, if you conducted research over a gap year, tell a story about a challenge you faced or a patient you met while conducting a clinical trial. After reading your entire AMCAS and secondary application, we need to have a clear understanding of how you want to change healthcare.

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays Tip #4: Mt Sinai School of Medicine is an innovative and “out-of-the-box thinking” institution. Reflect how you’ve been innovative in your endeavors, whether it’s through writing composition or your research. For more ideas about how to connect your extra-curricular activities with medicine, read Dr. Rachel Rizal’s U.S. News article, “Link Premed Nonclinical Experiences to Medicine.“

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays Tip #5: Don’t forget to incorporate a little bit about “Why Mount Sinai School of Medicine” throughout the essay(s) you respond to. Talk about projects and research you want to pursue at Icahn and surrounding New York City. Read our Cracking Mount Sinai School of Medicine Admissions page to get more information about the culture and curriculum of the medical school. Finally, read our blog post on how to answer, “Why this medical school?”

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays #6: The Mount sinai secondary essays question, “If you are committed to a particular community or if there is an important aspect of your identity not addressed elsewhere in the application, we invite you to do so here. Briefly also explain how such factors may have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine” is a diversity question. Remember, diversity does not necessarily mean your ethnic diversity. We recommend students write about their strengths, including exceptional extracurricular activity endeavors. This is important to note for the optional questions about your unique background. We encourage all our students to answer this question.

Mt Sinai Secondary Essays Tip #7: Have questions about how you can stand out? Contact us below. Need editing help on your secondary? We can help you through our secondary essay packages.

[Read more secondary essay tips:Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn),Yale School of Medicine,Columbia University Vagelos,Weill Cornell Medicine]

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD Essay Prompts

1. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words max)
2. Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words max)
3. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
4. (Optional) If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circ*mstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. (100 words max)
5. (Optional) Were there any adverse circ*mstances in your premedical preparatory journey including but not limited to impact from COVID-19? (100 words max)

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD/PhD Essay Prompts

1. 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 words max)
2. 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 max)

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD Essay Prompts

1. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words max)
2. Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words max)
3. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
4. (Optional) If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circ*mstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. (100 words max)
5. (Optional) Were there any adverse circ*mstances in your premedical preparatory journey including but not limited to impact from COVID-19? (100 words max)

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD/PhD Essay Prompts

1. 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 words max)
2. 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 max)

1. If you are currently not a full-time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
2. Were there any adverse circ*mstances in your premedical preparatory journey including but not limited to recent impact from COVID-19? If yes, please explain. (100 words max)
3. (Optional) If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circ*mstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. (100 words max)
4. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words max)
5. Describe a situation that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words max)

1. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
2. (Optional) If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circ*mstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. (100 words max)
3. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words max)
4. Please tell us about a situation in which working collaboratively on a team was challenging. What did you do? What did you learn? (200 words max)

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD/PhD Essay Prompts

1. Please describe an influential experience that motivated your decision to become a physician-scientist. (200 words)
2. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (200 words)
3. 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 words)
4. What are your career goals? Which characteristics of the MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai do you believe will help you to achieve them? (200 words)

1. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
2. (Optional) If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circ*mstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. (100 words max)
3. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words max)
4. Please tell us about a situation in which working collaboratively on a team was challenging. What did you do? What did you learn? (200 words max)

Mount Sinai Secondary Application MD/PhD Essay Prompts

1. Please describe an influential experience that motivated your decision to become a physician-scientist. (200 words)
2. What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (200 words)
3. 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 words)
4. What are your career goals? Which characteristics of the MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai do you believe will help you to achieve them? (200 words)

1. If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words max)
2. Please tell us about a passion (professional or personal) you have had thus far in your life. (250 words max)
3. Please tell us about a situation in which working collaboratively with others was challenging (250 words max)
4. (Optional) If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circ*mstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. (100 words max)

1. Please tell us about a passion (professional or personal) you have had thus far in your life. (250 words max)
2. Please tell us about a situation in which working with others has been challenging. (200 words max)

1. Please tell us about a passion (professional or personal) you have had thus far in your life. (250 words max)
2. Please tell us about a situation in which working with others has been challenging. (200 words max)