Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt Secondary Essay Prompts
(If you have updated prompts, please submit them at updatesecondaries.com)
Prompts have been updated May 2023. (Older essays, if available are below)
Prompts
- Whether or not you will be a full-time student, please provide details of your activities/employment for the application year.
- Tell us why you would like to be admitted to the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at FAU. What makes you a good fit for our College of Medicine?
- Tell us about your most meaningful community service experience that is unrelated to direct patient care. How did you grow? What did you learn? What did you enjoy about serving others?
- You may have worked during or after college. Having to maintain paid employment can be challenging, yet it can also develop a number of qualities that can help you succeed in medical school, as well as beyond. Tell us about your most meaningful paid employment. What was it about the experience that made it meaningful? What qualities and skills did the job help you develop and strengthen? What traits do you feel you learned while with that employer and/or the work experience? Experience does not need to be related to patient care. If none, please write not applicable.
- Tell us about your leadership experience(s) and/or key leadership skills. (Organized a fundraiser, had club/organization officer role, etc.) How do you motivate or influence people? If none, please write not applicable.
- 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. If none, please write not applicable.
- The Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine has made a commitment to foster an inclusive environment in which every person in our medical school community has the ability to achieve their full potential. We are proud to have a medical school rich in cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. What values, skills, talents, and life experiences would you contribute to our community?
Primary Deadline: Usually around Nov 15th
Secondary Deadline: Usually around Dec 31st
Secondary Fee: $30
FAP Waiver:
CASPer Required: Yes
VITA Required: No
Screens Applications: No
Accepts Application Updates: Yes/Portal
Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Mission:
The college’s mission is to advance the health and well-being of our community by training future generations of humanistic clinicians and scientists and translating discovery to patient-centered care.
The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is an integrated learning organization that fosters high-quality, humanistic, and patient-centered care. Our mission is to deliver high-touch, high-tech education to our students and residents, and to collaborate on high impact, interdisciplinary research with leading experts in the field. The College of Medicine is dedicated to integrating discovery with health care and education in order to contribute to the vitality of our immediate communities, to improve the health and well-being of people and populations, and to transform community-based health care.
Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Values:
As an integrated learning-organization, our values encompass collaboration, innovation, respect, compassion, lifelong learning and engagement. Through collaboration, we share knowledge and build trust and consensus. Through innovation, we embrace creativity and flexibility. By respecting one another, we strive to acknowledge and express our appreciation for the unique and diverse contributions of others. Through compassion, we empathize with our patients, students, and peers. Through lifelong learning, we value intellectual curiosity and the drive toward continuous knowledge acquisition and human development. Through engagement, we foster teamwork within our organization and within our community.
Older Essays:
- Whether or not you will be a full-time student, please provide details of your activities/employment for the application year. (1200 Character limit)
- Tell us why you would like to be admitted to the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at FAU. (1600 Character Limit)
How to Answer “Why Should We Accept You?” in Your Secondaries
- The college’s mission is to advance the health and well-being of our community by training future generations of humanistic clinicians and scientists and translating discovery to patient-centered care. Therefore, as a community-based medical school, community service is important to the College. What community service activity was your most meaningful and do you currently continue to give your time to the activity? (1600 Character Limit)
How to Write About How You Fit a Medical School’s Mission
- Our College believes in working collaboratively. Thus being able to work in a team is vital to the success of an FAU Medical Student, yet being able to lead is equally important. Give an example of when you were part of a team and had a leadership role. How did you influence your team members to carry out their tasks within the group? How did you perform in your role within the team? What did you learn from having to lead a team? Did any problems arise? How did you overcome them? What did you learn about being a part of a team, while also holding a leadership position? (1600 Character Limit)
- The FAU College of Medicine Admissions Committee is interested in learning more about you as a person. Please describe a noteworthy personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples may include a moral and/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 and what you learned about yourself as a result. (1600 Character Limit)
How to Write About Your Obstacles, Challenges, and Problems in your Secondary Essays
- Diversity is an array of things. What unique qualities and/or traits will you bring to our College? What distinctive attributes would you bring to the practice of medicine? What values, skills, talents, and life experiences – and how you would add to the cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine? (1600 Character Limit)
How to Write About Diversity in Your Secondary Essays
- Have you held any type of paid employment? If so, please tell us about your most meaningful employment experience. What traits do you feel you learned while with that employer? (If you have not held paid employment, please write none). (1600 Character Limit)
Former Prompts (before 23-24 cycle)
- Use this area to justify and/or explain any academic hardships on your transcripts (any failed and/or repeated courses due to any reason) 1600 characters.
- Whether or not you will be a full-time student, please provide details of your activities/employment for the application year. 1200 characters.
- What MCAT course and when did you take?
- Tell us why you would like to be admitted to the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at FAU. What makes you a good fit for our College of Medicine? 1600 characters. | How to Answer Secondary Prompts about “Why Us” | How to Answer “Why Should We Accept You?” in Your Secondaries
- Your AMCAS application should reflect your community service experiences. However, tell us more about your most meaningful community service involvement, particularly an experience that really inspired you. How did your involvement move you? (Experience does not need to be related to patient care, if none, please write none) (1600 characters).
- Good leaders add value to the healthcare profession. They have passion, motivation, conflict resolution skills and integrity, among other attributes and traits. Tell us about your leadership experience(s) and/or key leadership skills. Have you organized a fund raiser, had a club/organization officer role? How do you motivate or influence people? (If none, please write none) (1600 characters).
- Briefly describe a situation where you had to overcome an obstacle or were faced by a difficult challenge or decision. What valuable lessons did you learn? How you think the experience prepared you for a career as a future physician (If none, please write none) (1600 characters). | How to Write About Your Obstacles, Challenges, and Problems in your Secondary Essays
- Diversity means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. Describe what uniqueness you would bring to the Schmidt College of Medicine. We are proud to already have a medical school rich in cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. What values, skills, talents, and life experiences would you add to our culture? (1600 characters). | How to Write About Diversity in Your Secondary Essays
- You may have worked during or after college. Having to maintain paid employment can be challenging, yet it can also develop a number of qualities that can help you succeed in medical school, as well as beyond. Tell us about your most meaningful paid employment. What was it about the experience that made it meaningful? What qualities and skills did the job help you develop and strengthen? (Experience does not need to be related to patient care, if none, please write none)
