Harvard Medical School Secondary Application Essay Tips and Class Profile

Harvard Medical School (HMS) has a long history of preparing future leaders in medicine, science, and healthcare through its mission to alleviate human suffering. HMS blends cutting-edge biomedical research with a patient-centered curriculum, giving students early and meaningful clinical experience while also providing opportunities for inquiry, innovation, and global health engagement. The school emphasizes collaboration over competition, a pass/fail grading system in the pre-clerkship and principal clinical years, and robust advising through Academic Societies.

Candidate Profile and Institutional Values

HMS seeks applicants who are not only academically gifted but also deeply curious, reflective, and committed to serving others. Successful candidates are expected to demonstrate compassion, integrity, and professionalism, along with the ability to provide inclusive, patient-centered care while addressing health inequities. HMS values students who are strong communicators, collaborative team members, and adaptable problem-solvers who can thrive in rapidly changing medical and scientific landscapes. Above all, HMS looks for individuals who aspire to be leaders and innovators in medicine – advancing healthcare, promoting health equity, and improving the human condition both locally and globally.

Overview of Curricular Tracks

HMS tailors its education to students’ strengths and aspirations through specific curricular tracks:

Secondary Application Essay Instructions

Essay D: Post-Graduation Activities

If you have already graduated, briefly summarize your activities since graduation. This essay is strictly for applicants who have already graduated from an undergraduate institution. You should explain any work you have done in the interim, as well as any volunteer activities and MCAT plans, in whatever order you choose. Provide details about the level of your responsibilities, what you are learning, the impact you’re having on the community you are working with, and/or how the experience is influencing your goals as a future physician. Provide clear and succinct summaries. If you are a reapplicant, highlight activities that might rectify any weakness in your earlier AMCAS application. Your answers should convey your engagement with the work you’re doing, revealing opportunity, growth, and learning.

Essay E: Personal Background and Contribution

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity not addressed elsewhere in the application that may illuminate how you could contribute to the medical school, we invite you to do so here. Examples might include:

• Significant challenges in access to education.
• Unusual socioeconomic factors.
• Diverse ideological perspectives.
• Other aspects of your personal or family background that help place prior academic achievements in context.

As you write, keep the part of the prompt that says “how you could contribute to the medical school” at the forefront of your mind. The admissions committee is providing you with an opportunity to share something unique about yourself. Take care to ensure that the story you tell is not already shared in a different part of your application. The words “important” and “significant” are key here.

Criteria for Success in Your Personal Statement

Your personal statement convinces a faculty committee that you are qualified for their program and that you are a good fit for their program’s focus and goals. To achieve this, follow these guidelines:

• Create a personal narrative: Get the committee excited about investing in you by opening your essay with a brief portrait of what drives you as a scientist.
• Analyze Your Audience: Make direct, concrete statements about your accomplishments and qualifications. They are interested in your qualifications as a researcher, your career goals, and how your personality matches their labs and department.
• Describe your experiences: State concrete achievements and outcomes like awards, discoveries, or publications. Describe actions, not just changes in your internal mental or emotional state.
• Quantify your experiences: Quantify your experiences to show concrete impact. For example, specify if you won a prize for top student among a cohort of 20 students or quantified the kinetics of enzymes implicated in cancer onset.

The Importance of Concrete Examples

To make it easy for the committee to remember you, create a narrative that “brands” you using concrete rather than vague descriptions:

Explain the meaning of your experiences. Why was this experience important to your growth as a scientist? What does it say about your abilities and potential? Your descriptions of meaning should also act as transition statements between experiences.