Medical School Essay Review Overview
Essays are important. It is in your essays that you are able to explain yourself. All the time you spent thinking about why you want to attend Med School and why you feel ready to do this now will pay off in the essays.
Manhattan Elite Prep's admissions consulting team can offer you expert advice on essays and the med school application process.
We recommend the following method of tackling your essay:
1. Match yourself to the school.
2. Determine what the question is asking.
3. Consider how to answer the question: Brainstorm.
4. Organize. Select the aspects of yourself to emphasize and back them up with examples / stories / anecdotes from your experience. Put this information into an outline format that you find comfortable.
5. Write the essay, paying attention to format.
6. Make revisions.
7. Have someone read it over.
The guidelines around which we suggest engaging in the essay writing process are the following:
- Convince your reader
- Distinguish yourself
- Demonstrate sincerity
Write in a fashion that keeps the reader's attention. To do this we suggest the following:
(1) Select different and unique, but honest experiences. You may want to expand upon an experience to make it seem more unique. Try to select those experiences that make you a unique candidate.
(2) Convey your experience honestly. The admissions committee will notice the difference between extreme embellishment and sincerity and depth.
(3) It is in your writing that you have the opportunity to demonstrate your personality. One important way of doing this is through your style. Within your essays you want to continue to keep the reader's attention. Try to use the 1st person singular, use "I" and avoid "we". Avoid using the passive voice as well as 'to be' verbs.
Medical School Application - Essay Themes, Topics & Questions
Medical School Application Specific
- Why Medical School?
- Visit to campus
- What steps have you taken to learn about our school and program?
- Fit with school/program/class
- What can you contribute to the class?
- How have you strengthened your application?
Life Experiences - General
- Event/s that influenced you
- Life experience that has shaped you
- A person/event/experience that has shaped your life
- Culture shock
- Club/community event
- Academic experience
- Practical experience vs. theory
- Internal experience
Career - General
- Career experience
- Presentation
- Current position
- Short-term career goals
- Career vision
- Alternatives to you career goals
- Additional information you would like admissions officers to know about
Hypothetical Questions
- I wish I was asked...
- If you could change one thing you've done what would it be?
- Imagine a life entirely different than yours, what would it be?
- What would you ask the president?
- Compose your campaign speech
Life Experiences - Challenges
- A mistake you've made
- Describe a failure
- A risk you have taken
- Challenging experience/s (most difficult time in your life)
- A time when you were frustrated or disappointed
- A part of a team (failure)
- Made a decision with partial information
- Professional challenge
- Experiences during which you went beyond the established
Career - Leadership & Teamwork
- Innovation & creativity
- Inspirational leader
- Leadership and ethics
- Leadership and team skills
- Leadership experience
- Left an impact
- Convincing others
- Motivating others
- A part of a team
- A time when you developed a team
Admissions Consulting Services at a Glance
Essay & Resume Review
- Single Essay at $150 (up to 800 words), Mini Pack at $200 (Resume & Essay (800 Words or Less) or 2 Essays of 250 Words Each)
- Essay Review for all essays & resume for 1 school at $450 or for 2 schools at $800;
- Each additional school: $350
- Cost of each set of additional 800 words in the same essay: $50; *3 day rush +$75; Weekend Rush +$100
- Includes grammar & style review, advice on theme & content, 3 exchanges per essay, 5-7 turn around time
A la Carte Services (Special Topics)
- Application Strategy - Work with our consultants to devise the most effective application strategy that gets you into your top-choice school. ($150/hr, 2 hrs. minimum)
- Mock Interview - Work with our consultants to prepare for anticipated questions to be expected during an interview. Appropriate for college, graduate (MBA/JD/Masters' Degrees) and jobs. ($150/hr, 2 hrs. minimum)
- Case Interview - Case interview questions tend to coalesce around specific topics relating to a firm's outlook, such as operational concerns, government regulation, or its market share in relation to the market's size. Prepare first with our consultants to maximize your chances of landing the assignment. ($150/hr, 2 hrs. minimum)
Dedicated Packs
- Dedicated Pack - Includes Personal Assessment; School Selection; Defining Objectives/Goals; Plan Application Roadmap; Application Assistance; Concise Selection of Profound Experiences; Formation of Compelling Resume; Convincing Essays (Unlimited exchanges/edits); Persuasive Recommendation Letters; Refine your Application; Mock Interviews; Scholarship/Loan Applications; Acceptance and Preparation; Waitlist/Deferral Strategy; Re-application Strategy.
- 1 School - $1900; 2 Schools - $2800; 3 Schools - $3700; 4 Schools - $4600; 5 Schools - $5400
Elite Packs
- Elite Pack - In addition to everything included in Dedicated Pack, it includes: Guaranteed to work with our most experienced and successful elite consultants; 7 day per week access to elite consultant via Skype/Zoom/WebEx; Prompt turnaround; Access to the most recent database of essays, recommendations, resumes; Unlimited interview preparation; Exclusive strategy session for getting noticed when visiting school or attending information sessions; Live online sessions via Zoom/WebEx where both parties can annotate any documents and share a whiteboard; Unlimited access to the live Zoom/WebEx online recordings related to your application.
- 1 School: $4000 - 2 Schools: $5000 - 3 Schools: $6000 - 4 Schools: $7000 - 5 Schools: $8000
Special Admissions Packs
- Rejection Analysis Pack - Includes application review, consultation and guidance with our education expert to identify issues & evaluate weaknesses in rejected applications and plan next steps and additional follow-up analysis
- Waitlist Strategy Pack - Includes application review, consultation and guidance with our education expert to evaluate weaknesses in a waitlisted application, and make recommendations for interim period, and additional follow-up analysis to dramatically increase chances of acceptance
- Scholarship Application Review Pack - Our consultants will help you identify specific scholarships to apply for, work with you to identify strengths that correlate with the stated objectives of the scholarship and review the applications to ensure your chance of receiving the scholarship is as high as possible
Special Admissions Pack Payment
Admissions Consulting Registration & Payment
For more recent admissions success stories, please visit Student Admissions Testimonial page.
For more information please email us at admissions(at)manhattaneliteprep.com.
To make payments for our Admissions Consultation Services, please visit our Admissions Consulting Page.