It’s no secret: medical school admissions is getting harder every year. In addition, many schools employ a holistic admissions policy. These policies demand students have more than just a strong record of academic performance.

Thus, the medical school admissions essays become a crucial factor in the decision process. With strong essays, the admissions officers can analyze you from all angles, and therefore find more reasons to accept you into their school —given that you write it well.

The med school diversity essay is especially important to the holistic admissions process. By showing the admissions office the ways you contribute to the diversity of the school, you provide a multi-dimensional perspective of how you become a net positive for the community.

In this comprehensive article, we will cover how to write a diversity essay for medical school, crucial factors, and an example of how to write the essay.

Note that there are other attributes that constitute a strong diversity essay. The medical school admissions process is a multi-variable process. Thus, there are bound to be factors that fall through the cracks in this article. If you want to ensure your diversity essay is perfect and without flaws, consider speaking with one of our expert college admissions consultants.

Table of Contents

1. What to Write About in the Diversity Essay for Medical School
2. Examples of Diversity Essay Prompts
3. How to Write a Diversity Essay for Medical School
   1. Find One Special Characteristic About You
   2. Think of Why Your Diverse Trait is Valuable to the School
   3. Write a Compelling Introduction
   4. Revise, Revise, Revise
4. Conclusion

What to Write About in the Diversity Essay for Medical School

One of the most common questions we get here at PenningPapers is the disadvantages of being White or Asian. Many of these students are worried that because they don’t belong to a minority group they cannot write the diversity essay for medical school.

The truth is that you may be at a disadvantage if you are not in a historically marginalized group. Sure, someone who can trace their ancestry to those who have struggled under oppression may have more to say about contributing to the diversity of a campus than you. However, that does not mean you have your hands tied when writing the med essay.

For medical school, diversity is not limited to only aspects of race, ethnicity, and culture. Diversity exists in many different dimensions.  

In fact, by definition, every candidate applying for medical school is diverse. This is because every individual has their own unique experiences that cannot be fully congruent with anyone else’s Here’s an example. You as an Asian Male have suffered through the woes of catastrophizing parents. This is common amongst Nigerian, Hispanic, and many other households. However, your particular experience is unique because you may have learned from it things that others did not.

Here are some topics you can write about in the diversity essay for medical school.

Diversity essay topics:

• Racial discrimination
• Background in the liberal arts
• Students who are older or had to take a gap year
• Gender discrimination
• Military experience
• Adversity in your social background or community
• Economic adversity
• Fluctuations in parent/family dynamics
• Religious discrimination
• Language barriers
• Unique challenges or obstacles that you learned from or gained a new perspective from.

More often than not, the diversity essay for medical school is inexorably tied up with the things you learned and the perspectives you developed over time. Think of the ways your diversity would contribute to a school. Past the statistics, your diversity will most probably be a net positive for a school because you have a perspective that many others outside your bubble would not otherwise know about.

Examples of Diversity Essay Prompts

Although these prompts are worded differently, don’t forget that many schools are looking for the same thing. They want to know more about you and how you can contribute to the quality of the institution.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

“The ultimate goal of our institution is to produce a population of physicians with a collective
desire to improve health of all segments of our society through the outstanding patient care,
research and education. In this context, where do you see your future medical career and why?
If your plans require that you complete a dual degree program, please elaborate here.”

NYU Grossman

Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

“Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons values diversity in all its forms. How will your background and experiences contribute to this important focus of our institution and inform your future role as a physician? (300 words)”

Columbia Vagelos

Stanford University School of Medicine:

‍“The Committee on Admissions regards the diversity (broadly defined) of an entering class as an important factor in serving the educational mission of the school. The Committee on Admissions strongly encourages you to share unique, personally important and/or challenging factors in your background which may include such discussions as the quality of your early education, gender, sexual orientation, any physical challenges, and life or work experiences. Please describe how these factors have influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine and may help you to uniquely contribute to the Stanford learning environment.”

Stanford School of Medicine

Harvard Medical School

“If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Many applicants will not need to answer this question. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, identification with a minority culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine.” (4000 characters maximum)

Harvard Medical School

Yale School of Medicine

“Yale School of Medicine values diversity in all its forms. How will your background and experiences contribute to this important focus of our institution and inform your future role as a physician?” (500 words)

Yale School of Medicine

Duke School of Medicine

“Potential sources of health inequities include race, gender, education, income, disability, geographic location, and sexual orientation. Moments to Movement (M2M) is Duke’s collective stand against systemic racism and injustice. The name signifies going beyond passive moments of reflection and becoming more active as we build to make lasting change for our patients, their loved ones and each other. Describe your understanding of race and its relationship to inequities in health and health care.” (400 words max)

Duke School of Medicine

John Hopkins School of Medicine

‍Optional: The Admissions Committee values hearing about each candidate for admission, including what qualities the candidate might bring to the School of Medicine if admitted. If you feel there is information not already addressed in the application that will enable the Committee to know more about you and this has influenced your desire to be a physician, feel free to write a brief statement in the space below. You may address any subject you wish, such as being a first generation college student, or being a part of a minority group (whether because of your sexual orientation, religion, economic status, gender identity, ethnicity) or being the child of undocumented immigrants or being undocumented yourself, etc.

John Hopkins School of Medicine

How to Write a Diversity Essay for Medical School

There is no right or wrong way to write a diversity essay for medical school. However, when we work with our clients to maximize their acceptance rate, we typically recommend they follow these steps to help make a strong essay.

We recommend taking these steps because they’re the straightest path toward writing strong diversity essays that help you stand out. If you’re looking to make your essay unique or need help with writing your essay, feel free to ask us for help!

Find One Special Characteristic About You

Here’s a hint: you probably have something to write about.

Most of our clients dread writing the diversity essay because they feel like they have nothing to write about. They may feel like they aren’t in any financial distress, don’t belong in a marginalized group, and don’t have many things to be oppressed by. However, more often than not, just a little bit of reflection can unravel a whole host of ways you’re special and different from the rest.

Brainstorm the ways that you don’t fit conventional molds. Think about your school, church, online communities, family, finances, hobbies, etc. Typically, you don’t have to be different in just one dimension. You can also be different in the way you think or the way you approach things.

You may want to ask yourself questions such as,

1. “What do I know that others don’t?”
2. “Did I stand up against someone or something when no one else would?”
3. What are your defining character traits or personality? Do others have it or would at least half the population be different? (Example: trait extraversion)
4. What is your area or community like? Think of the culture and how you may be different from it.
5. challenges?
6. Are you a part of any teams, groups, or organizations? How have they contributed to your interpersonal skills?

Let’s take an example that everyone is thinking of: a Bay Area student from upper-middle class background looking to get into med school.

Now, they may belong to a demographic that falls under a hyper-competitive and privileged stereotype. However, they can get creative with this. How are they, as an individual, different from the rest of their community? Perhaps they’re also a highly competitive student; but, they feel they’re the only self-aware ones in their community. Or, they’re more in touch with their spiritual side and consider the quality of their mental health something to value. That is something that can be not only diverse and different from the community, but also a characteristic that is valuable to the school. A positive outlook that heals compared to the hyper-competitive culture that degrades is something heavily needed in the medical community.

Think of Why Your Diverse Trait is Valuable to the School

This is a crucial element of the application.

In order to write the diversity essay for medical school well, you’ll need to also imply how your diversity is actually beneficial to the school.

This is a step that many students skip, and they fall under the trap of thinking that their diverse statistics alone will help them get accepted into medical school.

Here’s a good way you can brainstorm this.

Think of what the medical community needs. Be honest. There’s a lot that the world of medicine is in dire need of, and stronger unique perspectives typically fall under this.

A common value is how your trait can heal the toxicity of the medical community. One problem with the medical community is the underlying soft sexism that breeds in the back of everyone’s minds. It’s a problem that rears its ugly head every so often and returns back to an incognito state, where everyone simply ignores it.

Perhaps you’re unique because you grew up in a rough neighborhood that commonly espoused ideas that funneled you into ideas of the Red Pill. However, you managed to think through nuance and escape unscathed. Yet, you’ve had the pleasure of talking to other self-proclaimed Red Pill types and therefore learned how to listen and communicate with those struggling to fight sexist ideas lurking in their heads. Thus, you may be able to contribute to the diversity of the school and also help it because you can communicate effectively with those who harbor sexist ideologies and hopefully transition them to a healthier path.

Write a Compelling Introduction

If you haven’t seen it already, we wrote a guide on how to write the introduction to your college essay here.

If you’re too lazy to read through it, well, shame on you. That’s okay, though! Here’s the general gist of it below. This is how you should write a compelling introduction paragraph to your diversity essay.

1. Don’t talk about grades and academics when it comes to diversity.
2. When it comes to making a good hook, don’t talk about diversity too quickly. Instead, ease into the topic later on. The introduction should lead into the main story so admissions officers know what to expect; but, you don’t want to do this too swiftly and literally. Keep it interesting by easing into the diversity topic.
3. Hint at or imply how diversity will be integrated into the body paragraph. Make the transition smooth.
4. Use strong imagery.
5. Leave out some information to ensure the introduction is still at least somewhat vague. This helps retain interest so that admissions officers are more inclined to read what you have to say in later paragraphs.

A good and compelling introduction usually implements interesting language that uses the “show don’t tell” structure. So, you’ll need to focus more on the emotional aspects of your story rather than just what is happening on the surface. This helps admissions officers paint a better picture of what is going on in their heads, and they’ll retain more interest in your essay compared to the rest.

Revise, Revise, Revise

Checking for proper grammar and structure is simple. Put your work in a grammar checker like Grammarly, and you’ll easily cut out all the mistakes.

With the simple mistakes out of the way, you’ll need to focus on more important aspects. These include the choppiness of your sentences, the strength of your story, the believability of your writing, how you make a great fit for the school, and many more.

This is not easy to do. However, there are ways to check for this.

We recommend taking a day off from your essay and reading it the next day with a new pair of eyes. Then, ask yourself this: “If I were an admissions officer looking at this student’s profile and essays, would I consider them a net positive for the school?” “Does their profile indicate that they’re someone I should invest time, money, and university resources on?” “Do they give off a strong personality that would be a good influence on the other students?” “Can I trust them? Or, does it sound like they’re making things up about their diversity?” “Can I follow along with their writing and not get confused every other sentence?” “Are there subtle nuances or holes in the essay that constitute red flags?”

If you’re looking for revisions and help from others, whether it be a teacher, instructor, tutor, or college admissions advisor, ensure that they tell you what your essay makes them feel. Oftentimes, people give improper advice because they think they need to base it on what they think it should look like. In reality, proper advising means showing what the essay makes you feel and using that as an indicator of where mistakes possibly are.

If you want to have reliable consulting and advising on your essays, then you may also want to consider speaking with us for a free 30-minute phone consultation.

Conclusion

The world of health care and medicine is becoming harder to break into, especially with the plethora of high-performing students applying to medical school every year. The holistic admissions process implemented in response to this indicates that it’s now more important than ever before to know how to write a diversity essay for medical school. The diversity essay indicates not only the unique characteristics an applicant has for the school but the critically unique perspective needed to drive the world of medicine.

However, it’s also crucial to note that you’ll be writing the diversity essay for medical school along with many other high-performing students vying to get accepted. This is why it’s crucial to write your diversity essay in a manner that can beat out the rest of the competition. To do this, you’ll need to find what makes you unique, weave in how that character traits makes you a great candidate for the school, write a compelling introduction and use strong imagery, and revise a lot.

If you still are unsure of how to write your diversity essay for medical school in a way that would help you stand out in the medical school admissions process, you should consider scheduling a free 30-minute phone consultation. Our expertise and years of experience with the college admissions process ensures that our advising and consulting will help shape your essay into something that shows you in your best light, and maximizes your acceptance rate.