Loyola Stritch Secondary Application Essay Tips [2022 – 2023]
Loyola Stritch is a Catholic University founded in 1870 by Jesuits. The school of medicine is highly competitive and seeks candidates with outstanding educational success, virtue, and good judgment about truth, about right and wrong – beyond facts.
To learn more about Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, check out our podcast interview with Darrell Nabers, Assistant Dean for Admissions >>
Stritch School of Medicine 2022-23 secondary application essay questions
Stritch School of Medicine essay #1
Explain how you know that you want to spend your life studying and practicing medicine. Describe how the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM) can help you develop into the kind of person and physician you hope to become. (Minimum 100 Words)
Jesuit thought regards a physician as inherently responsible to a higher moral order than other professions. In fact, becoming a physician should be a social / spiritual calling, though not necessarily religious – with deep sanctity for life, an abiding and growing love for humanity, and a commitment to healing and social justice.
Social justice in the Jesuit tradition, justice due each person by virtue of their own inherent human dignity, is an essential dimension of education at SSOM. Describe what you have learned about yourself from your concrete social justice experiences. Explain how you plan to sustain your efforts to advocate for current social justice issues as a medical student and as a physician. (Minimum 100 Words)
Every person has inherent and equal value by the very fact that they "are." The cultural and social distribution of human hardship, toil and struggle is disproportionate among populations. Marginalized groups – the poor, minority populations, immigrants among them – experience hardship and injustice more extensively than the majority. An act of social justice is an action or behavior that aims to correct, reverse or alleviate the negative impact of conditions that affect one group more than another. Some social justices issues are healthcare access, food insecurity, water quality, barriers to voting rights, racial injustice, sexism, discrimination, income gaps, gun violence, equity, education quality, housing, human rights, voting access, and displacement due to warfare. How have you been involved? What have you done for others to rectify equity or equality? How will this carry over to your life of service as a physician?
Serving underserved and under-resourced communities is an expression of social justice. Describe an impactful experience in working with and for under-resourced communities. Explain what you have learned about yourself through this service OR what has hindered your efforts to serve others in these environments. (Minimum 100 Words)
Underserved and under-resourced communities can be identified by race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, education, and ability. What experience have you had serving any of these populations? What was the goal of this community service? What were your responsibilities and what was the outcome or impact of your work – did your team distribute 120 meals to senior citizens' homes through one weekend? Did you volunteer in a free clinic in an under-resourced city neighborhood? How did this experience change you for the better as a compassionate human? What do you now know about disparity that is a direct insight gained from this community service? What challenges were present in this work that you would not have understood as well as you do now after having done this community work? Demonstrate that experience, too, is a social education.
Describe your leadership style. Provide a specific example of how you have applied your leadership style. (Minimum 100 Words)
Jesuits believe all physicians have a moral obligation to be leaders in all aspects of life. Being a leader is about virtue and self-awareness, so as to remain humble and effective in healing and caring for others. The physician emulates leadership in a way that creates leaders out of others. Love for humanity abounds and grows from good character. People are always more important than institutions. Leaders are free from the attachments of status and possessions. Leaders answer with good conscience and practice self-reflection to embody humanitarian values. Deep knowledge requires intuition and invention beyond the rationality or facts of science. Tell a story, framed in humility rather than ego, about how you have utilized some of these principles while leading a team.
Describe a non-academic personal/professional challenge or conflict that you have experienced. Explain what skills, resources and/or strategies you employed to resolve the problem. (Minimum 100 Words)
Problem-resolution is often a key indicator of strong leadership. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your inventiveness and motive to do the right thing, to solve a problem without being didactic, patronizing, "better than," without perpetuating bias, and without taking credit. What was inherently the right thing to do and why? How did you make the right and just solution happen? What outcome was there? Who benefitted?
Have you or any of your relatives attended or been employed by Loyola University Chicago or the Loyola Stritch School of Medicine? If so, please list the affiliation and their years of attendance.
Stay truthful and literal. No need for stories or elaboration.
*******COMPLETE QUESTIONS 7-13 IF APPLICABLE*******
Please indicate additional grades earned, amendments to your proposed coursework or graduation date, address changes, additions to your list of experiences, and anything else you feel we should know.
Has anything changed since you submitted your AMCAS application? Changes could be demographic, academic, experiential, educational, occupational or personal. This is a straight-forward prompt. Avoid the temptation to embellish circumstances or achievements; however, if you have since co-authored a research article, for instance, feel free to date it and state it, perhaps include a formal citation.
Please explain in more detail (in less than 1500 characters) anything that would help us understand any gaps or delays in your education, academic missteps, or personal challenges not listed elsewhere.
This prompt provides an opportunity to explain potentially negative or exceptional aspects of your application that have not been explained. So, a leave of absence may need context – did you take a medical leave? Did you have a sports injury requiring surgery? Did you struggle academically freshman year but found a way to turn that situation around? Did you have to work during school, raise children, care for an ailing family member and this affected your grades or community service opportunities? The tone in this prompt response should be explanatory. Carefully review your response to revise for any self-pity, anxiety, negativity or blame. Do not complain about grades, ever. Life is full of curves and detours – your ability to adapt and adjust to challenges says something important about who you are.
If you have not been enrolled in coursework for over two years, please let us know what you have been doing since your coursework ended.
This is an opportunity to explain employment and medical / non-medical community service. Your answer should reflect that you utilized the time since your coursework ended to build work and life experiences as a future physician while staying deeply grounded in your commitment for the welfare of others. What you have done should demonstrate an improvement in your candidacy for matriculation in medical school for having had this time.
If you are a career-changer, explain this. If you are a veteran, explain what you were doing. If you participated in AmeriCorps or a similar service organization, explain this. If you spent time fulfilling personal responsibilities, like caring for a sick family member or achieving citizenship, explain this.
Stritch School of Medicine essay #10
Have you applied to SSOM prior to this application? If so, please list the years of your previous application submissions to SSOM and tell us how your application has improved since your previous submission.
A reapplicant benefits from demonstrating honesty and insight into their prior candidacy for medical school, including the ability to identify and correct what may have been weak areas of research, clinical experience, academic performance, MCAT score or community service. Remember: strong preparation for medical school is a marathon not a sprint.
A word of advice for reapplicants: it is critical that you review the quality of the unsuccessful application. Do not resubmit the same application material in the same manner. Reconsider your approach, especially the quality of your writing, your letters and your application timeline strategy.
[Questions 11-12 are minor questions (crime + program question)]
If you did not submit an advisor or committee letter, please tell us why.
Stay clear and direct. There are certainly circumstances that might make perfect sense for why you did not submit a letter from a key figure or committee.
Applying to Loyola Stritch School of Medicine? Here are some stats:
Stritch School of Medicine average MCAT score: 510
Stritch School of Medicine average GPA: 3.7
Stritch School of Medicine # of matriculants: 170
Stritch School of Medicine # of applicants: 14,314
Check out the Med School Selectivity Index for more stats about top med schools.
If you would like professional guidance with your Loyola application materials, check out Accepted's Medical School Admissions Consulting and Editing Services, which include advising, editing, and interview coaching for Loyola's application materials.
Loyola Stritch School of Medicine 2022-23 application timeline
AMCAS Application Deadline November 1
Stritch Supplemental Application Mid-December
Letters of Recommendation July-December
Interviews August-February
Acceptance Notice October 15-Until Class is Filled
Source: Loyola Stritch website
***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with individual programs to verify the essay questions, instructions and deadlines.***
Dr. Mary Mahoney, Ph.D. is the Medical Humanities Director at Elmira College and has over 20 years of experience as an advisor and essay reviewer for med school applicants. She is a tenured English Professor with an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and a PhD in Literature and Writing from the University of Houston. For the last twenty years, Mary has served as a grad school advisor and essay reviewer for med school applicants. Want Mary to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
How to Create Successful Secondary Applications, an on-demand webinar
7 Simple Steps to Writing an Excellent Diversity Essay
16 R's for Medical School Essay Writing
Article by Mary Mahoney / Medical School Admissions / 2023 Med School Applications, Loyola Stritch School of Medicine