anonymous:
oh wait um i thought the pillars were about the "skilled, compassionate, and socially responsible" part. at least that's what i was writing my secondary on...
genuinely no clue dawg I just thought skilled didnt make sense as a pillar so I was like Ill just write about exemplary specialty care
anonymous:
genuinely no clue dawg I just thought skilled didnt make sense as a pillar so I was like Ill just write about exemplary specialty care
I emailed admissions with this question because the prompt is confusing and they said the pillars are primary care, specialty care, and innovation
Does UMN have a rough quota of how many in-state students they have to accept (like UW-Madison has to accept 70% in-state students per state law) or is it more vague?
anonymous:
Im confused about the first question... when it says "choose one of these pillars" it's talking about "preeminent primary care medicine, exemplary specialty care and innovative research" right?
That is how I interpreted the question, but I also found the essay question to be pretty poorly worded.
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3
Joined
May 29, 2026
anonymous:
Does UMN have a rough quota of how many in-state students they have to accept (like UW-Madison has to accept 70% in-state students per state law) or is it more vague?
I don't think their is a hard-set quota but they do operate with a similar high preference for in-state applicants. According to their most recent class profile ~14% of the class came from the out-of-state pool.
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25
Joined
Aug 16, 2025
anonymous:
I emailed admissions with this question because the prompt is confusing and they said the pillars are primary care, specialty care, and innovation
Well i really hope im not screwed as an IS applicant– I answered with the other interpretation and talked about becoming a socially responsible physician. if this is the reason my app is DOA im going to be very sad...
lukeconway:
Well i really hope im not screwed as an IS applicant– I answered with the other interpretation and talked about becoming a socially responsible physician. if this is the reason my app is DOA im going to be very sad...
This feels like a very reasonable read on the question as well. I am positive that they will get a mixed bag of people interpreting the pillars as either the primary care/specialty care/innovation AND skilled/compassionate/socially responsible. So long as the essay is of good content then I'm sure you are fine.
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25
Joined
Aug 16, 2025
anonymous:
This feels like a very reasonable read on the question as well. I am positive that they will get a mixed bag of people interpreting the pillars as either the primary care/specialty care/innovation AND skilled/compassionate/socially responsible. So long as the essay is of good content then I'm sure you are fine.
I greatly appreciate your reassurances and support, we shall see where the cycle takes us hahaha
I will say 2 freshly graduated UMN med students read and approved of my essays so hopefully all is well
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5
Joined
Mar 18, 2026
lukeconway:
Well i really hope im not screwed as an IS applicant– I answered with the other interpretation and talked about becoming a socially responsible physician. if this is the reason my app is DOA im going to be very sad...
I hope not too, because it’s on them for having the question be confusing. I have seen at least one other thread about this prompt on Reddit. If a prompt requires so much discussion and people are contacting admissions to clarify, that means the wording is bad. I asked some of my friends for a sanity check and they were equally confused. I think you will be fine and I am sure your essay still communicates fit with the mission!
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27
Joined
May 21, 2025
I added this school to AMCAS a few days ago but have not received secondary yet
How long does it usually take?