Drexel University College of Medicine MD program · 2026-27 MD applicants (entering fall 2027)

Answers

For every question: which parts of an applicant's background to use, how they connect to what the question tests, and the points to hit - not a script. See it for our sample applicant, or upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary and get it for yours.

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In AMCAS, open your submitted application and print it to PDF; add your Drexel secondary answers (copy them from the Drexel portal into the same file or a second one). For every question we show you which parts of your application to draw on, how they connect to what the question tests, talking points, and what's missing - not a script to memorize. Nothing is invented. We read your file once and don't keep it. Your guidance is saved to your account, so you can come back to it on any device, and you can upload again anytime to replace it.

Sample applicant: Grace. A 2022 biology graduate from the University of Pittsburgh, applying to Drexel's MD program for the second time after a 2024 cycle with no acceptances. She has spent three years as a patient care technician in an Allentown dialysis unit, after a year as an emergency department scribe whose team was cut when the hospital adopted AI note-writing software. Since then she has raised her MCAT from 503 to 511 and completed post-bacc science courses.

Grace is fictional, and so are Riverbend Dialysis Center, ScribeLine Partners, Lehigh Valley Crossroads Hospital, the Seventh Street Free Clinic and the Northgate Aquatic Club; the application was written for this sample. Every answer below uses only what's in the application, the way your own will. Read Grace's application (PDF).

Before and at the start: the essay and the student group

Please complete the interview essay in your applicant portal. Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

Scribe year: ambient AI note wrote 'denied chest pain' when the patient said 'not really, just pressure' A concrete, first-hand example of judgment and listening, useful if the essay prompt touches ethics, technology or communication.
Missed-treatment call list at Riverbend: misses dropped from 11 to 3, traced to rides rather than choices Shows you reasoning past a label ('noncompliant') to a cause, which fits most ethics or values prompts.
Reapplicant path: 503 to 511, night classes after 5 a.m. shifts Fits if the prompt asks about growth, setbacks or self-assessment.

The angle

You don't know the prompt in advance, so your job is to pick one of your own moments that fits whatever is asked and then reason through it in plain writing. Your strongest habit is asking why before judging, as with Mr. Ortiz's winter misses and the 'just pressure' note. Let that habit show in how you think about the prompt, not just in which story you tell.

Talking points

Read the prompt twice; decide which of three stories fits: rides and missed Fridays, the 'just pressure' AI note, or the 503-to-511 rebuild
State your position early, then test it against the other side, the way you questioned the nurses' 'noncompliance' assumption
Use one specific detail (six patients, county paratransit, 14 scribes down to 6) rather than general claims
Name what you'd still not know or would ask, just as you called each patient before deciding
Close with what this means for the kind of physician you want to be: one who stays with chronic patients over time

To think about

If the prompt is a pure ethics dilemma with no link to dialysis or scribing, what is your own approach to weighing autonomy against harm, and have you practiced writing it out under a time limit?

Avoid: Pasting your personal statement back in. They already have it. Answer the actual prompt, keep it tight, and don't lean on the Mr. Ortiz opening again.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

Let's go around the group. Tell us a bit about yourself.

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

Patient care technician, Riverbend Dialysis, 5 a.m. MWF shift, 38 patients The student can't see your file. This is your current identity in one line.

The angle

Talking points

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What would you be like as a classmate here?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

Scribe layoffs: shared night-shift sheet, coffee with the two feuding scribes, no missed charts in four months Direct evidence of how you act when a team is under strain.

The angle

Talking points

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Why medicine and why Drexel

Why medicine? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

Mr. Ortiz and your first missed stick at Riverbend Dialysis A real first moment with a patient that grew into 5,600 hours of seeing the same 38 people, which is a reason grounded in what you've done.
Calling the six patients who missed winter 2025 treatments (11 misses down to 3) Shows the specific thing about medicine that pulls you: asking why before labeling someone noncompliant.
Shadowing nephrology (40 hrs) and family medicine (24 hrs) Shows you checked what a physician's role adds beyond your tech role.

The angle

Your reason isn't abstract helping. It's that three mornings a week you see chronic illness up close and keep running into questions only a physician can act on. The free clinic and the ride problem show you're drawn to the whole person, which a family physician rater who ran diabetes visits for dialysis-waitlist patients will recognize.

Talking points

Open briefly on the Mr. Ortiz moment, but don't retell the essay line for line
Move to what the repetition of the 5 a.m. shifts lets you notice: weight jumps, missed Fridays
Name the limit of your tech role: what could you not do for those 38 patients that a nephrologist could?
Tie in shadowing nephrology: one concrete thing you saw the physician decide
Close on why the 2024 rejection made this reason sharper, not weaker

To think about

What specific decision did you watch a nephrologist or family physician make that you couldn't make as a tech, and why did that matter to you?

Avoid: Your personal statement is strong, and the interviewer hasn't read it (closed file). Still, don't recite it. Talk it through, and don't let the paratransit fix take over an answer about being a physician.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

Why did you choose to apply to Drexel? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

Dialysis patients sent to Philadelphia for transplant workups who came back confused A direct, local link between your patients and the city Drexel trains in.
Seventh Street Free Clinic intake and church van ride scheduling Maps onto the Health Advocacy Practicum on social determinants and the Health Outreach Project Clinics.
Scribe year watching ambient AI documentation replace 8 of 14 scribes Connects to the Frontiers weeks on informatics and patient safety, and to Drexel's open use of AI.

The angle

Link your rides-and-handoffs story to specific Drexel features: the Health Advocacy Practicum, Frontiers blocks on quality, patient safety and informatics, and HOP clinics. You're also a Pennsylvania resident from Allentown, an hour away, whose patients already pass through Philadelphia hospitals. Make that a real reason, not geography.

Talking points

Start with the Riverbend patients who came back from Philadelphia transplant workups unsure what was next
Name the Health Advocacy Practicum and HOP clinics as the next step after Seventh Street and the ride list
Bring in the Frontiers informatics and patient-safety weeks through the 'denied chest pain' vs. 'just pressure' error
Mention the Reading-Tower Health or regional campus option only if you'd actually want it. Would you?
Close on the history of training people not on the expected track, said briefly and plainly

To think about

Your secondary cites the Dornsife School of Public Health link. Can you name one concrete thing there, or should you lead with curriculum pieces you've verified?

Avoid: Don't lean on 'close to home' or flattery. Also, don't overstate the Dornsife connection if you can't describe it specifically.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

What kind of doctor do you want to be?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

Your essay line about asking why someone missed Friday before writing 'noncompliant' States a physician value, not just a specialty.

The angle

Talking points

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Why you? Why should we pick you?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

The reapplication arc: 503 to 511 MCAT, A-range post-bacc grades taken at night after 5 a.m. shifts Evidence of persistence and self-correction.

The angle

Talking points

Unlock to read the rest, for every question.

Your experiences and yourself

Tell me about this experience. What did you learn from it? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

ED scribe year at Lehigh Valley Crossroads, ambient AI pilot cutting the team from 14 scribes to 6 A rich experience with a concrete lesson (documentation is a clinical act) that isn't just your dialysis story again.
The 'denied chest pain' vs. 'not really, just pressure' note A specific moment that shows what you actually took away, not a summary of duties.
Zebrafish lab project that didn't replicate, presented as a null result at lab meeting A backup if they ask about a different experience; shows you can reflect on something that didn't go well.

The angle

Because the MMI is closed-file, you have to set up the scribe year yourself in a sentence or two, then spend most of your time on reflection. Your strongest lesson is that someone has to be listening for the word that matters. You learned it by watching software that was often good but missed nuance, which is reasoning, not a complaint about technology. Dr. Bellarosa-type raters care about reasoning, and AI documentation is a live faculty topic, so a balanced view lands better than nostalgia for scribes.

Talking points

Set the scene briefly: night senior scribe, 10-hour ED shifts, AI pilot in early 2023
Describe the 'just pressure' note and why that difference mattered clinically
Say what you concluded about documentation, and be fair that the software was often good
Connect the lesson to dialysis now: how listening for the word that matters shows up with your 38 patients
Optional: how you'd use that habit with AI tools in medical school, without overselling

To think about

Did you or anyone flag the 'denied chest pain' error, and what happened? If nothing did, can you say what you would do now?

Avoid: Don't turn it into an anti-AI speech or reuse your personal statement paragraph word for word. Keep the layoff drama out unless they ask about teams.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

What is an accomplishment you are proud of? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

Missed-treatment call list at Riverbend: misses on your shift fell from 11 in January 2025 to 3 the next month Your proudest work, with a real number and a cause you found by asking rather than assuming.
Calling each of the six patients and finding five lacked winter rides; linking them to county paratransit Shows what you value: asking why before writing 'noncompliant.'
MCAT 503 to 511 plus A-range post-bacc courses after 5 a.m. shifts An alternative if you want a personal accomplishment rather than a patient one.

The angle

Choose the call list and be precise about scale: one shift, one winter, one month's drop. What it shows about you is that you treated missed sessions as a question rather than a label, which fits a school with a Health Advocacy Practicum on social determinants. A family physician who ran programs for dialysis-waitlist patients will respect a small, honest fix over a grand claim.

Talking points

Open with the pattern you noticed: the same six patients missing winter sessions
Say the nurses' assumption, then that you called each patient yourself
Give the finding: five of six were ride problems once the snow came
Give the number, 11 to 3 on your shift, and call it a small fix
Close on why it matters to you as a future nephrology or primary care doctor

To think about

Did the drop hold after that month, and did the call list continue or spread to other shifts? What about the sixth patient?

Avoid: Don't overclaim. It was one shift and one month's comparison; don't imply you fixed the clinic's adherence. Don't criticize the nurses.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

What is your weakness?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

Challenge essay line: you wait too long to tell supervisors when something is broken A real weakness you've already named, shown during the scribe layoffs.

The angle

Talking points

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What do you think will be a challenge for you in medical school?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

Your pattern of escalating late and once being too proud to seek help A likely real challenge in a fast, high-volume curriculum.

The angle

Talking points

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MMI stations: behavioral, ethical and interpersonal

Think about a time you worked on a team that was struggling. What did you do? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

2023 scribe layoffs at Lehigh Valley Crossroads: 14 scribes cut to 6 in four months, you as senior night scribe A team that was truly struggling, and you weren't the manager, so it shows what you did without formal authority.
The two scribes who stopped speaking over who was told first, and the coffees (separately, then together) Shows the interpersonal side of fixing a team, not just the logistics.
Rewritten handoff sheet and shared night-shift sheet: four months without a missed chart A concrete, checkable outcome that is honest about its limits.

The angle

Your scribe year lets you show teamwork when the cause of the trouble (the AI pilot and layoffs) was outside your control. You fixed what you could: coverage, the handoff and a broken relationship. The rater has seen the teamwork station from the inside and listens for reasoning, so explain why you put patient coverage first and then dealt with people.

Talking points

Set the scene in two lines: ambient AI pilot, 14 to 6 scribes, morale falling apart on nights
Your first move: the shared night-shift sheet so no physician got an undocumented patient, and why coverage came first
The two scribes not speaking: why you met each separately before together
Result: four months, no missed chart, and say plainly that it didn't fix the layoffs
Your own flaw from that time: waiting too long to tell supervisors, and what you'd do now in a Drexel small group or learning society

To think about

When did you finally go to a supervisor, and what happened? If you never did, what would telling them earlier have looked like?

Avoid: Your secondary essay already tells this story almost word for word, and the station is closed-file, so tell it fresh, not recited. Don't make yourself sound like the hero; you were one of six who held on.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

Think about a time you faced a setback. How did you respond? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

2024 cycle: 18 schools, 2 interviews, no acceptances, with a 503 MCAT Your biggest and most honest setback, and the rater will respect you owning it.
Recovery: night classes at DeSales (A, A-, A) after 5 a.m. dialysis shifts, MCAT up to 511 Concrete evidence of how you responded, not just how you felt.
C in Organic Chemistry I, then B+ in Orgo II after skipping office hours until November An earlier version of the same pattern, which shows you understand your habit of not asking for help.

The angle

The real test is honesty and self-diagnosis, and your story has a clear thread: pride kept you from asking for help (orgo, the generic first application), and you changed that. Name the cause first, then the specific changes: a schedule you kept, asking for help early, and writing about what you actually did.

Talking points

Name the setback flatly: 2024 cycle, 18 schools, 2 interviews, zero acceptances
Your diagnosis: 503, a vague 'help people' statement, and the orgo pride pattern behind it
What you changed: DeSales evening courses after 5 a.m. shifts, a study schedule, asking for help early
Results without bragging: 511 and A-range grades, plus training two new techs
How this habit carries into Drexel's 18-month Foundations phase

To think about

Who did you actually ask for help this time (a tutor, advisor, reapplicant feedback)? A name or moment makes it real.

Avoid: Don't let it become a victory lap of numbers, and don't sound bitter about the rejections. Keep orgo as a supporting point so you don't end up listing every failure.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

Here is a situation. What would you do?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

The winter 2025 missed treatments: nurses assumed noncompliance, and you called all six Your instinct to find facts before judging is the reasoning these stations reward.

The angle

Talking points

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Here is an ethical dilemma. Talk us through how you would handle it.

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

The AI note that wrote 'denied chest pain' when the patient said 'not really, just pressure' A real documentation-accuracy and patient-safety dilemma you saw firsthand, and the rater co-leads a faculty group on AI documentation.

The angle

Talking points

Unlock to read the rest, for every question.

Here is a conflict between two people. How would you approach it?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

The two scribes who stopped speaking: coffee separately, then together A direct example of handling conflict between two people.

The angle

Talking points

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Current topics, including AI

What is a current issue in health care that matters to you? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

Riverbend missed-treatment call list: six patients, five without winter rides, misses dropped from 11 in January to 3 the next month Gives you a real, local version of a national issue (transportation and social determinants in chronic disease) that you've measured yourself.
Seventh Street Free Clinic intake: uninsured, many Spanish-speaking adults, church van ride scheduling Shows the same access problem from a second setting, with insurance and language barriers on top.
Patients sent to Philadelphia for transplant workups who came back confused (Why Drexel essay) Connects the issue to care coordination across the Allentown-Philadelphia corridor, where Drexel trains.

The angle

Your strongest current issue is access to chronic care, especially for kidney disease, where transportation, insurance and fragmented referrals decide outcomes as much as medicine does. You've watched this at the chairside and the intake table, so you can reason from specific patients outward to policy instead of reciting headlines. This rater runs a practice full of diabetes and insurance paperwork and once ran group visits for dialysis-waitlist patients, so concrete, careful reasoning will land better than breadth.

Talking points

Name the issue plainly: access barriers in chronic disease care, with dialysis as your example
Give the Riverbend facts: six patients, five ride problems, nurses' 'noncompliance' assumption, 11 misses down to 3
Widen out: free clinic uninsured patients and the church van, plus transplant-workup patients returning confused from Philadelphia
Weigh what helps and what doesn't: what a call list can fix versus what needs system or policy change (which change do you think matters most, and why?)
Close on Drexel's Health Advocacy Practicum on social determinants and what you'd want to learn there

To think about

What do you actually know about the policy side - Medicare coverage for dialysis, paratransit funding, transplant referral rates? Can you name one recent development you've read about rather than only what you've seen?

Avoid: Retelling your personal statement word for word and calling a story a 'current event.' Tie it to something happening now in the field, and don't overclaim the 11-to-3 drop as more than one shift over one winter.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

What role should artificial intelligence play in medicine and medical education?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

ED scribe year: ambient AI pilot cut the team from 14 to 6 in four months; you were kept, then left in May 2023 You've seen AI enter clinical work firsthand, including its cost to people.

The angle

Talking points

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Closing: your questions

What questions do you have for me about Drexel? Sample applicant

Based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant - not on you. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to get this from your own background.

Material

Riverbend 5 a.m. shifts (Mon/Wed/Fri) and plan to keep working 36-40 hours before matriculation Gives you a real question about how students actually balance time, sleep and running in Foundations, asked by someone who already lives on a tight schedule.
Seventh Street Free Clinic intake and church-van ride scheduling Lets you ask how students get involved in the Health Outreach Project Clinics and whether first-years do intake or Spanish-language work.
Reapplicant story: C in Orgo I, waiting until November for office hours, asking for help earlier Lets you ask a classmate-level question about academic support and study culture without making the conversation about your file.

The angle

The student is checking whether you'd be a good classmate, so ask what only a current student knows: daily life, societies, outreach clinics. You can mention your own facts in a phrase, like the 5 a.m. dialysis shifts or the van-ride scheduling at Seventh Street, so the question shows why you care. Keep it conversational and leave room for the other applicants to ask theirs.

Talking points

Ask how students use the Health Outreach Project Clinics; tie it briefly to your Tuesday intake shifts at Seventh Street
Ask how the six societies (Athenaeum, Rocky Statue, etc.) and the Dean's Cup feel day to day; is it real community or mostly branding?
Ask when in Foundations they first felt behind and where they went for help; one clause on your lesson about not waiting until November
Ask about Philadelphia vs Reading-Tower Health from the student's side, since Allentown patients pass through both regions
If time: what they do outside class; mention a running route or the Broad Street Run as a light touch

To think about

Which one thing about student life at Drexel do you genuinely not know yet and would change how you'd rank it?

Avoid: Don't turn each question into a pitch about dialysis or your reapplication. Ask one or two questions, then listen and follow up, and don't crowd out the other applicants.

From: Grace's application · the question and its sources

Any questions for our faculty?

A preview, based on Grace, our fictional sample applicant. Upload your AMCAS application and Drexel secondary to preview your own.

Material

Scribe year: AI documentation cut the team from 14 to 6, and the 'denied chest pain' vs 'just pressure' error Gives you an informed question on how Drexel teaches students to use and check AI tools such as PIAT Learn, ambient documentation and the proposed AI literacy curriculum.

The angle

Talking points

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