Secondary Application

• Describe how your experiences have prepared you to work effectively with classmates, patients, and colleagues from a wide variety of cultures, belief systems, socioeconomic backgrounds, geography, and lived experiences.
• Describe an academic, personal, or professional challenge you have encountered, how you responded, and what you learned from facing the challenge. How did it prepare you to be a physician?
• Why WWAMI? Describe how your preparation, service, and career goals align with the cohort that you are applying to [i.e., WY, AK, MT, ID, WA (Seattle or Spokane)].
• How have societal inequities in the U.S. affected you or people you have worked with?
• Demonstrated competency - Social sciences, Humanities or "Human Condition" Entering medical students should understand the social forces that shape the health of the individuals and communities they will serve. This includes understanding how social contextual factors and policy operate at the community and national level to impact the health of individuals. Students should be familiar with disparities in health currently present in society and their underlying etiologies. Candidates seeking acceptance to UWSOM can establish competency in this area through course work in the social sciences, humanities or related interdisciplinary fields such as public health or ethnic and gender studies, clinical and/or population health research, service learning, lived experience or a combination of thereof. Examples of social science/humanities coursework to consider: Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Psychology, Religion, History, Philosophy, Literature.? Describe your competency by explaining how you have explored and come to understand issues in the social sciences and humanities as they relate to the practice of medicine.
• For Reapplicants: Please share any areas of growth since your previous application and what you’ve learned from the process.

Submit a pre-medical committee evaluation and up to three additional letters, or submit a minimum of three and up to six individual letters from writers who can speak to one or more of the following:

• Academic ability
• Commitment to service
• Leadership potential
• Clinical or research experiences
• Interpersonal skills
• Interaction with patients
• Ability to function on a team, and/or potential as a physician
• Respect for others
• Compassion
• Maturity
• Communication skills
• Work ethic

The collection of letters should provide a balanced and well-rounded view of your candidacy for medicine. Letters of recommendation from people who know you well can give the committee a better understanding of who you are. Consider current employers, people at your volunteer or shadowing opportunities, teaching assistants, etc. 

It is strongly encouraged that letters be printed on university, company or personal letterhead and signed. Letters of recommendation that are missing letterhead and/or signature will be given less consideration.

All letters of recommendation should be submitted via the AMCAS Letter Service.

See Guidelines for Writing Letters of Recommendation for additional assistance.

Provide additional information about your background:

• Graduating high School information: high school name and zip code
• Hometown: There is no strict definition, but a hometown is typically a city/town that you have ties/roots to that you consider "home". This could be:
  • Where you graduated high school
  • Where you had the most formative/meaningful experiences
  • Where you grew up
  • Where your parents live
  • Where you have lived the longest
• Is your hometown rural?
• If applicable:
  • Identification with a Southeast Asian community (Bhutanese, Burmese, Cham, Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Mien, Thai, or Vietnamese) *Note this information is not visible to the Admissions Committee and is used for the UW Admissions internal reporting

Applicants are expected to read and comply with the UW School of Medicine student policies. Applicants who do not agree to these policies will not be considered for admission.

Applicants will be asked to list courses they believe meet the required pre-medical course requirements for the UWSOM. Applicants will be able to note current/future coursework.

Washington applicants have the choice of spending their Foundations Phase of the curriculum (first 18 months) in either Spokane or Seattle. Applicants make this choice in the Secondary Application, and if offered an interview, will be interviewed for one cohort or the other, not both. Once an applicant interviews for -- or is accepted to -- one of these cohorts, they cannot switch between the two. No appeals will be accepted.

Spokane students will study on the Gonzaga University campus, and Seattle students will study on the University of Washington - Seattle campus. Both sites offer outstanding educational opportunities with identical course objectives and common exams. Spokane’s class size is 60, Seattle’s is 100 (including out-of-region and MSTP students). College mentors, preceptors, student interest groups, Pathway programs, and other learning and personal resources are available at both sites. At both sites current students can work with urban and rural patient populations, pursue research opportunities, and explore a broad range of specialty interests. There is no requirement to have lived in either city before in order to apply, nor to have a specific background or interest.

In the Secondary Application, applicants will have access to a website created by current medical students that has information about why they chose their Foundation site and what they see as the unique strengths of each site.

Statistics about how many applicants apply to and interview for each site are available here.

There is an optional section on the Secondary Application to apply to the TRUST program or CUSP. All WWAMI applicants are eligible to apply for TRUST within their own state. Washington applicants can only apply for either TRUST or CUSP, not both. Out-of-region applicants can apply to CUSP only.

All CUSP application materials are due two weeks before the rest of the Secondary Application no later than November 1 at 11:59pm PT. All TRUST application materials are due with the rest of the Secondary Application no later than November 15 at 11:59pm PT.

Candidates from Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho will be required to submit residency certification from their respective state certifying officers.

Washington residents will be asked to complete a residence history questionnaire, and then may or may not be required to provide additional documentation to demonstrate their legal residence. Washington residents should be prepared to verify their state residency at any point in the application process.

The UWSOM Secondary Application fee is $35. If an applicant feels that it is a burden to pay this fee, they can request to have it waived.