2012-2013 Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

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SuperCJT said:
Haha, and you'll be the president of your school
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I would like to be on the board of directors or something! haha I will decide who gets to be the president, deans, bla bla. I don't get fired. :smuggrin:

edit: WE'RE ON PAGE 7! COME ON!
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hello guys, just to share some thoughts, i think what kind of questions you got or how nice the interviewer seemed to be, or even the duration of your interview cant be used as an accurate gauge of how successful your interview really is.
to illustrate my point, i honestly felt like a crap after my first round of interview. it was pretty brutal and exhausting. at one point, i felt like the interviewer was somehow a bit condescending and made me feel like i wasnt good enough. just like some of you, i got asked repeatedly about why i chose to do things a certain way. and he didnt make it easy either. it seems like i can never come up with a good enough answer that he went on to ask even more questions from my own answer. the final straw was when he cut me to ask another question while i was still in the middle of explaining something ><
it wasnt like an interview at all.. more of like a debate.
so my take on this is that, it really isnt about the question or the interviewer. it is about you, how you present yourself, how you voice out your opinion, and show him/her what you can bring to the table.
be confident! honestly. nothing can beat that. dont let the interviewer bring you down, instead show him that you dont need someone else's approval to feel good about yourself.
good luck! :)
 
Hello, everyone! New to the forum. I was interviewed in Duke-NUS Singapore in November 2012 and received my offer in December 2012.

For those who received the offer, have you received the FA package yet? Not sure whether I could afford to attend the school without FA. :(
 
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super123 said:
Hello, everyone! New to the forum. I was interviewed in Duke-NUS Singapore in November 2012 and received my offer in December 2012.

For those who received the offer, have you received the FA package yet? Not sure whether I could afford to attend the school without FA. :(
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FA package was announced to me shortly after the acceptance offer. Merit scholarship decision is still up in the air.
 
I got an acceptance email on Friday - about a month after the interview.

Have you gotten an interview date yet?
 
Hi chennyhui,

Were you interviewed on Jan 5th? I am still waiting for a response!
 
I interviewed on Jan 3rd in Durham. Haven't heard from anybody else in my interview batch...
 
Hi there!
I have applied for the PhD program at Duke NUS and was wondering if anyone could give me tips on the interview process. I have been selected for the feb 22nd interview and am not too sure if I actually need to prepare for this!
Any suggestions or tips would be really helpful :)
Thanks!
 
Rup said:
Hi there!
I have applied for the PhD program at Duke NUS and was wondering if anyone could give me tips on the interview process. I have been selected for the feb 22nd interview and am not too sure if I actually need to prepare for this!
Any suggestions or tips would be really helpful :)
Thanks!
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Hi Rup,

Congrats on your interview. I interviewed for the MD admission, but I do have a few general pointers. Firstly, you definitely need to prepare for your interview, especially since you are definitely going to be discussing your research. You should have pointers prepared that you wish to bring across, as when nervous we tend to forget.

You should know
1) Why Duke-NUS?
2) Why PhD?
3) Be able to talk about your research
4) Have some idea of what research/whose laboratory you wish to work in at Duke-NUS
5) General Interview Questions such as being able to talk about yourself (strengths, weaknesses etc.)
6) Also this goes without saying, but you MUST know your application inside and out, as high chance you'll be asked to discuss an activity or activities.

Good Luck.
 
Hi :)
Thank you so much for your reply..it is definitely of great help! Like you mentioned we often get nervous so it is better to go through the pointers before going there...
Any idea of the acceptance rates? Is the selection process really rigorous? Sorry for asking so many questions and thanks once again :)
 
Rup said:
Hi :)
Thank you so much for your reply..it is definitely of great help! Like you mentioned we often get nervous so it is better to go through the pointers before going there...
Any idea of the acceptance rates? Is the selection process really rigorous? Sorry for asking so many questions and thanks once again :)
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Hi,

I really do not have any idea about the PhD acceptance rates, as I applied MD; however, I do believe the process will be really rigorous. You have been invited for an interview so that is quite a good sign. Now you need to prove that you are ready and deserve a spot at Duke-NUS.

Also if you have publications, bring copies to hand in.
 
Hi,
Thanks for the tips..really appreciate it!
 
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Any news for those who were interviewed on 5th Jan in SF? Any idea when are we expecting the results?
 
Interviewed early december here... but still no news for me either. :/ Trying to keep myself occupied and I think that helps with the waiting... most of the time.

On a side note, congrats to those who already made it in. :D There's quite a few when I scroll up to read previous posts.
 
Hey guys I just received an invitation to Applicant day, but will unfortunately be here in the US. So they are arranging for a skype interview next week. I was wondering whether anyone has had any experience with conducting a skype interview for Duke-NUS. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
 
ANyone heard of anything, at all??!! BEginning to panic and prepare for next cycle re-app already :<

And congrats to those accepted. Crossing fingers for us waiting to get GOOD NEWS soon. I hope. :luck::luck::luck::luck::luck:

to those accepted, mind sharing stats???? thanx
 
Hello folks,

Congrats to all who're joining us next year!

I am a graduating fourth year medical student from Duke-NUS and am hoping to sell my books before moving on to residency this July.

Please contact me if interested if any of these. Discount 50% on original price. If you buy more than 5 books, I'll give you an additional 10% off.

FIRST YEAR
Schwart's Principles of Surgery
Molecular Biology of the Cell 4th ed
Basic and Clinical Pharmacology
Mim's Medical Microbiology
Thompson and Thompson Genetics in medicine
Langman's medical embryology
Parham's the Immune System
Intro textbook to Psychology
Neuroscience 4th Ed
Guyton Textbook of Medical Physiology 11th ed

SECOND YEAR
First Aid for Surgery
Blueprints Peds
Pretest Obgyn
Pretest Psych
Pretest Surg
Pretest Medicine
Pretest Peds
Case Files Neuro
Blueprints Family Medicine
Essentials of Family Medicine, 5th ed

STEP 1
Kaplan Medessentials for the Step 1, 2nd ed
Rapid Review Biochem
BRS Physiology
Lange review of Medical Physiology
Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple

STEP 2CK
Step up to the Step 2CK
Step up to Medicine


Please PM me about the books you're interested in and we can discuss the price. If you buy everything, I'll sell them to you at a bundle price of $400 at an average of $15 per book.
 
Hey all,

Just to give you guys a bit of an update from Dr. Kamei. I asked him about the progress made so far, and he said that they're close to sending out the next batch of acceptances. The reason why there is a delay is because they have to get through the Early acceptances first and they're looking at the rest of us, as a group, for the remaining positions. Apparently, there's not many left! All we can do now is just wait..

Good luck to everyone!
 
stacaye said:
Hey all,

Just to give you guys a bit of an update from Dr. Kamei. I asked him about the progress made so far, and he said that they're close to sending out the next batch of acceptances. The reason why there is a delay is because they have to get through the Early acceptances first and they're looking at the rest of us, as a group, for the remaining positions. Apparently, there's not many left! All we can do now is just wait..

Good luck to everyone!
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Define 'close'? :smuggrin: Was that info from your Applicant's Day? Wait, is he saying that WE who have not heard anything are now competing for very few spots left behind? How many have been accepted? This stings!

I will commence my hibernation from this forum because I have the feeling that my rejection letter is coming....soon. Good luck to y'all and to those accepted, congratulations! My heart is still reeling from the pain of my own failure....but moving on. This train is headed to the next cycle.

:luck:
 
Good luck to those who are waiting for decisions! When is the next interview date(s)? :oops:
 
No, that was an update from Dr. Kamei when I emailed him just last week. Sorry, I don't have any specific answers to your questions, since that's all I was able to get from Dr. Kamei. Every year, the process is different, so he says it's difficult for him to make any accurate predictions. But don't lose hope guys! If this is truly your calling, it's bound to happen!
 
Thanks everyone who contacted me. Here's an updated list of textbooks with prices and condition of books.
 

Attachments

  • textbook sale list.docx
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Guys, tuition is around 175k sigaporean dollars a year for international, how much grant or free money do people normally get to subsidize for tuitition? Do most international get at least most of their tuition fees paid for?
 
xadmin said:
Guys, tuition is around 175k sigaporean dollars a year for international, how much grant or free money do people normally get to subsidize for tuitition? Do most international get at least most of their tuition fees paid for?
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I think it really depends on your financial situation, like how much money your family will contribute. My finaid app asks for info on my parents and siblings income, regardless of whether they will be paying or not. Are you applying for this cycle too? Have you been accepted if thats the case?

I remember a few years back that someone got a full ride (50/50 in scholarship and need based aid). Amount you receive may vary, but I wont hold my hope out for a similar luck. The guy was probably very stellar. I dont remember anyone else posting about the amount of money they get. But you can ask privately to those who already got theirs (if they dont mind sharing of course).

Edit: I dont think the 175k is per year. It is per Semester. Ok ok it is for 4 years. Someone can correct me if you would please. That amount per year is insane if true.
 
pepperthelaunch said:
One thing that worries me is that their website specifically mentions that they want to increase the intake of PhD candidates. I don't know if this will be the case this year, and as someone already pointed out only 1-3 accepted hold such degree each batch (excluding Masters). This to me suggests that each year it would be increasingly difficult to get in if their target is to have more with advanced degrees. I surely think with my current stats, my chance is pretty low.
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Eh someone just reminded me that the PhD part of my rant is incorrect. Please ignore. Must have been daydreaming while staring at the inbox 24/7.
 
Regarding tuition, not sure where you folks are getting your info but these are the rates I am paying, $38k per year for international students and $35k for Singaporean citizens/PRs. You can take out a max of 90% of $35k/year for TFL and the school generally covers for living expenses in the need based financial package they hand out. Some get merit based packages which differ based on the scholarship type.

Regarding payment for TFL, you need to pay off everything in 20 years but the minimum per month is $100. Interest is ~4.75% per year currently and is cumulative, may increase in the future.

Generally, if you come from a family with limited means, you will get enough loans/aid to get through medical school, regardless of whether you get one of the coveted merit based scholarships (which are generally more generous). I think this is one of the attractive points about this school. No where else would you be able to get away with this if you're not a citizen of the country (think US schools). Of course, in return you need to fulfill the service obligation, which is 5 years for internationals and 4 years for locals. It's a great opportunity but I must emphasize that everyone should come in with your eyes open since this may not be your best option if you have no intention of living in Singapore after school/training. If you're happy being here for the additional 4, 5 years, then this will be a great option for you!

Check out the school website for accurate info and take info you get from internet forums with a grain of salt.

Good luck!
 
Just wondering if any of you guys (whove been accepted) have received/ been informed the merit-based scholarship? I havent heard about it myself so im thinking whether it means i dont get one or something. Thanks in advance!
 
mioa said:
Just wondering if any of you guys (whove been accepted) have received/ been informed the merit-based scholarship? I havent heard about it myself so im thinking whether it means i dont get one or something. Thanks in advance!
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I got my merit scholarship offer in feb (i thk, def earlier this year). Might want to ask duke-nus to confirm the status of ur scholarship.
 
Congratulations!
I haven't heard about it either...and i heard only a few will get merit-scholarship
 
caoq0005 said:
Congratulations!
I haven't heard about it either...and i heard only a few will get merit-scholarship
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Is it true? :oops: Wow must be really special app to have received that!

Anyway does anyone know who is actually on the Admission Committee? :p
 
caoq0005 said:
Congratulations!
I haven't heard about it either...and i heard only a few will get merit-scholarship
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Thx! It's definitely nice and I consider myself quite lucky to get the scholarship. Sure helps things out a lot. Hope you guys who are waiting on that will get something too!
 
Anyone know when us regular decisions folk should expect to hear back? I'm under the impression the school has only accepted ED applicants?
 
PhD offer just came in! :D
Looks like more westerns and getting my hands dirty at the bench in the future :cool:

Interviewer on the PhD admissions committee mentioned during my interview (on Mon 3/11) that they were meeting yesterday (Tues 3/12), and my decision came out today. Likely that other PhD decisions/offers will be out as well. Good luck!
 
ih371990 said:
PhD offer just came in! :D
Looks like more westerns and getting my hands dirty at the bench in the future :cool:

Interviewer on the PhD admissions committee mentioned during my interview (on Mon 3/11) that they were meeting yesterday (Tues 3/12), and my decision came out today. Likely that other PhD decisions/offers will be out as well. Good luck!
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Congrats!
 
ih371990 said:
PhD offer just came in! :D
Looks like more westerns and getting my hands dirty at the bench in the future :cool:

Interviewer on the PhD admissions committee mentioned during my interview (on Mon 3/11) that they were meeting yesterday (Tues 3/12), and my decision came out today. Likely that other PhD decisions/offers will be out as well. Good luck!
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you applied for both MD and PhD separately?
 
ultimac said:
you applied for both MD and PhD separately?
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I applied MD/PhD track. MD offer was announced quite some time ago. PhD offer just came in.

Edit: Not sure if that answers your question. I sent in one application for MD/PhD, and I suppose they reviewed it separately for MD program and PhD program.
 
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Titillated said:
Anyone know when us regular decisions folk should expect to hear back? I'm under the impression the school has only accepted ED applicants?
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I reckon that some regular deadline folks have already heard back. I was under regular admissions. Interview and offer last December. During an informal chat session about residency and medical school life earlier this year, I met a couple of classmates from both early and regular acceptance. Some from my applicant day had been accepted while others are still waiting. Best of luck.
 
Brionman06 said:
I reckon that some regular deadline folks have already heard back. I was under regular admissions. Interview and offer last December. During an informal chat session about residency and medical school life earlier this year, I met a couple of classmates from both early and regular acceptance. Some from my applicant day had been accepted while others are still waiting. Best of luck.
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Congrats! Are you singaporean?

I was told that regular decisions haven't been informed yet due to delay in processing EDs. They are done with the final group, not including last batch. I suspect decisions for most of us waiting were already made. Anyway if you're a regular and already accepted, it means they probably go for the most desirable applicants first.

Betting that maybe 30 offers are given, more or less. Doesn't look good at all! Do they expect to only take, like 4-5 people from regular pool???

Refreshing my inbox obsessively. And, HELLO, we have 3 guests lurking here *waves*!! Any of you with inside news??
 
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@pepperthelaunch: Hey there thank you. Yes I'm Singaporean. Wouldn't go so far as to try and rate my own desirability, but just to say that I'm both humbled and grateful for another chance. It's my second time applying to med school. I actually expressed my surprise to the admissions department about the offer coming in so soon and they said they were trying to clear applications before Christmas and new year ;) Also, remember to check your secondary email. That's how I received mine.

Can't be certain as to how many from each class come from early decision, but I have a feeling that it isn't a majority. I was pretty worried myself, thinking that most people would apply and get accepted early, leaving few spaces for the regular admissions. But I have heard from a college friend who was accepted last year that most of his class came from regular admissions. In fact around half of the applicants from his interview day were accepted. His applicant day was in March I think, one of the last few. Was wait listed and finally accepted in May. Hang in there ok. I think a good number of applicants will be receiving their offers over the next several weeks. Btw there is still another applicant day next week. Hope this was helpful.

Cheers
 
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ih371990 said:
**Minor Disruption**

Accepted Thread -> http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=13806392#post13806392
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Is that VIP only? :naughty: anyway perhaps the rest of us normal people who have not heard a peep can create a similar but more depressing thread under the name of "Duke-NUS Waiting for Class of 2017 Decisions." Anyone who get accepted will graduate to the accepted thread. Lol.

Ok seriously, I thought duke-nus admins themselves would make a FB group? Why a separate thread? :eek:

Brionman06 said:
@pepperthelaunch: Hey there thank you. Yes I'm Singaporean. Wouldn't go so far as to try and rate my own desirability, but just to say that I'm both humbled and grateful for another chance. It's my second time applying to med school. I actually expressed my surprise to the admissions department about the offer coming in so soon and they said they were trying to clear applications before Christmas and new year ;) Also, remember to check your secondary email. That's how I received mine.

Can't be certain as to how many from each class come from early decision, but I have a feeling that it isn't a majority. I was pretty worried myself, thinking that most people would apply and get accepted early, leaving few spaces for the regular admissions. But I have heard from a college friend who was accepted last year that most of his class came from regular admissions. In fact around half of the applicants from his interview day were accepted. His applicant day was in March I think, one of the last few. Was wait listed and finally accepted in May. Hang in there ok. I think a good number of applicants will be receiving their offers over the next several weeks. Btw there is still another applicant day next week. Hope this was helpful.

Cheers
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Thank you for the kind words you good sir!
 
pepperthelaunch said:
Is that VIP only? :naughty: anyway perhaps the rest of us normal people who have not heard a peep can create a similar but more depressing thread under the name of "Duke-NUS Waiting for Class of 2017 Decisions." Anyone who get accepted will graduate to the accepted thread. Lol.

Ok seriously, I thought duke-nus admins themselves would make a FB group? Why a separate thread? :eek:



Thank you for the kind words you good sir!
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No it is not VIP only. It is a public thread where anyone can post (much like any of these "official" thread topics. Didnt want to flood this thread with irrelevant info (ie housing, what bank to open an account with, phone company to use, etc). Didnt mean to offend. I apologize in advance if i did offend anyone. Not saying you are offended but i just realized its perhaps not the best timing to open a thread like that.

Im sure duke-nus will create a forum or group on fb of some sort (they mentioned sometime in late april), but that doesnt mean i cant create one and begin discussion sooner.

Anyway, good luck, and in last years forum a lot of ppl seemed to receive their offers from Mar-May. Sit tight, think about improving your chances for reapp (which i did right after i submitted my app lol).
 
ih371990 said:
No it is not VIP only. It is a public thread where anyone can post (much like any of these "official" thread topics. Didnt want to flood this thread with irrelevant info (ie housing, what bank to open an account with, phone company to use, etc). Didnt mean to offend. I apologize in advance if i did offend anyone. Not saying you are offended but i just realized its perhaps not the best timing to open a thread like that.

Im sure duke-nus will create a forum or group on fb of some sort (they mentioned sometime in late april), but that doesnt mean i cant create one and begin discussion sooner.

Anyway, good luck, and in last years forum a lot of ppl seemed to receive their offers from Mar-May. Sit tight, think about improving your chances for reapp (which i did right after i submitted my app lol).
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Its cool man, no one was offended. What did you do to improve? I know your mcat increased. :thumbup:
 
pepperthelaunch said:
Its cool man, no one was offended. What did you do to improve? I know your mcat increased. :thumbup:
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Basically, I studied hardcore for a month. Pretty much when I woke to when I slept, like 10am to 10pm during the summer. Figured that I could suffer for a month straight to get this test out of the way and the road would be smoother.

Specifically, I spent two weeks covering the EK books, TBR books, and a kaplan book (material-based review). I skimmed through a second time while writing things down that I would need memorized (equations, facts I thought were important, hormones, tips&tricks). Then, I moved on to 2 weeks of practice questions. I did all the EK questions in the back, TBR questions, Kaplan questions, and then moved on to the practice AAMC MCAT tests. I tried to find them online, but ended up buying some from their site. I think I ended up doing test 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 11. My avg was 35, range was 33-39. I reviewed my notes one last time the night before the exam.

Verbal was my weakest link, so I spent a lot of time focused on doing timed-passages besides timed-tests. I was doing the EK passage book, and I think it helped a lot. My 2nd score was 11, and my avg/1st was 10, so it's not too big of an improvement. I felt like it did give me more confidence, and really got used to the verbal testing format so I could do it faster and it translated to more time to think about the questions

I'm not sure what I did would help someone else, but that's what I did and it worked for me. There are in-depth guides on this website for studying the MCAT, which is great for reference, but I think it just comes down to time management, repetition (to get those things memorized), and knowing yourself (like how you study, etc). To be honest, I wish I had more time to prepare for the MCAT (maybe like 2 months?).

Regarding each section of the test, physical science was pretty straightforward for me. It was just kinda like doings questions that I had done before in practice tests, but with different numbers. Verbal was just luck of the draw, but I ended up with 5-7 mins to go back and think through tough questions (not that those extra mins really helped me decide which one was correct lol). Biology section was more analysis-based (in my opinion). There were not a lot of recall questions, like straight up give me the facts sort of thing. Most of them were like answer the question based on the info you have in the passage, but sometimes it required basic knowledge to understand what the passage. It reminds me of reading primary research papers in college and making a presentation about it.

I would recommend bringing snacks to fuel your brain during the exam. I always bring coffee and snicker bars to important exams. So far it hasn't failed me.

Hope that helps!
 
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