2009-2010 Duke Application Thread

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bigman225 said:
Yup. And just because we *thought* we did poorly in the beta interview doesn't mean we necessarily did. It is intended to be challenging and the essays gave them tons of ammunition to ask tough questions. It was a shock to my system because I was used to much easier interview styles (Tell me about yourself? Why medicine? Why school x? What do you do for fun? Explain activity x?)

I understand you guys are disappointed. I don't know why I got into Duke and Columbia but didn't receive even an interview at UChicago and Michigan. The simple fact is there are probably 5 overqualified applicants for every spot in a top school. An above poster stated that the adcom determined she was unfit to be a doctor--I strongly doubt it. It is more likely that they don't have enough space to take every outstanding applicant...
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i didnt get a single ethical question during my beta interview (not in the alpha either). it was just another typical student interview. i do wish they would have grilled me a bit. maybe it would have helped.

on another note, i do understand the whole "its not just about the numbers". i mean, if it was, you'd know exactly where you would get in before you even apply. i find it pointless when ppl say that.

anyways yea it feels like a crapshoot. congrats to those who got in!
 
so at this point does no news mean good news??? has anyone called and asked if all the wl/reject emails have gone out?
 
got waitlisted 10AM this morning via email...no snail mail letter yet
 
Hey guys, just a shred of hope for those waiting to hear back: I found out (email from Dr. Armstrong last friday) that I was accepted but I have yet to receive the actual acceptance letter in the mail (I'm in upstate NY). I even got an email about Second Look about an hour ago in which they said "by now you should have received your acceptance letter".

Also, I did a virtual interview. There's a rumor that these are deal-breakers so at least here is some evidence to refute that.

Good luck all
 
ACCEPTED!

I never got the letter but I just got an invite for second look!
 
congrats and thanks guys for the updates! no second look email for me as of now, but still havent had a chance to check my mailbox. really expecting a rejection email tomorrow. just reject me and get this over with!
 
I also got an email invitation to the second look weekend, and my mailbox is still waiting for a snail mail acceptance letter.
 
Just registered for second look. Stoked! Has a facebook group been created for Duke?
 
Just called the office. Some of the decisions have not gone out. But sounds like I am getting the bad news-she asked me to confirm my email.
Sad. Good luck to all still waiting!
 
To those who have been accepted - Congrats! Question though, will most of you go to Duke or only if you get a sweet financial aid package? Trying to gauge how the waitlist may move if at all...
 
dukejen04 said:
yeah, i probably should have saved myself the hundreds and done a virtual interview.

also, i am severely depressed about this. this was the last school i was waiting to hear from, and i shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, but i did. this whole process makes me feel useless and horrible. when i do the math of how many schools rejected me, times 5-10 people on each committee. that's like, several hundred people telling me i'm not good enough to be a doctor. maybe i should take a hint.
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Cheer up now. I know it's easy to take rejections to heart, but you just have to keep your head up and keep moving forward. Every single one of us in this process gets rejected sometimes. Hell, I've been rejected from more than a couple schools even before I got to the interview stage. I got a rejection letter on Sat myself from a school that was near the top of my list.

The thing I've been trying to keep in mind is this: So many of these schools are incredible that we're all going to have multiple good options. Will I get into my top choice? I don't know (they haven't sent out acceptances yet), but I do know that I have a couple of excellent options if that falls through. Even if I ended up going to State U Med, I believe that I could become a good doctor, and I'm absolutely positive that the same is true of you.

Look on the bright side: You and I get to work in medicine. We get to treat patients every day and dedicate our lives to helping others. We get to heal for a lifetime. It doesn't get any better, Duke or no Duke.
 
Also received the waitlist email this morning. Interviewed 2/15. I'm still shocked I even got an interview though. Congrats to all those accepted!
 
I, too, have entered the Land of Fragile Hope known as the waitlist. In some ways a rejection is better at this point because you are more sure of your future. The only way a WL would be better is in the small chance that you get called off of it.

However, I did do some calculations that you Waitlisters may find interesting. Given the numbers that were mentioned in that article (possibly different this year), I have determined that gaining a spot on the waitlist improves your odds of gaining an acceptance to higher than the post-interview Odds. They give out 180 acceptances total: 100 at first (last Friday) and around 80 more as people decline offers. If they interviewed 750 people then initially we were competing for 100 spots for 750 students (13% chance). Now that there have been AT LEAST 300 people rejected (this is assuming that everyone who made it to the final round got a waitlist), and assuming that there will again be around 80 ppl off the waitlist, we have a 23% shot of gaining acceptance (80/350). Almost double.

Plus, if we get off the list we get an exciting phone call as opposed to just a letter! Here's to optimism LOL. :laugh:
 
Jihad said:
Plus, if we get off the list we get an exciting phone call as opposed to just a letter! Here's to optimism LOL. :laugh:
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Hahaha, what got you to convert from believing in Pessimism to believing in Optimism?
 
Jihad said:
I, too, have entered the Land of Fragile Hope known as the waitlist. In some ways a rejection is better at this point because you are more sure of your future. The only way a WL would be better is in the small chance that you get called off of it.

However, I did do some calculations that you Waitlisters may find interesting. Given the numbers that were mentioned in that article (possibly different this year), I have determined that gaining a spot on the waitlist improves your odds of gaining an acceptance to higher than the post-interview Odds. They give out 180 acceptances total: 100 at first (last Friday) and around 80 more as people decline offers. If they interviewed 750 people then initially we were competing for 100 spots for 750 students (13% chance). Now that there have been AT LEAST 300 people rejected (this is assuming that everyone who made it to the final round got a waitlist), and assuming that there will again be around 80 ppl off the waitlist, we have a 23% shot of gaining acceptance (80/350). Almost double.

Plus, if we get off the list we get an exciting phone call as opposed to just a letter! Here's to optimism LOL. :laugh:
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While I LOVE this theory - I was under the impression that 180 people are initially accepted because some people do turn it down.

Did I make this up? Anyone have any thoughts / a source where we could find some exact numbers?
 
I looked at the US news data, and they must accept more than 100 people initially! So whomever is saying they interview 1200, I think you're right.

Fall 2008 Admissions Statistics Total admissions data 5201 applied, 1077 interviewed, 218 were accepted, 100 enrolled
 
wait listed today via email also! i LOVED duke, but it's not my top choice...declined wait list position
 
snappynine said:
While I LOVE this theory - I was under the impression that 180 people are initially accepted because some people do turn it down.

Did I make this up? Anyone have any thoughts / a source where we could find some exact numbers?
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It would be bad practice to initially accept more applicants than you have positions for, as well as risky. For public institutions at least it is against the law to do this. Thus, I would assume that they have only handed out 100 acceptances so far and that as people decline offers, acceptances are handed out off the waitlist. Based on the number of acceptances they give it is fair to assume that this school does have large waitlist movement.
 
snappynine said:
While I LOVE this theory - I was under the impression that 180 people are initially accepted because some people do turn it down.

Did I make this up? Anyone have any thoughts / a source where we could find some exact numbers?
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Jihad said:
It would be bad practice to initially accept more applicants than you have positions for, as well as risky. For public institutions at least it is against the law to do this. Thus, I would assume that they have only handed out 100 acceptances so far and that as people decline offers, acceptances are handed out off the waitlist. Based on the number of acceptances they give it is fair to assume that this school does have large waitlist movement.
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Med schools tend to have a good idea of what their yield is and do overaccept, in fact, I think CCLCM is the only school that doesn't do it because of their ridiculously small class.

I like your theory, but my speculation is that since Duke's yield is about 50%, they actually give out 180 acceptances and then pull 20 off the waitlist. 🙁 I hope to hear from someone with real data, though.
 
signed up for second look today - will be nice to meet everyone
 
FluffyRabbit said:
Med schools tend to have a good idea of what their yield is and do overaccept, in fact, I think CCLCM is the only school that doesn't do it because of their ridiculously small class.

I like your theory, but my speculation is that since Duke's yield is about 50%, they actually give out 180 acceptances and then pull 20 off the waitlist. 🙁 I hope to hear from someone with real data, though.
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It just seems bizarre that they would do that. What if none of them declined offers? I understand a private school could do it if they wish but it just doesn't seem logical.

I checked last years duke thread and not a single person reported being accepted until the mid May deadline at which point there were about as many reported acceptances as there were in march. Not sure if this means much but I figured I would throw my research out there.

Edit: Also, nearly all of the med students I talked to at the interview were accepted off the waitlist. They seemed to indicate that it was more of the exception than the rule to be accepted straight off.

This evidence is why I feel like they accept only around 100 at first.
 
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FluffyRabbit said:
Med schools tend to have a good idea of what their yield is and do overaccept, in fact, I think CCLCM is the only school that doesn't do it because of their ridiculously small class.

I like your theory, but my speculation is that since Duke's yield is about 50%, they actually give out 180 acceptances and then pull 20 off the waitlist. 🙁 I hope to hear from someone with real data, though.
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Unfortunately, I think Fluffy's right...

🙁
 
Jihad said:
It just seems bizarre that they would do that. What if none of them declined offers? I understand a private school could do it if they wish but it just doesn't seem logical.

I checked last years duke thread and not a single person reported being accepted until the mid May deadline at which point there were about as many reported acceptances as there were in march. Not sure if this means much but I figured I would throw my research out there.

Edit: Also, nearly all of the med students I talked to at the interview were accepted off the waitlist. They seemed to indicate that it was more of the exception than the rule to be accepted straight off.

This evidence is why I feel like they accept only around 100 at first.
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Sorry, all schools accept more than their class size. Michigan (a public school) accepts between 350 and 400 right off the bat for a class of 170. This is universal.
 
SwineSue said:
Sorry, all schools accept more than their class size. Michigan (a public school) accepts between 350 and 400 right off the bat for a class of 170. This is universal.
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Where did u hear this as SDN is full of misinformation.
 
Jihad said:
It just seems bizarre that they would do that. What if none of them declined offers? I understand a private school could do it if they wish but it just doesn't seem logical.

I checked last years duke thread and not a single person reported being accepted until the mid May deadline at which point there were about as many reported acceptances as there were in march. Not sure if this means much but I figured I would throw my research out there.

Edit: Also, nearly all of the med students I talked to at the interview were accepted off the waitlist. They seemed to indicate that it was more of the exception than the rule to be accepted straight off.

This evidence is why I feel like they accept only around 100 at first.
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Thanks for those thoughts, they give me a bit of hope. I do think they probably accept more than 100 at first, but maybe not as many as 180. Maybe like 150-160, then 20-30 more off the waitlist.
 
so my fellow waitlisters gonna join me in the anti-duke basketball movement to hedge emotions or y'all just gonna keep speculating?
 
so still no words from Duke for me yet. anyone else in the same boat as me? definitely rejection email tmr. oh well, its about time to kick back and grab a beer.
 
Posting after the storm to show how little I care...waitlist letter this morning. Better than last year but movin' on anyways; I've been in this game for almost 2 years now and any more waiting/wondering might drive me truly nuts (as opposed to borderline nuts). I'll be withdrawing and going to Tulane next year...good luck to everyone still hanging in the game...you've got more guts than I do 🙂.

If there was an icon to blow a raspberry at Duke for stringing me along and blowing me off 2 years in a row, I would insert it here 😀
 
robocop1998 said:
so still no words from Duke for me yet. anyone else in the same boat as me? definitely rejection email tmr. oh well, its about time to kick back and grab a beer.
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There were some ppl last year who didnt hear from duke for two or three months. Just be sure you're not one of them. Call tomorrow and ask what the deal is if you don't get an email. Last year they made mistakes w a lot of ppl whose applications got lost in the mix.
 
MsTaco said:
Posting after the storm to show how little I care...waitlist letter this morning. Better than last year but movin' on anyways; I've been in this game for almost 2 years now and any more waiting/wondering might drive me truly nuts (as opposed to borderline nuts). I'll be withdrawing and going to Tulane next year...good luck to everyone still hanging in the game...you've got more guts than I do 🙂.

If there was an icon to blow a raspberry at Duke for stringing me along and blowing me off 2 years in a row, I would insert it here 😀
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👍 awesome. good for you. tulane is pretty cool, john grisham is in love with that place
 
MsTaco said:
Posting after the storm to show how little I care...waitlist letter this morning. Better than last year but movin' on anyways; I've been in this game for almost 2 years now and any more waiting/wondering might drive me truly nuts (as opposed to borderline nuts). I'll be withdrawing and going to Tulane next year...good luck to everyone still hanging in the game...you've got more guts than I do 🙂.

If there was an icon to blow a raspberry at Duke for stringing me along and blowing me off 2 years in a row, I would insert it here 😀
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I think you have the right idea. I'm going to go about preparing for my next year at miami (housing, paper work) as if i never applied to duke. If i happen to get a call from them down the road I will assess the situation from there.
 
MsTaco said:
Posting after the storm to show how little I care...waitlist letter this morning. Better than last year but movin' on anyways; I've been in this game for almost 2 years now and any more waiting/wondering might drive me truly nuts (as opposed to borderline nuts). I'll be withdrawing and going to Tulane next year...good luck to everyone still hanging in the game...you've got more guts than I do 🙂.

If there was an icon to blow a raspberry at Duke for stringing me along and blowing me off 2 years in a row, I would insert it here 😀
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Taquito, congrats and good luck in Tulane! 😀 😀

I think in the end its the value of the "journey" or the application process that we remember and cherish, not the outcome. Everyone here whether you got rejected, waitlisted or accepted will become a doctor someday and hanging in there with Duke admissions from the enormous secondary, application, critical (or not?) interview, and to the extended hold and release acceptance platform has proved we all want it.

Good luck to all!! it was a great ride 🙂
 
robocop1998 said:
so still no words from Duke for me yet. anyone else in the same boat as me? definitely rejection email tmr. oh well, its about time to kick back and grab a beer.
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Well, I am in the same boat as you and I do not like this boat so I called....from the way the woman was speaking....not all decisions have gone out but I managed to glean that I am getting an email. Go figure. Although knowing is having a calming effect on me 🙂
 
Yeah guys I think its likely they over-accepted, but how much is the question. Hopefully its <180 to keep some hope for us WL'ers.
 
Tatastrophy said:
Well, I am in the same boat as you and I do not like this boat so I called....from the way the woman was speaking....not all decisions have gone out but I managed to glean that I am getting an email. Go figure. Although knowing is having a calming effect on me 🙂
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yea i havent heard anything either, and since i wasnt invited to second look, im bracing myself for the worst...but how did u address the lady when you called? were you upfront and told her you wanted to ask about your status?
 
My sympathies to all those rejected today. I was devastated to get rejected by Duke last year, and a good friend of mine (a med school classmate) who was equally enamored with Duke was equally crushed when he got the same decision after what he thought was a stellar interview with R. Wallace.

Duke is an awesome program, and it's hard to watch the dream slip away, but life goes on, and you find tomorrow's joys often feed on yesterday's letdowns.
 
frostedflakes said:
My sympathies to all those rejected today. I was devastated to get rejected by Duke last year, and a good friend of mine (a med school classmate) who was equally enamored with Duke was equally crushed when he got the same decision after what he thought was a stellar interview with R. Wallace.

Duke is an awesome program, and it's hard to watch the dream slip away, but life goes on, and you find tomorrow's joys often feed on yesterday's letdowns.
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Which school did you end up going to if I may ask?
 
So Second Look falls during 2 midterms for me. FML. It sounds like they had oh so much planned for all of us... I'm really disappointed by this.
 
ApoK said:
So Second Look falls during 2 midterms for me. FML. It sounds like they had oh so much planned for all of us... I'm really disappointed by this.
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Uh...grades don't matter anymore. Who cares if you do poorly on some midterms. Live it up a little bit while you still can!
 
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