2011-2012 Duke Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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jerzeboy231 said:
I just received the invite to the Duke secondary. However, when I try to register after typing in my personal information, the link that I click doesn't work. Is anyone else having the same problem?
Click to expand...

Yeah, same. They better fix this problem ASAP. I have to ignore my family this holiday and I feel much less guilty if I actually have something important to do.


Thanks Duke adcom buddies!!
 
Same here! Aside from the random exclamation marks, did anyone notice the typo on the welcome page of the Duke app? "suppleental" instead of "supplemental." Nice that they preview/proofread their postings...

Oh well...further proof that they are, in fact, human. Good luck to all!:luck:
 
So, I just got a second email from Duke. They're claiming that the registration page is working fine, so I tried it again, but it still doesn't work. Anyone having the same issues with re-registering?
 
Update e-mail:

Greetings everyone, It's my understanding that you are having difficulties with the registration page. I've contacted our tech staff to resolve the problem. They tested the application a number of times and all appeared to be in working order. Please keep in mind that while I tend to off-hours, not everyone does so this may or may not be resolved immediately (but it won't take days either). A second issue was raised regarding the email invitation. I have discovered based on years of working with our web client that when copying and pasting Word documents directly in to text boxes, the text occasionally looses the original formatting. Hence some of you may have question marks, quotations, exclamation points, etc. materialize within the targeted location. I know nothing about script but I do know that this can happen across browsers as well as email clients. I'll also admit to a word or two (that's two vs. to) incorrectly typed in the email. I'll take the heat for that but in the grand scheme of things, what is important is the context. You, as well, may discover some unintended letters and symbols in your essays if you cut and paste but don't be alarmed. I am going to take a break for the evening but will make every effort to send an email out to everyone once I've heard back from the technical staff regarding the registration issue. Enjoy your 4th of July. This is supposed to be a holiday!! Regards, Richard S. Wallace Associate Director of Admissions
 
kered424 said:
So, I just got a second email from Duke. They're claiming that the registration page is working fine, so I tried it again, but it still doesn't work. Anyone having the same issues with re-registering?
Click to expand...

Yep, still not working for me.
 
Duke is a non-rolling admissions school right?
 
I'm seriously wondering if I should bother with this secondary. It seems like a great school, but the secondary's a beast from what I hear and I'm not a good writer. The fact that they are non-rolling admissions worries me. I was hoping early apps would help me a lot.
 
It's working for me, too. Here are the prompts for the MD program (looks like they dropped one from last year)

What is the most significant moral or ethical dilemma that you have faced in your life (excluding instances of academic dishonesty involving another person)? Describe how you dealt with and potentially resolved it, including beliefs, resources, individuals, etc. How did this dilemma and its resolution change your life and what, if any, impact will this have on your future as a health care provider? (There are no character limits)

What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients? (There are no character limits)

Option #1:
What is the single most compelling aspect of your application to medical school and why? (There are no character limits)
Option #2:
What is the value of giving back to your community? Is it a more important attribute of a physician than of others performing other roles within a community? (There are no character limits)
Option #3:
What are people most likely to misunderstand about you and why? (There are no character limits)
 
1) What is the most significant moral or ethical dilemma that you have faced in your life (excluding instances of academic dishonesty involving another person)? Describe how you dealt with and potentially resolved it, including beliefs, resources, individuals, etc. How did this dilemma and its resolution change your life and what, if any, impact will this have on your future as a health care provider?

2) What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients?

Edit: oops, jerzeboy beat me to it.
 
jerzeboy231 said:
It's working for me, too. Here are the prompts for the MD program (looks like they dropped one from last year)

What is the most significant moral or ethical dilemma that you have faced in your life (excluding instances of academic dishonesty involving another person)? Describe how you dealt with and potentially resolved it, including beliefs, resources, individuals, etc. How did this dilemma and its resolution change your life and what, if any, impact will this have on your future as a health care provider? (There are no character limits)

What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients? (There are no character limits)

Option #1:
What is the single most compelling aspect of your application to medical school and why? (There are no character limits)
Option #2:
What is the value of giving back to your community? Is it a more important attribute of a physician than of others performing other roles within a community? (There are no character limits)
Option #3:
What are people most likely to misunderstand about you and why? (There are no character limits)
Click to expand...

That's the beast I was referring to. Definitely some tough questions.
 
Is anyone else having trouble viewing their optional essay after saving it the first time?

I wrote a draft and saved it. Now it won't open properly.
 
hey guys, lurker here.
I'm a reapplicant to Duke and was offered an interview last year but no go 🙁
I was wondering what people's views are on reusing the same material for the secondary. I'm not sure if I should use another experience (since it says MOST significant etc), or just reuse my answers from last year. For those who are reapplying, what are you guys doing about this and other schools as well?
 
Even though Duke is non-rolling for admissions, are we still at an advantage if we get this thing in early for interview invites?
 
A 3rd essay was added after the supplemental application was up and running. I hope nobody submitted before it appeared.

3. What is the toughest feedback that you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?


As a side note, is anyone having trouble accessing the 4th (optional) essay once they've saved it the first time? I chose the "most compelling essay" and saved a draft and now I can't access it for edits.

Good luck everyone!
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone,

I have a question about the fourth (optional) essay. Does "optional" refer to the fact that you have the opportunity to choose from the three prompts or does it refer to the fact that you do not have to do a fourth essay at all?

I'm going to write it anyway, but I'm just curious. Thanks!
 
tripledouble said:
Hi everyone,

I have a question about the fourth (optional) essay. Does "optional" refer to the fact that you have the opportunity to choose from the three prompts or does it refer to the fact that you do not have to do a fourth essay at all?

I'm going to write it anyway, but I'm just curious. Thanks!
Click to expand...

From what I can tell, the 4th essay is optional, as in, you don't have to write one.
 
Has anyone else submitted their application and paid their fee?

I've just done so and received a confirmation email stating that when logging on I should see that my application has advanced to the "screening" stage. However, it has not done so. It is still listed as "in process", just as when I was entering information into the form.

Has this happened to anyone else?
 
Are these the essay questions that everyone else has posted on their application?


What is the most significant moral or ethical dilemma that you have faced in your life (excluding instances of academic dishonesty involving another person)? Describe how you dealt with and potentially resolved it, including beliefs, resources, individuals, etc. How did this dilemma and its resolution change your life and what, if any, impact will this have on your future as a health care provider?


What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients?


What is the toughest feedback that you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?


What is the single most compelling aspect of your application to medical school and why?

Please feel free to use the Additional Considerations section to share with us any information you would like for us to know about you and your journey to medicine. If there is some thing or some event that defines you in ways that you were unable to express in your AMCAS Personal Statement of your DukeMed Supplemental Essay prompts, this is an opportunity for you to share those with us at this time.
 
Submitted! Phew, that was a ridiculous secondary... I feel like all others will be cake now. :laugh:
 
There are a lot of tough questions here but I like that, the questions are very intriguing.
 
SUGrad09 said:
How long were everyone's essay responses?
Click to expand...
Mine are ranging from 400-500 - I'm wondering if they are too short though.. Anybody else want to post the length of their essays?
 
I'm not done yet but I'm guessing mine will be about ~700 words....then again I like to write and weave stories,etc. As long as you get the point across you should be fine.
 
ellie22 said:
Mine are ranging from 400-500 - I'm wondering if they are too short though.. Anybody else want to post the length of their essays?
Click to expand...

I wrote 2100 words for all 4 essays so about 500 each. 🙂 I feel that is long enough to elaborate but without being over the top with extra fat.
 
Optional Choose 1 of 3

1. What is the single most compelling aspect of your application
to medical school and why? (There are no character limits)

Is this essay topic more or less same as "why you want to go to medical school" in PS ?
 
orchestra said:
Optional Choose 1 of 3

1. What is the single most compelling aspect of your application
to medical school and why? (There are no character limits)

Is this essay topic more or less same as "why you want to go to medical school" in PS ?
Click to expand...
I don't think so, I read that to mean "why would we want you" as opposed to "why do you want to go".
 
you mean, why we want to apply to this school(Why this school) ?

Thanks
 
When I view my final application before signing and submitting, the first entry says "full name," but it only gives my first name. I can't find anywhere on the application to actually enter my full name, and I registered with the site using my full name, so I'm not sure why this is happening. Is anybody else having this issue?
 
i'm struggling with the 'toughest feedback' essay. are ya'll using academic examples?
 
fwiw, after submitting the status did automatically update:
Application Status: Application Screening - Your supplemental application has been completed. Your application is now being reviewed by a set of independent screeners on our admissions committee

and btw, that Richard Wallace guy is really awesome, I sent email last night about the fee waiver (even though he is technically off the job or sth) and by this morning he responded and applied it to the app.
 
hi everyone! i can't believe it's been a year since i've been in your shoes...i'll be starting here in 3 weeks and i couldn't be more excited!

SDN was a godsend during my app process, so if any of you have questions specific to duke's app, please feel free to PM me (or post for everyone, i'll try to pop on every so often, though once classes start up who knows how much time i'll have...)!

just to touch on some things that were already brought up:

LETTERS of RECOMMENDATION - my undergrad had the whole pre-med committee that uploaded letters via VirtualEval, so we just had to give them a list of the schools we applied to. duke definitely doesn't look at LORs before extending interviews...i know for a fact because i went for my interview and they told me they were still waiting on my letters (guess my advisor accidentally missed it on the list) and that i should just get them in sooner rather than later. but obviously the invitation for interview was given pre-LOR.

MY TIMELINE, for those who were curious about the rolling/non-rolling thing - secondary received 7/20, secondary submitted 8/7, complete 8/9, interview invite 8/13, interviewed 10/15, accepted 3/15 (you can see all this on my MDApps, should be linked to the left)

LENGTH OF ESSAYS - i think someone said it before, just take as much space as you need, but don't write a novel. be concise, get to the point. our prompts were the same as yours. my numbers: essay 1 (moral/ethical dilemma), 460 words; essay 2 (humbling experience), 322 words; essay 3 (toughest feedback), 667 words; essay 4 (i chose the "misunderstand" one), 317 words.

so as you can see, they fluctuate quite a bit in terms of length. be concise, and make sure you answer every part of the question. i liked the open-ended, no-limit style of duke's essays because i thought it forced me to just say what i wanted to, instead of feeling pressured to "use up all the characters/word limits they give me." (c'mon, if you give a neurotic pre-med an essay and say, you have 3000 words limit, you're going to get an essay that approaches 3000 words, perhaps more for the sake of approaching 3000 words than to actually say something really important).

also for the 4th essay...i don't know how it's worded for you, but for us i'm pretty sure it was required, the "optional" bit referred to you choosing which one of the 3 to write about. i think.

A NOTE THE WEIGHT OF DUKE'S SECONDARY - as i mentioned before, they don't look at LORs at all before deciding to interview you. so your primary app is important (but let's just assume your primary is perfect since you spent presumably a lot of time on it), but your secondaries are what sets you apart. both of my interviewers had read my secondaries (not sure if they read the primary), and one of them specifically said that he was really looking forward to meeting me in person because of what i wrote. so don't short-change yourself on these. i would not sacrifice quality for a quick turnaround. take your time. especially for non-rolling schools, it matters less when you submit your secondary as long as it's in before the deadline. i mean, don't wait 2 months to submit, but i think it would benefit you more to spend maybe an extra week instead of rushing to get it done in the typical 1-2 week turnaround time that people recommend.

wellllll that turned out to be a lot longer than i thought it was going to be. hope it may have helped some of you! as i said, please feel free to PM me any specific questions. i obviously can't answer with much authority about the curriculum or about what it is actually like to be a student at DukeMed, but i am fairly familiar with just the secondary/interview/waiting game process 🙂

GOOD LUCK!
 
What's odd is that I originally didn't see Essay #3 (feedback), then it showed up, then a few days later it was gone again. I submitted and there is still no sign of that essay. Instead, essay #3 is the optional one.

Hmm....
 
cdonahue said:
What's odd is that I originally didn't see Essay #3 (feedback), then it showed up, then a few days later it was gone again. I submitted and there is still no sign of that essay. Instead, essay #3 is the optional one.

Hmm....
Click to expand...

I think it depends on which program you're applying to. I applied MD/PhD only, and essay #3 was the optional one (with one of the options being the feedback essay). I checked the MD box just to see what would happen, and the feedback essay became required. I think this is the only secondary I've found where MD/PhD applicants actually have to write less!
 
unepoire said:
hi everyone! i can't believe it's been a year since i've been in your shoes...i'll be starting here in 3 weeks and i couldn't be more excited!

SDN was a godsend during my app process, so if any of you have questions specific to duke's app, please feel free to PM me (or post for everyone, i'll try to pop on every so often, though once classes start up who knows how much time i'll have...)!

just to touch on some things that were already brought up:

LETTERS of RECOMMENDATION - my undergrad had the whole pre-med committee that uploaded letters via VirtualEval, so we just had to give them a list of the schools we applied to. duke definitely doesn't look at LORs before extending interviews...i know for a fact because i went for my interview and they told me they were still waiting on my letters (guess my advisor accidentally missed it on the list) and that i should just get them in sooner rather than later. but obviously the invitation for interview was given pre-LOR.

MY TIMELINE, for those who were curious about the rolling/non-rolling thing - secondary received 7/20, secondary submitted 8/7, complete 8/9, interview invite 8/13, interviewed 10/15, accepted 3/15 (you can see all this on my MDApps, should be linked to the left)

LENGTH OF ESSAYS - i think someone said it before, just take as much space as you need, but don't write a novel. be concise, get to the point. our prompts were the same as yours. my numbers: essay 1 (moral/ethical dilemma), 460 words; essay 2 (humbling experience), 322 words; essay 3 (toughest feedback), 667 words; essay 4 (i chose the "misunderstand" one), 317 words.

so as you can see, they fluctuate quite a bit in terms of length. be concise, and make sure you answer every part of the question. i liked the open-ended, no-limit style of duke's essays because i thought it forced me to just say what i wanted to, instead of feeling pressured to "use up all the characters/word limits they give me." (c'mon, if you give a neurotic pre-med an essay and say, you have 3000 words limit, you're going to get an essay that approaches 3000 words, perhaps more for the sake of approaching 3000 words than to actually say something really important).

also for the 4th essay...i don't know how it's worded for you, but for us i'm pretty sure it was required, the "optional" bit referred to you choosing which one of the 3 to write about. i think.

A NOTE THE WEIGHT OF DUKE'S SECONDARY - as i mentioned before, they don't look at LORs at all before deciding to interview you. so your primary app is important (but let's just assume your primary is perfect since you spent presumably a lot of time on it), but your secondaries are what sets you apart. both of my interviewers had read my secondaries (not sure if they read the primary), and one of them specifically said that he was really looking forward to meeting me in person because of what i wrote. so don't short-change yourself on these. i would not sacrifice quality for a quick turnaround. take your time. especially for non-rolling schools, it matters less when you submit your secondary as long as it's in before the deadline. i mean, don't wait 2 months to submit, but i think it would benefit you more to spend maybe an extra week instead of rushing to get it done in the typical 1-2 week turnaround time that people recommend.

wellllll that turned out to be a lot longer than i thought it was going to be. hope it may have helped some of you! as i said, please feel free to PM me any specific questions. i obviously can't answer with much authority about the curriculum or about what it is actually like to be a student at DukeMed, but i am fairly familiar with just the secondary/interview/waiting game process 🙂

GOOD LUCK!
Click to expand...

thanks for the informative post
 
musik2468 said:
I think it depends on which program you're applying to. I applied MD/PhD only, and essay #3 was the optional one (with one of the options being the feedback essay). I checked the MD box just to see what would happen, and the feedback essay became required. I think this is the only secondary I've found where MD/PhD applicants actually have to write less!
Click to expand...

Good call. Hah, it sure beats the 12 additional essays for Stanford...
 
bookfreak89 said:
Duke's curriculum sounds both awesome and overwhelming at the same time. I hope some current students can give us some insight!

In the mean time, who else is applying to Duke? 👍
Click to expand...


When I interviewed here last year, my interview was with the dean of admissions (and let me just say this, Brenda was amazing to interview with if you guys get the chance) and I asked her specifically about how this worked.

Essentially, instead of teaching you about pathophysiolgy in lectures and the classroom during second year, you spend it seeing the presentations of diseases within the patients themselves. The way she explained it is that it's not that they're cramming 2 years of schoolwork into one but rather setting up the basic knowledge first year and then expanding on it as you're actually working with patients.

For me personally, this seems like one of the best ways to actually do it. You can match a patient, a face, a feeling to the actual diseases your learning about rather than just trying to remember a text book or lecture. 😍

That being said, I was waitlisted last year, which kind of broke my heart. Duke is my dream school now.


Anyone else a fellow waitlister from last year? :xf:
 
ellie22 said:
Mine are ranging from 400-500 - I'm wondering if they are too short though.. Anybody else want to post the length of their essays?
Click to expand...


Mine from last year were between 600-700 words except the optional one which was about 400. But don't add more just to add more. If you feel you've said what you needed to say then leave it at that. They can tell when you're adding fluff.
 
submitted! wow, that was an intense secondary. i feel like very few people know me as well as the duke adcom will after those essays haha
 
crap, I submitted my secondary, but in order to get the fee waiver you have to email Dr. Wallace. Apparently he is out office until the 25th! So i doubt they will process my app till then.
 
DISCOSTEW said:
crap, I submitted my secondary, but in order to get the fee waiver you have to email Dr. Wallace. Apparently he is out office until the 25th! So i doubt they will process my app till then.
Click to expand...
Several of us have had luck contacting him (see above) even though he says he is out until the 25th. You can try e-mailing admissions and see if he replies.
 
ywlke said:
Several of us have had luck contacting him (see above) even though he says he is out until the 25th. You can try e-mailing admissions and see if he replies.
Click to expand...

thanks will do!
 
if we are submitting a composite letter in terms of LOR, do we have to also list every professor that is part of the composite letter because my app says I'm at 91% completion, and I can't see why I am not at 100% if I have done all the essays and demographics stuff.
 
Cinclus said:
I don't even know where to start with this secondary.
Click to expand...

Me either....that's why I refuse to do it.
The real screen at Duke: who can actually complete the secondary.


Best of Luck to All :luck:
 
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