2012-2013 Duke University Application Thread

[ErrantWhatever]

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Sure! One of my main concerns coming into Duke was the condensed first year curriculum. It does seem very daunting - how can you squeeze in what is normally two years at other schools, into one?! My main concern was the depth of information I'd learn as well as my stress levels.

I'll be honest. The main weak point of the condensed curriculum is probably Anatomy. There just is not the time to spend the 200+ hours that other schools devote to cadaver dissection. I would take an anatomy course before matriculating if you can - that's the only "if only I had..." feeling that I experienced during first year for academics. But for the rest of the stuff you learn - clinical skills, professionalism, pathology, physiology, microbiology, etc - I think I'm about to enter second year no less knowledgeable about the basics than any other MS3 at other schools. I really think that no matter how much time you spend in lecture, there's very little you can actually do to prepare for your clinical years. Duke's first year will prepare you as adequately as any curriculum can prepare you for actually being on the wards.

As far as the Step1 - there are schools that teach to the boards, but Duke is not one of them. Nonetheless, Duke students tend to do pretty well, and our match list is always impressive. There is definitely a lot of independent study going on that is required, not only for Step1 but for Duke's curriculum in general. I personally did a lot of learning on my own - via textbooks or other resources recommended by upperclassmen. The time you'll spend actually in the classroom at Duke is not really for learning - it's for applying (TBL!) what you're supposed to have already learned, either by the streamed lectures that are provided by Duke, or through whatever medium you learn best. To be successful and enjoy Duke's curriculum, I think you have to know what works for you, in terms of studying, learning, and retaining - because the curriculum moves so fast, it might not give you as much time to leisurely "figure it out" as you go along.

Pass/fail is a huge advantage. I am so glad I did not go somewhere that had any other grading system. Not only does this give you some flexibility in your studies, it's also a huge stress reliever. I'm not saying that it allowed you to slack off, but it does let you do something else with those few hours - like going to shadow someone, or read a medical journal, or building relationships with your friends or significant others, etc, instead of worrying about the random minutiae worth a few extra points that you know the professor will put on the exam just because that's his research area.

My thoughts on daily life: It's hard to really summarize an "average day" since it's so highly variable. On days you have lab, you'll be on campus for a while, and some days, there will only be mandatory class for a few hours and you have the rest of the day for yourself. As you guys probably know, Duke has just recently changed their curriculum (my class was the first to experience it), and so, with any curriculum change, things will be tweaked and optimized in the coming years. Definitely ask about "daily life" when you guys come to interview; get the opinions of the incoming MS1s - they will have a much better story to tell than I do 🙂

There is plenty of time to be social, and you will still have enough free time. It all really comes down to time management. You'll make time if you want to do something enough! I'm sure everyone who is applying is quite successful already and has already had to learn how to manage their time in a way that allows them to do everything they want - being in medical school is no different.

I'm not sure if this essay is helpful or not - broad questions are really tough to tackle! If there's anything you want me to elaborate on, please feel free to ask.

Bottom line: I loved my first year at Duke. Any disadvantages I saw are massively outweighed by the people I've met, the awesome experiences I've had, and the fact that I am DONE with basic sciences after only one year!

Your reflection is much appreciated. Can you comment further on the culture of the student body? Collegial v. Competitive? Do people get to know each other? Thanks for any thoughts you might have!

 

[427016]

Has anyone submitted their secondary app yet? It won't let me submit for some reason. It says that application submissions are not yet available. Thanks

 

[Frazier]

Has anyone submitted their secondary app yet? It won't let me submit for some reason. It says that application submissions are not yet available. Thanks

This is correct... While secondaries are available to fill out, they are not ready to be submitted quite yet until some further bugs are worked out.

 

[Soapybubbles]

Just submitted my secondary

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

hey guys, when I copy and paste my essays, and then hit "sign my application" it takes me to preview my app. The problem is that my essays are no longer divided into paragraphs. Is anyone having this issue? How can I keep them split back into paragraphs?

 

[Frazier]

hey guys, when I copy and paste my essays, and then hit "sign my application" it takes me to preview my app. The problem is that my essays are no longer divided into paragraphs. Is anyone having this issue? How can I keep them split back into paragraphs?

Same. Dont worry about it. Isnt necessarily how adcom will see it.

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

Same. Dont worry about it. Isnt necessarily how adcom will see it.

Yeah I think Im going to call them before I submit just to make sure though. If they dont split into paragraphs, my stories are hard to follow

 

[NCPremed]

Hi guys! I wanted to share some info that might be helpful. I was really confused about the secondary essays because, according to this thread, there are seven possible essays. However, when I logged in to my secondary I saw only six, and I saw no indication of which ones were optional. In fact, without the word of mouth of this forum, I would have no idea that any of these essays are optional.

The reason for this is that I had selected "Primary Care Leadership Track" under "Program Selection." For those of you interested in primary care at Duke, we have SIX essays to do, and they are all mandatory (or so it appears). 😱

 

[Memb3]

I would just leave it blank. My high school didn't rank students either, so I'm in the same boat.

Anyone else dreading writing these essays?

Looks like rank is optional. Would 80/500 be considered a good rank?

 

[gettheleadout]

Looks like rank is optional. Would 80/500 be considered a good rank?

Funny, that's really close to my HS class rank. I wouldn't say it's bad at all, it's not like they'll know how competitive your HS class was or even care.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile

 

[Tots]

Looks like rank is optional. Would 80/500 be considered a good rank?

Funny, that's really close to my HS class rank. I wouldn't say it's bad at all, it's not like they'll know how competitive your HS class was or even care.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile

This is almost identical to my high school rank! haha

 

[unepoire]

Your reflection is much appreciated. Can you comment further on the culture of the student body? Collegial v. Competitive? Do people get to know each other? Thanks for any thoughts you might have!

The student body is definitely collegial. The people you will meet here are phenomenal - I couldn't imagine being a part of a better medical culture. I'll be honest; I wasn't actually set on Duke until after I attended Second Look (reasons included some of my apprehension about condensed curriculum, which I've addressed in a previous post). When I got to meet my future classmates and mentors (upperclassmen), though, Duke quickly won me over.

There are only a handful of medical schools with classes as small as Duke's, and this in itself means that it is close to impossible to NOT know everyone in your class pretty well. I'm willing to bet that at some schools with over 200 students per class, there's a chance you may not even recognize a classmate on the street, much less know their name. This is not so at Duke....you will get to know everyone; obviously you're not going to be bestfriends4lyfe with every single person, but there's a sense of camaraderie that I think is one of the best (and most unique) things about DukeMed.

When you come to interview, you'll probably hear Richard Wallace (the guy who's been sending you emails!) talk about the DukeMed family. He'll do a much better job than me in describing it, but I'll have a go. Now, every school has school pride, but to me, Duke takes it to another level. Med school can be stressful (I'm not just talking academically) - it's been quite an emotional, challenging, frustrating, awesome journey just in one year, and I can't imagine going through three more years of training without my class by my side. Like I said, they're more than just colleagues, they're your family. This philosophy extends to upperclassmen, faculty, Duke Alumni, administration, etc (and this can come in handy when it comes to networking for your career).

All in all, the people are the best thing about DukeMed!

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

just a heads up, i called the admissions office and she said that if you copy and paste the essays and they appear on the application as one whole paragraph rather than into the distinct paragraphs tou separated, then not to sweat it. She said that they wont "ding"us for formatting issues and that they had the same issue last year.

 

[sean842]

Has everyone been doing the optional essay? Im having a hard time saying anything that isnt clearly bs...

 

[GeauxTime]

Edit: N/M

 

[kettlecorn91]

Has everyone been doing the optional essay? Im having a hard time saying anything that isnt clearly bs...

+1. Is this truly optional ?

 

[unepoire]

+1. Is this truly optional ?

Yes! Truly optional. My unsolicited advice: I wouldn't write an optional essay unless I felt that I had something meaningful to add that may not have been adequately addressed in other parts of my application. Some of my classmates wrote an optional essay and others didn't, so please don't stress about it 🙂 Good luck!

 

[RecycleRinsed]

I didnt do it.

 

[skiing]

just a heads up, i called the admissions office and she said that if you copy and paste the essays and they appear on the application as one whole paragraph rather than into the distinct paragraphs tou separated, then not to sweat it. She said that they wont "ding"us for formatting issues and that they had the same issue last year.

How annoying! I feel like my essays lose their rhythm and flow without paragraphs. Hope they get this fixed up.... ugh. Just submitted yesterday.

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

How annoying! I feel like my essays lose their rhythm and flow without paragraphs. Hope they get this fixed up.... ugh. Just submitted yesterday.

Yeah man I was kinda frustrated as well.

 

[Warren Peace]

Does anyone know when Duke starts handing out interviews? In last year's thread, they said the website listed 8/15, but people started getting them on 8/23. Any updates for this year?

 

[red7]

Does anyone know if there's a disadvantage to having referees mail letters directly to Duke compared to using Interfolio - will they look more favorably on the applications that have letters in early?

 

[ccfman1991]

i copied and pasted from notepad and it still didn't have paragraph breaks. poop.

 

[ialwayslose]

Does anyone know if there's a disadvantage to having referees mail letters directly to Duke compared to using Interfolio - will they look more favorably on the applications that have letters in early?

no way

 

[tiparalyzed]

what did you guys do for the courseload section? i've taken a class that includes both "cell bio" and "molecular bio" in the title. can i use the same course for both drop-downs?

 

[NewYorker9]

what did you guys do for the courseload section? i've taken a class that includes both "cell bio" and "molecular bio" in the title. can i use the same course for both drop-downs?

I have the same question, any thoughts?

 

[yellowfish]

what did you guys do for the courseload section? i've taken a class that includes both "cell bio" and "molecular bio" in the title. can i use the same course for both drop-downs?

It's not letting me use the same course for 2 different categories. Has anyone else been able to?

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

It's not letting me use the same course for 2 different categories. Has anyone else been able to?

At my school we have specific course called cell biology and it's an upper level/grad course. I haven't taken it so I just left it blank even though I've taken numerous bio courses that obviously lectured on cell bio I assumed they were talking about the specific course

 

[yellowfish]

At my school we have specific course called cell biology and it's an upper level/grad course. I haven't taken it so I just left it blank even though I've taken numerous bio courses that obviously lectured on cell bio I assumed they were talking about the specific course

Sorry, I'm not getting what the significance of this is in relation to my question?

 

[Woodchuck]

For the first question "Core Values: Describe the community in which you were nurtured or spent the majority of your early development with respect to its demographics. What core values did you receive and how will these translate into the contributions that you hope to make to your community as a medical student and to your career in medicine?"

I assume "your community as a medical student" means the med school community not the community where you grew up right?

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

Sorry, I'm not getting what the significance of this is in relation to my question?

There is none I don't mean to quote you.

 

[Propylene]

For the first question "Core Values: Describe the community in which you were nurtured or spent the majority of your early development with respect to its demographics. What core values did you receive and how will these translate into the contributions that you hope to make to your community as a medical student and to your career in medicine?"

I assume "your community as a medical student" means the med school community not the community where you grew up right?

That's how I interpreted it, but I think you could talk about how you developed the qualities where you grew up, then how you'd apply it in med school.

 

[soccerkid9]

Are there any character limits on the prompts?

 

[yellowfish]

Are there any character limits on the prompts?

No limits.

 

[Tophs]

Finally submitted the secondary. I chose not to write the optional essay- I couldn't think of anything really meaningful to add that I hadn't covered in the other 4.

I didn't have any trouble with paragraph breaks not showing up. I did manually delete the paragraph breaks that were copied into the form from Word and "replaced" them by hitting enter twice. I dunno if this did the trick, or maybe they fixed whatever was causing the problems before.

 

[AFER]

I've been trying to get to these essays for the last two weeks.....I have been in the "poor to very poor" category for getting them done. Effff.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

I've been trying to get to these essays for the last two weeks.....I have been in the "poor to very poor" category for getting them done. Effff.

I think you probably have the coolest med school application I've ever seen. 👍

 

[GooseWing]

I think you probably have the coolest med school application I've ever seen. 👍

I read it too. I agree 👍

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

guess the fixed the paragraphs breaks? I submitted mine a while back and when i hit review app I still see it all as one big paragraph. If anyone else has that issue though I talked to admissions and they said they were aware of the issue and it wasnt a big deal.

And that is a very cool mdapps 🙂

 

[NewYorker9]

I think you probably have the coolest med school application I've ever seen. 👍

I don't know what you're talking about, everyone I know apply to med school has been a Squadron Commander . . .

 

[yellowfish]

Do any current medical students or anyone else know what exactly it means when Duke says the 3rd year can be used to obtain a dual degree? Does that satisfy the scholarship requirement, is that in addition to it, or does it somehow modify the scholarship requirement? Would obtaining a dual degree still take 5 years? Thanks!

 

[PreMedOrDead]

I don't know what you're talking about, everyone I know apply to med school has been a Squadron Commander . . .

Yeah, doing service overseas, being a paratrooper... what a commonality. Why even put that on your app? 😎

Honestly though, why isn't this guy applying to Mayo? If his primary and PS is anything like that MDApps profile... I'm salivating at the thought.

 

[AFER]

Yeah, doing service overseas, being a paratrooper... what a commonality. Why even put that on your app? 😎

Honestly though, why isn't this guy applying to Mayo? If his primary and PS is anything like that MDApps profile... I'm salivating at the thought.

My school hasn't had any success of getting kids into Mayo in the past. And I've only got a 31S MCAT - WAY WAY WAY below the Duke average. And I had an unusually below average run in with Organic Chemistry. So, let's not get hasty now.....although my ego probably appreciates it.

And honestly - why would I want to go to Mayo where I'd have to wear a suit all day, every day for my entire med school experience? Duke would be just excellent.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

My school hasn't had any success of getting kids into Mayo in the past. And I've only got a 31S MCAT - WAY WAY WAY below the Duke average. And I had an unusually below average run in with Organic Chemistry. So, let's not get hasty now.....although my ego probably appreciates it.

And honestly - why would I want to go to Mayo where I'd have to wear a suit all day, every day for my entire med school experience? Duke would be just excellent.

Protip: No school has a lot of success getting kids into Mayo, it has a <1% acceptance rate, lowest in the country.

And I suppose if you don't like the fit, then acquit. I actually like suits, but I also like the atmosphere of Duke too 🙂

I was just suggesting Mayo because they value ECs waaay more than MCAT, so they might have liked you.

 

[AFER]

I'm still trying to convince myself that applying to Duke isn't a waste of money. In my mind applying to Mayo with my numbers would be like ripping up a 100 bill in front of me.

I'm gunnin' hard for Duke, to be honest. If they go by numbers - I'll probably have a hard time getting an interview. If they look at everything else - I guess I've got a slight chance of getting an interview.

And yes for whoever asked the question up there. That's actually what my primary and secondaries have in them.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

I'm still trying to convince myself that applying to Duke isn't a waste of money. In my mind applying to Mayo with my numbers would be like ripping up a 100 bill in front of me.

I'm gunnin' hard for Duke, to be honest. If they go by numbers - I'll probably have a hard time getting an interview. If they look at everything else - I guess I've got a slight chance of getting an interview.

And yes for whoever asked the question up there. That's actually what my primary and secondaries have in them.

If you need any babies, you can have them with me.

With your background, I would be shocked, shocked, if you didn't get interviews from 75%+ of your applications.

 

[Geebeejay]

These essays look painful....that added to the cost, and I'm not too into the curriculum....might skip this one :-/

 

[AFER]

These essays look painful....that added to the cost, and I'm not too into the curriculum....might skip this one :-/

They're painful, I agree. However, in terms of getting to show "why I'd be a good doctor" I think they're really great. I'd hope you'd get that from my original personal statement - but I think these show them why they should pick me than say Georgetown asking for a letter of interest.

Edit: I apologize for sounding sappy.

 

[NewYorker9]

I'm still trying to convince myself that applying to Duke isn't a waste of money. In my mind applying to Mayo with my numbers would be like ripping up a 100 bill in front of me.

I'm gunnin' hard for Duke, to be honest. If they go by numbers - I'll probably have a hard time getting an interview. If they look at everything else - I guess I've got a slight chance of getting an interview.

And yes for whoever asked the question up there. That's actually what my primary and secondaries have in them.

Just trying to have an encouraging attitude here, but since you can only matriculate to one school the money you spent on applying to others will essentially be burnt as well. Why not take the small hit for the chance of a lifetime?

These essays look painful....that added to the cost, and I'm not too into the curriculum....might skip this one :-/

Personally I really enjoyed these essays because there were no character limits, which really allowed me to develop the ideas as much as I wanted. I had about a page for each prompt.

 

[AFER]

guess the fixed the paragraphs breaks? I submitted mine a while back and when i hit review app I still see it all as one big paragraph. If anyone else has that issue though I talked to admissions and they said they were aware of the issue and it wasnt a big deal.

And that is a very cool mdapps 🙂

I just submitted tonight and my paragraphs worked correctly from what I can tell.