2014-2015 Duke University Application Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
The secondary email says "Duke Supplemental Application Fee Waivers are considered for applicants who have received an AMCAS Fee Waiver. To be considered for a Duke Supplemental Application Fee Waiver, please send a copy of your AMCAS Fee Waiver confirmation." Does anyone know where to get this confirmation? Is it just the email AMCAS sent us that we should copypaste? There's no official document.
I logged into the FAP site, printed the homepage (the one that says you have been approved), scanned it, and emailed it to the guy they designate in the email. Got the confirmation that the fee waiver was approved today. Yay!
 
Is it true that only about half of the applicants that apply to Duke through AMCAS actually end up filling out the secondary application? I heard that somewhere and it seems hard to believe.
 
Is it true that only about half of the applicants that apply to Duke through AMCAS actually end up filling out the secondary application? I heard that somewhere and it seems hard to believe.
I really want that to be true…I've been putting this off a bit too (so it'll take me a week to submit this secondary from day of receipt as opposed to my others). I'm finding it difficult to do these essays because they're so specific and I feel like I already discussed this in my AMCAS app (like my whole PS was on what my biggest obstacle was).
 
Do you know how long most essays are? Two of mine are shaping up to be really long (~5000 characters) because I am putting so much detail and thought into them. Do you think that's okay?

Mine were quite long last year (each over a page, one was two pages). I think you should write what you think it takes to get your point across, but no one likes to read rambling (especially when you read dozens of these) so make sure your details are really pertinent.
 
Does anyone know how long the essays can be? There are no character/word limits given.
 
Does everyone else's application status say "Application Screening" after submitting? It says "Your supplemental application has been completed. Your application is now being reviewed by a set of independent screeners on our admissions committee." but I don't know whether to believe that or not.
 
Does anyone know how long the essays can be? There are no character/word limits given.

However long you want it to be. Mine were fairly long relatively speaking (500-700 words), but there is no limit given in the application or imposed by the text boxes insofar as I can tell. Also, scroll up:

Mine were quite long last year (each over a page, one was two pages). I think you should write what you think it takes to get your point across, but no one likes to read rambling (especially when you read dozens of these) so make sure your details are really pertinent.
 
Does everyone else's application status say "Application Screening" after submitting? It says "Your supplemental application has been completed. Your application is now being reviewed by a set of independent screeners on our admissions committee." but I don't know whether to believe that or not.

Yes, mine said that the second I hit submit a few days ago. I wouldn't get my hopes up on any news, this early.
 
Yes, mine said that the second I hit submit a few days ago. I wouldn't get my hopes up on any news, this early.
That's what I figured, but no harm in confirming. I didn't look right when I submitted.
 
Such a beast of a secondary. Feel like I poured my heart and soul out to Duke.

Now it's just time to sit and wait for the auto-reject.

Lol.

This is the only secondary I haven't even started yet.
 
For those of you who already submitted, if you don't mind me asking, how long are your essays? I've seen posts with such varying lengths and when I think to what other schools are asking for their applications, a short and sweet essays seems in order.
 
Anybody left the optional Academic Courses section blank? I didn't think that the 1-year bio requirement included cell bio? 🙁
 
Wow, every essay in this secondary other than the "biggest challenge" one is very difficult for me to write. No character limits makes it even worse. They're asking for you to talk quite a bit about weaknesses and odd questions like the community you grew up in as a kid.
 
I am confused about the "optional" essay prompts. Is it optional in that we get the option of choosing one or do we have the option of not answering any of them and only doing three essays? If it is the latter, what are the consequences of not answering one of the choices?
 
I am confused about the "optional" essay prompts. Is it optional in that we get the option of choosing one or do we have the option of not answering any of them and only doing three essays? If it is the latter, what are the consequences of not answering one of the choices?
Optional in that you do not have to complete it. You can verify this by not completing it and attempting to submit. If it allows you to submit, then you know the answer. But my understanding was optional in choosing to complete.
 
Optional in that you do not have to complete it. You can verify this by not completing it and attempting to submit. If it allows you to submit, then you know the answer. But my understanding was optional in choosing to complete.
Thank you for your help! Is everyone completing one of these optional essays? I don't want it to come across as me being lazy if I don't complete one.
 
Thank you for your help! Is everyone completing one of these optional essays? I don't want it to come across as me being lazy if I don't complete one.

I completed one because I thought it meant choose one. I didn't realize it wasn't necessary at all!
 
I chose not to do the optional essay as I covered community service in my first essay and I couldn't think of anything substantial to write about for the other two. Hopefully it won't count against me...
 
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?
What is the most difficult obstacle you have faced? What resources did you marshal to confront it? How did the experience affect you and/or transform your life?
What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients?
Additional Essays (pick one optional):
Giving Back To Your Community: 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?
How are You Misunderstood: What are people most likely to misunderstand about you and why?
Toughest Feedback: What is the toughest feedback that you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?
 
Not to be arrogant, but I don't think I've ever been significantly "humbled" ... I didn't get into the Ivy-league colleges I applied for, I guess, but that wasn't really humbling. This is tough, and the response can't overlap too much with the "most difficult obstacle" prompt. I don't think I'll have a super fast turnaround for Duke's secondary.
 
Last edited:
Not to be arrogant, but I don't think I've ever been significantly "humbled" ... I didn't get into the Ivy-league colleges I applied for, I guess, but that wasn't really humbling. This is tough, and the response can't overlap too much with the "most difficult obstacle" prompt. I don't think I'll have a super fast turnaround for Duke's secondary.
Yea this one definitely required a lot of effort
 
Anyone have any information on the Duke-NUS MD program?
 
Not to be arrogant, but I don't think I've ever been significantly "humbled" ... I didn't get into the Ivy-league colleges I applied for, I guess, but that wasn't really humbling. This is tough, and the response can't overlap too much with the "most difficult obstacle" prompt. I don't think I'll have a super fast turnaround for Duke's secondary.

I actually had a similar first impression of this question. But a humbling experience is definitely not the same as an experience of failure, or dealing with obstacles, etc. Humbling implies an experience that knocked you down a peg. That doesn't even mean that you failed, it just means that the experience rendered you more modest/less egocentric. Service is an excellent in-road to answering this question. E.g. (and not my topic) by serving the less fortunate, your interactions teach you humility and empathy; you recognize that, despite the apparent external differences, plenty of what transpired in their lives that lead them to this point is bad lack. You realize your own fortune, and in doing so, you become less aloof, less dignified, and more human. And so on. (this is obviously not well-written, I'm just trying to create an example of a humbling experience). Everybody applying to medical school should be able to knock themselves down a peg or two and be able to display modesty and humility. This is essentially a chance to do that.

This essay took me a very long time, as did the all of them, to be honest. Good luck!

EDIT: I'm just another pre-med kid applying this cycle, so my advice should be taken with a (large) grain of salt. If you have a different way of answering this essay, that comes more naturally to you, then you should pursue that angle instead. The only requirement for these essays (beyond answering the prompt, obviously) is to show your character.
 
Last edited:
Due to the difficulty of these prompts, does anyone think that it is acceptable to have a secondary turn around time within three weeks instead of two weeks?
 
Due to the difficulty of these prompts, does anyone think that it is acceptable to have a secondary turn around time within three weeks instead of two weeks?

Quality wins. At the end of it all, I don't think 2 vs. 3 weeks will be the deciding factor. Just try not sit on it till September.

Yeah, talking about myself is getting tiring pretty quickly.
 
Quality wins. At the end of it all, I don't think 2 vs. 3 weeks will be the deciding factor. Just try not sit on it till September.

Yeah, talking about myself is getting tiring pretty quickly.

I am literally so tired of figuring out different ways to say the same things about myself to twenty different schools. I think I'm going insane.
 
I did not because I talked about giving back to my community in the "where did you grow up" prompt, and didn't have much to say on the other two.

I also chose to omit the optional essay for the same reasons.

Quality wins. At the end of it all, I don't think 2 vs. 3 weeks will be the deciding factor. Just try not sit on it till September.

Yeah, talking about myself is getting tiring pretty quickly.

Are most people taking several weeks to submit this secondary? I submitted mine the next day (although I spent a solid 15 hours working on it), this worries me that I might have rushed through it to get it submitted in comparison to others.
 
I also chose to omit the optional essay for the same reasons.



Are most people taking several weeks to submit this secondary? I submitted mine the next day (although I spent a solid 15 hours working on it), this worries me that I might have rushed through it to get it submitted in comparison to others.

I've spent a solid 10 hours working on it so far, give or take, but I started it in the midst of my other essays, so I just feel burnt out. I recently spent about 1 hour working on and submitting an application to one of my top choice schools, so I def feel like the "quality vs quantity" struggle is real for me as well. I think schools recognize that we don't have as much time for these essays as we did to prepare other components of our application, like our personal statement. Hopefully the secondaries aren't looking for how well you can sell yourself or how many English majors have edited your essay, but they're looking to see if your values fit those of the school.

I guess I'll see how well that theory holds out in a month when IIs start rolling out.
 
Anyone know if we can send additional letters besides the 4 required ones? Or would that be overkill?

I am wondering the same thing. I would love to send 5 or 6, but don't want to send them in if they won't be read.
 
I am wondering the same thing. I would love to send 5 or 6, but don't want to send them in if they won't be read.
I contacted the school and they said there was no limit to the number of letters you submit
 
Man, I'm kinda jealous you're done. This one is taking me longer than it should, probably looking at a 2-3 week turnaround for both Duke and Vandy.
I really never felt a sense of the essays being finished, just kept reading through them till I couldn't anymore. But a few weeks will make little difference in my opinion. Good luck
 
Man, I'm kinda jealous you're done. This one is taking me longer than it should, probably looking at a 2-3 week turnaround for both Duke and Vandy.

THIS. Vanderbilt and their 5 page autobiography :grumpy:
 
Still haven't even seriously started this secondary. Lol.
 
If your school does Bio I/II the way I'm familiar with (I: cellular bio, II: organ systems) then I would imagine so.
Website states they require 2 semesters of expository writing, but the secondary only has room for 1 course, any idea how to list it? Thanks!
 
Website states they require 2 semesters of expository writing, but the secondary only has room for 1 course, any idea how to list it? Thanks!
I wouldn't worry too much. The academic courses section of the secondary was optional.
 
Top