Lol, you are very funny! And to many more pages.... hope we have more applicants here to support one another.And...... we are on page 4!!
2015-2016 Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
- Thread starter snowpeach
- Start date
Yes, time passes really fast, doesn't it? ALL THE BEST for next week @i_am_emp, @a_symmetrical, @ghostly_90, @Camou_Cat and @snowpeach !! Wow I'm glad there are so many applicants on this forum! Looks like we have every Applicant Day covered (so far)
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Thanks for all the well wishes! Hope this forum will continue to grow and future applicants will have a place to clear their doubts.
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Hi everyone. My name's Brian, 3rd year at Duke-NUS. Let me know if there is anything you'd like to clarify. [email protected]. We have a list of student ambassadors whom you can get in touch with via email on our website. Good luck to all applicants.
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Hi guys,
I have been following this thread for over a month or so, but this is my first post on the thread. I applied to DUKE NUS in August and I got invited to applicant's day on Next Thursday! Hope to see some of you there in Durham.
Quick question,
How is everyone going to dress? On the email I got, it said that it was business casual, which seems a little misleading. It may not be a big deal, but it's been on my mind for a while.
I have been following this thread for over a month or so, but this is my first post on the thread. I applied to DUKE NUS in August and I got invited to applicant's day on Next Thursday! Hope to see some of you there in Durham.
Quick question,
How is everyone going to dress? On the email I got, it said that it was business casual, which seems a little misleading. It may not be a big deal, but it's been on my mind for a while.
Hi Brian, thank you for offering your help! Just one quick question: would you happen to know if there have been any acceptances/rejections so far?
Hey arsenalish, your email said business casual? I was in the September applicant day and mine said "Business Attire". Anyway, for my day, most of the males wore suits with/without ties (some others wore business pants with long sleeve button-ups) while the females wore a mix of pantsuits or pencil skirts with collared tops. Hope this helps!
Thanks @bearwhiz for the clarification. @arsenalish, my email also said "business casual" for the attire, and I was initially confused to as to how I should dress. But then, I thought, it is always safer to be overdressed than be underdressed. Good luck to you!
Thanks @bearwhiz for the clarification. @arsenalish, my email also said "business casual" for the attire, and I was initially confused to as to how I should dress. But then, I thought, it is always safer to be overdressed than be underdressed. Good luck to you!
Completely agree! Doesn't hurt to be overdressed than underdressed
Yep, all the best for your applicant day too @arsenalish !!- Joined
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Don't waste your time and money. Heard from friends who are students at Duke-NUS or have graduated:
1. TeamLEAD gets boring real soon. The novelty wears off in about 1 month. After that it's a waste of time, you're better off sleeping or studying.
2. You get Duke materials which are the previous year's. You get to learn about "latest medical advancements" in the Duke lectures which are more than 1 year old.
3. The curriculum you are "promised" is subject to change any moment without notice. You can't do anything about it. There are no alternatives.
4. You become their educational research "lab rat". Participation in their educational research is compulsory. That's around twice a day of research surveys to fill, every school day, at the expense of your study time.
5. You are stuck in the same group throughout. You do not get to choose your group. If your group drags you down, you can't jump ship.
6. There is no help for you. You will get kicked out the moment you don't show the results they want for their educational research publications.
7. You cannot transfer to Duke. Duke bears no responsibility towards your education. It is as good as not being affiliated in any way.
8. Duke-NUS does not prepare you adequately for work. Duke-NUS graduates are less competent than other schools.
9. Your options are limited. Duke-NUS gives postings in 1 healthcare cluster. There are at least 3 healthcare clusters in Singapore. Duke-NUS does not offer you postings in Duke or US.
10. Duke-NUS does not pay its MD/PhD students CPF which they are entitled to.
11. There is no guarantee of getting residency even in Duke-NUS's 1 healthcare cluster. You are up against 300++ local and IMG who are better trained than you. The competition will surge with LKC coming into the picture. Duke-NUS does not help you get into residency.
12. Duke-NUS is not recognised in US or other countries. You won't get license to practice elsewhere.
1. TeamLEAD gets boring real soon. The novelty wears off in about 1 month. After that it's a waste of time, you're better off sleeping or studying.
2. You get Duke materials which are the previous year's. You get to learn about "latest medical advancements" in the Duke lectures which are more than 1 year old.
3. The curriculum you are "promised" is subject to change any moment without notice. You can't do anything about it. There are no alternatives.
4. You become their educational research "lab rat". Participation in their educational research is compulsory. That's around twice a day of research surveys to fill, every school day, at the expense of your study time.
5. You are stuck in the same group throughout. You do not get to choose your group. If your group drags you down, you can't jump ship.
6. There is no help for you. You will get kicked out the moment you don't show the results they want for their educational research publications.
7. You cannot transfer to Duke. Duke bears no responsibility towards your education. It is as good as not being affiliated in any way.
8. Duke-NUS does not prepare you adequately for work. Duke-NUS graduates are less competent than other schools.
9. Your options are limited. Duke-NUS gives postings in 1 healthcare cluster. There are at least 3 healthcare clusters in Singapore. Duke-NUS does not offer you postings in Duke or US.
10. Duke-NUS does not pay its MD/PhD students CPF which they are entitled to.
11. There is no guarantee of getting residency even in Duke-NUS's 1 healthcare cluster. You are up against 300++ local and IMG who are better trained than you. The competition will surge with LKC coming into the picture. Duke-NUS does not help you get into residency.
12. Duke-NUS is not recognised in US or other countries. You won't get license to practice elsewhere.
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13. The service obligation is signed before any class starts. It is legally binding. The penalty for breaking it is more than SGD half a million in compensation.
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You seem to know too much to be just hearing it from friends who studied at duke nus.
I find many of the points you have raised to be debatable. That said, everyone is entitled to their own views so it might seem unbearable to you but fine to others.
I am fine with using 1 year old lectures.
I am ok with filling up their surveys. It is definitely not every school day. It doesn't even take up much time, at most 1 to 5 minutes?
yes you are stuck with the same group, the very group who provides you the support you need during medical school. There will definitely be black sheep somewhere but it is highly unlikely that your group will drag you down. This grouping thing is not only found in duke nus but other medical schools.
I don't think they will kick anyone out so readily. There are people who left voluntarily, but so far i have yet to hear of anyone getting kicked out.
I don't see why duke nus students need to be able to transfer to duke. correct me if i am wrong but lkc students won't be able to transfer to imperial too right? we are just collaborating with duke to use their resources.
Although we only have postings to one cluster, it is the biggest cluster and covers a fair amount of specialities.
You don't get cpf as a phd student anywhere. It is called a stipend. Plus as an MD/PhD student you technically only pay for 2 years of school fees, the rest are sponsored plus a stipend will be given.
Duke nus doesn't help you to get a residency but a lot of us get matched, or at least that was the impression I had.
I don't think our degree is not recognised anywhere apart from singapore. And only US MD degree are recognised in US. that said it is not impossible to secure a residency in US.
If you want to study medicine in singapore you will definitely need to sign a service obligation regardless of which school you enter.
There are pros and cons of duke nus, some pros I can think of:
- Close to home
- Already acquainted with the profs and used to the healthcare system here, so it makes working here easier to get accustomed to compared to studying overseas then coming back to work
- Much cheaper than studying overseas especially with the generous bursary and scholarship
In exchange for those, you will need to be prepared to serve the 4-5 years bond in singapore. If you are constantly thinking of going elsewhere after graduation, it is advisable not to choose duke nus then. Many seem to have posted in this thread dissing the bond and how duke nus is not comparable to duke and how you can't practise in US after graduation.. But you need to recognise the fact that the school is training doctors to practise in singapore to meet the demand for doctors locally. Maybe our education is not comparable, but i would like to think that we are improving.
Sorry for the haphazard and quick reply, anyone else who has questions, feel free to pm me
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Oh ok
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I am in the midst of my PhD in another school. I get a stipend and CPF contribution from my school. I was considering Duke-NUS after my PhD but after extensive researching into this school from various contacts I have changed my mind about it. The latest I heard is that Duke-NUS's own scholarship recipients leave the school to join other medical schools. Go figure.
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Chill buddy.
You are taking OP too seriously.No doubt Duke-NUS is a very good school, and is one of the best in Asia. Even as you place Duke-NUS among all US medical schools, it is still a very decent school and a pretty reputable one.
The entry into Duke-NUS is hard. Most, if not all, of us know clearly what we are signing up for. Duke-NUS is so good that so many of us have invested tremendous effort in this admission process. Very few can be absolutely sure that they would be accepted, let alone thinking the school is beneath them for application.
Yes, I might not be good enough to enter at the end of the game, but I would refrain from having sour grapes mentality. If I were indeed rejected, I guess I would recalibrate my personal expectation and career plan.
Pertaining to the validity of OP's arguments, some were clearly invalid. For example, when was the last time you met a prof changing his/her lecture notes year-to-year? How many percent of all papers published in the past 12 months have you read? Was the so called "latest medical advancements" even relevant?
Edit: I meant, you really expect people to read through all the "LATEST PUBLICATIONS"? =_= Even as there might be groundbreaking research published within a year, chances are that other groups are still trying to replicate the data over the next couple of years. More often than not, unfortunately, most "latest groundbreaking research" turned out to be scientific fraud.
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Just wanted to clear things up and to give a perspective for prospective students, from a person who has actually went through the programme, and not from hearsay. Somehow for this particular year quite a number of people are posting negative stuff about duke nus.
Didn't know that other phd students were given cpf, my bad.
But I feel that money is really not a concern if it is holding you back from applying. If you are very sure you want to work in Singapore, duke nus is a much cheaper choice.
There will always be people leaving any course no matter how fantastic it is because it wasn't what they wanted or expected.
But I would say there is definitely room for improvement for our programme.
But yes I agree that most of us know what we are signing up for and hence we are here.
Didn't know that other phd students were given cpf, my bad.
But I feel that money is really not a concern if it is holding you back from applying. If you are very sure you want to work in Singapore, duke nus is a much cheaper choice.
There will always be people leaving any course no matter how fantastic it is because it wasn't what they wanted or expected.
But I would say there is definitely room for improvement for our programme.
But yes I agree that most of us know what we are signing up for and hence we are here.
JW. What's the room for improvement?
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Hi, I have been invited for Applicant day on Thursday too! Hope to see you soon!
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Hey guys, finally created an account after following this thread for quite long! I'm an applicant from the first Applicant Day @bearwhiz @pm_me_your_mcat! Haven't heard anything since then too.
Just wanted to say that the applicant day was a very nice experience, all the applicants were very nice people and so was the admission team! It was also nice to have finally met @ghostly_90 and @a_symmetrical . Duke NUS really is something special
. Duke NUS really is something special - Joined
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Would you pay a huge sum to buy the latest edition of a textbook or an earlier edition?Chill buddy.
No doubt Duke-NUS is a very good school, and is one of the best in Asia. Even as you place Duke-NUS among all US medical schools, it is still a very decent school and a pretty reputable one.
The entry into Duke-NUS is hard. Most, if not all, of us know clearly what we are signing up for. Duke-NUS is so good that so many of us have invested tremendous effort in this admission process. Very few can be absolutely sure that they would be accepted, let alone thinking the school is beneath them for application.
Yes, I might not be good enough to enter at the end of the game, but I would refrain from having sour grapes mentality. If I were indeed rejected, I guess I would recalibrate my personal expectation and career plan.
Pertaining to the validity of OP's arguments, some were clearly invalid. For example, when was the last time you met a prof changing his/her lecture notes year-to-year? How many percent of all papers published in the past 12 months have you read? Was the so called "latest medical advancements" even relevant?
A responsible prof would check and update his/ her lecture notes and lecture content as necessary year-to-year according to any new developments. Would you like to be kept at least 1 year behind the rest of the medical world? Plus not knowing whether your knowledge is up to date or not. Would you use the Duke lectures from the school's first cohort since it is not important to have the latest Duke lectures? Would you like to read all papers published in the past 12 months to find out if you missed something important in your medical education?
Can a school produce pioneers at the forefront of medicine out of their students if it gives its students outdated information?
What are your claims about Duke-NUS backed by?
I post the information to save others' time in researching Duke-NUS. What's with the huge reactions?
I'm off to check out other schools.
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oh ok
@Camou_Cat How was your applicant day? How many applicants were there, and were there many MD/PhD applicants?
How many applicants were there, and were there many MD/PhD applicants?Oh ok
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It was very chill, although I was a little nervous at the beginning.@Camou_Cat How was your applicant day?
Our group was MD only if I remembered correctly.
There was definitely a lot of food with breakfast and lunch provided.
My advice would be eat, relax, and enjoy th day!
Too cute hahahaha
Ah okay! Great that it went well for you!!!
So I attended the Applicant Day today, and now officially in the waiting game as most of you here! We had only 7 applicants today, but it was a lot of fun getting to know them. (For those who are wondering) I asked Dr. Kamei today when we should be hearing back the decisions from the school, and he said they will send out the first batch of acceptance before Christmas as "Christmas presents". Hopefully some of us (if not all) will hear good news very soon! Fingers crossed!
So I attended the Applicant Day today, and now officially in the waiting game as most of you here! We had only 7 applicants today, but it was a lot of fun getting to know them. (For those who are wondering) I asked Dr. Kamei today when we should be hearing back the decisions from the school, and he said they will send out the first batch of acceptance before Christmas as "Christmas presents". Hopefully some of us (if not all) will hear good news very soon! Fingers crossed!
@snowpeach Glad that you enjoyed your Applicant Day experience and thanks for updating us about what Dr Kamei said! At least now we have a "concrete" date to work with. Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone here too!
So I attended the Applicant Day today, and now officially in the waiting game as most of you here! We had only 7 applicants today, but it was a lot of fun getting to know them. (For those who are wondering) I asked Dr. Kamei today when we should be hearing back the decisions from the school, and he said they will send out the first batch of acceptance before Christmas as "Christmas presents". Hopefully some of us (if not all) will hear good news very soon! Fingers crossed!
Wow 7!!! So cosy
thanks for the info hehe 1 more month then!
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This is probably the most interesting thread in pre-allo.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they will send out financial aid material after they send out offer of admission???
Hi there... I'm a wannabe medical student too..
applying for next year's intake... still nervously putting the final touches on my application and rechecking everything for the third time before hitting submit this weekend.
(a bit last minute I know... eeks.)
I'm not the most ideal candidate as far as grades go... but I'm hoping the whole "holistic" thing is true and that passion, dedication and personality can show through my application (and is part of what the adcom is looking for).
congrats to the people who've gotten their applicant day invites.
applying for next year's intake... still nervously putting the final touches on my application and rechecking everything for the third time before hitting submit this weekend.
(a bit last minute I know... eeks.)
I'm not the most ideal candidate as far as grades go... but I'm hoping the whole "holistic" thing is true and that passion, dedication and personality can show through my application (and is part of what the adcom is looking for).
congrats to the people who've gotten their applicant day invites.
@bearwhiz and @snowpeach, it's such a relief to hear from y'all. I thought I must have missed the email for it haha. @i_am_emp, they told us that they'd try to get the FA materials out earlier so they can release the FA results around the same time as the admission offers.
My bad, I was too excited at the applicant day, and this probably explains why I didn't pay full attention lololol@bearwhiz and @snowpeach, it's such a relief to hear from y'all. I thought I must have missed the email for it haha. @i_am_emp, they told us that they'd try to get the FA materials out earlier so they can release the FA results around the same time as the admission offers.
OMG!!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!! So happy for you!!!!!!!!!By the way, I just got the offer 2 days ago. Took about 9 weeks
You can now relax and have fun. haha.I just got my FA material todayBy the way, I just got the offer 2 days ago. Took about 9 weeks
@bearwhiz Congrats btw 
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I'm planning to apply for next year's intake. Just curious if anyone knows how much emphasis is placed on volunteering/community service, compared to other criteria e.g. research? I have done one-off volunteering events but nothing really long term.
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Hello! Yes I agree with @Chelsearocksz that quite a bit of emphasis is placed on long-term volunteering. I think long-term volunteering in healthcare-related areas would also give you a good insight into the medical profession, and whether that's what you want to pursue as a career. But Duke-NUS definitely focuses quite a lot on research experience as well, so I would recommend investing almost equal time into both aspects
Those are just my thoughts!- Joined
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Anyone knows anything about the WES report?
