2015-2016 Duke University Application Thread

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dopedamine said:
Wow respect. Best of luck to you as well. Kinda wish I had the courage to say no to some of these secondaries but the paranoid, uncertain side kicks in.
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ha i would do this too but with an already tiny school list of 14 that's probably no good idea 😛
 
Received this behemoth on 7/2 and finally submitted it today. I realized I was spending too long fretting over the essays and that I just needed to let it go. Good luck to everyone else on finishing this beast!
 
lol i haven't started this secondary, but have been sitting on it as i do other secondaries that are much shorter. meh.
 
This no character/word limit thing could be a little dangerous for me... or rather to the ADCOM. Hope they like to read because I have a lot to say! Really though... ballpark figure - how long are y'alls essays?
 
whipstitchmd said:
This no character/word limit thing could be a little dangerous for me... or rather to the ADCOM. Hope they like to read because I have a lot to say! Really though... ballpark figure - how long are y'alls essays?
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I tried to keep all essays under a page in word @1.25 spacing as a general rule of thumb. But that was just my personal goal.
 
Shortest essay was one page single spaced, most were 1.5 pages

whipstitchmd said:
This no character/word limit thing could be a little dangerous for me... or rather to the ADCOM. Hope they like to read because I have a lot to say! Really though... ballpark figure - how long are y'alls essays?
Click to expand...
 
The Real SVB said:
You can still apply if you're missing a prereq...you'll just be bugged to take it before matriculation if you get in. Please don't not apply to any school just because you're missing prereqs.
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What if you're missing 3 of the pre-reqs? Namely sociology, psychology, and biochemistry? I plan on taking biochemistry sometime over the next year but don't see how I could fit the others in:
 
Anyone submitted without payment yet? I'm still waiting for the fee to be waived...
 
HybridEarth said:
Anyone submitted without payment yet? I'm still waiting for the fee to be waived...
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I had to email them a second time, to which they responded the day after. I think your email may have gotten lost!
 
I currently have 3 of the essays at 600 words...thinking of whether to do the optional one ugh. Plus I have to ask for help editing it since I'm very bad at that..this is gonna take a while..sigh
 
What will challenge you the most in your career as a health care provider when you have to deal with people unlike yourself (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, social background, and other difference)? How do you plan to address these? What resources do you plan to use to address these?

For this prompt, are they asking for what aspect of an individual we're going to have trouble dealing with (eg. I have trouble relating to people who are X), or is it more general (how will you relate to others not like you)?
 
pp16 said:
What will challenge you the most in your career as a health care provider when you have to deal with people unlike yourself (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, social background, and other difference)? How do you plan to address these? What resources do you plan to use to address these?

For this prompt, are they asking for what aspect of an individual we're going to have trouble dealing with (eg. I have trouble relating to people who are X), or is it more general (how will you relate to others not like you)?
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I went with a more general approach.
 
For the "Cellular Biology" requirement, is this referring to the two semesters of biology that is required by every medical school? Or is this an additional biology class taken beyond the the introductory level (even if the introductory included cellular bio)?
 
Also, is the mathematics course referring to statistics or calculus?
 
FresherAir said:
For the "Cellular Biology" requirement, is this referring to the two semesters of biology that is required by every medical school? Or is this an additional biology class taken beyond the the introductory level (even if the introductory included cellular bio)?
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whenever a prereq cites a specific subject like this i assume it means the upper-level course
the “cell bio” stuff in intro (what is an organelle, their function, lol) takes about 20 minutes to get through in the first lecture of any reputable actual cell bio class. nowhere close to being the same
 
FresherAir said:
Also, is the mathematics course referring to statistics or calculus?
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by definition both of these are math, so if it doesn’t say it could be either
 
G.NA said:
whenever a prereq cites a specific subject like this i assume it means the upper-level course
the “cell bio” stuff in intro (what is an organelle, their function, lol) takes about 20 minutes to get through in the first lecture of any reputable actual cell bio class. nowhere close to being the same
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Thanks! I'll list the upper level class.
 
Did anyone get a confirmation email that they secondary was submitted? Looking back I don't think I received one.
 
SO CLOSE. Finally done with the four essays...do I dare go for an optional essay? How many of you actually wrote an optional?
 
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dopedamine said:
SO CLOSE. Finally done with the four essays...do I dare go for an optional essay? How many of you actually wrote an optional?
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No optional...don't do it it's a trap!

But seriously I am not sure what else I would have written after four 500-650 word essays.
 
Eb123 said:
No optional...don't do it it's a trap!

But seriously I am not sure what else I would have written after four 500-650 word essays.
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Eh I mean the optional prompts asked about pretty different things than the required prompts did. It does suck writing more, but I didn't really see any overlap between the two that would leave me unable to write more.
 
I thought about using the optional essay as a space to explain exactly "why Duke", but they're Duke... I mean... they don't really need me to kiss their butts 😛
 
I might do the harshest feedback one, just because another school I'm applying to requires it. However, it will be VERY short and I'm not sure I'll even end up including it. Duke already is going to know my soul if and when I ever finish this secondary.
 
MRpremed-dudeguy said:
What if you're missing 3 of the pre-reqs? Namely sociology, psychology, and biochemistry? I plan on taking biochemistry sometime over the next year but don't see how I could fit the others in:
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Try asking someone at the school. Although, I doubt you would be allowed to matriculate - they're called prerequisites for a reason. For some reason, Duke seems especially keen on having MCAT 2015-related class in their prereqs.
 
Did anyone see the academic course requirements? Is this for the upcoming cycle or will sociology be required later?
 
whipstitchmd said:
This no character/word limit thing could be a little dangerous for me... or rather to the ADCOM. Hope they like to read because I have a lot to say! Really though... ballpark figure - how long are y'alls essays?
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Mine ended up about 400 words. My optional essay was very short, though...they only asked 2 discrete questions in it (community service one) rather than 6 vague, open-ended things, haha!

Glad to be done with this beast. Now onwards and upwards!
 
suchbrio said:
Anyone stilllllll sitting on this one? Starting to think I need a support group :laugh:
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YUP. Should be halfway done with it after today. I am so slow at completing these secondaries. This should be the only one I submit past the 2 week mark though.
 
starlite911 said:
YUP. Should be halfway done with it after today. I am so slow at completing these secondaries. This should be the only one I submit past the 2 week mark though.
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I feel you! I'm totally dragging my a** across the floor with some of these secondaries. Here's to us 😛
 
I finally slayed this beast yesterday afternoon. You know what's awesome about finishing the app? Once you do, you realize virtually all the other apps don't even compare in difficulty, so you feel much better about tackling the next one. Just think about it. You finished Duke. The rest don't even compare.
 
dopedamine said:
I finally slayed this beast yesterday afternoon. You know what's awesome about finishing the app? Once you do, you realize virtually all the other apps don't even compare in difficulty, so you feel much better about tackling the next one. Just think about it. You finished Duke. The rest don't even compare.
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I'm alternating between Duke and Case and a daily basis. Both have way more essays than most other schools.
 
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