2018-2019 Duke University School of Medicine

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Anybody get a secondary invite here? It seems the personal application system website has been updated for this year and it says open July 3rd. Activating the account requires a code though
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secondary received!

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 improvements do you think might make the described community better? (500 words)

Describe a situation where you have chosen to advocate for someone who is different from yourself. What does advocacy mean to you and how has your advocacy developed? How do you see it linked to your role as a physician/leader? What risks, if any, might be associated with your choice to be an advocate? (500 words)

What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients? (500 words)

Describe a situation where you failed. What did you learn from the experience? Describe at least one functional impact of the experience. (500 words)

Critical thinking involves many aspects including curiosity, comprehension, application and analysis. Describe a time when you have utilized critical thinking. How do you anticipate critical thinking being used as part of your career? (500 words)

Many view medical care as an undeniable right. What responsibility does the medical profession have in taking care of all persons? (400 words)

@Lucca
 
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Bunch of the prompts changed :( This is my last secondary and I honestly don't know how I will convince myself to finish this beast
 
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For MSTP ONLY:

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 improvements do you think might make the described community better? (500 words)

What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients? (500 words)

If applying to both MSTP and MD only, then all questions must be answered.

@Lucca
 
So glad I did not pre-write this. I would have been mad.
 
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1. Tell us more about who you are. You may provide additional information that expands your self-identity where gender identification, racial and/or ethnic self description, geographic origin, socioeconomic, academic, and/or other characteristics that define who you are as you contemplate a career that will interface with people who are similar AND dissimilar to you. You will have the opportunity below to tell us how you wish to be addressed, recognized and treated. 500 words

2. (Optional) In addition to the broad categorization of race, ethnicity, geographic origin, socioeconomic status as provided through your AMCAS application, you may use the text box below to provide additional clarifying information that may reflect the impact of any of these parameters on your development thus far as well as the impact that these may have had on your path to a career in medicine and your plans for the future. 200 words

3. 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 improvements do you think might make the described community better? 500 words

4. Describe a situation where you have chosen to advocate for someone who is different from yourself. What does advocacy mean to you and how has your advocacy developed? How do you see it linked to your role as a physician/leader? What risks, if any, might be associated with your choice to be an advocate? 500 words

5. What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients? 500 words

6. Describe a situation where you failed. What did you learn from the experience? Describe at least one functional impact of the experience. 500 words

7. Critical thinking involves many aspects including curiosity, comprehension, application and analysis. Describe a time when you have utilized critical thinking. How do you anticipate critical thinking being used as part of your career? 400 words

8. Many view medical care as an undeniable right. What responsibility does the medical profession have in taking care of all persons? 400 words

9. (Optional) Please let us know of any additional information that you would like us to consider while reviewing your application:

@Lucca
 
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secondary received... this will hurt.

What do yall think about core values essay vs. the tell us who you are essay?
 
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How does the adcom have time to read all this??
 
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As much as I wanted to pro-long the inevitable, the time has come. Good luck to my fellow brave applicants.

Secondary received.
 
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Hi all! For med care as undeniable right, is it worth it to explain some of my political views on the matter, or is best to keep it as neutral as possible? I'm confident I can coherently share my views while staying relevant to the prompt, but I'm not sure if its worth politicizing it. Thanks!
 
discocafe said:
Hi all! For med care as undeniable right, is it worth it to explain some of my political views on the matter, or is best to keep it as neutral as possible? I'm confident I can coherently share my views while staying relevant to the prompt, but I'm not sure if its worth politicizing it. Thanks!
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Speaking as a current student (who didn’t have to do this prompt), my first thought was that I would focus upon the duties/societal roles of the medical profession as opposed to my political slant (bleeding heart liberal who believes in single payer). I feel like I could passionate relay an answer without getting into the politics of the matter. This is just my thought - ultimately, and for each individual, the choice is yours.
 
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MC_Infarction said:
Speaking as a current student (who didn’t have to do this prompt), my first thought was that I would focus upon the duties/societal roles of the medical profession as opposed to my political slant (bleeding heart liberal who believes in single payer). I feel like I could passionate relay an answer without getting into the politics of the matter. This is just my thought - ultimately, and for each individual, the choice is yours.
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Hehe, Same views here. Thanks for the input!
 
There's an.....additional comments section? What ELSE could one have to write about?
 
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So what are you all writing for the "Tell Us Who You Are" essay?
 
"We encourage you to consider completing the DukeMed Supplemental Application if your GPA is below 3.0 or your MCAT score is below 500."

I assume this doesn't mean "don't do it if you're above these stats"?
 
finalname said:
"We encourage you to consider completing the DukeMed Supplemental Application if your GPA is below 3.0 or your MCAT score is below 500."

I assume this doesn't mean "don't do it if you're above these stats"?
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Come on man. Don't you remember Duke's median stats are a 472/1.5 ? They don't want anyone over those golden numbers /s
 
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Smh. I don't have anything new to say for #1 (tell us who you are) that I did not discuss in #3 (community nurtured/ core values). How are people tackling these two?

For the additional comments, I think I'll write briefly about 'why Duke.'
 
How are you guys answering #2 (optional) if you have already given a thorough response to #1 and #3?
 
any consensus on how to answer this "who you are" question? it seems pretty similar to the "describe your values and where you were raised" question.
 
new_dood_don't_be_rude said:
any consensus on how to answer this "who you are" question? it seems pretty similar to the "describe your values and where you were raised" question.
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So my diversity essay is also kind of a disadvantage/challenge essay so this may not work for everyone. I’m planning on using that and not doing the other optional essay that’s basically the same thing
 
Ahh I think I get it. I'm having trouble because my diversity essay centers on my rural upbringing, so the first essay is kind of asking how you are diverse beyond the environment in which you were raised. Does that sound right?
 
new_dood_don't_be_rude said:
Ahh I think I get it. I'm having trouble because my diversity essay centers on my rural upbringing, so the first essay is kind of asking how you are diverse beyond the environment in which you were raised. Does that sound right?
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I think I'm interpreting it in a similar way - the first essay focuses on how your identities have affected your life and how they will inform the way you interact with others, while the second essay is asking about how the environment you were raised in has informed your values, and in turn how these values will affect your medical career. So I'm thinking of it like internal vs. external factors, if that makes sense. I imagine there is still a lot of overlap in terms of what can be discussed though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
eulalio said:
What if my race, gender identity, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status have very little to do with my self identity? I don't go around defining who I am with any of these characteristics.
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I mean, take that up with Duke, that was just my interpretation of what they're trying to get at. I could be wrong, and like I and many others have noted, there seems to be a great deal of potential overlap in questions 1 and 3, so I think it's really all about how you frame it. Honestly I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to do with these questions
 
hiitsme1234 said:
In regards to this question:

"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 improvements do you think might make the described community better? (500 words)"

When they ask how will it translate into contributions you hope to make to your community as a medical student...does that mean the Duke Community?

And when they ask, what improvements do you think might make the described community better...do they mean my hometown community where I grew up? My Duke community? Which community is this referring to?

Thanks guys
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I took "the described community" to mean the one I would describe in my essay, that is my hometown.

The community in the med student sentence I took to mean my community in med school, but not specifically the Duke community. I think either or would be appropriate for the response.
 
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anybody else have a problem with the core value essay being cut off? It displays correctly when I paste it into the application but when I click review it gets cut off randomly after like 20 words. Have tried everything to fix this.
 
Just submitted! Hopefully Duke enjoys the entire contents of my brain and past.

new_dood_don't_be_rude said:
anybody else have a problem with the core value essay being cut off? It displays correctly when I paste it into the application but when I click review it gets cut off randomly after like 20 words. Have tried everything to fix this.
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I didn't have any cutoff issues on this one, but I have had weird some things like that for others when the app counts differently than Word and I paste it in over their word count
 
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so...how long are everybody's essays? lol

Also 1,2, and 3 sound almost the same to me. How did you guys approach them seperately?
 
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letsgetstarted1234 said:
so...how long are everybody's essays? lol

Also 1,2, and 3 sound almost the same to me. How did you guys approach them seperately?
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Mine were about 3-500 words. Probably average was 400. It’s ok not to write to the word limit. People say 60% but a good response is a good response.

In 1. I wrote about myself, in 3. I wrote about my hometown.

I didn’t feel that it was necessary to answer 2 in my own case
 
Be aware that admissions committees can read this forum. Posting about how to answer a school-specific prompt on a school-specific forum is probably enough to identify yourself.
 
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sunshine859 said:
Be aware that admissions committees can read this forum. Posting about how to answer a school-specific prompt on a school-specific forum is probably enough to identify yourself.
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oh okay. thanks for remind me! do you mind taking the quote out of your response? lol.
 
I'm having so much trouble meeting the freaking word "recommendation". Most of my essays are coming out to 250 words. So I'm trying to go back and expand but it just seems to make it worse. So i just start on a new essay instead.

500 words is crazy. Or im just bad at writing haha
 
So what is everyone talking about for the "critical thinking" essay? I, like many others, prepared based off of last year's prompts, so this one kinda caught me off guard lol.
 
Does anyone know if Duke is lenient with the "2 week rule" with returning secondaries, given the number and magnitude of these questions?
 
jj_Sharp2 said:
Does anyone know if Duke is lenient with the "2 week rule" with returning secondaries, given the number and magnitude of these questions?
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Did they say it should be returned in 2 weeks? The 2 week rule is normally just a suggestion not an actual written rule
 
medschoolzombie said:
Did they say it should be returned in 2 weeks? The 2 week rule is normally just a suggestion not an actual written rule
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Nah, I was just assuming since it's been referenced so many times by people on SDN and many other schools ask you to in their secondary e-mails.
 
Lucca said:
Mine were about 3-500 words. Probably average was 400. It’s ok not to write to the word limit. People say 60% but a good response is a good response.

In 1. I wrote about myself, in 3. I wrote about my hometown.

I didn’t feel that it was necessary to answer 2 in my own case
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When you say you wrote about yourself, did you write about those demographic type things, or about other characteristics such as hobbies, skills, passions?
 
For the "humbling moment" essay I am torn about what to write about. I could talk about my medical volunteer trip to Ecuador. I know how this is seen by adcoms but I really learned to check my own privilege. After going, I almost regretted the experience because I felt like I gained so much more in travel perks and "having fun" than I was able to give back. I felt like the money I spent on the trip would have went to way better use by donating to an NGO that has established contacts and a long term ability to enact change. *End rant*

HOWEVER: I did spend a lot of time reflecting on the health disparities I witnessed, as well as how the people seemed so truly happy with what they had. They struggled in so many ways that no person should go through, but had community and tradition and joy in nature. I learned a lot about not judging what others have based on my own values (cultural relativism and all that jazz).

Would this be too touchy of a subject for the secondary essay? Or could I relate the whole "checking my privilege" and my considered regret into it to show that I have thought deeper about this?

EDIT: I could also talk about when I lost the election to serve a second term as a student senator because I took it for granted. But I was going to maybe use that as a failure essay instead. Thoughts?
 
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Anyone got any idea how to do the critical thinking essay? Is it a thinly-veiled attempt at getting us to talk about research or what?
 
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