2020-2021 Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Application

[vaneyyik]

Surprised a thread for this admission cycle hasn't been created yet!
So I thought I should just go ahead and start one instead of waiting around...

Anybody else submitted an early application hoping for an interview soon?

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[pizza_expensive]

Hey I was just about to create one! Thanks for setting it up!

I'm not doing early admissions, still waiting to take my MCAT (this friday)

How has it gone for you so far?

 

[bunbohuEEE]

I have a quick question about the personal statement part. It is kinda confusing to me somehow. So do for each question (1 and 2), will I choose to write either a or b? Or will I write an essay that answers both a and b for each question?

 

[vaneyyik]

Hey I was just about to create one! Thanks for setting it up!

I'm not doing early admissions, still waiting to take my MCAT (this friday)

How has it gone for you so far?

All the best for the MCAT!

Besides prepping for the admission test, I think the toughest part for me was sticking to the word limit for the essays haha. Also paperwork and delays in mailing due to COVID...

It's been a busy week getting everything together but once I submitted it felt great to finally get it off my plate!

 

[vaneyyik]

I have a quick question about the personal statement part. It is kinda confusing to me somehow. So do for each question (1 and 2), will I choose to write either a or b? Or will I write an essay that answers both a and b for each question?

From what I understand, for essay 1 you should definitely answer a, and only write about b if it applies to you (international applicant, lived overseas >4 years, etc). But either way, you should still mention why you are choosing duke-nus.

For essay 2, pick either a or b. You only need to answer one of them.

 

[billy04052]

reapplicant here
just submitted the application for this cycle

 

[Jayelle]

I submitted for early application too! Hoping to get an Applicant Day invitation ><

Good luck to all who applied!

 

[ANNAINTL]

I have a quick question about the personal statement part. It is kinda confusing to me somehow. So do for each question (1 and 2), will I choose to write either a or b? Or will I write an essay that answers both a and b for each question?

International applicant here. So I wrote about both questions for my personal statement. I exceeded the word limit apparently for my personal statement. But I attended their webinar and they said it is OK to be over the word limit but anything beyond two pages would be too much.
I hope this is helpful.

I submitted for early application two weeks ago and still no II.
Their first Applicant Day is approaching... Nervous
Does anybody know when they usually send out their first II? Or it was already sent out?
Duke-nus is really my dream school. Finger-crossed.

 

[vaneyyik]

reapplicant here
just submitted the application for this cycle

I submitted for early application too! Hoping to get an Applicant Day invitation ><

Good luck to all who applied!

All the best!

 

[vaneyyik]

I submitted for early application two weeks ago and still no II.
Their first Applicant Day is approaching... Nervous
Does anybody know when they usually send out their first II? Or it was already sent out?
Duke-nus is really my dream school. Finger-crossed.

Haven’t heard back about applicant day yet either but since it’s only a week away I hope we’ll get some news by today/early this week. Don’t know anyone else applying so no idea if any have been sent out at all. Normally they would let us know 1-2 weeks in advance so this seems to be pushing it a bit.

 

[vaneyyik]

Got an invitation for Applicant Day (14/9) around 6:30pm today Will be interesting to see how teamLEAD will run on zoom

 

[howtobeadoc]

Got an invitation for Applicant Day (14/9) around 6:30pm today Will be interesting to see how teamLEAD will run on zoom

do you mind sharing your stats?

 

[speedysloth]

Submitted on September 1st and got an invitation to Application day (14/9) at 6 AM today (US eastern time) I didn't expect things to move so fast, kinda nervous

 

[vaneyyik]

do you mind sharing your stats?

yeah sure, I'm currently in my last term of undergrad without honours. probably on the younger side of applicants haha

gpa: 4 (very graciously converted by WES)
gamsat: 72 (weighted) equivalent to mid 90s percentile? i didn't take mcat
experience: several weeks full time shadowing in hospital/clinic, case competition finalist, uni society involvement, some extracurricular activities, a bit of volunteering and unfortunately no research/publications

 

[vaneyyik]

Submitted on September 1st and got an invitation to Application day (14/9) at 6 AM today (US eastern time) I didn't expect things to move so fast, kinda nervous

yay congrats! kinda scary that invites were only sent out a week before d-day ngl

is your applicant day held in US time or SG time?

 

[speedysloth]

yay congrats! kinda scary that invites were only sent out a week before d-day ngl

is your applicant day held in US time or SG time?

It will be in SG time, so 9PM to midnight on Sunday for me

 

[vaneyyik]

Can I pm people who also got II? Kinda nervous about the TeamLEAD part lol

not sure how the messaging system works here but feel free to pm me!

 

[speedysloth]

RIP that took 4 hours Make sure you have good internet connection people, my interviews were a bit muffled at times...not sure due to connectivity issues from my end or theirs. Overall it was fun though, good luck to everyone applying!

 

[vaneyyik]

RIP that took 4 hours Make sure you have good internet connection people, my interviews were a bit muffled at times...not sure due to connectivity issues from my end or theirs. Overall it was fun though, good luck to everyone applying!

glad you had a good experience! i'm about to do my interviews now haha hopefully my internet holds out!

all the best to everyone applying too

 

[ANNAINTL]

Just finished it!!! Not sure how it went as both of my interviewers were too nice to tell whether they liked me or not.
Did not get many questions though, like everyone just asked me for 15 minutes of questions and that was it. Not sure if it is good sign or bad sign. Finger-crossed

 

[ANNAINTL]

RIP that took 4 hours Make sure you have good internet connection people, my interviews were a bit muffled at times...not sure due to connectivity issues from my end or theirs. Overall it was fun though, good luck to everyone applying!

As you mentioned your interviews were a bit muffled at times, maybe we were in the same group in TeamLEAD lol. Just guessing

 

[vaneyyik]

finished group 2 interviews

my two interviewers were so different!! one was definitely tougher, i feel like i did alright in one and not so much in the other
i'm just hoping they take the interviews with a grain of salt...

 

[speedysloth]

finished group 2 interviews

my two interviewers were so different!! one was definitely tougher, i feel like i did alright in one and not so much in the other
i'm just hoping they take the interviews with a grain of salt...

Oh boi I do hope they do as well. I think I might've seemed a little overly excited One was def tougher for me too, much more case behavioral questions than the other one which was mostly just about my background and future plans! Welp, if it's meant to be, it will be. I'm sure you did well!

 

[tzehua97]

So happy to see this thread finally created. I submitted my MCAT score today. Hope to get updates from the school soon. Not sure will it be more applicants this time round.

 

[tzehua97]

Submitted on September 1st and got an invitation to Application day (14/9) at 6 AM today (US eastern time) I didn't expect things to move so fast, kinda nervous

Hi, do you mind sharing your stats?

 

[pizza_expensive]

Retaking MCAT in Jan! Anyone else here?

 

[tzehua97]

Retaking MCAT in Jan! Anyone else here?

I dun have the energy to review all the contents anymore I only got 502 but I submitted anyway

 

[pizza_expensive]

I dun have the energy to review all the contents anymore I only got 502 but I submitted anyway

Same I got a 502!
I have a 1st class honours from overseas uni but not much research exp besides some internships. No pubs either. So I think retaking might give me a better chance. How about you?

 

[tzehua97]

Same I got a 502!
I have a 1st class honours from overseas uni but not much research exp besides some internships. No pubs either. So I think retaking might give me a better chance. How about you?

Wow! I also got first class honours from Malaysia Taylor’s Uni in Biomedical Science with 1 year of research components. Not sure about the chance loll hope my essays and referee letters are good enough to be considered?

 

[pizza_expensive]

Wow! I also got first class honours from Malaysia Taylor’s Uni in Biomedical Science with 1 year of research components. Not sure about the chance loll hope my essays and referee letters are good enough to be considered?

Nice, please update if you get an interview invite?

 

[tzehua97]

Nice, please update if you get an interview invite?

Hopefully??? but I know chances are slim

 

[chinchin1103]

Retaking MCAT in Jan! Anyone else here?

I am taking the MCAT this January! I emailed the admissions office and they said I can submit my MCAT scores later than the deadline, because the pandemic has affected testing schedules.

 

[tzehua97]

Anyone know how Long does it takes for WES Report to reach after submission and payment ？

 

[speedysloth]

Hi, do you mind sharing your stats?

516 MCAT, 3.5 GPA (not converted, since it came from a US school), 3-ish years biomedical research, 3 pubs, some clinical & non-clinical volunteer. I'm also international so I'm not sure how that might play into my candidacy (or not) haha. Good luck with your app! From my experience, Duke-NUS has been very responsive/attentive to applicants, which is something I truly, truly appreciate. I hope you'll have a good experience with them too!

 

[samaraMS]

Hi all!! Anybody still in the process of getting your LORs? I swear they take so long and I've been procrastinating on my personal essays :I

 

[vaneyyik]

Anyone know how Long does it takes for WES Report to reach after submission and payment ？

my documents were received by wes around mid-June and evaluation was completed after two weeks. apparently wes were unable to print and mail out letters at that time so they sent an electronic evaluation to duke-nus which was accepted by them. i only just received my physical report in the mail a couple of days ago, which was dated 14 September haha.

so if mailing of reports has been resumed, then you'll likely receive it 2 weeks after they send it out. you'll be able to view an electronic version once they finish evaluation though.

 

[vaneyyik]

Hi all!! Anybody still in the process of getting your LORs? I swear they take so long and I've been procrastinating on my personal essays :I

i forced myself to get the letters done first because i knew they'd take a long time lol... imo the personal essays were a bigger mental hurdle for me to get through haha so the less procrastinating the better!!

 

[samaraMS]

i forced myself to get the letters done first because i knew they'd take a long time lol... imo the personal essays were a bigger mental hurdle for me to get through haha so the less procrastinating the better!!

Smh I really should get to it then. I really wish I didn't have to use my brain at work so I can reserve for writing the personal essays. Ahhhh excuses excuses.

 

[sheyfesh]

Just received an interview for the oct applicant day! International student. For those who also received the October invitation, please pm me if you’re interested in making a group chat discussing some topics to prepare for the interview!

 

[howtobeadoc]

Just received an interview for the oct applicant day! International student. For those who also received the October invitation, please pm me if you’re interested in making a group chat discussing some topics to prepare for the interview!

Congrats! Do you mind sharing stats?

 

[sheyfesh]

Congrats! Do you mind sharing stats?

Thanks!
3.93 518 (Canada)

 

[bgn]

I got an invite as well! I'm quite new to sdn, so I hope that you got my PM (or what I think is a PM)

 

[abyt0925]

I got an invite as well! I'm quite new to sdn, so I hope that you got my PM (or what I think is a PM)

Hii could you share stats?

 

[chinchin1103]

Hello,
Would you guys know if MD-PhD applications are reviewed separately from MD ones? I saw from another thread that Admissions focus more on research portfolio for MD-PhD applicants.
Thanks!

 

[bgn]

Hii could you share stats?

Sure. 3.7GPA, 514 MCAT. Most of my extracurriculars are volunteering positions.

Hello,
Would you guys know if MD-PhD applications are reviewed separately from MD ones? I saw from another thread that Admissions focus more on research portfolio for MD-PhD applicants.
Thanks!

From what I understand from the Q&A sessions I've attended, MD-PhD students are placed in the same pool as MD students, as in they need to be accepted into the MD program. After that they are placed into a PhD admissions cycle where they have additional interviews to determine acceptance into the PhD program. Best thing to do would be to ask the admissions team if you have any specific questions, they're very responsive and quite friendly.

 

[Sandpaperdragonheart]

I am taking the MCAT this January! I emailed the admissions office and they said I can submit my MCAT scores later than the deadline, because the pandemic has affected testing schedules.

Am hoping to retake in Jan 2021 too! Re-applicant as well. Seems like AAMC is releasing the exam dates later this year due to Covid. So glad to hear that admissions office is ok for later submission of MCAT scores! All the best!

 

[Cyberdoc2077]

Hi All!

Current MS1 support here, hope everyone is doing great. I would try my best to answer question, if any.
Dont stress too much and all the best

 

[speedysloth]

Hi All!

Current MS1 support here, hope everyone is doing great. I would try my best to answer question, if any.
Dont stress too much and all the best

How are you liking Duke-NUS so far? Do you have time to pursue other activities outside of class (volunteer, sports, hobbies, etc)? How did you stop yourself from checking your email every 5 minutes and going crazy while waiting (or is it just me?)

 

[vaneyyik]

Hi All!

Current MS1 support here, hope everyone is doing great. I would try my best to answer question, if any.
Dont stress too much and all the best

thanks pretty much the same questions as speedysloth haha but would you happen to know how many offers were released for early admission? :0

and i hope starting MS1 in the midst of covid wasn't too bad!!

 

[tzehua97]

Still waiting for my WES Report . Do you guys have any experience, will the cgpa usually be increase or decrease after the evaluation