Listen on Spotify: Deep Dive into Duke Medical: An Interview with Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean of Admissions [Episode 593]
Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean for Admissions at Duke University School of Medicine joins us to discuss how applicants can earn a spot in this highly competitive program. Dr. Yee walks listeners through the unique curriculum which focuses on integrating basic science and clinical experiences from the first year. In addition to strong academic performance, Duke looks for clinical and research experiences, as well as a vision for the future in medicine. Dr. Yee gives an inside look at what applicants can expect from the MMI interviews.
Our guest today is Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean for Admissions at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Yee earned his bachelor’s and MD at the University of Hawaii. He then did his residency in pediatrics at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. From 1996 to 2007, he practiced and taught pediatric emergency medicine in Hawaii and California before taking a position at Duke University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics Division of Emergency Medicine, and a Pediatric Emergency Room Physician. He is also Duke Medical’s Associate Dean for Admissions and a returning guest on Admissions Straight Talk.
The logic behind this is that your goal in medicine is to have a positive impact on the lives of others. What we’re trying to do is allow you to get early clinical experiences as well as to integrate the basic sciences within your clinical exposures. Literally from day one, you’re learning how to do point of care ultrasound, and so you’re learning the relevant anatomy and plus you’re learning what you need to do with the ultrasound in order to potentially diagnose a specific condition.
From day one, you’re learning how to do those sorts of things. I think it helps you to process and integrate a lot of the multitude of basic science minutia that you have to learn because you can actually apply it in a rural case scenario, and so it makes it much easier for you to understand and say, “Okay, I’ve seen that before.” Then when you get to the second year, you’re in the clinical world a lot earlier than most other places.
Part of what you do when you sign up for medicine is like you didn’t sign up to sit in the classroom. You signed up to go in the hospital and see patients. You’re doing that early on full-time from August of your second year. I think from a motivational sense, that that helps. I know when I was a med student, my lack of motivation was because we were sitting in a classroom and not in the hospital. Then once you got in the hospital, you go, “Hey, this is really cool.”
That’s part of it. Then also, when you’re in the clinical world early on, again, you can really apply what you learn in the basic science world and how that really affects people and what you’re doing at the bedside. Then the third year is much different because I think people also need to know you have to have an appreciation for the integration of the way research and clinical medicine work hand in hand with each other. One cannot advance without the other.
There’s this synthesis of two that improves patient care. If you look at it historically, there’s always been somebody whose not really happenstance, but occasional, by accident, they found something in the basic science world, but then they move out to something in the clinical world.
That’s the goal here, is by filling out those essay questions, you should have a better understanding as to why you’re doing this and how you’re going to go about doing this. Maybe this helps mold your vision as to where you see yourself in medicine. That’s why all those questions are structured there. You would think that if you fill out all those essays, if you get interviewed not just by us, but someone else, you’re going to be ready.
We’re asking you to share with us your story. That’s an open question there, but it’s the opportunity for a lot of our applicants to discuss anything they want. A lot of them talk about where they grew up or who influenced them during their careers. It’s a golden opportunity to add more information to your application that’s not just out there in the AMCAS personal or in the AMCAS experiences.
We talk about advocacy. As a physician, you have to help aid the voice of your patients to figure out and navigate the hospital system. You’re going to have to be able to, where have you done that before and what did you learn from that?
In some respects, if you use AI to frame your essay, that’s almost like asking your English teacher or your roommate or someone else, “How can I make this structure a little bit better?” The goal here is sometimes AI can achieve the sincerity, the vision, and there’s a sense of humanity and humility that you can have within that essay. There are limits to what’s going on.
I’m going to bring in the music analogy. You can use a mechanical drummer. I can listen. If the drummer’s live, there’s always a little bit of a difference between what’s there. The same with the essays. A lot of times they’re almost formatted similarly in terms of the way they’re structured. I guess it’s okay just as long as you’re able to convey your message, but a lot of times, I guess it would be to don’t overdo it with the AI. There has to be some of your identity imprinted on that essay versus having AI do the whole thing.
Also, it’s a skill that cannot be taught. As wild as that may seem, but you can’t force someone to care for someone. It doesn’t work. You could ask my colleagues in the clinical world, if there’s a student that doesn’t want to… It’s like, what are you doing here? It’s like, first of all, you’re wasting the patient’s time, which may be potentially finite. You’re wasting your time and you’re wasting our time, and so this isn’t the right place for you.
We’re looking for people who have shown the ability to care for others, and that’s probably one of the more principle things there. Because of that, it’s not just based on numbers. It’s based on experiences and things that you’ve done. A lot of it will depend on your distance and travel. Have you had to endure a lot of obstacles in order to get to this specific point? Have you worked in the fast food industry or a restaurant industry or retail? You develop that skill in customer service and being able to juggle multiple tasks there.
These things are also important in addition to the other parts, like you have to have clinical experience. Otherwise, the first question is going to come out of the reviewing committee to say, “Well, how do we know they like patients if they’ve never worked with patients before?” Then another key component for us that may be a little bit more prominent than at other places, again, you have to have some level of research experience. You have to have at least done something.
Again, if you’re going in that third year, it’s like, well, what’s your plan and what’s your vision for what you’re going to do during that third year? If you’ve never done research before, it’s like, well, how do you know you even like research?
That should never ever happen in your application. Another thing is going to the essays, a lot of times if you just write about yourself, every sentence begins with an I and… I guess we can tell it’s not written by AI, but the way it’s like, “I did this, I did that.”
Then even for the personal statement, it shouldn’t be like a laundry list or a rehash of the AMCAS experience list. There should be something different there. Part of your goal with any of the essays is to develop a connection or a relationship with the reader. A lot of times people don’t do that. Sometimes I think some of the most egregious statements I’ve seen in the essays is one person said, “I don’t know why you’re asking me to write this other essay when I’ve already answered the same question before.” That was all they wrote down and that was easy. It’s like, why are you even doing this if you’re writing something like that? They should have had an appreciation for what we’re trying to help them with. Those are probably some of the more common mistakes there. I think other things, again, if you’re applying for med school, you have to have some clinical experience. You can’t just walk in and expect to just apply out the blue. That doesn’t work. You have to have done something with patients during the course of your application.
The shadowing is more passive for most. It’s not always exclusively that, but for the most part it is once you’re observing the interaction. There’s still a lot to be learned by watching that interaction. You can definitely obtain a lot of information from that. The other part we look at is people who have actually been a medical assistant, a CNA or a scribe, those sorts of things. Then you’re a little bit more involved in the process. Or EMS, you have to ask the patient questions and figure out what’s going on and you have to talk to them. That’s a really important skill. If you can’t ask a patient questions, figure out what’s going on, you might want to choose a different career. Again, it’s all about working with patients and putting patients first and really cherishing that patient-provider relationship. That’s the most important part about the clinical experiences. Again, you have to have a lot of that. I think for us, another aspect that seems to work is the clinical research coordinator. A lot of times, granted, you probably have to have graduated from undergrad and you’re going to probably commit to taking a year or two off.
What happens in that timeframe is again, that’s like the third year of medical school for us, is like you’re enrolling patients in studies, you’re seeing the effects of these studies on their wellbeing, and so you appreciate, again, what’s going on in the research world and the clinical world. We found that to be extremely valuable in terms of how we view those applicants. You can even tell in the essays there’s another level of maturity and understanding of what they’re doing because they’ve been out there in the hospital and working with patients.
We found that to be extremely valuable in terms of who ends up matriculating here.
You have two rotations in which it’s like a traditional interview. You have a team station which involves two rotations, one in which you’re providing instructions and one in which you’re receiving instructions. Then we have one station in which there’s a video component, so you watch a video, the interaction of two students, and then you have to offer your and potential solutions to what’s going on there.
I guess first of all, having done this for so long, are you truly 100% sincere in your letter of intent or your letter of interest? I think a lot of times the ones that are, are far overshadowed by the ones are not. I only believe people that they’re coming here when they show up for the first day of school. Even if they’re a commit to enroll, you got to show up for that first day of school and I’ll believe you that you’re saying, “Yes, I’m going to be at Duke.” Other than that, say, “Okay, that’s good to know,” but I’m not going to, again, believe you.
It’s happened quite a bit. I remember there was some instances, for instance, a couple of years back there was one person who was from a state that we don’t ordinarily get a lot of people from, and she was a spot in the waitlist. We could say, “Well, we can offer you a spot.” She had sent a letter of intent, “If I’m accepted at Duke, I’m going there 100%.” We said, “Well, okay, let’s see what happens here.” Then so we offered the acceptance and she was happy about, but within 48 hours she had flipped and gone somewhere else. That happens quite a bit.
People always flip. Even there are other people that say, “I’m going to Duke 100%,” when we’re pulling people off the waitlist, which doesn’t happen very often. So we take them off the waitlist and then it’s like, “Well, I have this other offer from this other place and I want to see what Duke will do to match.” I’m going, it’s May… Or now it’s not March. What you have is what you’re going to get, and you either take it or leave it. That’s why the letters of intent, it’s okay, but it’s not 100%.
There are a lot of people applying this year. Again, the word to the wise is always don’t wait until the last minute, but we’re going to look at everybody until the deadline of November 15th. If you don’t submit it by then, obviously you missed a deadline.
My guess would be the week of Martin Luther King Day would be our last week of interviewing. That’s just like a rough estimate as we potentially might end. My guess would probably be January 23rd would probably be the last day. We still have flexibility to extend into the following, but I don’t know. We’re definitely not going to extend into February.
In theory, we could ask you on January 17th if you’d be willing to interview for January 21, 22, or 23. People shouldn’t give up hope literally until the end. Obviously, if we’re done interviewing, then you know that you’re probably not going to get an interview spot. But up until that time, there’s still an opportunity. Even when we were doing that in person, it became maybe a little bit more difficult for some people if we got a last minute cancellation. One, if you would have to book a flight at the last minute. It is a little bit easier right now in the virtual world if we’re pulling somebody at the last minute.
And now, I think a lot of times people say, “Well, why are you graduating on time and going straight to med school? Why don’t you take a year or two off?” I think there’s a lot of value to taking the gap here just because it’s a chance to do stuff you might not have the opportunity to do. I know I was always very envious of the people who had taken gap years when I was a medical student because I knew that would never happen for me, which was true, but they had the opportunity to travel or do other things that will not ever take place for me. It’s something to be valued to take time off instead of going straight through.
Again, it’s your clinical experiences, your research work. Look at our essay questions and really have an understanding as to why they’re being asked and how you should answer them, and how those essay questions are going to help you in the future in terms of your thought process. Again, it’s preparation and then we’ve talked about before and vision for the future. Where do you see yourself going and what do you see yourself doing and how are you planning on going about that? All that should be visible within the application.
It’s really important to just jot down a few notes and when you eventually get to the point that you’re actually going to have to write things, it’s like, wow, I’ve got this whole book here of potential opportunities to talk about.
People should be willing to talk about anything in the essays. This is your opportunity to discuss and present other topics that may not be asked anywhere else. We’ve tried to make the essays open forum, and so don’t be afraid to talk about anything in the essays because we need to know who you are and understand who you are. This is an applicant’s opportunity to really discuss things that they might have not discussed with anybody else, but would be valuable to our assessment of them in terms of their ability to care for somebody and their potential success as a medical student and beyond.
This article was originally posted on blog.accepted.com.
Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean for Admissions at Duke University School of Medicine joins us to discuss how applicants can earn a spot in this highly competitive program. Dr. Yee walks listeners through the unique curriculum which focuses on integrating basic science and clinical experiences from the first year. In addition to strong academic performance, Duke looks for clinical and research experiences, as well as a vision for the future in medicine. Dr. Yee gives an inside look at what applicants can expect from the MMI interviews.
Show Notes
Welcome to the 593rd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Are you ready to apply to your dream medical schools? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted’s Med School Admissions quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/medquiz, complete the quiz, and you’ll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus, it’s all free.Our guest today is Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean for Admissions at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Yee earned his bachelor’s and MD at the University of Hawaii. He then did his residency in pediatrics at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. From 1996 to 2007, he practiced and taught pediatric emergency medicine in Hawaii and California before taking a position at Duke University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics Division of Emergency Medicine, and a Pediatric Emergency Room Physician. He is also Duke Medical’s Associate Dean for Admissions and a returning guest on Admissions Straight Talk.
Dr. Yee, welcome back to Admissions Straight Talk. [2:09]
Thank you. I appreciate the invitation.Can you give us an overview of Duke Medical’s highly distinctive curriculum? [2:18]
Our curriculum has been much different for a number of decades. The way it’s structured is your first year is your basic science year. Your second year is your clinical year. Your third year is a year that’s dedicated to scholarly activity in which we are expecting you to have a first authored paper, at least a significant amount of research, and/or an advanced degree. Then the fourth year is your senior year in which you have a lot of your senior electives, and then you’re also doing away electives.The logic behind this is that your goal in medicine is to have a positive impact on the lives of others. What we’re trying to do is allow you to get early clinical experiences as well as to integrate the basic sciences within your clinical exposures. Literally from day one, you’re learning how to do point of care ultrasound, and so you’re learning the relevant anatomy and plus you’re learning what you need to do with the ultrasound in order to potentially diagnose a specific condition.
From day one, you’re learning how to do those sorts of things. I think it helps you to process and integrate a lot of the multitude of basic science minutia that you have to learn because you can actually apply it in a rural case scenario, and so it makes it much easier for you to understand and say, “Okay, I’ve seen that before.” Then when you get to the second year, you’re in the clinical world a lot earlier than most other places.
Part of what you do when you sign up for medicine is like you didn’t sign up to sit in the classroom. You signed up to go in the hospital and see patients. You’re doing that early on full-time from August of your second year. I think from a motivational sense, that that helps. I know when I was a med student, my lack of motivation was because we were sitting in a classroom and not in the hospital. Then once you got in the hospital, you go, “Hey, this is really cool.”
That’s part of it. Then also, when you’re in the clinical world early on, again, you can really apply what you learn in the basic science world and how that really affects people and what you’re doing at the bedside. Then the third year is much different because I think people also need to know you have to have an appreciation for the integration of the way research and clinical medicine work hand in hand with each other. One cannot advance without the other.
There’s this synthesis of two that improves patient care. If you look at it historically, there’s always been somebody whose not really happenstance, but occasional, by accident, they found something in the basic science world, but then they move out to something in the clinical world.
Is this the story of penicillin? [5:16]
Yeah. You could go on and on about all the radiology. There’s countless items like that. Then that’s why the third year is there, so you can appreciate this is how medicine advances, this is how patient care improves. Then your fourth year is your senior year.I assume that would be your more advanced specialties? [5:37]
Correct. You have to do critical care and you have your away rotations and those sorts of things.You mentioned that during the first year, you start clinical work, but it’s primarily didactic. Is it still primarily in the classroom? [5:47]
No, you’re actually still in the hospital a decent amount. Not full time, but on a weekly basis you’re probably in the hospital maybe at least once a week, if not a couple of times a week. Again, you see what you’re applying.I would assume that the didactic portion is still a little bit more practical than perhaps didactic portions in other curricula? [6:12]
Potentially, yes.You mentioned the third year is for research. I’m guessing that the majority of Duke medical students use it to pursue a particular research interest, but you can also get an MPH in that year or go for an MBA or something like that. Is that true? [6:31]
That is correct, yes. It’s your chance to choose your own destiny. I talk about this all the time with our applicants. What it’s like to have that opportunity to choose, especially as a med student, you may never get that sort of opportunity ever for you to say, “Okay, I’ve learned all these things. Where do I see my career going? Or what sort of questions do I need to answer before I graduate?” This is that opportunity. A lot of other schools, you don’t have that.No, they definitely don’t. It’s much more structured.
Duke’s secondary application is one of the more thorough and demanding secondary applications out there. What are you trying to glean from this very comprehensive secondary with eight questions? [7:24]
It’s been like this for quite a while, and I think we’ve actually increased the number of questions over my tenure of time here. There are a number of objectives here. One, I guess the simplest objective is if you’re willing to put in the effort to complete the essays, we’re going to read them and see who you are. If you’re not willing to fill out the essays, maybe this is not the best place for you. People, again, they make their own choices. You either fill them out or not fill them out. Then if you’re willing to fill them out, what sort of things do you learn about yourself and about the actual admissions process?That’s the goal here, is by filling out those essay questions, you should have a better understanding as to why you’re doing this and how you’re going to go about doing this. Maybe this helps mold your vision as to where you see yourself in medicine. That’s why all those questions are structured there. You would think that if you fill out all those essays, if you get interviewed not just by us, but someone else, you’re going to be ready.
We’re asking you to share with us your story. That’s an open question there, but it’s the opportunity for a lot of our applicants to discuss anything they want. A lot of them talk about where they grew up or who influenced them during their careers. It’s a golden opportunity to add more information to your application that’s not just out there in the AMCAS personal or in the AMCAS experiences.
We talk about advocacy. As a physician, you have to help aid the voice of your patients to figure out and navigate the hospital system. You’re going to have to be able to, where have you done that before and what did you learn from that?
We had some guests over for dinner a couple of weeks ago, and our guest works in a social service role. She got a thank you card, a very nice, beautifully written thank you note from somebody. A few weeks later, she got the identical, beautifully written, very flowery thank you note. She surmised that they were both written by AI, which took away a little bit of the gloss from the beautiful writing.
One of the changes that has taken place since we last spoke is the availability of AI. Other than the risks that AI might produce the same essay for both applicants, what do you think of applicants using AI in drafting their essays? [10:04]
This is a great question, and we know that we’ve been looking at this.In some respects, if you use AI to frame your essay, that’s almost like asking your English teacher or your roommate or someone else, “How can I make this structure a little bit better?” The goal here is sometimes AI can achieve the sincerity, the vision, and there’s a sense of humanity and humility that you can have within that essay. There are limits to what’s going on.
I’m going to bring in the music analogy. You can use a mechanical drummer. I can listen. If the drummer’s live, there’s always a little bit of a difference between what’s there. The same with the essays. A lot of times they’re almost formatted similarly in terms of the way they’re structured. I guess it’s okay just as long as you’re able to convey your message, but a lot of times, I guess it would be to don’t overdo it with the AI. There has to be some of your identity imprinted on that essay versus having AI do the whole thing.
Again, there is a risk that you might see the same essay twice if you rely on it entirely, but you need to get yourself into those essays.
Question number seven, I think is a new question at Duke, and it says:
“Your career in medicine may place increasing demands for your time. In medical school how will you balance your educational commitment and your outside interests?”
Why did you feel the need to introduce this question this year? [12:33]
Every year we change our essays around, and that should be no secret to the applicant pool here, that even if you pre-write things, there’s going to be a little bit of a difference. We felt that wellness is also part of being able to tolerate the med school system, and you have to be able to be to ask for help and know when to ask for help and show a level of maturity in terms of how you’re going to approach whatever dilemma that you’re going to be facing. That sets part of it without giving too much of the answer.Duke Medical School has rather stratospheric stats. They’re way up there. Median MCAT of 520, median total GPA of 3.92 with a median science GPA of 3.9. I’m quoting stats from the MSAR. Per MSAR, again, you did receive a total of 8,431 applications last cycle, interviewed 633 and matriculated 118. Given the volume of applications and the demands of your application and the fact that at least some are admitted with meaningfully lower stats, you can’t just be looking at stats. What makes a difference between the competitive application and the persuasive, compelling application? [13:32]
Yes, great question. We review all elements of the application, so your experiences… Essays in some respects have more value than your MCAT or your GPA or in a lot of different cases because part of what we’re looking for is your ability to care for people because that is an innate trait that cannot be taught. That’s one thing. You have to walk in these doors here with that ability to want to care for people and a proven track record of being able to take care of people, otherwise we won’t look at you.Also, it’s a skill that cannot be taught. As wild as that may seem, but you can’t force someone to care for someone. It doesn’t work. You could ask my colleagues in the clinical world, if there’s a student that doesn’t want to… It’s like, what are you doing here? It’s like, first of all, you’re wasting the patient’s time, which may be potentially finite. You’re wasting your time and you’re wasting our time, and so this isn’t the right place for you.
We’re looking for people who have shown the ability to care for others, and that’s probably one of the more principle things there. Because of that, it’s not just based on numbers. It’s based on experiences and things that you’ve done. A lot of it will depend on your distance and travel. Have you had to endure a lot of obstacles in order to get to this specific point? Have you worked in the fast food industry or a restaurant industry or retail? You develop that skill in customer service and being able to juggle multiple tasks there.
These things are also important in addition to the other parts, like you have to have clinical experience. Otherwise, the first question is going to come out of the reviewing committee to say, “Well, how do we know they like patients if they’ve never worked with patients before?” Then another key component for us that may be a little bit more prominent than at other places, again, you have to have some level of research experience. You have to have at least done something.
Again, if you’re going in that third year, it’s like, well, what’s your plan and what’s your vision for what you’re going to do during that third year? If you’ve never done research before, it’s like, well, how do you know you even like research?
And if you haven’t been in a clinic, how do you like clinical medicine? [16:42]
Again, just from the numbers standpoint, there’s a wide range in terms of our MCAT for. This past year was 501 to 527. For 2023, it was like 500 to 526.I thought 500 was the cutoff. Don’t you screen it? [17:13]
Yeah, usually 500. We haven’t found that they would be successful within the curriculum just because of the pace of the first year, but the people who are accepted succeed, so they’re able to perform quite well.You’re very highly experienced in Duke admissions. What are some of the common mistakes you see? [17:54]
Well, one of the things I’ve seen recently is they do a cut and paste of the essays and sometimes they put the same essay for a different question.That should never ever happen in your application. Another thing is going to the essays, a lot of times if you just write about yourself, every sentence begins with an I and… I guess we can tell it’s not written by AI, but the way it’s like, “I did this, I did that.”
Then even for the personal statement, it shouldn’t be like a laundry list or a rehash of the AMCAS experience list. There should be something different there. Part of your goal with any of the essays is to develop a connection or a relationship with the reader. A lot of times people don’t do that. Sometimes I think some of the most egregious statements I’ve seen in the essays is one person said, “I don’t know why you’re asking me to write this other essay when I’ve already answered the same question before.” That was all they wrote down and that was easy. It’s like, why are you even doing this if you’re writing something like that? They should have had an appreciation for what we’re trying to help them with. Those are probably some of the more common mistakes there. I think other things, again, if you’re applying for med school, you have to have some clinical experience. You can’t just walk in and expect to just apply out the blue. That doesn’t work. You have to have done something with patients during the course of your application.
I noticed that shadowing experience is recommended by Duke. How important is it, and how much of it is enough? Some people that I’ve interviewed say that shadowing experience can be almost a sign of privilege because you have to have the connections to a doctor in order to have a shadowing experience. [20:39]
The way we view it, you have to have patient contact hours. Then there’s active patient contact hours and passive patient contact hours.The shadowing is more passive for most. It’s not always exclusively that, but for the most part it is once you’re observing the interaction. There’s still a lot to be learned by watching that interaction. You can definitely obtain a lot of information from that. The other part we look at is people who have actually been a medical assistant, a CNA or a scribe, those sorts of things. Then you’re a little bit more involved in the process. Or EMS, you have to ask the patient questions and figure out what’s going on and you have to talk to them. That’s a really important skill. If you can’t ask a patient questions, figure out what’s going on, you might want to choose a different career. Again, it’s all about working with patients and putting patients first and really cherishing that patient-provider relationship. That’s the most important part about the clinical experiences. Again, you have to have a lot of that. I think for us, another aspect that seems to work is the clinical research coordinator. A lot of times, granted, you probably have to have graduated from undergrad and you’re going to probably commit to taking a year or two off.
What happens in that timeframe is again, that’s like the third year of medical school for us, is like you’re enrolling patients in studies, you’re seeing the effects of these studies on their wellbeing, and so you appreciate, again, what’s going on in the research world and the clinical world. We found that to be extremely valuable in terms of how we view those applicants. You can even tell in the essays there’s another level of maturity and understanding of what they’re doing because they’ve been out there in the hospital and working with patients.
We found that to be extremely valuable in terms of who ends up matriculating here.
Are you looking for diverse patient contact experiences? [24:06]
Well, a lot of it’s both the quality and the duration of the experiences, and it’s also on the applicant to describe what they did because if they only write some short little blurb, “I did this for…” Let’s say you had something listed for 1,000 hours, but they put this short little note there that, and so we’re looking at it going, “Okay, well was this a valuable thing or were they just checking the box here?” Or you could have a short term thing, but then you gain tremendous value from it. I think one thing that’s overlooked a lot of time is hospice because that’s like a totally different thing.It’s also hard. Emotionally, it’s very difficult. [24:49]
Definitely, it takes you out of your comfort zone. Again, it’s a one-on-one interaction, and I think you probably in some respects have a better appreciation for the power of the human spirit because you’re working with someone in a scenario where you can’t operate, can’t do a diagnostic procedure, you can’t give a different med, nothing’s going to change. And so, how are you going to work with this person?What is the virtual MMI like at Duke? [25:46]
It goes back to the pandemic year, which was I think was 2020, in which fortunately we have a tremendous group here that was able to… We may have been one of the only places we’re able to do this, the virtual MMI, the same as we had done it in person. The way it’s structured, there are 10 stations, roughly 10 minutes a piece. During those 10 stations, you have five scenarios in which you’re going to be given, and then you’re going to have to answer that question.You have two rotations in which it’s like a traditional interview. You have a team station which involves two rotations, one in which you’re providing instructions and one in which you’re receiving instructions. Then we have one station in which there’s a video component, so you watch a video, the interaction of two students, and then you have to offer your and potential solutions to what’s going on there.
And it’s all virtual? [26:49]
Yes.Are there actors or is it something that’s read? [26:55]
No, actors. You have your interviewers. I guess the only actors per se are the students in the video, but they’re just regular students.Does Duke consider letters of intent or update letters at any point in the process? And if so, at what phase? [27:23]
Yeah, that’s a great question, and we get asked that a lot.I guess first of all, having done this for so long, are you truly 100% sincere in your letter of intent or your letter of interest? I think a lot of times the ones that are, are far overshadowed by the ones are not. I only believe people that they’re coming here when they show up for the first day of school. Even if they’re a commit to enroll, you got to show up for that first day of school and I’ll believe you that you’re saying, “Yes, I’m going to be at Duke.” Other than that, say, “Okay, that’s good to know,” but I’m not going to, again, believe you.
It’s happened quite a bit. I remember there was some instances, for instance, a couple of years back there was one person who was from a state that we don’t ordinarily get a lot of people from, and she was a spot in the waitlist. We could say, “Well, we can offer you a spot.” She had sent a letter of intent, “If I’m accepted at Duke, I’m going there 100%.” We said, “Well, okay, let’s see what happens here.” Then so we offered the acceptance and she was happy about, but within 48 hours she had flipped and gone somewhere else. That happens quite a bit.
People always flip. Even there are other people that say, “I’m going to Duke 100%,” when we’re pulling people off the waitlist, which doesn’t happen very often. So we take them off the waitlist and then it’s like, “Well, I have this other offer from this other place and I want to see what Duke will do to match.” I’m going, it’s May… Or now it’s not March. What you have is what you’re going to get, and you either take it or leave it. That’s why the letters of intent, it’s okay, but it’s not 100%.
What about update letters? [29:35]
Yeah, those are extremely valuable. I think that all applicants, if there’s something that happens they should definitely send in because that’s really important when you’re actually still in the application process or when we’re looking at people for waitlists.This show is scheduled to air in September. Would you advise applicants who have not submitted their primary application by then, but still before the deadline to use the next year to strengthen their application and apply in 2025, or should they go ahead and apply now? [30:12]
We don’t roll. We’re single decisions. In theory, and you’re still going to be considered for 2025’s matriculating class, but the goal is, yeah, you probably need to get your application in sooner rather than later. Because right now, just as a current update, we opened our cycle roughly 45 days ago, I think, probably I think July 11-ish, 12-ish. Right now, we have 8,332 applications from AMCAS which exceeds what we had in 2024, and we’re still open for AMCAS until October 15th. Then if you look at the number of applications of people who’ve already submitted their essays, we’re already over 4,000. Last year, the final number was around 5,500.There are a lot of people applying this year. Again, the word to the wise is always don’t wait until the last minute, but we’re going to look at everybody until the deadline of November 15th. If you don’t submit it by then, obviously you missed a deadline.
If you’re listening to this in September and you have an option to either submit in September or in October before the deadline, is there still a hope? Is there a chance, or are there other options? [31:53]
There always is, yeah. Yeah, we go through everybody, so there’s always a chance there to. Granted though that the chances diminish as the interview spots get filled. Just be forewarned about that.When should the applicants who have submitted their secondary to Duke and not heard from you assume that they’re not being invited to interview? [32:27]
Probably the last week that we were actually interviewing, because a lot of times we get last minute cancellations, and because it’s a virtual element, we can still ask somebody the week before, “Are you interested in taking that spot?”My guess would be the week of Martin Luther King Day would be our last week of interviewing. That’s just like a rough estimate as we potentially might end. My guess would probably be January 23rd would probably be the last day. We still have flexibility to extend into the following, but I don’t know. We’re definitely not going to extend into February.
In theory, we could ask you on January 17th if you’d be willing to interview for January 21, 22, or 23. People shouldn’t give up hope literally until the end. Obviously, if we’re done interviewing, then you know that you’re probably not going to get an interview spot. But up until that time, there’s still an opportunity. Even when we were doing that in person, it became maybe a little bit more difficult for some people if we got a last minute cancellation. One, if you would have to book a flight at the last minute. It is a little bit easier right now in the virtual world if we’re pulling somebody at the last minute.
I’m so glad you say that. I’ve said this many times before. There’s this meme out there that if you don’t have an interview invitation by Thanksgiving, you’re toast, forget it. You’re not going to get invited. I have asked this question of so many medical schools and not one has said they stop interviewing at Thanksgiving, by the end of November for all intents and purposes. [34:22]
Oh, no, I don’t think that’s realistic.On a forward-looking note, what advice would you give to medical school applicants planning to apply to Duke Medical? Not this cycle anymore, but in 25-26 or 26-27. And what percentage of your medical students go straight from college to medical school as opposed to taking a gap year? [34:42]
For the last question, traditionally we’ve always been 25% straight through, 25% one year, 25% two years, 25% greater than two years. And so you look at our age, we’re hovering around 24. It’s not like the 21, 22. It’s definitely a decent… It reflects the two-year gap year sort of thing. That is pretty standard now. Things have evolved over time because I know when I was a med student, if you had taken a gap year before, it’s like you got to be crazy. It’s like, why aren’t you going straight through?And now, I think a lot of times people say, “Well, why are you graduating on time and going straight to med school? Why don’t you take a year or two off?” I think there’s a lot of value to taking the gap here just because it’s a chance to do stuff you might not have the opportunity to do. I know I was always very envious of the people who had taken gap years when I was a medical student because I knew that would never happen for me, which was true, but they had the opportunity to travel or do other things that will not ever take place for me. It’s something to be valued to take time off instead of going straight through.
It’s certainly more common. It’s not only the experience of the gap year itself, which can be very valuable, but it frequently means that you’ll have a more well-rounded, richer undergraduate experience gap year because you don’t have the pressure to get everything done for your junior year. [36:39]
I think people don’t really realize that because for instance, if you’re applying the same year you’re graduating, it’s like you have your senior thesis, you’ve got all these other things that are going to be competing for your time, but if you just graduate first, take care of all that and then apply, you can devote all of your energies to the application process so your energies aren’t divided. It’s full focus, full focus. I think the end result is always going to be a much more positive thing rather than a negative thing if you’re spread in all different directions.Right. Let’s go back to my first question. I think we’ve been focusing on the second one, but the first one was, if somebody is planning whether they’re in college or out of it already, and they’re not planning to apply this cycle, they’re planning ahead to the 2025 or 2026 cycle, what would be your recommendations for them? [37:35]
It’s preparation and organization, because when we look at the AMCAS application, you can tell if things are scattered or done at the last minute. It has to be a focused approach to the application process. A lot of times, you can’t do that in a year. There has to have been something that’s been happening prior to just this one year and everything has to coalesce and eventually get to this point that, okay, this application looks like they’re ready for what’s going to happen next.Again, it’s your clinical experiences, your research work. Look at our essay questions and really have an understanding as to why they’re being asked and how you should answer them, and how those essay questions are going to help you in the future in terms of your thought process. Again, it’s preparation and then we’ve talked about before and vision for the future. Where do you see yourself going and what do you see yourself doing and how are you planning on going about that? All that should be visible within the application.
One of the things that I recommend strongly as do most of the consultants at Accepted, is that when you’re having these experiences, whether it’s research or it’s clinical exposure or non-clinical community service, or it’s just a hobby that you genuinely love, to journal and make notes. That way, you will be better prepared – talking about preparation – to write your essays. You can organize your thoughts more easily. You’ll have a treasure trove of experience to draw from along with your reactions to those experiences at the time, so it’s not just, “I did this, I did that, I did this, I did that.” What did it mean to you? How did it shape your vision for the future, as Dr. Yee is talking? That step in the year or two before you apply, or even three, can be really, really helpful when it comes time to write those essays. [39:08]
Yeah, and it’s a superb point that you’ve made that a lot of times we’ve suggested to the applicant pools, you do your clinical rotation, you should again, keep a journal there because a lot of times that patient experience could be your next essay.It’s really important to just jot down a few notes and when you eventually get to the point that you’re actually going to have to write things, it’s like, wow, I’ve got this whole book here of potential opportunities to talk about.
You can also review those notes before you go into an interview and you’ll know what to talk about in the interview. [40:48]
Exactly. It goes back to, again, preparation and organization.Is there any question you would’ve liked me to ask you? [41:04]
Yeah, let’s go back to the essays.People should be willing to talk about anything in the essays. This is your opportunity to discuss and present other topics that may not be asked anywhere else. We’ve tried to make the essays open forum, and so don’t be afraid to talk about anything in the essays because we need to know who you are and understand who you are. This is an applicant’s opportunity to really discuss things that they might have not discussed with anybody else, but would be valuable to our assessment of them in terms of their ability to care for somebody and their potential success as a medical student and beyond.
Right. You remind me of a conversation I recently had with a medical school applicant who had suffered a drop in grades in his junior year. This individual, she enrolled in a post-bacc program, and the first semester did poorly, the second semester, did fine, but I said, “What happened?” She said, “Well, in the post-bacc program, there was a medical issue.” She was in a car accident. In terms of college, “Why the drop in grades in college?” She just said, “Well, life happened.”
I said, “Did you discuss what happened in your application?” She was also a reapplicant. She said, “No.” I said, “Well, how are they going to know context for your drop in grades?” She hemmed and hawed, and I said, “You know, admissions application readers are human beings too. Life happens to them also. And if you provide the context, then they can evaluate,” because her first two years were excellent in terms of grades. Then they can evaluate your record overall and know what happened. Life happened, but remember, they have life happening to them also.
So listeners, remember that application readers are human beings too. They’re not robots. [42:01]
Yeah. If you were homeless, you came from a family that was split for various reasons, all that becomes important because a lot of times, what if your patient’s homeless? You go, “Well, when I was homeless, this is how we were able to get through this,” and so I’m going to help use my experiences to help you get through your experience. That’s where there ends up being value to… It’s beyond the numbers. These sorts of things are absolutely critical to aiding your patients.They also are important to the application evaluator in evaluating your grades. If you, let’s say, did great the first two years, then your father lost his job, who was supporting you, and suddenly you were working to support the family, not just yourself but the family, maybe a full-time job while going to school full time, that’s really valuable to know in terms of context for evaluating an application. [44:01]
Absolutely correct. Share with us your story. That’s your opportunity to let us know how you got through all these different obstacles and how that’s helped mold you as a person. Again, beyond the numbers, it’s like these sorts of skills that you acquired because of your adversity become very valuable to your patients.This article was originally posted on blog.accepted.com.