Will Ferrell said:
they only interview ~750 people total. I doubt they'd be able to interview all of their undergrads applying, ~300 (I doubt all of them apply to duke though).
I'm a current Duke Med student. We were told that numbers were way up last year, and that Duke received well over 5,000 applications and interviewed about 1,000 applicants. I'm not sure if ALL Duke undergrad applicants get interviewed, but my understanding is that at least the vast majority do, based on what I've heard from friends who've been on the admissions committee.
MarzH05 said:
However, as much as I loved Duke as a whole, I grew tired of the administration and the lack of caring(in my opinion) towards its students. For undergrad, I felt like every policy/decision was made to raise the prestige of the university with no thought about the students in mind. Also, I did not like the competetive atmosphere at the university and want to attend a medical school that has students and faculty that really want to help you learn the material and do well, as opposed to having to compete all the time. Not to mention the fact that learning all the sciences in 1 year seems like a nightmare to me.
I'm not sure where to start on this one. The med school is totally different from the University, and it's hardly fair for you to project your frustrations about the undergrad administration onto the med school. You're of course entitled to your opinion, but I've never heard anyone in the medical school claim that the administration is uncaring towards its students. Given how they've helped a number of students pursue unusual dual degrees and research projects, provided full scholarships to many more students than most schools, and even invited us into their homes on many occasions, it's clear that the administration is anything BUT uncaring. They take great care of us! I'd also like to provide a different viewpoint on the issue of "competitiveness." Any Duke first year will tell you that individuals' notes are often e-mailed out to the entire class, and that cooperative learning is quite common. Duke Med is NOT an insane, competitive environment. It's actually quite a pleasant place to live and to learn. You're surrounded by absolutely brilliant people, and often learn just as much from them as you do from your professors and clinical instructors. I wouldn't trade this environment for any other!
Finally, I must address the "learning all the sciences in 1 year" comment. This is a HUGE misnomer, yet it unfortunately keeps being propagated by people who fail to really understand our curriculum. Duke covers most of the basic science material taught at other schools, but we do NOT cover the large amount of OTHER material that they focus on during their second years. Look at the first year schedules elsewhere and then look at Duke's, and you'll see that most places have a very similar structure and length of time devoted to the subjects. The major difference is that we don't cover the things they cover in their second year. In other words, we don't do any specific courses in pathophysiology, dermatology, orthopedics, radiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, etc. etc. We feel that these things are best learned on the wards, so we don't spend an extra year in the classroom learning them. So basically, we're doing about 1.25 years worth of material in what amounts to 1.25 years at any other school, since we don't get much of a summer break (we get 2-3 weeks compared to 2-3 months at most places). This system works well, as the first year material, both here at Duke and elsewhere, is the true basic science core material that's tested on the Step 1 USMLE exam. You don't need ortho or derm to do well on step 1 (in fact, it's not even included in the exam), and so we don't spend time on it didactically. Having been through most of the curriculum now, I can assure you that it works fantastically well. There's nothing more overwhelming about Duke's curriculum than that of any other medical school. No matter where you go, you'll work hard and it'll be tough. But people tend to freak out about Duke because they fundamentally misunderstand how we do things. It's really unfair and unrealistic to make these assumptions. In fact, for me, being on the wards sooner was a huge advantage, and I wouldn't do it any other way if I had to do things again. I absolutely love the Duke curriculum!
I hope this clears things up a bit. There are a lot of misunderstandings about the Duke curriculum. Let me know if I can clarify anything further.
