Duke secondary on line!

[Mr. Tee]

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okay yay, Duke finally sent me the secondary and of course, no character limits. has anyone called the office to ask about the limits?

are there any additional essays for the MSTP?

 

[MSTP?]

doesn't look like it - just those six. the three qualities are of a physician or physician/scientist. that might be the only change. also, according to the duke office, currently there are no character limits, but they might in a week or so put in 1000 chars. seems like the app is still a work in progress.

 

[sara3426]

doesn't look like it - just those six. the three qualities are of a physician or physician/scientist. that might be the only change. also, according to the duke office, currently there are no character limits, but they might in a week or so put in 1000 chars. seems like the app is still a work in progress.

WTF DUKE? this is crazy unprofessional.

 

[dkcase]

Answering these essays in 1000 characters is way different than no limit at all. Will they make people who have submitted it with no limit revise their essays? This is rediculous.

 

[Erina]

well, i just decided that i'm not going to complete the secondary. had it come out earlier, i probably would have...but now i just don't have the time to write 6 good essays, nor do i really feel like spending the money. if i got an interview down there, it'd be a pain for me to travel that far for a school that i'm not really that excited about (the curriculum isn't really what i'd want).

so good luck to all of you! you've got one less person competing for a spot now!

 

[DrHusky]

Wow, I am on board with thinking that Duke is probably the most unprofessional med school.

Even though I just realized that my email filterer thought that the invitation to fill out the secondary was SPAM and filtered it out August 31, I still think this isn't worth my time.

There are people here saying 500 characters (which is like 2 sentences), Duke supposedly is thinking 1000 characters (4-6 sentences), and it really says unlimited. What a joke. I feel bad for those that already submitted this thinking that a page for each one of these essays was appropriate. One of those questions specifically says that there are two 'sub-questions' within the main prompt and should be answered independently. I would want to write at least a solid paragraph for both parts...but again, are they looking for 1000 characters or a dissertation.

 

[TPROrgoTutor]

ha, I wrote about 1000 WORDS (not characters) for each one so far. The rest will be short but I really expanded on three of them. I hope they dont impose character limits now.

 

[twofish]

I still havn't gotten the secondary invite. anyone in the same boat?

 

[MSTP?]

eh i'm trying to submit in the next couple of days before they potentially put in the char limit (it didn't sound very official - just what the guy who answered the phone said). mine are all around 2000 char (350-400 words).

 

[Mr. Tee]

I still havn't gotten the secondary invite. anyone in the same boat?

twofish, make that threefish.

Maybe they're not sending out secondary invites until they fix a char limit on the essays?

 

[totalcommand]

twofish, make that threefish.

Maybe they're not sending out secondary invites until they fix a char limit on the essays?

when did you submit your AMCAS teera? i still haven't received one either, got amcas verified 8/22 or so.

 

[Mr. Tee]

when did you submit your AMCAS teera? i still haven't received one either, got amcas verified 8/22 or so.

AMCAS verified on 8/9.

 

[TommyGunn04]

As a former Duke medical student I'm saddened to hear that the school is being judged as "unprofessional" based a very limited experience with the computerized application system. My experience at Duke Med was absolutely phenomenal, and I can assure you that Duke is anything but unprofessional. In fact, Duke has actually been at the forefront of utilizing technology to revolutionize the med school applications process, and was instrumental in the original development of AMCAS. (be happy you don't have to type everything onto a floppy disk and mail it to programs like we all used to!) I've worked with the admissions office faculty and staff and have found them to be outstanding and dedicated individuals who spend extraordinary amounts of time carefully combing through applications to select suitable candidates, as do student and faculty volunteers who read applications and do interviews. The secondary essays are actually quite important, and allow the application screeners to get a better feel for who applicants are as people, not just as numbers. The interview process is very personal, and feedback from applicants each year seems to suggest that Duke's interview day and process are among the best out there (although people do tend to hate the number of essays required). I'm sorry that some of you have had a negative experience thus far, but I caution you not to unfairly draw any conclusions about the institution as a result. Duke's curriculum is really one-of-a-kind, and in my experience it made an enormous difference in my personal development and career options.

I hope that provides some helpful perspective. Please feel free to PM me with any questions. I can't promise to write back very quickly, as it's tough to browse SDN often when you're working 80 hours/week as a resident, but I'll definitely get back to you within a couple weeks. 🙂

 

[Hednej]

I don't think Duke is being unprofessional, I think they're being smart asses and adding unnecessary stress to the whole process. "Oh I wrote 1000 characters, I wonder how long was everybody else's. I might shoot myself in the head because Duke doesn't give a **** and is not going to give me a character limit."
I don't care if Duke developed the everything in medicine, their secondary sucks and I hate it. It's not like it's not hard enough without the character limit.

I called their office today and I asked the guy what they were looking for: 1 page, 2 pages, 3 pages, what? and he said it's totally up to me. WTF? Does anybody "know " for sure that they are going to change the character limit?

 

[diosa428]

Basically, the admissions office told the MS1s that the reason they have such a long secondary is that they feel they don't have a right to decide who to interview and who to reject based simply on numbers and one essay. They are looking for people who have had many diverse experiences and interests, and also have the ability to show reason and thought in ethical/moral dilemmas. That's why there are so many essays.

I don't know anything about the character limit, but I would say keep it under one page. I have absolutely no "ins" in admissions, so I can't tell you that this is right or wrong, but it seems to me that no one in admissions is going to want to read 6 (or however many) essays that are 3 pages long. Highlight the things I mentioned above, explain as much as you have to or want to, but don't go on and on just to make it long, because I doubt whoever reads it will be happy about it. Good luck.

 

[CaramelDlite]

I agree that it sucks that Duke is acting so unprofessional, but in a way the stress of the application self-selects for those students who are most interested in what Duke has to offer, and not just applying for the name alone. It might help increase their overall yield which I'm sure is a thumbsup for their USNews ranking.

 

[MSTP?]

well the secondary is undergoing "additional revisions" (if you try to login right now)- hopefully it just means the fee page is going up and doesn't mean i'm going to have to resubmit.

 

[MeBeans]

well the secondary is undergoing "additional revisions" (if you try to login right now)- hopefully it just means the fee page is going up and doesn't mean i'm going to have to resubmit.

Tried today; still no way to pay the fee and finish the app.
Only change I noticed is they put in "no character limit" for the six essays.

 

[MSTP?]

i paid just fine today (the site was just down from 11pm-6am last night); no status box up yet though, even though i've submitted and paid

 

[MeBeans]

i paid just fine today (the site was just down from 11pm-6am last night); no status box up yet though, even though i've submitted and paid

where did you access an option to pay through? I had a blank blue box on the load page, and checked the tabs, but didn't see any place for it.

 

[MSTP?]

click on my application, if you've submitted you can print your app; you can also access the link to the fee page from there
i do have a big blank black box on the right of every page, but nothing about status

 

[MeBeans]

click on my application, if you've submitted you can print your app; you can also access the link to the fee page from there
i do have a big blank black box on the right of every page, but nothing about status

Ah thanks, I found it.
Was looking for a big shiny link in the big blue box.

 

[blahblah2]

i have a question. Does the secondary application require ALL classes taken to be entered or just required pre-reqs?

 

[blahblah2]

Ah thanks, I found it.
Was looking for a big shiny link in the big blue box.

i have a question. Does the secondary application require ALL classes taken to be entered or just required pre-reqs?

 

[blahblah2]

oops, sorry...dont know why it posted so many times...