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deez4life

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Well, looks like the behemoth is finally upon us. Just got the email half an hour ago.

"It is strongly recommended that you complete and submit the supplemental application within two weeks of this e-mail notification." :eek: :(

Man, this sucks.

deez

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Never have I had such mixed reactions about getting a secondary. it's the same hellish one as last years'....complete w/the moral ques on stem cell research......

so much for the 2 days of pre-school freedom i was hoping to enjoy...

don't know whether to laugh or cry! :( :eek: :laugh: :(
 
Yeah, it's probably the worst application I've received... anyone else find it funny that for the short answers they say the maximum is 500 words, then say that if the answer is greater than 500 characters (excluding spaces) it'll be truncated? There's a big difference between 500 words and 500 characters...

Sachin
 
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Yeah, it's probably the worst application I've received... anyone else find it funny that for the short answers they say the maximum is 500 words, then say that if the answer is greater than 500 characters (excluding spaces) it'll be truncated? There's a big difference between 500 words and 500 characters...

I think for good luck, I might go receive a shamanic ritual while I'm here in Ecuador haha..

Sachin
 
Originally posted by SachinG
Yeah, it's probably the worst application I've received... anyone else find it funny that for the short answers they say the maximum is 500 words, then say that if the answer is greater than 500 characters (excluding spaces) it'll be truncated? There's a big difference between 500 words and 500 characters...

I think for good luck, I might go receive a shamanic ritual while I'm here in Ecuador haha..

Sachin

Where does it say that the maximum is 500 words? If there was a contradiction in the directions I'd be all about calling them up, but I can only find the directions which say the maximum length is 500 characters (without spaces, that's new :) ) Could you point out where you're seeing this?
 
Mine also says 500 characters on the short answers...and 1000 characters on the "long essays".
 
Hi there,

I too, received my Duke secondary today. Does anyone have any idea as to how many secondaries they send out?

Cheers,
Kirsteen
 
Originally posted by SachinG
Yeah, it's probably the worst application I've received... anyone else find it funny that for the short answers they say the maximum is 500 words, then say that if the answer is greater than 500 characters (excluding spaces) it'll be truncated? There's a big difference between 500 words and 500 characters...

I think for good luck, I might go receive a shamanic ritual while I'm here in Ecuador haha..

Sachin

Hmm yeah mine has the same strange restrictions. I'm pretty sure the limit is 500 words, and the "500 characters" is an opening day typo.

Anyhoo, what's up with you Sach, how've you been? I see you've fallen behind me in posting. Ecuador can't be THAT much more exciting than sdn, can it? Wait, now that I think about it, I don't blame you. :) Yee-haw, 4th year is just around the corner :D
 
500 Words apeice for all those essays? Holy Crap :eek: That's going to suck, I like 500 characters much better :D
 
I'm pretty convinced that the limit is indeed 500 characters. On every part of my app it states: "Additionally, this short question is limited to 500 characters only. If your response is more than 500 characters (excluding spaces) the audit will not allow you to proceed."
It's still a bear tho! :)
 
Oh yeah, and have any of you been having trouble entering personal information into the secondary? Every time I try to enter something and save it, I get an error message about them not being able to access their database or something. Wondering if it's just me, or if I need to give them time.
 
I was so scared I called the admissions office. the very nice lady told me it was 500 and 1000 *characters* for the short and long essays respectively.

so i hung up and felt this strange mixture of relief and more worry. yay i don't have to go out and research stem cell advancements...but 500 characters is NOTHING (maybe just 1.5x the length of this post). How am I supposed to describe my most meaningful volunteer experience or strengths/weaknesses in 500, or moral dilemmas in 1000....not to mention the fact that I'm going to have to figure out a way to find an ethical dilemma i've had....

gulp. if only i didn't want to go to duke so badly!
 
Oh man, I was kind of hoping for the 500 word limit. :oops: 500 characters seems relatively short for me to write a well thought out essay. Oh well, I guess we live and learn. The Duke secondary isn't all that bad in that respect, as far as sheer writing entailed. Vandy is much worse.

deez
 
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seriously, any word on how many of us got Duke's secondary? i know stanford is given to about one half, and about 20% of those get interviews, but I know nothing about Duke. anyone?
 
brown04, i've heard that duke sends secondaries to around 60% of their applicants and about 1/3 of those get interviews.
 
Woohoo! I got the Dook e-mail, too. And I am uber-happy that it's only 500, 1000 characters. I hate writing long essays full of BS. Now I can just say what I mean and that's that. I've set aside 2 full days this week just for this app.
 
Oh stop crying and start writing. I completed the Duke secondary the same day that I received it. It's not that bad at all. We all were given much more difficult writing assignments for various classes, so either **** or get off the seat.
 
Can someone please post the address of the secondary? My e-mail is once again down, and I can't access it. Thanks!
 
Originally posted by Grumpy Bear
Oh yeah, and have any of you been having trouble entering personal information into the secondary? Every time I try to enter something and save it, I get an error message about them not being able to access their database or something. Wondering if it's just me, or if I need to give them time.

Time probably won't help. They had the same problem last year ... they fixed part of it, but I never was able to update my daytime phone number. Probably won't hurt to send an e-mail to make sure they have your correct contact info, though.

Their interview system is the best, by the way. They send you the URL and you just pick out your interview day. :)

The essays were 1000 and 5000 characters, respectively, last year--I don't know which is worse, too short or too long ... Good luck!
 
Hey deez4life,

I know I shouldn't be posting this within the thread, but whatever... Ecuador's been great, my research's been keeping me busy and I've had to do secondaries whenever I get a break during the weeknds. I'm actually going to go to sleep soon because I have to wake up at like 5 a.m. tomorrow to go back to the rural community. I'm coming back on the 23rd to the U.S. and will be returning to UVa on Tuesday before class starts to move into my cardboard box room.

So what does everyone think of the secondaries so far? For the most part, I've found that the first ones I did were difficult but then afterwards I've been able to adapt essay themes to subsequent applications. Duke has definitely been the hardest by far. The second most difficult I think was Chicago, although I really did enjoy writing those essays. They made me appreciate even more my professors and parents who have been great influences in my life.

Hasta luegito!

Sachin
 
so it says if you go over 500 characters (excluding spaces) then the audit will catch it, but my audit doesn't catch it...what about other people? that means we can write more than 500 characters, and maybe the audit is set to catch 500 WORDS or more....
 
I did get the email, but i still don't c the link to the secondary. HELP PLEASE!!!!
 
Originally posted by meme_297
I did get the email, but i still don't c the link to the secondary. HELP PLEASE!!!!

It's not really a link to their secondary, it's a link to their web page. From there, click on "Account Login" and register as a first time user.
 
Hi there,

I spoke to someone in the Duke Admissions Office yesterday and asked how many secondaries are normally sent out. Their response: they are sending secondaries to all AMCAS applicants who select Duke. Apparently they have not been screening AMCAS applications for the past two cycles (this one included).

As to the online secondary, it's been having a few foibles. They've just corrected the disappearing text issue (when you cut and paste your text, save it, and then it seems to disappear when you exit that screen then return); and they're now working on the ability for us to pay and submit the application. As it stands, we can only complete the application up to the audit. We should have the ability to pay and submit by tomorrow.

Cheers,
Kirsteen
 
Does anyone know what's going on with Duke and when we'll be bale to pay with a credit card? Can we still submit it if we elect to pay with a check? Thanks!
 
Almost finished with Duke essays...I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...
 
"Among the service activities that you listed on your AMCAS application, in which activity did you feel that you truly made an impact on someone else? What was the impact on you?"

To contain such an essay in 500 characters is an insult to my intelligence. I can't paint any kind of emotional attachment for an activity in such little space. I've been forced to pare down the essay that I've used for other schools to point of incoherence. Arghhhh.


:mad: :mad: This secondary blows and sucks at the same time.
 
Originally posted by Gleevec
Everyone else has to deal with it to, just live with it.

Gee, thanks for those encouraging words there. :rolleyes: I'm obviously living with it, otherwise I wouldn't be filling out the application. I was just proclaiming the inanity of its set up, but I didn't think I'd alarm the anti-ranting police in the process.
 
:laugh: :laugh:

Thanks, that's better. Now I'm pumped! Let me go ROCK this secondary now!! ;) *barf*
 
Finished! Go me! :clap:

See deez, YOU CAN DO EEEEEET!!! :clap:
 
Sweet deal sooner. I just hit submit about an hour ago. Let's hope the med school gods are smiling upon us tonight.

:D
 
Yeah, so I finished the Duke application, but there never was a point when it says, "Your application has been submitted" or whatever. And it doesn't show up on the "History" section. There is nowhere else to go once you get to the payment section. Is it not officially submitted until they get your money in the mail?
 
Does anyone have any idea when the credit card payment options will be up? Do you all think that this will happen soon (i.e. in the next few days) or am I just better to pay with a check and submit now? Thanks!
 
Originally posted by Gleevec
Hi guys,
Im trying to submit my Duke secondary, but when I try to make sure that my pasted text was formatted correctly (after submitting and going to the audit page) the text box is blank? Is this normal? The audit page says everything is OK, but I dont see my paragraphs or anything in the text box.

Thanks a ton,
Gleevec

That's interesting, I didn't have that problem. The text seemed to show up fine in the box when I submitted.

I submitted two days ago, so this might just be a new temporary glitch. Or perhaps it's just the computer software you're using?

deez
 
Originally posted by deez4life
That's interesting, I didn't have that problem. The text seemed to show up fine in the box when I submitted.

I submitted two days ago, so this might just be a new temporary glitch. Or perhaps it's just the computer software you're using?

deez

Thanks for the reply deez,
I think the glitch disappears if you logout and log back in. Hope that helps anyone else having this problem.
 
Originally posted by soonerpillow
Yeah, so I finished the Duke application, but there never was a point when it says, "Your application has been submitted" or whatever. And it doesn't show up on the "History" section. There is nowhere else to go once you get to the payment section. Is it not officially submitted until they get your money in the mail?

Last year it showed up on the history a few days after the supplemental was completed....this really sucks if you send it in exactly two weeks from when you received the email because on your history it looks like you were a few days late.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I know two people who sent theirs in way late and still got interviews.
 
Hi guys,

After a wee bit of a wait (I submitted the supplementary the day after it came alive, online) I just received the e-mail from Duke announcing a complete file that is undergoing review. They're saying that the review should take 2-3 weeks, but perhaps longer due to the volume of applications received, etc.

Good luck!
Kirsteen
 
I'm having a hard time cutting down my essays to the required 500/1000 character limit. do you have any suggestions? will it really cut it off exactly at that point? did you use complete sentences to answer all the questions? i feel like a lot of the shorter questions are repetitive of what's on my AMCAS application anyway...
 
Hi there,

The Duke essays did need to be a little, er, minimalist, but yes, I did use full sentences. I tried to use examples that I had not already used in the AMCAS responses, and to more effectively pare the paragraphs down (it's tough to be objective about your own writing at times) I enlisted another pair of eyes. :)

Cheers,
Kirsteen
 
Okay guys....I go back to the history section after i submitted and there's no indication that the thing has actually been submitted. soonerpillow, this is like your problem--i elected to pay by check and all, but there's really no indication that i did "submit". it never says "your supplemental has been submitted" (just as you mentioned). so did everyone have this problem or is it just a temporary glitch? are you all able to go back and access your application? did anyone get an e-mail confirmation yet? arrgh!!!
 
Originally posted by spumoni620
Okay guys....I go back to the history section after i submitted and there's no indication that the thing has actually been submitted. soonerpillow, this is like your problem--i elected to pay by check and all, but there's really no indication that i did "submit". it never says "your supplemental has been submitted" (just as you mentioned). so did everyone have this problem or is it just a temporary glitch? are you all able to go back and access your application? did anyone get an e-mail confirmation yet? arrgh!!!

I have the same problem and have still heard nothing from Duke in terms of a confirmation.
 
Originally posted by spumoni620
Okay guys....I go back to the history section after i submitted and there's no indication that the thing has actually been submitted. soonerpillow, this is like your problem--i elected to pay by check and all, but there's really no indication that i did "submit". it never says "your supplemental has been submitted" (just as you mentioned). so did everyone have this problem or is it just a temporary glitch? are you all able to go back and access your application? did anyone get an e-mail confirmation yet? arrgh!!!

Yeah, I called the Duke office over this. The lady said that the History section of the Duke application will list your submission only after they have processed your application fee. Since they're doing them by checks only, there is a huge backlog in processing time, and they're slowly getting around to updating everyone's status as "submitted." You can make sure that you've at least finished the application by going to the signature page; if you can't sign again, that means you're application is in line to be processed. She said that you can theoretically change stuff on your application until they process the fee, but she doesn't recommend it.

Hope that helps.

deez
 
so when i submit, it just goes all the way to the screen where you print out the form to include with your check. but when i logout and go back to the signature page, it still allows me to sign, which is weird since i am still cleared for the audit every time. I might have gone through the submission thing like 10x just to make sure it worked. should i consider myself submitted or not? thanks!
 
Hi raincrew,

Yes, you should consider yourself submitted. It will only change to a screen where you can no longer edit your secondary when they have acknowledged receipt of your form and fee. At that time, they will send you an e-mail, and when you return to the on-line application, the box on the right-hand side will be updated to reflect your new status.

Cheers,
Kirsteen
 
hmm...thanks deez for the info :) gleevec, i agree w/you on the vandy webmaster thing. duke's online secondary nearly had me pop a vein in frustration...kept slowing down and timing out. :rolleyes: anyway, guess i'll just have to wait for the check to register before i have the satisfaction of seeing "submitted" on the application....

iamhere--most of us are in the same boat so i'm sure it's not a big deal if technical glitches are what caused your app to be a few days late in submission.
 
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