Dukes Anonymous :)

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I've gotta couple of question for the current duke students: Does duke do MD/PhD's in social sciences? Are they MSTP funded? Can you use your 3rd year to earn a masters in any discipline?
 
Drogba said:
I've gotta couple of question for the current duke students: Does duke do MD/PhD's in social sciences? Are they MSTP funded? Can you use your 3rd year to earn a masters in any discipline?
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I think that the PhD has to be done in the basic sciences, but I'm not sure. We are MSTP funded. 3rd year can be used to earn a masters in whatever you want. You can get an MPH, MBA, etc. You can also get a MS in clinical research, but it takes two years.
 
diosa428 said:
I think that the PhD has to be done in the basic sciences, but I'm not sure. We are MSTP funded. 3rd year can be used to earn a masters in whatever you want. You can get an MPH, MBA, etc. You can also get a MS in clinical research, but it takes two years.
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Actually, there's an MD/PhD graduating with me who did his PhD in the social sciences (obviously with a medical subject, though). His name is Matt DeCamp and he did his PhD in Medical Ethics. It was a phenomenal project and he got to present it at some national meetings.
 
nevercold said:
Actually, there's an MD/PhD graduating with me who did his PhD in the social sciences (obviously with a medical subject, though). His name is Matt DeCamp and he did his PhD in Medical Ethics. It was a phenomenal project and he got to present it at some national meetings.
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I'm not surprised that you can do this at duke, my questions was if it was MSTP funded or not. Do you know about that?
 
If you mean "Is tuition free and do I get a living stipend?" then the answer is yes.
 
nevercold said:
If you mean "Is tuition free and do I get a living stipend?" then the answer is yes.
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Nice. I wonder what their med anthro program is like. I know duke has a pretty kick *** sociocultural anthro dept.
 
Search Duke websites. Email people in the areas in which you have interests. No harm in it!
 
nevercold said:
Search Duke websites. Email people in the areas in which you have interests. No harm in it!
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I will 🙂. I'm not applying till spring 2009 so I haven't begun extensive research on the schools I'm interested in. I've just heard a lot of good things about duke passively listening. Thanks for the help. What are you doing in your 3rd year?
 
I am interviewing at Duke on feb 11th. I'm really, really excited but nervous that its later in the interview season. Do you think the interviewers will be "burnt out" from interview season? When do interviews end?
 
NorCalSal said:
I am interviewing at Duke on feb 11th. I'm really, really excited but nervous that its later in the interview season. Do you think the interviewers will be "burnt out" from interview season? When do interviews end?
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Interviews end March 7th. And, yes, interviewers do also burn out a bit. We are all human after all.

PS: NorCalSal, I'll surely come by at some point that day and say "Hi" or something. Maybe I can figure out who you are... maybe not. We'll see.
 
thanks! I've enjoyed reading your posts. Your encouraging words to hopeful Duke students definitely calmed my nerves (well, a little bit anyways!) Here's to hoping that "they" see my potential!

oh and its good to know that there are three weeks of interviewing after mine. thanks.
 
Questions about letter of interest:

I wrote one to Dr. Armstrong on Wednesday (via email since I thought it might be more direct but also attached it in a word file so she can print it out if she wants to) and was wondering if any of you who wrote lois before have ever gotten a response from her? I've done it for one other school I interviewed at and the Director of Admissions wrote me back so I'm just wondering....

I know I'm being super paranoid and she's very very busy but I really really want to get into Duke! Any thoughts! Thanks!
 
I wrote a letter of intent (addressed to Dean Armstrong) via e-mail on January 24th but did not receive a reply or even a note from the admissions department (whose address I CC'ed) indicating receipt of the letter. So that makes two of us!
 
I'm pretty sure nobody receives replies for LoIs or update letters - send 'em anyway. 😉
 
If you want you can call the admissions office and they'll explain any lingering details. That's what I did for a letter of interest. Basically, they said make the letter out to "Office of Admissions" and that its easiest for them if you faxed it. Then, call them to confirm they've received the fax. Done-ski.

Best of luck!
 
... or you can just send your LOI to me... that's [email protected]... ok, no, that was a joke. But let me know when you are interviewing and I'll come say wassup and make sure your day is going well.
 
NorCalSal said:
I am interviewing at Duke on feb 11th. I'm really, really excited but nervous that its later in the interview season. Do you think the interviewers will be "burnt out" from interview season? When do interviews end?
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Interviewers definitely get burnt out, but it's only a 30 minute interview. Even doing 5 in a row, it's a drop in the bucket compared to a day on call or a 10 straight hours of clinic. The best candidate I interviewed all season was actually later in the season both this year and last year, too. Don't worry, you won't be at a disadvantage because of the timing!
 
The peeps over in the allo forum are questioning our clinical education because I have yet to do a rectal exam on a patient... 😕

In other news, only 3 more weeks of internal medicine!
 
MrBurns10 said:
The peeps over in the allo forum are questioning our clinical education because I have yet to do a rectal exam on a patient... 😕

In other news, only 3 more weeks of internal medicine!
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My whole month at the VA was filled with GI patients and then on my medicine sub-I we had two weeks full of GI patients. Over the 6 weeks I'm sure I did 10 rectal exams. Then throw in the family med months and you can tack on another 5-6. I've probably done at least 20, at least 15 of those on men (i.e. prostate exam + check for polyps + guaiac). Oh and that's not mentioning the two weeks of urogynecology where all of our patients just about had vaginal prolapse of some sort and got perioperative rectals by just about everyone in the OR.
 
nevercold said:
My whole month at the VA was filled with GI patients and then on my medicine sub-I we had two weeks full of GI patients. Over the 6 weeks I'm sure I did 10 rectal exams. Then throw in the family med months and you can tack on another 5-6. I've probably done at least 20, at least 15 of those on men (i.e. prostate exam + check for polyps + guaiac). Oh and that's not mentioning the two weeks of urogynecology where all of our patients just about had vaginal prolapse of some sort and got perioperative rectals by just about everyone in the OR.
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AWESOME! 👍 I can't wait.
 
29!😍 Just checking in because I can't wait to hear from Duke.

Question for all the current Duke kids: the one thing that I'm a little worried about is the amount of lecture. Are y'all really in class 9-5 most days? When do you study?! And, as a corollary, with a schedule like that, (which I obviously expect will be very difficult and time consuming) did you find you had time to do the things you enjoy/spend time with friends?

:luck: all!
 
stardancyr said:
29!😍 Just checking in because I can't wait to hear from Duke.

Question for all the current Duke kids: the one thing that I'm a little worried about is the amount of lecture. Are y'all really in class 9-5 most days? When do you study?! And, as a corollary, with a schedule like that, (which I obviously expect will be very difficult and time consuming) did you find you had time to do the things you enjoy/spend time with friends?

:luck: all!
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The first year schedule actually starts out like 9-3 early on and then migrates towards 9-5. We never had more than 6 lectures in a day (each about 50-55 minutes) and that was not every day out of the week. There are a lot of small group activities, labs, and anatomy sessions that take up some of that 9-5, not to mention an hour lunch break. In addition, you can stream lectures for non-mandatory sessions. In some cases, a slow methodical lecturer is better listened to at 2x at home, saving you an extra half hour here and there!
 
so all the classes are available online? that's a big deal to me 🙂
 
A good number of people by the end of the year are figuring out what works best for them as far as studying. Definitely, the class schedule isn't like, "OMG!!! 9-5!!!" It is more like you come and go as you please unless there is a lab or practice course. Also, during the spring we have every Friday afternoon off. There is definitely lots of time to do other things. Our class goes out a lot (both nights this weekend) and you can be involved in a ton of activities. Currently, I'm doing 4 ECs, shadowing someone on Monday, and working out with one of my classmates like an hour every day... oh ya... and playing 2 IM sports. You'll have time.
 
Perfect. That's exactly what I needed to hear. All of the students I met during my interview were so happy and so positive that I was worried about too-good-to-be-true syndrome. I've spent four years trying to avoid the rat race, and I'm definitely not looking to get into it now, not even for Duke. Lucky for me that won't be a problem 😀 You're the best!
 
stardancyr said:
Perfect. That's exactly what I needed to hear. All of the students I met during my interview were so happy and so positive that I was worried about too-good-to-be-true syndrome. I've spent four years trying to avoid the rat race, and I'm definitely not looking to get into it now, not even for Duke. Lucky for me that won't be a problem 😀 You're the best!
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In med school anywhere you're gonna spend a part of your time feeling like you're in the rat race because there's so much to know you really have to put in the study time, especially right before the exam. However, if you have an exam every two weeks, it's a manageable amount of information and really means that for one week you can be laid back and the next work harder. But definitely don't feel like all of your waking hours will be lost to studying/school because they won't. You have time to be a person, too 🙂
 
Someone asked what someone is doing third year, and being that I'm totally stoked for mine, I'm going to respond to that question.

I'm working in the plastic surgery lab; my main project is an orthopedic-related biomaterials project in which I will be putting NO-releasing compression plates into bunnies and inoculating the wounds with bacteria, then I'll sew the bunnies back up, wait 8 days, then explant the compression plates and track the rates of established infection in the NO-treated implants versus controls. It works damn well with silicone, and if it works well in orthopedic devices that has a lot of implications for practical application since the biggest problem with replacement joints and any other sort of orthopedic hardware is infection.

Hopefully I'll get to stick my fingers in some of the other awesome projects going on in the plastics lab, too. One paper put out about a year ago involved swapping the faces of 4 fresh-tissue cadavers to look at what technical and anatomical elements will be key to keep in mind for the development of facial transplant technique. It was pretty sweet.
 
pagemmapants said:
Someone asked what someone is doing third year, and being that I'm totally stoked for mine, I'm going to respond to that question.

I'm working in the plastic surgery lab; my main project is an orthopedic-related biomaterials project in which I will be putting NO-releasing compression plates into bunnies and inoculating the wounds with bacteria, then I'll sew the bunnies back up, wait 8 days, then explant the compression plates and track the rates of established infection in the NO-treated implants versus controls. It works damn well with silicone, and if it works well in orthopedic devices that has a lot of implications for practical application since the biggest problem with replacement joints and any other sort of orthopedic hardware is infection.

Hopefully I'll get to stick my fingers in some of the other awesome projects going on in the plastics lab, too. One paper put out about a year ago involved swapping the faces of 4 fresh-tissue cadavers to look at what technical and anatomical elements will be key to keep in mind for the development of facial transplant technique. It was pretty sweet.
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Haha when I first read this, instead of faces I read feces, and was really confused about how this project was so exciting.
 
pagemmapants said:
Someone asked what someone is doing third year, and being that I'm totally stoked for mine, I'm going to respond to that question.

I'm working in the plastic surgery lab; my main project is an orthopedic-related biomaterials project in which I will be putting NO-releasing compression plates into bunnies and inoculating the wounds with bacteria, then I'll sew the bunnies back up, wait 8 days, then explant the compression plates and track the rates of established infection in the NO-treated implants versus controls. It works damn well with silicone, and if it works well in orthopedic devices that has a lot of implications for practical application since the biggest problem with replacement joints and any other sort of orthopedic hardware is infection.

Hopefully I'll get to stick my fingers in some of the other awesome projects going on in the plastics lab, too. One paper put out about a year ago involved swapping the faces of 4 fresh-tissue cadavers to look at what technical and anatomical elements will be key to keep in mind for the development of facial transplant technique. It was pretty sweet.
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Did you just copy and past your abstract???

PS: I read faces as feces first as well.
 
Bunnies!

We actually have a gunpowder-powered device that is designed specifically to break bunny bones.

Thank God I'm not using a traumatic model so I don't have to use it.
 
28 days! 4 weeks!
 
pagemmapants said:
Bunnies!

We actually have a gunpowder-powered device that is designed specifically to break bunny bones.

Thank God I'm not using a traumatic model so I don't have to use it.
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Is it too late to switch to a traumatic model? I'm just saying... that would probably make you like 10X cooler in my book.

PS: nevercold, bunnies is definitely correct scientific terminology but only if used with the adjectives fuzzy and cute before it.
 
When in march are acceptances given out? Is it by mail?

VERY nervous. LOVED LOVED LOVED duke.
 
Not sure about exact dates, but the last interview day is March 7 and I don't think it should be long after that at all.
 
hra87 said:
When in march are acceptances given out? Is it by mail?

VERY nervous. LOVED LOVED LOVED duke.
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The countdown is based on the assumption that they finish with interviews and get the letters out by the 10th of March. In other words, 27 days left! :luck: They're all by snail mail, but a few people got calls last year.
 
one duke student on here mentioned earlier in the previous posts that duke might actually send out acceptances earlier than that...like have two rounds or something so that people might find out in the first week of march
 
well, I hope that's the case
 
Jamorama said:
one duke student on here mentioned earlier in the previous posts that duke might actually send out acceptances earlier than that...like have two rounds or something so that people might find out in the first week of march
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How can that be? This year the season is extended til March 7th. (I'm especially concerned because I can't get to that side of the world until March 4th for interview)
 
try screening previous posts about it.....it explained it reasonably well..
 
i loved loved loved duke as well! It is awesome. I'm officially joining this groupies page 🙂
 
In theory, if they wanted to send out acceptances on March 1, all they have to do is the following:

Total number of acceptances to be mailed - [5 (days in the following week) * 15 (interviewees per day)] = number of acceptances to mail on March 1.

So if they plan on mailing out 150 before going to the waitlist, they'd be able to take the top 75 and mail them out. Not sure if that is what they are going to do though. Just speculating all mathematically and such.
 
NorCalSal said:
i loved loved loved duke as well! It is awesome. I'm officially joining this groupies page 🙂
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Um... I was totally there on Monday. I had lunch with you people. I was the dude in the white coat. You know the really obnoxious 1st year who told the most boring stories out of the three of us. Holler! Glad you had fun. PM me if you have any questions during the process.
 
oh yeah...the optho guy. i'll totally PM you once i get off my post-interview high and hit the real world with real questions...i was the one born in singapore, i think thats the only thing that would distinguish me during that lunch meeting...
 
Hey med students,
Out of curiosity, what schools did y'all decide between, and what made you decide to go to Duke?
 
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