Dukes Anonymous :)

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Chaz Michaels said:
for anyone that interviewed over a month ago are updates useless? are our fates already decided?
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Not really sure. Since no acceptances have been mailed out (except some MD/PhD), it's probably worth sending an update if you think it makes your application stronger.
 
FemalesCANTDriv said:
Um... false. I drive a standard. Can you drive standard??? (almost put totally inapprop. comment but didn't wanna scare off hopeful Dookie mudphud)

:banana:
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yeeeeeeees, i drive a little stick shift diesel vw. so there.

yippee for internet arguments that cannot possibly be won over the internet 😉
 
meowkat444 said:
yeeeeeeees, i drive a little stick shift diesel vw. so there.

yippee for internet arguments that cannot possibly be won over the internet 😉
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I definitely can't drive manual. I wouldn't be able to text message and play my Nintendo Wii if I had to use one of my hands for gear shifting. I stick to automatic.
 
meowkat444 said:
yippee for internet arguments that cannot possibly be won over the internet 😉
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Lucky for you... because you would totally lose. :meanie:

nevercold said:
I definitely can't drive manual. I wouldn't be able to text message and play my Nintendo Wii if I had to use one of my hands for gear shifting. I stick to automatic.
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I like where your heads at.

***HOLY ********
1000th POST!!!!!!!!!!

:banana: :banana: :banana:
 
YAY FOR BEING DONE WITH SURGERY!

Well, kind of. 2 tests to go. But no more waking up at 4am!
 
MrBurns10 said:
Congrats! A good feeling, isn't it? Now who is your oral exam with?

Also, was the CPX hard?
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I've seen you in action, you should have *no* trouble with the CPX. Only thing to maybe brush up on is reading EKGs because there was an EKG station when I took it two years ago.
 
MrBurns10 said:
Congrats! A good feeling, isn't it? Now who is your oral exam with?

Also, was the CPX hard?
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Dr. White.

CPX was not hard to pass, but it's weird going from talking to real patients to talking to standardized patients again, or at least I thought so. I think on the first patient I was so set on getting in and out as fast as I could to make sure I had enough time for the questions that I forgot to ask stuff, and then had to put "did not elicit" for quite a few of the questions... and then that kind of threw me off for the rest of the patients, so at the end of the exam I was feeling like I did pretty poorly. I still passed though, so it couldn't have gone that poorly. Just remember to take your time talking to the patient and elicit as much as you can in the time you're given - I think they give you a pretty appropriate amount of time for each pt interaction and question session, so I wouldn't worry too much about running out of time.
 
diosa428 said:
Dr. White.

CPX was not hard to pass, but it's weird going from talking to real patients to talking to standardized patients again, or at least I thought so. I think on the first patient I was so set on getting in and out as fast as I could to make sure I had enough time for the questions that I forgot to ask stuff, and then had to put "did not elicit" for quite a few of the questions... and then that kind of threw me off for the rest of the patients, so at the end of the exam I was feeling like I did pretty poorly. I still passed though, so it couldn't have gone that poorly. Just remember to take your time talking to the patient and elicit as much as you can in the time you're given - I think they give you a pretty appropriate amount of time for each pt interaction and question session, so I wouldn't worry too much about running out of time.
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BTW, I did ask Dr. Gagliardi if you could still Honor if you failed the CPX and had to write the essay, and she said you could.
 
mooooore questions!

are a lot of you thinking of staying there for residency? why or why not?

do you feel that duke is a supportive environment for students who may be struggling with stress, family tragedy, personal issues, etc? i.e. are you "stigmatized" by the school if you seek help?
 
meowkat444 said:
mooooore questions!

are a lot of you thinking of staying there for residency? why or why not?

do you feel that duke is a supportive environment for students who may be struggling with stress, family tragedy, personal issues, etc? i.e. are you "stigmatized" by the school if you seek help?
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1. I'm thinking about it, but I went to undergrad here and stayed here during my year off, which would mean I would have been here 9 years when I graduate. I'll see how things work out, but I may want to have a change of scenery for residency.
2. Absolutely. Duke is tremendously supportive of all students. They even started a mental health committee (that I'm on) as part of the med student council to address mental health issues, particularly depression, and encourage students to take advantage of the resources available.
 
meowkat444 said:
mooooore questions!

are a lot of you thinking of staying there for residency? why or why not?

do you feel that duke is a supportive environment for students who may be struggling with stress, family tragedy, personal issues, etc? i.e. are you "stigmatized" by the school if you seek help?
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1. I will certainly interview at and rank Duke, but I would really like to go back to the northeast. All my family and friends are there and it's a different culture.

2. Yeah there's CAPS (which is the counseling service) which I think is free? There are also the advisory deans - if you don't want a professional, but just someone in the school to talk to, they are very accessible, and you can even talk to one who's not yours if you'd prefer. Students aren't stigmatized, they are actually encouraged to get the help that they need.
 
Plus, your classmates will always rally around you if you are down. RW always tells us to look out for each other, and we take that very seriously.
 
meowkat444 said:
are a lot of you thinking of staying there for residency? why or why not?
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We probably have 30 students per year stick around for residency. A small handful might not be competitive enough for select positions in more competitive specialities (5 applied to ophthalmology, but Duke only takes like 4/yr total or something so they can't take all 5!). Most of the people that leave do so because they are eager to explore a new place or else to go to a particular location they seem themselves settling down in or where they can be close to family. Rarely would it be because they are not interested in the program at Duke. I fall into that "eager to explore a new place" category and as a result feel quite torn because I absolutely love working with the people at Duke and consider it a privilege every single day.
 
My last med school interview was today! Well, to those of you reading this who are or will be at Duke, get involved with interviewing. It will help you for residency interviews and it is a great privilege to help select your future peers and those who will carry on the good name of your institution.
 
nevercold said:
My last med school interview was today! Well, to those of you reading this who are or will be at Duke, get involved with interviewing. It will help you for residency interviews and it is a great privilege to help select your future peers and those who will carry on the good name of your institution.
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does that mean interviewing is done???? any better idea when decisions will be coming out?????
 
kuhlguy said:
does that mean interviewing is done???? any better idea when decisions will be coming out?????
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Interviews continue through the end of next week, I just don't have any more time that I can do the interviews. I think decisions will follow that by one week? That's my understanding of their plan, at least.
 
so march 10 seems about right. plus however long it takes for you to get mail from them
 
nevercold said:
My last med school interview was today! Well, to those of you reading this who are or will be at Duke, get involved with interviewing. It will help you for residency interviews and it is a great privilege to help select your future peers and those who will carry on the good name of your institution.
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Interesting thought. Can you elaborate? Is it a benefit in terms of demonstrating commitment to the school and process or is it a factor of simply having spent more time in an interviewing environment?
 
Jamorama said:
so march 10 seems about right. plus however long it takes for you to get mail from them
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I called the admissions office earlier and they said decisions will be mailed out March 3rd through the 10th, which means....

7 DAYS!!! 😱:luck:
 
thanks for the info! it's been a long wait for a lot of us...hopefully we'll all be hearing some good news soon. 7 days!
 
A few notes from last years thread:

Rumored to have accepted approx. 200 of 600 interviewees to fill 100 spots.

First reported acceptance was 3/2/07, snail mail, large manila envelope



Also, everyone's LOR's still aren't marked as received yes?
 
Raoul9 said:
Interesting thought. Can you elaborate? Is it a benefit in terms of demonstrating commitment to the school and process or is it a factor of simply having spent more time in an interviewing environment?
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It is definitely both. I thought it would be more of the latter. In that regard, I have definitely found that carefully considering what I expect from applicants when I am interviewing them is useful in understanding how I should comport myself during my residency interviews. However, as I went on interviews for residency, a number of interviewers brought up my experiences interviewing medical school applicants and it seemed to be a positive topic of conversation and a positive sign that I was actively involved in my institution.
 
Chaz Michaels said:
A few notes from last years thread:

Rumored to have accepted approx. 200 of 600 interviewees to fill 100 spots.

First reported acceptance was 3/2/07, snail mail, large manila envelope



Also, everyone's LOR's still aren't marked as received yes?
Click to expand...

Those stats sound about right.

Yes, I don't think they got around to updating anyones LOR's online, there's a notice on the front page of your secondary login that addresses this issue.
 
Chaz Michaels said:
A few notes from last years thread:

Rumored to have accepted approx. 200 of 600 interviewees to fill 100 spots.

First reported acceptance was 3/2/07, snail mail, large manila envelope
Click to expand...

I was talking with the admissions office folks today and it sounds like there have been about 800 interviews this year. The total number receiving acceptance letters will likely remain the same, however.

Oddly enough, I actually remember that manila envelope from Duke, even though it's been four years.

Edit: Also, I think there were between 700 and 800 interviews last year, not 600.
 
nevercold said:
Oddly enough, I actually remember that manila envelope from Duke, even though it's been four years.
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I loved that the manila envelope was addressed "To the future Dr. ___________." 😀 I thought that was a nice touch.
 
Good luck to all of y'all who are waiting for acceptances. We are very excited to meet all of the MS0s at second look weekend.

:banana:
 
Oral exam done. One shelf to goooooo.
 
The admissions office people gave me a tip. They said that when the status of your letters change it means that your file has gone to the adcomm for review. It won't change until then. Just thought I'd share info that is bound to give me a panic attack. I guess if you don't want to panic, don't check your status.
 
i think it's true that they upload your letters to their system when you go into committee, but you will have no way of knowing when that is because they're not updating each applicant's personal account. It says this on the front page of the PAS login.

"Updates of any letters that we receive in support of your application will not be designated on your account during this admission cycle. We have limited resources to manually check off each individual letter received for every applicant we will interview. "
 
Yeah, I'm sure they do them in batches. Just like adcomm's usually review files.
 
chemcu said:
Hello everyone...I've been reading this thread for sometime and have enjoyed the many posts. I'll be interviewing this Thursday (Feb. 28) and am hoping to meet some of you. I'm very excited and hope to join you next year!
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I'll try to stop by and say hi or something. Maybe I can figure out who you are, or maybe you'll just know what I look like which is what some other interviewee did today. He was like, "Hey, you post on SDN right?" I was like lol... you must have been perusing old threads. It was pretty funny. Good ole SDN.
 
FemalesCANTDriv said:
I'll try to stop by and say hi or something. Maybe I can figure out who you are, or maybe you'll just know what I look like which is what some other interviewee did today. He was like, "Hey, you post on SDN right?" I was like lol... you must have been perusing old threads. It was pretty funny. Good ole SDN.
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For some reason I never actually realized that your avatar was a cop giving a female driver a ticket.
 
joyrunner said:
The admissions office people gave me a tip. They said that when the status of your letters change it means that your file has gone to the adcomm for review. It won't change until then. Just thought I'd share info that is bound to give me a panic attack. I guess if you don't want to panic, don't check your status.
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so I guess that since it says they havent received my letters online on the PAS, my file has yet to go to committee? I interviewed on 12/4, it just seems like a long time...
 
jsol said:
so I guess that since it says they havent received my letters online on the PAS, my file has yet to go to committee? I interviewed on 12/4, it just seems like a long time...
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I don't know what all of the LOR status stuff means, but I do know that if your interviews didn't go poorly, chances are you will be discussed in committee.
 
chemcu said:
Hello everyone...I've been reading this thread for sometime and have enjoyed the many posts. I'll be interviewing this Thursday (Feb. 28) and am hoping to meet some of you. I'm very excited and hope to join you next year!
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I too...
 
Hey guys. I interview at Duke next week. It is absolutely my top choice school, but my numbers aren't exactly "Duke numbers." At least my MCAT is not. Do you guys think I have a shot with my stats (i.e., do you know people in your classes who got in with similar MCAT scores)? Also, I have NO RESEARCH. This hasen't been an issue at the schools I've interviewed at so far, but I know that it will probably come up at Duke. Are the interviews pretty relaxed? I would definitely appreciate any honest opinions and/or words of advice.
 
mdgator said:
Hey guys. I interview at Duke next week. It is absolutely my top choice school, but my numbers aren't exactly "Duke numbers." At least my MCAT is not. Do you guys think I have a shot with my stats (i.e., do you know people in your classes who got in with similar MCAT scores)? Also, I have NO RESEARCH. This hasen't been an issue at the schools I've interviewed at so far, but I know that it will probably come up at Duke. Are the interviews pretty relaxed? I would definitely appreciate any honest opinions and/or words of advice.
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The medstudents have mentioned 30's and 31's getting in.

Word of advice: look up the questions they put on SDN and figure out answers to all of them. The school has a bank of questions that intiewers choose from, so there will definitely be repeat questions (and a lot of them are specific ethical ones). Make sure you have really good answers to these, I think that would help a lot.

But the interviews aren't stressful, and a lot of people say they don't get any questions like these. Luck of the draw, but be prepared.

And good luck, don't go in with a defeated attitude.
 
hra87 said:
But the interviews aren't stressful, and a lot of people say they don't get any questions like these. Luck of the draw, but be prepared.
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Yeah, I didn't get any. Strange! But of course, it would be best to be prepared.
 
mdgator said:
Hey guys. I interview at Duke next week. It is absolutely my top choice school, but my numbers aren't exactly "Duke numbers." At least my MCAT is not. Do you guys think I have a shot with my stats (i.e., do you know people in your classes who got in with similar MCAT scores)? Also, I have NO RESEARCH. This hasen't been an issue at the schools I've interviewed at so far, but I know that it will probably come up at Duke. Are the interviews pretty relaxed? I would definitely appreciate any honest opinions and/or words of advice.
Click to expand...

Your numbers look pretty solid. Remember, the high MCAT is an average, which means there are people with scores both above and below that number (and I know people in my class who got over a 40 total, and people who definitely got below a 10 on certain sections). As far as the research thing goes, I don't think it will be a huge problem - just be prepared to talk about why Duke and what you think you *might* do with third year. Do you want to try research? Are you more interested in a dual degree? And if you get an ethical question (I think most people get one or none, I'm pretty sure no one spends their whole interview talking about ethical stuff) just make sure you stop and think about your answer before blurting out something stupid. And also try to give the reasoning behind your answer. Good luck!
 
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