For anyone interested in Duke but could not attend the information session:
I am 100% solidified in my desire to go to Duke after going to the info session yesterday--it was such a great experience. For the first hour, two faculty members ran through a basic overview of the program in general. Some highlights--the newly implemented team-based learning approach for the first two years of the program and then the three 12-week clinicals in the last year of the program; all classes are pass/fail in order to eliminate the cutthroat atmosphere that a lot of schools employ; cadavers are dissected/prosected by PT students alone--med students don't do it for you; because of the team-based learning approach, students actually have more free time to pursue research opportunities or additional volunteering/shadowing opportunities.
After the staff were done, several first year students took questions from the 30 or so prospective students. All the students seemed genuinely happy at Duke, they all raved about TBL. Apparently, they put you in groups of 6-8 students at the very start of the program that you are in for the entire two years for all lectures, etc. They make sure that the groups are diverse and set you up for the most success as a student. For labs, you are in different groups, however. The TBL approach allows for students to bounce ideas off of each other and work to figure out answeres for themselves rather than looking directly toward a professor, however professors are there (of course) if necessary. I don't know about anyone else, but this seems like an amazingly innovative approach to learning.
After about 45 minutes of the student Q&A, we went on a tour of campus and Duke is the most gorgeous campus around. All PT classes are held at Erwin Square Plaza except for the Anatomy lab/lecture which is held in the basement of the medical center. The students took us through the main campus and to Cameron Indoor as well as through some of the other athletic facilities. Everything is state-of-the-art.
My mom and I also toured the town of Durham which is relatively small (I live in Northern VA/D.C.) however there are tons of little shops, boutiques and eateries to keep one occupied. Apparently the city has tons of entertainment and the Durham Bulls park is always fun to enjoy. The town also boasts a couple of lakes, lots of bike trails and hiking trails and the Sarah P. Duke botanical garden is both massive and beautiful (my mom and I made a detour after the info session).
So...the impression that I got from the visit and from talking with the students is the TBL fosters a sort of "family" environment within each class and helps to cut down on the amount of time one spends studying alone. One of the guys said he studies about 2 hours per night, max. One of the girls said that one of the professors invited the entire class and faculty over for a barbeque and that she is very close with her advisor.
Anyway, just wanted to give you guys an overview if you missed out. It was amazing and I am so excited to be applying there! Good luck to you all!!! Let me know if you have any questions!!!
