Durham, NC
Allopathic Medical Schools | Private Non-Profit
Application Cycle: 2009-10
⭐ Overall Impressions
How did the interview impress you?
Positively 🙂
What was the stress level of the interview?
2 out of 10
0 = Low Stress, 10 = High Stress
What are your general comments?
The day started with your picture being taken for a photo ID in the admissions office. You're given an orientation of the school, information from a financial aid officer, and lunch with first year students. Lunch is the followed by two thirty minute inteviews (an alpha and a beta, mine were semi-open) and then a tour of the campus.
💬 Interview Process
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
The two questions mentioned above under the difficult and interesting prompts.
What was the most interesting question?
You are writing a play called "The Best Physician." The cast includes the patient and the physician. Describe the play and the audience's reaction.
How did you prepare for the interview?
Read information regarding Duke from MSAR, Duke's website, research articles published by the school on site, and the Student Doctor Network
What was the most difficult question?
You are the only physician on the board of an insurance company. You have 100 policy holders and one of holders who is 20 years old has been hospitalized for a motorcycle accident. He is severly wounded and comatosed, but his family wants his life maintained (DNR is not an option). How will you allocate the funds of the insurance company?
(This question stumped me a few times due to the number of factors that it entailed, but I was able to get through it)
What impressed you positively?
That you have the opportunity to obtain an MD/MPH in four years. Duke is the only school in the country that provides this opportunity. Students complete all of their basic sciences in the first year, start and complete their clinical clerkships during the second year, has the entire third year devoted to research (where you can pursue a second degree instead), and the fourth year is used to round everything up. Also, Duke students score at or above the 90th percentile on the boards. I was also very impressed with the interview questions that were posed to me during the beta interview. That is the time when they can see who you really are because it's difficult to give a sugar coated answer (something they want to hear). With these questions you truly have to use your personal medical experiences and values to answer them.
What impressed you negatively?
Classes are basically 9-5 and the first year is 11 months rather than eight. However, this is medical school and you're learning a great deal in one year so you need as much time as you can get.
What did you wish you had known ahead of time?
That it snowed last Friday. I would have scheduled my interview then so that I would have been able to see it.
📍 Travel and Logistics
Who was the tour given by?
Student
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