How many people interviewed you?
Response Average | # Responders |
---|---|
2.34 | 175 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
Positively | 136 |
Negatively | 18 |
No change | 21 |
Response Avg | # Responders |
---|---|
3.59 | 174 |
Response Avg | # Responders |
---|---|
7.07 | 127 |
Response Avg | # Responders |
---|---|
9.09 | 109 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
In Person | 0 |
Virtual | 1 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
5 minutes | 1 |
10 minutes | 1 |
15 minutes | 0 |
20 minutes | 10 |
25 minutes | 10 |
30 minutes | 114 |
35 minutes | 7 |
40 minutes | 3 |
45 minutes | 2 |
50 minutes | 3 |
55 minutes | 0 |
60+ minutes | 25 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
At the school | 160 |
At a regional location | 13 |
At another location | 1 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
One-on-one | 171 |
In a group | 1 |
Response | # Responders |
---|---|
Open file | 144 |
Closed file | 24 |
Response Average | # Responders |
---|---|
2.34 | 175 |
"Talk to me about your research"
"What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of our healthcare system?"
"What questions do you have for me?"
"Multiple mini interview"
"mmi"
"Secret MMI"
"MMI MORAL DILEMMA"
"What is the biggest challenge facing the US healthcare system in the next decade?"
"What do you regret most in life?"
"What will your legacy be?"
"What would your friends say is your greatest weakness?"
"Pretend I am an 80 year old woman with CHF and kidney failure who is refusing dialysis. What would you do?"
"Define humanism"
"very application specific"
"Very detailed questions about my secondary essays."
"Would you rather ABC or XYZ. Why?"
"Define humanism."
"If you could change one thing about America to make it a better place, what would it be?"
"What do you plan to do during your third year? "
"How would your friends describe you?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"If you were Obama's Health Advisor, what would you suggest to fix our health care system?"
"Standards: Why do you want to be a physician? Where do you see yourself in 10 years after your residency? What unique qualities will you contribute to our med school?"
"Tell me about yourself. Why duke? Do you have any concerns about Duke? Do you have any concerns about pursuing medicine/surgery? What do you do for fun? Describe your perfect classmate. Any questions for me?"
"Have you read any good Books lately?"
"How do you want me to represent you to the admissions committee? What will make them say "we need to accept this applicant"?"
"Student Interviewer: Tell me about yourself. Why do you want to go into medicine? Why Duke? What do you do for fun? Do you have any questions for me?"
"Free time?"
"Tell me about yourself?"
"talk about my research"
"given the current problems with the health care system, what would you do in your community?"
"Why Duke? (Both interviews)"
"why duke? "
"What would you do if you had an hour to do anything?"
"What do you think about med students being tested for drugs?"
"There are many questions asked about your essays from the secondary. Be prepared to discuss each in detail."
"Why Med?"
"What was an ethical dilemma someone you know had? "
"We started to talk about food sometime during the interview, so he asked, do you cook? "
"Discuss the ethical dilemma I wrote about in my secondary application"
"Faculty interviewer - The standards: Tell me about yourself, What research (and community service) have you done? Why Duke? What initially drew you to medicine? Where do you see yourself in 15 years? "
"What do you think will be the hardest thing about becoming a physician?"
"What would you like to research during your third year? "
"Tell me about this research project listed (my least involved :-/), and why it interested you. Then, why I didn't stay too long (8 months), if I had genuine interest."
"why do you want to become a doctor?"
"What should I go back and tell the admissions committee is so unique about you that we just have to accept you?"
"Explain your ugrad research."
"See most difficult..."
"Tell me about your research."
"How do you feel about the war in Iraq?"
"just putting this out there: duke says they don't give interviewers your scores, but they do. my faculty interviewer specifically commented on my mcat score. i got the feeling that they have just recently instated the no-scores interviewing policy and haven't gotten around to telling the interviewers about it, lol."
"I loved your essay on ____ (moral/ethical dilemma). Can you describe in more detail how you dealt with the situation?"
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"Why did you apply to Duke?"
"why hasn't your research been published yet? (after talking about what my research was about)"
"What have you learned from doing research? (not specifically, but about research in general)"
"Tell me about your international hospital experiences you listed here."
"Why graduate school and then medical school? (I am finishing a masters before medical school)"
"what was your most memorable service experience and what did you learn about yourself? what are you looking foward to in medical school?"
"Abuse of narcotics and alcohol is a big problem in medicine, why do you think doctors abuse these things?"
"If you could talk to anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?"
"Why Duke? What do you do in your free time? "
"How did you like your college"
"Where are you from?"
"what interests you about duke?"
"Where is your school?"
"How do you reconcile poverty and healthcare?"
"Tell me about your work at the soup kitchen."
"dinner with anyone in history"
"Are you a leader or a follower?"
"Tell me about (insert AMCAS activity). (This was repeated frequently)"
"Why dyou want to be a doctor, etc."
"just the normal questions about my application"
"How would you choose whether or not to give a drug to a patient that asked for it by name, but where there wasn't a solid evidence base for its use?"
"What will you be doing in 15yrs? Why MD and not public health, nurse, etc."
"Tell me about your work in <specific to my background>."
"What would you do third year?"
"Tell me about yourself..."
"Do you think you can handle the curriculum?"
"Tell me about your experience tutoring?"
"What can I tell the admissions committee about you that I may not have discovered during this interview?"
"Why Duke? Why medicine? "
"what can the duke curriculum do for you?"
"Med school is a challenging time personally....What is your support system like at school right now?"
"Why Duke? Why med?"
"Basically all stuff stemming from my application."
"Student: How do you think your interest in philosophy is relevant to medicine?"
"Tell me about the research you've done."
"Know about their 3rd year structure and what aspects of this design will facilitate your success. You will have to discuss this at some point."
"Do you think you can handle the first year of an intensive science curriculum as a non-science student?"
"Oh I see X on your application--tell me about that."
"Beta Interviewer asked: why medicine.... what is the biggest challenge facing healthcare....what do you suggest as solution .. tell me about family, siblings etc .. any questions for me"
""If you've been given a magic wand to fix any problem in the world, what would you do?""
"The always dreaded "So, tell me about yourself" - how do you answer this?!"
"describe the role of the catalytic triad in serine proteases... just kidding... why medicine?"
"questions specific to my research "
"What are you looking forward to most in medical school"
"Just specifics about my app."
"[question specific to my file]"
"The two questions mentioned above under the difficult and interesting prompts."
"biggest weakness?"
"What has been your least fulfilling class?"
""What would you do to redo your college experience?""
"Medicine/Duke Specific: Why Duke? Why medicine? What do you plan to do in the third year? What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a doctor? "
"Are you ready for the curriculum we have?"
"Tell me about yourself. "
"What fields of medicine are you interested in? (2x)"
"Why Duke?"
"How do you plan on telling young kids that they have a terminal illness?"
"What do you think about the current Iraqi situation? "
"What's your biggest regret about college?"
"Tell me about Dr. X and your research with him?"
"What motivates you to become a doctor?"
"how would you deal with a bleeding HIV + person whom you were trying to help in a car wreck once you realize you cut your hand also"
"above"
"Tell me about your research"
"How did you prepare yourself for a career as a physician?"
"What is the one thing I would change if I could go back and do it all over again?"
"why duke"
"all questions were straight from my app -- so i don' think they will be helpful to others who are preparing."
"How does your friend describe you?"
"Just the usual about me, my application, and my research."
"read any good books lately? "
"The token "Why Duke?" and "What would you do at Duke during your third year?""
"What do you want to do with the third year at Duke? MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOME IDEA - everyone in my group was asked this"
"How do you spend your free time?"
"I was asked pretty much about everyting in my supplemental application."
"Are you taking biochem?"
"Why medicine?"
"Who are some of your role models, and how have they influenced your decision to go into medicine?"
"What is the purpose of your research"
"What are you doing this year?"
"Other MMI scenarios - ethical, problem-solving"
"Multiple mini interview"
"mmi"
"Secret MMI"
"MMI PROBLEM SOLVING TASK"
"Which of your research experiences was the most meaningful to you?"
"Who is one of your role models (you can't know them)"
"Tell me about a teacher who has had a significant impact on you."
"Assume that the 80 year old kidney failure patient still refused treatment and is now on terminal life support in the ICU. There is no chance for recovery. How do you tell the husband?"
"Very specific questions about my essays"
"what do you want to do during your 3rd year"
"What do you want to do with your MD degree?"
"Define Humanism"
"What is your leadership style?"
"What is one aspect of your personality that you think needs improvement?"
"Define curiosity. "
"Specific questions related to my secondary application."
"What do you want to do during your third year?"
"What would you do if being a doctor was not an option?"
"Why medicine, if you can't be a doctor, what then? What was your MCAT score?"
"Why Duke? What do you want to do with your third year? "
"Why medicine? What type of books do you read? What do you want to do during your 3rd year? Questions about my parents influence on my career decisions. Anything else you want to tell me? Any questions for me?"
"What was one instance where you told a lie, and what was your reasoning for it?"
"Besides Duke's reputation, innovative curriculum, and 3rd year research opportunities, what made you come down here to interview?"
"Faculty Interviewer: What do you envision yourself doing after residency? What do you want to do during your third year at Duke? Are you interested in any specialties? Do you have any questions for me?"
"Why medicine? Where do you see the future of healthcare?"
"If a patient refuses to take your advice or your medicine, but continues to schedule appointments complaining about the same symptoms, how would you treat him?"
"Books read?"
"Why med?"
"Why not the MD/PhD program?"
"why duke"
"3 things you would see on BBC?"
"What do you want to do your third year?"
"what made you go into medicine? (and what's your family background with medicine)."
"If you could go back and do things differently, what would you change about your college experience?"
"In 10 yrs, if you can't be a doctor, what would you be?"
"What is something new and exciting that you've done recently?"
"Why Duke? "
"Which is your favorite book?"
"What did I think I would do with my 3rd year at Duke?"
"What is your opinion about ethics of stem cell research?"
"What do I do for fun? "
"Student interviewer - basically, she had read my app and had prepared a few questions on things that stood out to her. Not challenging, probing questions, but rather, ''I read you did [insert activity], tell me about it'' or ''I thought your essay on [blank] was interesting, could you tell me more about your experience."
"What do you teach to a classroom full of kindergarteners?"
"Would you like to do research or work in academia later on in your career (as opposed to seeing patients)?"
"What medical experience do you have?"
"Tell me 2-3 things that worry you about a career in medicine. Why are you still pursuing this path?"
"What would you do with your third year here? (Everyone wants to know)"
"Tell me about yourself as if I was a stranger walking down a street and bumped into you."
"What is the last book you read outside of academic life? Did you identify with any characters in the book?"
"Would you like a York peppermint patty? (yes i was really asked this, and i did not decline his offer.)"
"Explain your ''C'' in this class."
"student interview was pretty standard, and she was so nice! why medicine? tell me abt your research. why your college? what would be your biggest fear abt coming to duke? (kinda random) etc. be sure to get everything you want out in this one...the faculty one could be just about ethics like mine was."
"What do you think you might do during your 3rd year here?"
"Have you ever had to give someone bad news? How did you do it?"
"How do you like to relieve stress?"
"how can you improve access to health care using your experiences in community service"
"How would Duke's curriculum help you achieve your goals as a physician?"
"What school would you want to study bioengineering and medicine at? (Duke obviously)."
"why duke? how did you like {insert a course in undergrad)? what do you know about health care? how can we change it?"
"Tell me more about so and so activity on AMCAS. "
"Tell me about your research (can be dangerous because it is so open-ended)?"
"What do you think the role of religion is in medicine? "
"Why medicine? Questions about my healthcare experiences and research. What courses stand out? "
"aids question"
"What 2 words would your best friend use to describe you?"
"Question about my answer to one of the secondary questions."
"what did you do with your summers during your undergraduate years? (the interview is open file and your interviewer has gone through it pretty extensively before they meet you, so they know what you've done and usually have specific things they want to ask you about)"
"Questions about my Jazz band"
"What do you do for fun?"
"Tell me about your research."
"Why did you decide to pursue medicine at your age?"
"something negative someone would say about you"
"Explain your research to me."
"What do you know about stem-cell research?"
""Do the chickens have large talons?" (heh, just kidding)"
"What would you do if you found out a colleague was going on an overseas trip paid for by a pharmaceutical company whose products he or she prescribed rather than the generic?"
"What distinguishes you from other candidates? Weaknesses?"
"You've come to medicine a little later. Tell me about that."
"Do you have any questions for me? (repeatedly)"
"Why did you choose to go to UCSD (my undergrad school)?"
"Have you been close with someone who was terminally ill?"
"What books have you read recently?"
"Why are you interested in Duke Med school in particular?"
"How would you handle a situation where a colleague was treating a patient appropriately? How would you handle a patient who is requesting medication that is not for their condition?"
"How would you treat a patient who came in demanding certain prescription drugs?"
"What makes you different from someone coming straight from college?"
"what will you do w/ Third year?"
"(Naturally) Why Duke?"
"Student: Tell me about your best friend (I didn't expect this one either but it wasn't hard)."
"Talk about the moral dilemma you faced (one of the questions from the secondary app)."
"Know your motivations for medicine, what specialty you would choose if you had to that today."
"What are your ideas for what you might want to do in your third year?"
"Oh here on your application I see Y...tell me more about that..."
"Alpha interview was by a student and was much better experience... I could relate with her.....she asked mostly about my life experience what I did and why i did it... based on my answers on AMCAS and their secondary ....any questions for me..."
""If, in fifteen years, you have a car accident with a driver who is HIV-positive, and he is beaten up but you're conscious and able to help him, would you?""
"Why medicine?"
"why duke?"
"what one class did you take that you didn't think you'd like that you actually ended up liking"
"What are you looking forward to least in medical school"
"Why are prescription drugs so expensive in the US? Propose a solution."
"You are a pediatric intern and because of the repor you have built with a thirteen year old child, you have been chosen to inform him that he has a terminal illness and will not live for much longer. How do you inform the child of this information?"
"what do i do on my free time"
"did u like your college?"
"Describe an ethical dilemma and how you resolved it. "
""Why did you go to U.Va.?""
"General Interview Questions: If you could have dinner with anyone...? What do you do in your free time? What do you think will be important issues in the upcoming presidential election?"
"How would you manage the weather down here relative to LA."
"What are some of the most pressing healthcare issues we face today? What can we do about them? "
"We have a distinctive third-year program. If you were at Duke, what would you do during that time? Is that why you are interested in Duke? "
"What are your future career plans, where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"Why pediatric hematology/oncology especially considering how stressful it is?"
"What are your strengths/weaknesses?"
"What would you do with the third year?"
"What made you choose your research topic?"
"What are the most pressing public issues of health care today?"
"what book are you currently reading?"
"What was i thinking of specializing in?"
"What was your favorite class"
"What do you plan on doing after medical school?"
"Besides a medical education, what do I want Duke to do for me?"
"explain your research"
"What was your favorite non-science class?"
"What do you think about the international terrorism etc?"
"i really liked your ethical dilemma essay ... are you proud of the way you handled the situation? "
"I am designing a volunteer program for the other students at Duke Med. Tell me how I can get people involved."
"Which of your extracurricular activities will directly make you a better physician? "
"What was your favorite or most interesting course outside of your major?"
"Do you have anything to add to your application?"
"How do you think you'll handle the demands of medical school?"
"If you didn't get into medical school what would you do?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years? (despite the fact that I'd written an essay on that for AMCAS...)"
"Multiple mini interview"
"mmi"
"Secret MMI"
"MMI ESSAY WRITING TASK"
"What are the three most important characteristics that a good doctor should have?"
"How would you want me to describe you to the admissions committee?"
"If you had one year off where money was not an issue, what would you do?"
"What do you like to do for fun?"
"Application specific based on activities/honors/essays. The interviewers do not have access to GPAs, course lists, or MCAT scores."
"how would your friends describe you?"
"Which of your college activities are you most passionate about?"
"What did you learn from X experience?"
"Are you a risk taker?"
"What characteristics does a good leader need?"
"What is the most creative thing you've ever done? "
"What type of medicine do you want to pursue?"
"What are you passionate about?"
"Do you agree with the sentiment among many student organizations that pharamaceutical companies ought to stay off campus, and away from med students? Why?"
"What do you do for fun? Tell me more about your extra curricular activities and what they meant to you. Interviewer asked lots of specific questions about my responses from the secondary app."
"What do you think the purpose of a service organization is, and is that what they do?"
"I see you are from (insert big city here). What do you think about spending the next few years in Durham?"
"I see you wrote about ________ in your ethics essay and I was glad to read about your decision in that scenario. Can you tell me more about it?"
""You seem to have a very high set of moral standards. What would you do if a patient came to you and asked you to perform a procedure that you absolutely refuse to do?""
"If you are surgeon in a group practice, and you're on call, you get a page from a resident about a belligerent patient at 2 am. You can either treat the patient yourself or have the patient sent to a nearby teaching hospital. Choose one, and why?"
"What were your favourite and least favourite course in college?"
"How are you going to handle the stress of being a doctor?"
"why medicine"
"what do you want to do for your 3rd year?"
"''I read [such and such story] in your secondary. Tell me more about it, with some emotion behind it.''"
"what are you thinking of doing with your 3rd year?"
"What do you do to relax?"
"Name 3 people, dead or alive, you would want to have dinner with."
"Where does morality come from and is it universal or does it change over time?"
"Describe ECs."
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"What kind of music do you like? "
"What is your opinion about cloning? "
"Discuss research."
"Standard Questions: Do you have any weaknesses? Tell me about them. What do you do for fun? What do you fear about medicine?"
"Tell me why you chose your undergrad major."
"What do you think is the most important characteristic for a doctor to have?"
"Ethical debate question listed earlier"
"questions related to my life experience"
"Anything you would like to highlight about yourself not covered in your application?"
"Was your ugrad's premeds competitive? How did you feel about them as your peers?"
"What is the biggest challenge you believe you would face here?"
"Why did you apply to Duke?"
"what would your friends say about you? what would your enemies say about you?"
"Do you have any questions for me?"
"What sort of research would you be interested in during your 3rd year at Duke?"
"Tell me something you did for someone recently that was nice."
"Where do you see yourself 10 years out of medical school?"
"what kind of resarch would you want to do here?"
"In one or two statements, who are you? (tough one to answer)"
"Tell me about your research at ____."
"Why medicine?"
"explain research. if you were a dean of a medical school what would you want your students to leave knowing non-science and how would you ensure that they knew what you wanted them to?"
"Do you have any questions for me about Duke or Durham (Both left quite a bit of time for this and seemed to enjoy talking about Duke. They had very long answers to my questions)"
"How will you make sure not to get overwhelmed at Duke?"
"What do you like to do for fun? Tell me about your hobbies."
"Who has had a strong influence in your life? "
"question about organ replacement and the rising cost of health care"
"What research/clinical experiences do you have?"
"What do you do for fun?"
"how did you end up at your undergrad location and what have you thought about your experience there?"
"What is a distinguising or unique characteristic of you?"
"What would you want to do in the third year? What area of medicine are you interested in?"
"Since Duke has a very unique curriculum, do you think you can handle the first year?"
"Why do you want to be a doctor?"
"How's your dad? (relevant to my personal essay, which means they did at least read it.)"
"help an AIDS patient who was bleeding in a car crash"
"ethical questions. (can't remember them specifically but other people's sdn interview feedback covers them well)"
"Do you have what it takes to get through medical school?"
"How did you become interested in medicine?"
"What draws you the most to this institution (e.g., the curriculum, 3rd year experience, prestige of school, the people, etc.)?"
"What distinguishes you from the other candidates that you think makes you right for admission to Duke?"
"What would you do with your life if medicine stops being an option?"
"How do you deal with a non-cooperative patient?"
"tell me about X on your AMCAS"
"Which member of your family has had the most influence on you???"
"What do you think the third year is like? What's the purpose of it?"
"what's religion's role in medicine"
"(Of course) Why medicine?"
"I got a lot of "tell me more about x" from my applications from the student. The faculty interview was more conversational, but they were both conversational."
"If you were a pediatrician, how would you tell a 12 year-old boy that he has a fatal disease?"
"Be ready to discuss ethical situations. Not in the form of "are you pro-choice?", but speak about resource allocation, and what you would do to fix the healthcare system, etc."
"Why medicine? Why Duke?"
"Why Duke Med?"
"other stuff off my amcas and 2ndary apps"
"a really patronizing one about the diversity of the student body"
"What is your greatest strength? ( and followed up with greatest weakness question)"
"What research would you pursue here at Duke?"
"You have a frequent patient who is a 20 year old mother of three children and two birth terminations (abortions). She has come to you to have another abortion. What do you say to the patient?"
"so ask me a question?"
"Where do you think you will be in 25 years?"
""How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" (seriously)"
"Specific to my application: What policy related issues are most important in healthcare? You've already switched from business to medicine... What might you tell someone who thinks you will at some point switch from medicine to another career?"
"What kind of research?"
"What are some of your most positive and negative characteristics/personality traits? Explain. "
"Tell me about the greating challenge that a leader faces."
"If you had to do something over again, what would you do differently and why?"
"What do you plan on doing during the fourth year?"
"What did you like/dislike in your undergrad school? How did you choose that particular school? What was your major? Why did you pick that major?"
"What do you think about government-sponsored medical education and subsequent service given back to them as a way to solve the healthcare crisis in America?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"What field of medicine are you interested in?"
"how do you deal with stress?"
"Why Duke?"
"Tell me about your family. (Although not a question, but the best thing to talk about.)"
"What would I want to do during the third year."
"what was your favorite class?"
"Tell me about something you are proud of and something you have failed in. "
"What do you want to do MD/PhD"
"do you like music?"
"Why would you want to learn two years of science curriculum in one year?"
"How much do you think doctors should make a year? Do you think doctors make too much? "
"Expand on the ethical situation you wrote about in the secondary application?"
"Don't worry about the alpha -beta distinction - I couldn't tell which interview was which. "
"Stress level was 6 not because of the interview questions, but because it was my number 1 choice and because my fellow interviewees were uptight. "
"Lots of trivia questions. :("
"Why not study medicine where you are from?"
"What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of our healthcare system?"
"Multiple mini interview"
"mmi"
"Secret MMI"
"MAKE THAT OUT OF THIS"
"Describe your friends for me"
"The situational questions about hypothetical patients"
"Define humanism"
"have you ever been a patient yourself"
"What character in a book would you like to spend the weekend with?"
"If you had your ethical dilemma to do over again, what would you do differently?"
"Which character in a book most represents you? "
"Very conversational interview"
"Describe a time when you have stood up for yourself, and faced consequences for doing so."
"Tell me about yourself...led to a lot of interesting sub-questions."
"What about you would make your patients want to see you and no one else?"
"Are you an ethical person? How, why?"
"Looking ahead at your retirement dinner party, what would others say on your behalf?"
"How do you feel you will integrate being a woman and being a physician? "
"Did you like "Complications" or "Better" better, and why? (after the book question)"
"What have you done that you are most proud of, and why are you so proud of that?"
"How did you know you were a compassionate human being? Who fostered those traits in you? What experiences have you had that show your humanism?"
"Another interviewee was asked this: Imagine that you have not seen a close friend for a while, and when you actually did, the person told you that he/she is HIV Positive. What would you say?"
"If you had all of the time and money required to solve one global issue, only one, which would it be, why did you choose that one, and how would you do it?"
"with all the insurance company controlling you, why you still want to go into medical schools?"
"what do you keep on your bedside table?"
"Ethical question about how I would react to another student who refused to plug an artery without gloves for an HIV+ patient."
"When was a time you really could not be of help to a person? Desribe that experience."
"Tell me about your friends. If you could be more like any one of them, which would you choose?"
"If your sick grandfather (no else can be done medically) wants to help him die, what would you do?"
"If you could have dinner with any three people in history, whom would you pick and where would you go to eat?"
"A situational question about breaking cultural barriers in health to allow males or females (who would otherwise be forbidden to treat them) to give healthcare."
"Are you a risk taker? If so, describe a time you took a risk and what was the outcome?"
"If you had one hour to do anything you wanted to do, what would you choose to do?"
"How do you plan to spend your third year?"
"If I were to eliminate one negative aspect of American society (e.g. any -isms) what would it be and why. "
"The most difficult question was also the most interesting."
"Do I read nonfiction novels and how many I have read?"
"If you could eliminate one thing in this country, what would it be? Put yourself in the shoes of the admissions committee... how would you construct a med school class?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. I liked the fact that my student interviewer had actually read my secondary essays and asked me to talk about the experiences that I discussed."
"Imagine that you're a board certified physician and you've been asked to make a presentation about medicine to a kindergarten class. What do you teach/present to them?"
"Do you want to do research during your career or work in academia (as opposed to practicing clinically)?"
"What do you think will be your biggest challenge in med school and in your medical career?"
"The debates on stem cell research and euthanasia have been going on for some time, which do you think is more relevant to medicine? Why? What is your stance, and why?"
"questions related to my life experience, asked by the faculty member"
"What would you change about yourself if you could?"
"As a non-traditional student with a family, what mechanisms would you use to help make the adjustment go smoothly?"
"What fictional character has inspired you most?"
"suppose you are a 3rd/4th year med student and the resident on call or attending is WAY stressed out. a patient's just died and the resident/attending is just too uptight and stressed to handle delivering the news to the family and begs you to do it for him/her. (Recall that it's technically unethical for you to deliver the news to the family.) What do you tell your resident/attending?"
"What do you think about the war in Iraq?"
"some scary stuff with the faculty interview: pretend we're best friends and you just really hurt me. what would you do to apologize?"
"Do you think the British or American medical system is better?"
"Describe the ''good'' premed. Describe the ''bad'' premed."
"Your patient has extremely high blood pressure, but he refuses to take his medication because of its side effects (sexual dysfunction). What do you do?"
"Who are you?"
"How would you respond if you were a residency director and one of the applicants to your program stated that she was planning to become pregnant and start a family soon?"
"Not really a question, a "role-playing". My interviewer was the vice dean of admin. He pretended to be my uncle who thinks women should stay home and pop out babies, and asked me what I would do in that situation."
"If you could sit down and have a conversation with anyone in the world, who would you choose and why?"
"What is the most important trait in a doctor?"
"What is the one characteristic that you is most important for a physician to have?"
"what is a nice thing you've done for someone recently?"
"Nothing extremely interesting. "
"What was my most significant relationship, both non-academic and academically."
"You're in a group project and you hadn't lived up to your responsibilities (be it because of personal problems or the like), and the group has decided to let you go. They have announced to you their decision to let go. What do you say to them? "
"How has your family influenced you in a way that will make you a good doctor?"
"friend says they have aids, what do you say back"
"A man comes in with a sprained ankle, but you find a life-threatening blood clot. He doesnt believe you, and won't accept your suggested treatment. What do you do?"
"Where are you from?"
"suppose as an attending physician, you get a call from a resident late at night about a difficult case where the patient is uncooperative and combative? what course of action would you take and why?"
"Who is the most influencial person in you decision to get into medicine?"
"How would you handle working for an incompetent boss?"
"Since Duke has a very unique curriculum, do you think you can handle the first year?"
"Pretend like you are a doctor and you go into your patient's room and see that they are morbidly obese. What would you do?"
"Have any stories been written about you in the school newspaper?"
"dinner with anyone in history...who?"
"Do you tend to play a leadership role or a follower role?"
"What do you know about stem cell research?"
"Not very many questions, more conversational "
"Nothing in particular. She just wanted to know about my activities and why I was interested in medicine."
"just the normal questions about my app"
"What qualities does a physician need that can't be taught?"
"If I were President Bush for a day, what law would I pass?"
"If you were the Dean of the med school, what one thing would you ensure the students knew when they graduated from DukeMed? "
"If you were interviewing me (the interviewer), what would you ask?"
"Nothing too interesting"
"Do you know what it is like to be sick?"
"If you were made the dean of the school, what would you change/have the students know?"
"Two questions stand out: what was the latest book that you've read and if you can't become a physician what would you choose as an alternative career?"
"How would you handle breaking patient confidentiality?"
"nothing too interesting . . ."
"If I were a genie and gave you one wish, what is the one thing you would change about the world?"
"What do your friends say about you going into medicine?"
"Nothing really"
"If you speak to anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?"
"what is the role of religion in medicine (religion was all over my appliction)"
"How do you feel about embryonic stem cell research?"
"How do you think your interest in philosophy is relevant to medicine? This totally caught me off gaurd. I got through it ok but nowhere near as well as I would have had I thought about it ahead of time. I have so many ideas its hard to organize them into a concise answer of the top of my head. It made for great conversation though."
"Imagine you and I are writing a play about a doctor who comes to a town. Who is the doctor, what is the plot, and who is the audience?"
"I can't think of anything here that I wouldn't have expected."
"I see you have a background that is non-science. Those we accept at Duke are to be leaders in their field or on the cutting edge of research - have you considered that?"
"Not a single interesting question."
"None ... all standard questions .... "
""If, in fifteen years, you have a car accident with a driver who is HIV-positive, and he is beaten up but you're conscious and able to help him, would you?""
"What does the term "cultural competency" mean to you? (related to info on my amcas app)"
"how to cope with a confidentiality issue if/when i thought i needed to spill the beans to someone"
"If you had to break confidentiality, how would you do it"
"The beta interview: How do your strong interests in music play relate - if at all - to your desire to be a physician?"
"Was never really asked a discrete question... more just asked to talk about myself, etc."
"nothing was interesting"
"None"
"Both interviewers asked questions related to my application and my personality. Format was more conversational than other schools."
"i don't like to reveal specific ques. just be prepared to answer some ethical q's. be honest."
"Why are prescription drugs so expensive in the US? Propose a solution."
"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."
"nothing much"
"None really"
"When you have spare time, what kinds of books do you like to read?"
"What is a wahoo? (my school is UVA)"
"So, estrogen is made in males or not?"
"If you had a chance to interview any one person, living or dead, who would it be? What would you ask them? "
"Tell me about a classmate you admire and why."
"What are some difficulties facing physicians today? When you read the newspaper, what section do you read first and why?"
"How do you plan on telling young kids that they have a terminal illness?"
"How do doctors deal with malpractice?"
"If you were a health care personnel would you want to be vaccinized against smallpox?"
"What would you have done if you were the surgeon involved in the botched transplant incident that occurred here last week?"
"Can you show me what Hanmi is? (It's a position in a martial art I study, so I stood up and demonstrated it in my suit..hehe)"
"If an 8 year old boy came into the hospital and needed medical attention immediately and the mother of the 8 year boy only spoke Spanish and she was frightened once you came out with a big needle, what would you do? "
"Regarding the current Bush/War on Iraq situation, do you think Med professionals (AMA, AAMC) + Physicians should take a stand on the issue - what kind of stand would that be?"
"not really any. I got zero ethic questions."
"I had to make up a play called "The Perfect Doctor" I had to decide who would be the main character, what the plot would be, and whether the audience would be applaud or boo at the end. "
"If I were faced with a situation where there was a cultural barrier between me and my patient, how would I try to overcome that barrier?"
"What would I do if I came upon a car accident and the bleeding victim told me that he was HIV positive and when I went to my trunk to look for my first aid kit (which wasn't there) I cut my hand and had an open wound."
"he showed me a picture of the past class, and asked me what did i notice about the picture that is different from say a med school class from 1970"
"none of them were particularly interesting. "
"What makes a school good?"
"What is the biggest challenge for physician today?"
"If we made international medicine a requirement, where would you go to study?"
"the whole interview process was very conversational. mostly "tell me about yourself and how you got here." and "why duke?""
"What skills from teaching difficult to reach children will be helpful to you as a physician? "
"Define "diversity" - why is diversity important in medicine?"
"What do you think is the worst part of being a physician?"
"What would you do during your third year of medical school here? "
"what's the best non-science class you've taken?"
"my student interviewer asked me questions about my job teaching that I had for the past couple of years"
"I was mostly asked about my research experience"
"What was the best non-science class you took?"
"Well, I had a string of questions about the geography of Southeast Asia/Africa, but I gather that's not normal. Like, what's the capital of Australia, and who's the President of South Africa?"
"Why not study medicine where you are from?"
"Multiple mini interview"
"mmi"
"Secret MMI"
"GIVE ME FEEDBACK"
"What do you regret most in life?"
"Describe yourself in one word"
"nothing too difficult"
"Have you had any experiences in your life that you just totally failed at?"
"Define humanism"
"how would you cope with losing a patient"
"How are you different from your grandmother (who was a physician and source of my initial inspiration)."
"All questions were reasonable and on topic. "
"What book most closely reflects your values?"
"What if a patient refused your services because you are a minority woman? How would you react? "
"Is it ever ok to lie?"
"They were pretty straightforward."
"Three different possible future scenarios as a doctor. Each had their own ethical issue attached."
"Are you comfortable with jumping into an accelerated year of medicine right out of college?"
"None, really..."
"One interviewer would just glance at my AMCAS app, pick one of my listed extra extracurriculars and ask a question about it (ie, I was pres. or the Riding club for 4 years, and he asked why I thought my college no-longer required horseback riding as a class)"
"If you had unlimited money, and resources, what world problem would you work to solve and how would you do it?"
"I didn't have any. I'm not sure how it went for the other interviewees."
"Nothing. I kept anticipating really hard ethics questions or something, but all my questions were very standard (e.g., why medicine, tell me about your research, tell me about your experience living abroad, etc etc)."
"Why are the students in your class going to value you as a classmate?"
"why duke?"
"Do you have any questions for me? (I was way overprepared)"
"probably the above."
"If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?"
"If your sick grandfather (no else can be done medically) wants to help him die, what would you do?"
"There was a series of questions asked about the physician's role in execution and how I thought I'd deal with those issues."
"What was your best failure and worst success?"
"Do you think morality is genetic?"
"How did you feel about [tragic] event?"
"What one thing would I tell the board of trustees at my undergraduate university to change in order to improve my college experience."
"Gave recap about a story in New Orleans Katrina about doctors/nurses possibly committing crimes by letting the patients die, intentionally cutting them from life support---asked what I thought about the whole situation"
"What do you value most in your friends? Who is your most significant hero?"
"What is one of the advantages of being a physician? One disadvantage? I supposed that this was a question to discuss what draws me to medicine and what downsides I've considered, but for some reason, how the question was delivered threw me off. "
"Tell me about your interactions with the employees at your work (I work in management at a union organized manufacturing plant). The interviewer specifically wanted to know how I dealt with older and sometimes obstinate employees in both positive and negative situations. "
"What topic would you like to do your third year research on?"
"How do you think your relationship with your parents will influence your bedside manner?"
"You listed a lot of activities on your application. Is there a reason you decided to put {these activities} on your application even though they seem irrelevant to a medical school application?"
"why do you want to be a doctor?"
"Why did you decide to become a doctor? It's the eaiest and the most difficult question to answer. Other than that it was mostly conversational."
"Nothing hard"
"i was really confused cause i had read all these SDN interview things and everyone says they ask really hard, socially significant questions at duke, but i got really standard ones. no curveballs or anything."
"Explain why you didn't do well on ''X'' (a course)."
"if you're having dinner with your best friend and he/she tells you that he/she just got diagnosed w/ hiv, what would you do?"
"nothing really"
"Describe some (college) friends of yours, as well as what you have learned from them that has prepared you for a career in medicine."
"What was the last nice thing you did for someone?"
"Imagine you're the dean of a school, and you have to tell someone they're expelled."
"Do you think women have equality in the medical field? (prompted by the fact that I was president of a women's group in my undergrad...but how am I supposed to know about women in medicine...I'm still in college...)?"
"what do you think about the current political situation? (just because it kind of took me off guard)"
""Who are you?" He wanted a short answer. Like a few sentences. I thought this was quite ridiculous. "
"Say you're in a group of 15 people who have to give a presentation to the chancellor of the med school. You, because of personal difficulties, have not pulled your weight, but everyone else has. They call you into a meeting and ask you to step down. The presentation is in two weeks. What do you do?"
"What is the most important trait in a doctor?"
"with the war in Iraq, many organizations give their opinion on whether we should be there or not. Do you think the AMA, and other medical organizations have a right to also give their opinion about the war?"
"I haven't read your application because I don't want to have any preconceptions, so tell me about yourself with this in mind. "
"Same as above, simply because I wasn't expecting it."
"Tell me why we should accept you to Duke over others."
"same thing"
"What are two successes and failures that you have faced in your life?"
"What has been a struggle in your life?"
"What is the hardest thing about being a physician?"
"No difficult questions"
"Tell me about a time you failed at something."
"what bad thing would someone say about you"
"If you were engaged in stem-cell reasearch and the government banned such research, would you move to England, where it is legal?"
"Nothing tough"
"What will it be like do be a physician in 10 years?"
"If you have an unconscious patient who has refused blood but needs it now to survive, what would you do? What if it was a friend? "
"What other medical schools did you apply to (I couldn't remember!) but seriously, the questions weren't all that difficult. Somewhat open ended maybe (like "tell me about yourself...")"
"Nothing very difficult"
"Do you know what it is like to be sick? (I didn't know if a simple yes would be enough)"
"If you were made the dean of the school, what would you change/have the students know?"
"Name three weaknesses that you have that cannot be turned into strengths."
"What is the biggest problem in healtcare? How would you fix it?"
"or too difficult . . ."
"What would I do if a patient did NOT want me to treat them?"
"a question about a reserach project i did for like 3 months a loooong time ago... and I wasn't asked about the research I've done for a long period of time (and which is way more interesting)"
"Do you have any questions for me and I hope you do. (I'm a student at Duke and I have lots of friends from undergrad that now go here, so this was hard for me.)"
"If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about the world, what would you change?"
"None really difficult."
"Same as above."
"If you were advising an insurance company board, how would you tell them to handle X situation? This question was difficult in part because the interviewer was vague about the situation."
"Toss-up..."If you had your undergrad to do over again what would you do different?" or "How would you allocate resources between X and Y diseases?" or "Is there anything you would like to add?""
"as above"
"none...all standard"
""If you've been given a magic wand to fix any problem in the world, what would you do?""
"Why medicine, as opposed to nursing, public health, or another allied health field?"
"what will your role be in the class of 2005?"
"Where do you think you would fit in socially in the class?"
"All the "canned" questions asked of me in the alpha interview by a student were difficult to answer. What are you looking forward to most about medical school? What are you looking forward to least? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?"
"I got asked such a no brainer I thought the guy was joking. He asked me if I would treat a drunk with a broken leg even though I might not get paid. WTF?"
"Nothing Difficult"
"see above."
"What are the two areas in which you are the strongest, weakest?"
"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)"
"they asked about my perspective on an ethical situation written on the secondary application"
"Why do u want 2 be a doc"
"In your personal statement, you mention having to defend Christianity in a class on Genesis. How will being a Christian affect you as a doctor when your patients may have different beliefs?"
"What are some of the disadvantages to being in a fraternity?"
"Names several books you've read recently?"
"Possibly the same...nothing was really too difficult though. "
"I did a Ph.D with Evans <a super-famous organic chemist>. I know you majored in chemistry. Tell me about your research. "
"How do you plan on telling young kids that they have a terminal illness?"
"None"
"What would you ask me if you were interviewing?"
"see above"
"None."
"What actions outside of community service and anything listed on your application show your altruistic nature?"
"above"
"How a certain travel experience changed my life (because it didn't relate to medicine and he wanted it to)."
"You are a pediatric oncologist. How would you tell a ten year old child that they have a terminal illness? "
"What would my worst enemy say are the reasons why she doesn't like me. "
"the interview was not too difficult. Both interviewers were extremely nice, and I had a great time talking and joking with both of them. The people here are GREAT."
"ethical dilemma about an HIV patient, but really not very difficult or involved. seemed like asing ethical questions were just obligatory."
"What are your weaknesses?"
"Can't remember any particular difficult questions. I had one about how to record population of neurons using microelectrodes, and because I actually didn't know much about it, I sorta b.s.ed. That was NOT good thinking back."
"How can we tell a student who truely wanted to do and got alot out of their volunteer work, from someone who just did it to get into medical school?"
"none were difficult - this was open file and conversational. "
"I am George Bush. You are my health advisor. Tell me what I can do about cloning and genetic engineering in the next few MONTHS?"
"What is the capital of Mongolia? What do you suppose a rheumatologist does? Do you know which chromosome is trisomic in Down Syndrome? "
"Who was the reigning British monarch when India gained its independence, or what was the 48th state to join the United States, take your pick."
"none!"
"tell me about this research project (and pointed on my application to a project that I had done 8 years ago in college)"
"See above. I wasn't ready for questions like that, and they threw me for a loop..."
"read over my application and looked at sdn."
"Practiced MMI with someone else and re-read my application"
"Just practiced boosting my confidence"
"practiced answering MMI questions beforehand"
"read Canadian MMI practice questions"
"Studied a few ethical scenarios, practiced making short, succinct arguments (<8 minutes)"
"nothing"
"didn't do dick"
"MSAR, SDN, re-read my app."
"SDN feedback"
"review website, SDN, mock interview, thought about commonly asked questions"
"SDN of course... Although they didn't ask any of the questions that I was expecting from what I read"
"re-read my secondary essays, very important to do as most questions are derived from them"
"practice interview, SDN"
"Mock interview, gather thoughts on general topics that are frequently asked."
"Secondary, Primary Apps"
"Reviewed interview questions from my undergraduate institution. Read SDN posts. Reviewed my AMCAS and secondary application. "
"I didn't really prepare."
"Stayed with student host, talked to friend who is currently at Duke Med, website, SDN, reviewed secondary (DO IT, most questions come from your secondary essays!)"
"SDN, looked at website, talked to students"
"SDN Interview Feedback, Primary and Secondary Applications, Duke Website (1st and 3rd years in particular)."
"AMCAS, definitely READ YOUR SECONDARIES. They're super into those essays."
"Primary, secondary, SDN feedback"
"SDN, read my AMCAS and 5 essays"
"SDN, read up on Duke, read my secondaries, reviewed AMCAS, mock interviews"
"SDN, mock interviews, Duke website, secondary apps, research about third year program, sleep."
"SDN interview feedback, school website, current students"
"Re-read all essays, and review AMCAS and secondary apps. Read up on the school's curriculum, any clubs or other activities they offer that I was interested in, generally familiarize yourself with Duke."
"SDN, re-read secondary essays (I would definitely recommend this), lots of research on Duke"
"Read over my primary and secondary applications, SDN, MSAR, Talked to students, and Checked out Duke's website."
"SDN, sleep?"
"SDN, reading the Duke website, re-reading my application essays"
"looked over AMCAS app, this website, Duke's website"
"Read up on the Duke curriculum. Talked to my student host the night before about the school. Read up my AMCAS application, secondary application, etc."
"sdn"
"sdn, essays (all of them), university of washington ethics site, newspapers, current events"
"Gosh...Read over application, printed out and vocalized answers to questions on this site, Duke site, researched current healthcare issues, etc. Like I said, way overprepared."
"SDN, duke website, researched some ethical questions."
"School's website is very helpful!"
"SDN, AMCAS, supplemental app."
"Reviewed AMCAS, reviewed secondary, read Duke website, talked to students, reviewed this site, etc."
"SDN interview feedback, AMCAS, and secondary"
"SDN+website+students"
"SDN, Duke website, read on medical ethics, read over my Duke secondary and primary applications"
"website, AMCAS, secondary essays, SDN"
"sdn, duke website, reviewed application, spoke to current duke med students"
"Looked up various issues, such as right to die, stem cells, cloning; read my application, read about Duke"
"Looked over AMCAS application; Duke secondary application; Dukemed's website; thought about possible interview questions; asked students questions about the school; "
"SDN, read secondary essays, stayed with a student the night before, went to a class"
"read about duke online"
"Read this site and found most of the feedback accurate. Reread my essays. Reviewed life experiences that come in handy for interviews. Read up on hot medicine topics in the media. "
"Went over possible ethical questions, read SDN interview feedback."
"SDN, my secondary appl"
"SDN, read AMCAS, the million Duke essays I wrote"
"mock interview, SDN"
"Read SDN feedback, reviewed AMCAS & secondary, skimmed ethics website."
"dukemed.duke.edu, read over research, read over amcas, read over secondary, read interview feedback (just like you!)"
"School's website, SDN reviews, regular review of medical news."
"i read SDN duke interviews and psyched myself up by repeating motivational phrases in front of the mirror."
"The usual."
"had some before, but nothing could prepare me for faculty interview questions, lol."
"SND, MSAR, mock questions, read Duke website"
"SDN, MSAR, reread primary & secondary apps, rounded w/ the transplant surgery team on Sat and Sun, talked to many 2nd & 4th yr students, read up on bioethics (Univ of Washington website, 'Social Medicine Reader'), read parts of 1993 Health Care Finance Book (put out by the NY Times)"
"Read Duke website, re-read secondary application, read some healthcare articles"
"Reviewed my Duke secondary, looked at Duke's website, read SDN reviews"
"amcas, secondary, sdn, read up on current health issues"
"Read school website, look over application."
"Reading this website and the DukeMed website, reading the newspaper, talking to my student host"
"SDN, review apps, review Duke website, mock interview w/ dad on the phone, interview prep pamphlets, medscape.com"
"Reread my applications, reviewed school website, mock interview, SDN"
"SDN, read over my AMCAS app and secondary, read up on news and healthcare, made sure I knew my research"
"SDN, reviewed AMCAS and secondary"
"Reviewed my application, went through example interview questions, read Duke website (very nice and comprehensive), talked with mentors and advisors, read up on current events (especially those in healthcare)."
"SDN, reread AMCAS, read ethics/heath care policy primer"
"SDN, mock interviews, read over application, read up on ethical/healthcare issues"
"reread app"
"SDN, secondary app"
"SDN, CNN.com, read over my secondary"
"student doctor, read through school's website and talked with student host the night before."
"studentdoctor.net, practice interviews, talked to people from Duke"
"Read AMCAS, Duke Secondary, and SDN. Looked over Duke Website. "
"Ethics, sdn, other med applicants"
"Mock interview"
"SDN, Website, reviewed AMCAS/apps/essays."
"websites"
"read amcas looked on sdn feedback (ethical questions)"
"AMCAS, secondary, admissions books, mock interview feedback"
"I already had tons of interviews before Duke, so I was pretty comfortable going in. Still, I looked over my 2ndary and SDN of course!"
"The standard: read my file, essays, etc...Also, Duke Med has an awesome website. I watched the mini movie clips, and I took the virtual-tour because this was a regional interview in California."
"SDN, read app"
"sdn, reread my app, duke website"
"Studentdoctor.com, Duke website, review my application, practiced answering questions (yes, to myself)."
"SDN, went over my notes on possible interview questions, AMCAS, school website"
"SDN, Duke website, read about current healthcare issues"
"Dukemed website, read my secondary, SDN"
"Read my file, SDN, and school website"
"SDN, Duke's website, review application"
"Consulted this site, reviewed my AMCAS and secondary applications, and perused Duke's website."
"I went to the Duke Med website and printed a lot of info about the school. I also reviewed my AMCAS application."
"SDN, read secondary and AMCAS, review current news"
"website, SND"
"Read over my application, Duke website."
"read duke website, sdn, my application"
"See above"
"Relaxed."
"researched Duke's website, researched Duke through proquest. Asked Dr.s that went there."
"Re-read my secondary and AMCAS apps. Looked over reviews from this website. Researched the school. Prayed!"
"Read over my essays, read over input on SDN, and researched the school."
"Read over my AMCAS and secondary apps, did a mock interview, looked over Duke's website."
"SDN postings, re-read application."
"SDN, app, website"
"Well, I forgot to reread my secondary--don't forget to do this! They will probably ask you about it! Anyway, luckily the interviewer that asked me about it phrased it so as to remind me what I had written--turns out I remembered most of it anyway--I was just nervous when in the morning I realized that I hadn't reread it."
"visited Duke website, this website"
"SDN, Duke's extensive website, read over my secondary essays"
"looked over duke med website, reread secondary and amcas apps, reviewed postings on sdn"
"read over app, 2ndary. duke has a lot of mtl on their web site, which i read over"
"Read stuff here, talked with other duke students and friends beforehand about possible questions"
"Read SDN. Perused the website and got to know the curriculum."
"Reviewed the website, my application, etc."
"read my stuff"
"I watched 45 minutes of videos from dukemed.duke.edu - the staff, med students and perspectives didn't even know that they existed."
"The best prep was staying with a medical student the night before. She answered all my questions about the school and I went to class with her the next day. I also read this site."
"i reviewed by duke essays, and gave some thought to what i'd like to do in my 3rd year."
"Read the Duke: About the Interview pages."
"Read information regarding Duke from MSAR, Duke's website, research articles published by the school on site, and the Student Doctor Network"
"read over amcas and secondary application"
"this website, their website, read my apps"
"Read my secondary application, looked at Duke's website, thought about my strengths, weaknesses, etc. Also made sure that I truly understood what sets Duke apart from other med schools."
"SDN, prospectus, read my essays (all 50) for the school, read research I had done, read everything in the history of human kind. Practiced interviews, etc"
"Looked at Duke website, read interview feedback"
"Go to their website, read med school prep books by princeton/kaplan, SDN, read over primary and secondary apps."
"SDN, read this site"
"Read over my secondary and my AMCAS application"
"I read up on Duke in order to answer the "why duke" question, studentdoctor net, re-read my secondary, made sure I could articulate my motivations for wanting to study medicine."
"read application/secondary, interview feedback"
"This website, Duke's website, and reading about health care issues, etc."
"Read interview questions on this website, AMCAS, Duke secondary, secondaries from other schools, current events health news from cnn.com "
"read my secondary, checked out the website, talked to students while i was there and went to a lecture with 1st years"
"Read about Duke's medical program, Interview Feedback, and a good night's sleep"
"Read Duke's website, study interview questions from school, and relaxed"
"sdn, read over my app + secondary essays"
"AMCAS, looked over Duke app."
"Read over my application. "
"Read up about Duke:its history, and its curriculum. I also read up on current events, used student doctor network, and read over my essays."
"SDN, read up on current events, went through my secondaries"
"read sdn, read up about health care"
"read over long secondary essays."
"Duke online site"
"Reading articles, reading my own research stuff. Relaxation"
"Read up on the feedback and the Duke website (including that awesome cirriculum)"
"read thoroughly over the website (they have a VERY unique curriculum that you should understand before going to your interview)"
"Read studentdoctor and my secondary application to Duke. (I am glad that I re-read my secondary as some of my questions were direct quotes from my essays...)"
"Reviewed AMCAS, looked at stuff on website, talked to student host"
"Read over my secondary and looked at DukeMed's very extensive website."
"AMCAS, Read the website thoroughly (it's great), my extensive secondary (which they asked A LOT about)"
"read info. about the school on duke's website, read about ethical issues, read over my application"
"looked over Duke website, read my AMCAS application, reviewed some of my research"
"I looked over the Duke website and a book with potential interview questions and preparation advice."
"Read interviewfeedback.com"
"Read interview feedback (sadly, no reports on Duke here :( ), read over my application multiple times, asked some friends who interviewed at Duke about their experiences, and went over some medical ethics sites on the internet."
"Enthusiasm of students and amazing curriculum"
"My MMI raters were extremely friendly and made the whole process enjoyable."
"EVERYTHING"
"Facilities and general environment"
"The facilities, the curriculum, Durham"
"Amazing facilities, and the student and faculty both seemed incredibly happy. Also the curriculum is impressive."
"Office's care for making good physicians"
"Beautiful hospital/clinic aesthetics."
"reputation, beautiful campus, one of a kind faculty, money money money all around, friendly southern hospitality, warmth"
"Facilities, top-notch faculty, research year"
"Awesome program, unlimited oppurtunities ect, world class fac. ect"
"Great atmosphere--from the students to the faculty to the admissions committee members that spoke to us, I really got a sense of how close the community is. I was overall very impressed with the admissions committee: very organized, very nice, on top of their game."
"Beautiful hospital, very laid back staff"
"both interviewers had obviously read all my essays, which was great. lecture hall seemed very nice. the Duke campus is beautiful. my faculty interviewer was the nicest guy ever."
"the students are very happy, the unique curriculum, the school, ...everything!"
"How nice everyone is, the curriculum..really everything."
"Unique curriculum. Early patient exposure/rotations (2nd year). 3rd year completely devoted to research."
"I was impressed by the associate medical dean. She was very down to earth and shed light onto how Duke molds physicians. I appreciated Duke's emphasis on humility and serving the community. The medical students seemed very happy and stopped by the admission's office often for coffee. One student I saw on the street went out of his way to draw me a map of the admission's office. All medical school lectures are posted online about 1 hour after class. "
"I really like the Duke curriculum."
"emphasis on getting to know the whole person, wonderful facilities, RIDICULOUSLY intelligent students who are also very friendly, beautiful campus"
"Amazing curriculum, beautiful campus, really involved faculty, other applicants were really fun!"
"The strong research, the cooperative student body, the curriculum, the friendly faculty and staff."
"diverse and friendly student body, Dr. Armstrong is super inspiring, favorite curriculum of all the schools I applied to -- it was clear to me why this is such a highly-ranked med school."
"Just about everything, but mostly the students. Really down to earth, really seem to like each other."
"The speech by Dr. Armstrong (Director of Admissions) in the morning. The amount of students we saw during the tour and during lunch."
"The admissions staff!!! The nicest people I have ever met. They really created a comfortable atmosphere and even took the role of parents to the current students. Also, great facilities, awesome lecture hall, and Durham is a wonderful city."
"Everything! All of the faculty and students were so nice and eager to tell us about how truly amazing Duke is and how happy they are there. Around 15 or so students popped into the admissions office at various times throughout the day to talk to us even though they were in the middle of final exam week. All the students insisted that the first year is completely manageable. I was impressed by how much freedom you are given during your third year as well. The Dean of Admissions was so inspiring, I don't know how anyone could leave Duke without a strong desire to attend!"
"Enthusiasm of students, tight knit class"
"Assc. Director of Admissions (Richard Wallace's) talk about the Duke Community."
"Everything. Seriously. This school is stellar. Great research opportunities, the innovative curriculum seems very effective, friendly and happy students, small class size, clean/updated facilities, awesome residency matching, financial aid is generous, cost of living, the campus looks like Hogwarts."
"The campus is absolutely gorgeous. The students are incredibly nice. Many stepped in the office throughout the day for drinks or to just talk to the interviewees. They all seemed very happy with the curriculum and educational environment, although many confirmed that the two years' worth of material crammed into the first year was quite challenging. Their financial aid package is definitely better than most schools that I've seen, and there seems to be many opportunities for growth during their distinctive third year. The cost of living in Durham is very low, but the trade-off is that there is not be as many things going on as other "college towns"."
"The bright and enthusiastic students. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome. The lecture hall was gorgeous. Each seat is equipped with its own microphone. I also liked the gothic architecture on campus."
"Everyone was so friendly. During the down time in between interviews, medical students from all years were constantly streaming in and out of the office to talk to the interviewees. It created a really laid back atmosphere that made me feel more comfortable going into the interview."
"happy students, nice facilities, good weather, low stress"
"My student host and other MS1's were a very warm and friendly bunch. Cost of living in Durham is dirt cheap."
"The interviewer was friendly"
"that alot of people are married"
"great facilities"
"Humility of the students and faculty there. Also, the ''our students are expected to change the world'' attitude of the faculty. They seem to feel that their med students are capable adults, and depend on them as such."
"the faculty!!! they were all so enthusiastic, adorable, and funny!! you could tell that they really cared about the students and that if accepted, one on one interaction with them would be often. "
"Everything. The student body is very close and enthusiastic, the administration is very supportive, the curriculum is amazing and really prepares students for great careers."
"The freedom of the 3rd year."
"This may sound trite...but everything positively impressed me. Duke has amazing people, great facilities, wonderful curriculum, and a fantastic campus. I cannot say enough good things."
"The philosophy of the school, how friendly everyone was, the proximity to the undergrad campus and the curriculum."
"Flexibility of the curriculum, research powerhouse, second highest board averages, past residency matches"
"The students were very nice and tons of them would walk into the admissions office and talk with us for a long time and answer any questions we had. They seemed to be overall happy and laid back. "
"The admissions and financial aid presentations, the campus and facilities, as well as the friendliness of the people of Durham and their open gratitude for Duke Medical Center."
"Duke's focus on giving their students the support and guidance they need to be leaders in their respective fields."
"I had a regional alumni interview. The interviewer was amazing and the most enthusiastic of any. "
"The classroom; the fact that the faculty, administrators, and students were so nice; and Durham."
"The students were friendly and committed to their academic pursuits. The campus is gorgeous. The weather is good. Even in the first year, the students do all kinds of activities and find time to go out for beers. The curriculum rocks. The school has the second highest mean score on Step 1."
"the admissions guy talked about how humble of an environment duke is, and how faculty are expected to be great teachers. Also, I was already drawn to Duke because of the curriculum, but their discussion of its philosophy impressed me even further."
"The positive attitude (laid-back, yet focused) of all of the students. The amount of hands-on and one-on-one training incorporated into the curriculum. The massive expansion of the medical center campus over the past 10 years."
"The schools the other interviewees had attended/are attending."
"The admissions staff was very friendly and helpful. There were med school students coming in and out of the office all day (to get free drinks and to talk to us). The associate dean gave us a very thorough explanation of the unique curriculum and the history and reasoning behind it. She was very well spoken, and I like their curriculum better now that I understand more about it. Our tour guide was very bubbly and fun, and she was very honest and open."
"Nothing really, I went in with higher expectations"
"the faculty interview"
"How enthusiastic and open all the students were. A fridge full of free soda keeps a constant parade of medical students passing through the admissions lobby."
"Revolutionary compared to other medical schools. I think they are dead on with their philosophy (1 preclinical year)"
"The enthusiasm of the students for the program, the faculty, and the opportunities."
"Everything was amazing except for Durham. Its not that its bad, its just that there's nothing there."
"really sweet books in the interview waiting room - i esp love liberal propaganda, and that room is full of it! there was even this one admissions book on the table which had a chapter slamming duke's elitist admissions policies."
"The curriculum and the large number of African American students."
"two things majorly impressed me: curriculum (my favorite of any school's) and students (some of the best kids i've met anywhere, and i really felt like i could be friends w/ them...they were some of the only ones who were really genuinely nice)"
"the students were smart and enthusiastic, the main lecture room was nice, the curriculum is great"
"the students are normal folks w/ great senses of humor; relatively new Global Health dept; proximity of the hospitals and research buildings to the remainder of the Duke community; financial aid"
"I actually went into my interview day biased against Duke, and left loving it. Curriculum is extremely well thought out and organized. They don't cram 2 years of material into 1 year; instead they distill them into the most important concepts, which are taught in the 1st year, then continue to teach the other topics during 2nd year rotations (so that you "learn by doing"). Students are given an inordinate amount of responsibility and are allowed to try many procedures in rotations. Tons of research opportunities in the 3rd year, and many scholarships are offered so that overall the cost of 4 years of medical school is much less. You can also leave in the 3rd year to complete a 2nd graduate degree. And, it was WARM and I didn't need a jacket in early February. Flowers were blooming all over the gorgeous campus."
"facilities, interviewees, general friendliness of the people at duke"
"Duke students were the happiest, most cohesive group I've met. The facilities are top-notch, the 3rd year research opportunity is amazing, and finishing the basic sciences all in the first year sounds very appealing to me."
"facilites, very high-tech, streaming videos for classes, 3rd year for research, living cost is cheap"
"The beautiful campus"
"The facilities are beautiful, and Duke seems like a fabulous place to be. The dean who came in and spoke to us in a group made me so excited to be a physician. Financial aid seems really above and beyond any other institution I've seen so far."
"Quality of the institution, quality of the people, the value they place on the people of the University"
"The students I talked to appeared to all be happy with the learning environment and were enjoying their time at Duke. They were all down to earth and friendly with us and each other. The undergrad campus is very nice, definitely has an Ivy League look to it, and has a great gym. Hospital is huge, and has a lot of opportunities to work in any area you want. Research is worked into the curriculum, which is a plus."
"Duke is Duke. Its amazing like everyone says, when you're considering the facilities. loved the fact that all the lectures were on video so you could chose to go to class everyday if you wanted. "
"The students all seem happy, love the curriculum, and say they are not stressed and don't work any harder than students at other med schools. Everyone was friendly. The opportunities for research or second degrees durring the third year are amazing. The clinical education also seems to be one of the best. "
"The campus is absolutely beautiful. People were very friendly. Students were very approachable and willing to answer questions. Everyone seems very laid-back and relaxed, but they work very hard and it shows. Duke Hospital and the Children's Hospital are both very impressive facilities. Great student interviewer! Both knew my application and asked questions that prompted meaningful responses. Not a lot of ego, which was nice. Faculty and administration very down to earth and courteous. The ampitheater where you have most of your first year classes was AMAZING (like the UN, only better, you'll get what I mean when you see it). I'm very happy that I traveled to the campus."
"The facilities are impressive"
"Everything. This is a wonderful school. None of the students had anything bad to say about the school. Innovative curriculum. Generous financial aid packages."
"curriculum, the fact that the students were soo enthusiastic and visible."
"The facilities are absolutely the best. There is no beating them. Also, getting into the clinical setting in the second year is great."
"All of the students seemed so happy to be there "
"caliber of students, beautiful campus, top-notch facilities, innovative curriculum, financial aid program, friendly atmosphere"
"The interviewer was super nice and very positive."
"Facilities, co-location with Undergrad Campus, National Reputation, Research, Unique Curriculum, Students, Housing Market (cheap and close to campus), Parking near Medical Center"
"The facilities are impressive and high tech. There are many hospitals and research facilities right next to campus and the Duke undergrad is also within walking distance. Everything you need is at your finger tips! The people are very friendly and all the medical students that were there are amazing people!"
"The people there were incredibly friendly, welcoming, and accomodating."
"Campus and facilities are magnificent. First class all the way. Also, the 60% grant taking care of part of the bill is great."
"other candidates"
"Hospital is beautiful. School is connected to undergrad campus. The third year is a research year which can be used for just about anything you can convince people to sponsor you for. "
"The alumni was a part of a seemingly very impressive practice and had some good information about Duke."
"My interviewer! She was awesome!"
"Interviewer was incredibly nice and an amazing person."
"i did a regional interview. my interviewer seemed like a true professional and he was very nice. he was impressive."
"i didn't visit, but i liked not having to fly and spend $$ and time"
"Everything. Duke has a great curriculum, supportive staff and student body, and great research opportunities."
"Number of Howard Hughes students they had each year and Duke's great reputation in medical research."
"The friendliness of the students and staff and how much the students enjoy going to school at DukeMed (one student commented that he didn't even feel like he was going to med school because he was enjoying it so much-maybe a little far-fetched but encouraging none-the-less) "
"The doctor who interviewed me was very friendly. We had more of a conversation than an interview. At first I was disappointed when all the on-site interviews were booked and I had to do a regional. In the end, it saved time and money, and I felt it went well."
"The Duke campus is gorgeous. Also their schedule for the fours years of medical school is very innovative"
"the students and the organization of the whole day; financial aid; cost of living "
"Awesome facilities, the general happiness of the students, the friendliness and helpfulness of everyone helped ease the stress levels."
"Every single person I met was in love with the school and throughly enjoying med school at Duke (yes, apparently that is possible). There was so much energy among both the students and the faculty."
"The campus is beautiful and the students seem happy. Also, the staff works hard to make the whole process as stress-free as possible."
"The student body seems fabulous. They are so friendly and outgoing. The stopped by where we were waiting throughout the day to get drinks and candy and stuff. And all of them were so positive and made you feel so comfortable. Duke's campus is gorgeous, even if they say Durham is not too exciting. The students also assured me that the first year is not as horendous as it sounds like it would be : )"
"The school is beautiful and very well-advanced in terms of technology....even the admissions office waiting area had a computer for us to use and also a flat screen monitor on a wall that had all this stuff about the admissions process! Students seemed to be really happy, and the cost of living is extremely low compared to other cities in the South. It was also kind of relieving to know that the 1st year spans 11 months so it's not like they're cramming all the material they give first-years into the more traditional 9 or 10 months. And of course, the third year option is awesome and the finaid presentation was the most informative of any school. "
"The first year lecture hall is amazing! It's so comfy and even has little speakers at every desk. The lectures are videotapes and available online. The students were pretty nice. I remember some SDNers saying the students seemed elitest... I didn't get this feeling."
"The medical education facilities are nice--the amphitheater, CLT(?) rooms, etc."
"Duke University is an amazing school."
"Everything about Duke was wonderful! The financial aid package is great. The students are friendly The faculty is cool. The 3rd year is a great idea and seems really flexible. Also, the support system for all students, especially minorities, is amazing. Basically, I was positively impressed by everything!"
"The 3rd year (when you do your own project) is very flexible. You can do research or get another degree (MPH, JD, MPH, etc.) and do so at just about any other school (I was told that people have gone to Oxford and Africa). The first year doesn't seem that it would be as hard as you would think, but still harder obviously."
"Happy, laid-back students who seemed much less competitive than I expected. Also, top-notch facilities."
"School's resources, 3rd year set-up, current students, admissions staff, future opportunities."
"Amazing facilities."
"The admissions office woman is very very nice--I also liked that they took our pictures for our ID cards--it made everything more personal. The first year lecture hall is beautiful. One of my favorite things about the "medical school building" itself."
"lots of unique cases, patient lab has an artificail human to practice skills on rather than poking each other....and financial aid is awesome for a private school if you can show need...."
"the students were really into their class... the 100-person class size really helps the comaraderie... and the curriculum"
"the facilities, student interactions, overall atmosphere, hosting experience"
"students seemed very happy. interesting cirriculum. pass w/honors/pass/fail grading system. research opportunites"
"The happiness and friendliness of the student body, the curriculm and how responsive the administration is to the student's feedack, the cheap real estate"
"The facilities and many of the students that I met. The lecture I attended on cardiology exams and a visit to the optometry clinic were all very interesting/fun. "
"The facilities are incredible, and the students seemed laid back."
"The school and the students."
"The place is incredible"
"So much! Duke has great facilities for students and the undergrad campus is gorgeous. Everything is high tech. The students seem very happy and get along well. The atmosphere wasn't competetive. They really know their stuff, so that condensed 1st year might just work for me too. "
"everything, i really thought it was awesome."
"The campus is beautiful, the students sharp yet not cutthroat, and the curriculum different and intriguing. Also Duke grads have lower debt, on average, than grads from even state med schools."
"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."
"the students were the best part, very friendly. faculty was funny and hospitable. facilities are very cool."
"the people, the classroom, the students, the area, the curriculum, hospital, faculty"
"I was blown away by the prestige of this school and the unique flavor of its curriculum. I also felt that I would fit in--the students were very friendly and social, which is a big draw."
"Curriculum. Fast. Rigorous. Open. Early patient contact (second year clerkships). Great reputation. Great student aid. THE SOUTH! This was a major one. This was the only school I applied to in the South. Little does Duke know what a major draw that is to us southerners."
"Unique Curriculum. Only one year of basic science (very streamlined), the rotations in the second year, an entire year free for research or pursuing a joint degree in the third, elective in the last. "
"They were very welcoming and students kept on comnig into intriduce themselves. Despite how how tech the place is, it seemed very homely."
"Everything. I loved Duke, the facilities and the students. Everyone was so laid back, the faculty we met were amazing, the campus is beyond gorgeous. trhe 3rd year is also awesome and i'm excited about the extra-early clinical exposure"
"The hospitality of the visit. Everybody was so nice, the campus was beautiful, and people really had a lot of pride in their school. "
"Duke med students were very happy, neat people. Campus and facilities are state-of-the-art. In general, people were very friendly and made an effort to put the interviewing students at ease."
"The third year is the BEST feature and I think it makes Duke superior to almost every other medical school in the country. The opportunities it opens up seem incredible. I can definitely see why its one of the top schools in the country."
"Nothing impressed me about this interview."
"I was interviewed at a regional location, so I only got to meet a Duke alumni who practices in California. He was really, really nice and took the interviewing very seriously."
"quality of education, opportunities available"
"How happy the students were and how outgoing and friendly the faculty at Duke Med was."
"I did not find one student that was unhappy. That impressed me. Also, Duke appreciates diversity in its student body which is a plus."
"awesome financial aid!!"
"3rd year flexibility with the curriculum"
"Contrary to what many people think, the students and faculty are not snobs and did not seem cut-throat."
"Everything. The interviewers were great, the students were great, and the resources available to everyone were incredible."
"The students seemed to be happy and had many good things to say about Duke. "
"the people are amazing; the students were all very friendly and very happy"
"that the average debt load of students is so low."
"The student facilites and smoothness of the day. "
"The school was really great. I had a great first impression. The research facility was huge and new. Very nice students."
"Everything. I always come out of interviews with something negative to say about the school. But, not this time."
"the facilities were BEAUTIFUL. the curriculum is really innovative and non-traditional"
"The facilities, cheap cost of living, and the overall caliber of the students."
"caliber of facilities, obvious talent/intelligence of students"
"The amphitheater lecture hall was pretty amazing, and both the office staff and students were very nice. My tour guide and student interviewer were very upfront about the pros and cons of attending Duke. "
"The campus is great, the hospital is nice, students are friendly, the curriculum is so unique (I'm interested in getting an MPH, which can be done DURING the third year)."
"the students were REALLY happy and friendly"
"my student interviewer was very fun to talk to"
"The size of the campus and medical facilities"
"Everything (esp. financial aid)"
"The students were really friendly. The facilities were amazing - especially the classroom! Other teaching facilities were decent - nothing too spectacular. And the med school is on the undergrad campus, so you get those benefits."
"Not enough diversity, only two minority students being interviewed."
"The M1s I met seemed a little more overwhelmed than the ones I met at other schools."
"Wish they did the traditional interview style"
"Tour was 2 hours while the other MMI group did their interview"
"How early the day started lol"
"The tour could have been better organized."
"..."
"Students seems stressed."
"Current student told me after the interview day that curriculum was being retooled to be team-based learning for current MSIs. Did not hear a peep out of the admissions office about this."
"The lab facilities we saw seemed very minimalistic, although the student tour guide said the gross anatomy lab was new and beautiful, but he couldn't let us in..."
"tour guides seemed tired.. i guess it is med school!?"
"3 week summer break after first year"
"I liked Durham, but students who are looking for a big city may not be happy there. Not all major cities have direct flights to Durham making travel more difficult."
"More things than I expected. My interviewers were overall nice, though my student interviewer had the flattest aspect I've ever seen in a person. She literally gave me a half-smile once and otherwise listened to my answers with no nodding or "Mmhmm's. It was somewhat disconcerting. Second, neither interviewer really seemed to respond to any of my thoughts on wanted to stay rounded in med school. I've got a family, so I mentioned wanting to spend time with them, and it didn't really seem to resonate with either person. Third, the doctor giving the Duke curriculum overview rubbed me the wrong way. He was a super name-dropper, and he was constantly saying stuff like, "My uncle, who was the governor of New York, and my dad, who was the founding chair of the department of pediatrics at Case Western, blah, blah, blah" and "My preceptor at Harvard, who later went on to found the department of medicine for such and such," He just constantly referenced all the amazing people he had worked with even when it was very tangential to whatever we were discussing. Then, he also kept mentioning how at Duke we would have this research year (which I think is cool), and we should do research at the NIH or the CDC or Yale or Harvard and how we'd get to know lots of people there and build relationships so we could all go work at awesome schools when we graduated because we'd know all these super famous, influential people."
"how some students described first year as brutal and miserable. "
"I didn't love Durham."
"The medical school does not have its own building, the cost."
"basement location of admissions office (j/k, it wasn't so bad)"
"No after hours anatomy lab access"
"Since my interview was during the holidays, and since the M-1s were taking their finals that day, we really didn't get to see much. Our tour was only 35 minutes."
"Durham"
"Nothing. Really, I thought the basic science all being in the first year was going to be a negative, but I talked to several (close to 20) students, and they all said it was manageable."
"Only Durham. I am from a larger, metropolitan area. If I were lucky enough to go here, it'd be a big adjustment."
"The tour was not very comprehensive. We did not get a chance to see much of their vast hospital system nor the anatomy lab, although we did get a whiff of the overwhelming smell of formaldehyde that came out from a slightly opened door of the anatomy lab."
"Nothing, really. despite 2 years' worth of curriculum being condensed into one, the students found it manageable."
"Nothing. I was very impressed."
"I just left with a less-than-optimal vibe. The faculty and upper-year students I met struck me as being rather elitist. The whole ''this is Duke so once you're in and one of us we'd take care of ya'' was a turn-off. There didn't seem to be much to do in the community."
"too many trees"
"I had to email and chase after my regional interviewer before I got the interview"
"there are no people there, the hospital is not alive"
"No signs helping us get to the admissions office. Also, interviews seemed very brief, especially considering the very involved secondary app."
"the facilities seemed small, but that is probably because my tour guide only showed us 2 rooms (i don't know why). she also wasn't as enthusiastic as i would have hoped. but it was probably just a bad day for students, as i heard that they all had exams this week, so didn't see a lot of them. "
"no student housing."
"Nothing new."
"Durham is not the most exciting but Chapel Hill is really close and that is where everything goes down."
"Durham is not the most exciting place, the facilities are not the best looking, the morning talk is completely disorganized and I got nothing out of it, the student tour guide was very indifferent, did not seem excited to be here and showed us the undergraduate campus...hello? I'd like to see the hospital and where I'll be for the next 4 years. He was reserved, quiet and aloof. The lunch could be better. Too many abstract questions were asked...I wonder what they got out of the interviews. I thought I would have liked Duke, but I felt completely out of place and uncomfortable. "
"The area looked dead! I got there on a Sunday and walked around the medical school area and barely saw any people! It was actually depressing. I went to all of the ''hot spots'' of Durham, but they were either closed on Sunday or just not really ''hot spots.'' If you are a city person, adjusting here would be tough. "
"Not that many students ate lunch with us, and the student that I sat closest too seemed a little stand-offish."
"Some of the classrooms and/or labs need renovation."
"nothing really"
"Nothing of importance. The students who were supposed to eat lunch with us were busy."
"Faculty interviewer seemed flat, a little disinterested. "
"Not much really. "
"The whole school seemed a little snobby."
"Some of the facilities - like the CLF or something like that - weren't impressive. The hospital itself is very nice, but the CLF's are small rooms in the older part of the clinic where they do small group work and look at microscope slides and such."
"I was struggling the whole day to understand why the school is ranked so well. Nothing jumped out at me as impressive, and their name, while great, is no Harvard or Yale. I left feeling very disappointed."
"the student interview"
"Durham was pretty dull, but the cost of living was pretty cheap."
"Student interviewer was bizarre (not very personable)."
"I've already been to Durham and I don't really care if it's dead. It's not like I'll have that much time anyway. Nothing impressed me negatively."
"durham sucks A LOT."
"Most of the students are straight out of college and seem to keep to themselves. There appears to be low levels of interaction between the students--everyone seems to study on their own."
"facilities are pretty old...this really threw me off-guard after just having gone to some other places w/ spectacular facilities, durham is kind of shitty (reminds me of the town where i grew up)"
"there is no med school specific building, all the facilities are embedded in the hospital."
"students pretty much left alone to take the USMLE Step 1 during the beginning of the 3rd yr...even that was a stretch for me to call it a ''negative'' - solid Duke students rock out on boards anyway"
"Nothing really. The interviews started running late, but that probably can't be avoided."
"Student interviewer seemed very uninterested. "
"I liked Durham a lot, but it's a small city and might not be what some people are looking for."
"not much to do around the area, some of the people's attitudes, it was hard to understand my interviewer, and he kept looking at the clock"
"My interviewer (not the student interviewer) struck me as a little bit stuck up. I'm sure he's a nice person, but I couldn't help forming that impression."
"Getting around Durham was tough--I spent a lot getting to/from the airport. That's about the only thing, though"
"interviewers could have asked better questions to get to know me better. My second interviewer asked me if I had any questions after only about 10 minutes of real interview. They were also running "behind schedule," so I felt rushed."
"Everyone drives into the school, which isn't that bad, but there are few place to live that you can walk to the campus from."
"I know I come from a small unknown school and I am not the smartest in the pack of applicants, but the interviewers made me feel like I wasn't even supposed to be there. Duke just wasn't as inviting as the other schools I have been at. It made me re-evaluate whether Duke would be on the top of my list or not."
"It's really hot and muggy in North Carolina during the summer. Parking is expensive and about .75 miles from the hospital. "
"Not a lot. The laboratory classrooms were a bit sparse. There wasn't a big student presence on campus because of the time of year (four days before Christmas)."
"It wasn't very negative, but I had the sense that some of the med students were a bit arrogant. "
"My interviewer was bad"
"Nothing big, but there was more than an hour between each of my interviews where there was nothing else going on. Just a bunch of waiting."
"The faculty interviewer seemd distracted and did not know my application very well"
"some of the other applicants had a little bit of an intellectual arrogance to them."
"I felt like he was a bit rushed."
"Durham is limited, some of my fellow interviewees were brown nosers - I hope that doesn't represent the student body, few nontraditionals"
"The area doesn't have any real public transportation and you need to buy a car or drive if you get in. There is also lack of sidewalks or biking routes which leaves you with no other options but to drive. Durham is not as pretty as I wish it would be. "
"It was a little bit difficult to navigate the school. The students said it took them about a week to figure things out."
"Student interviewer seemed bored, faculty interviewer had a medically-important call during our meeting that shortened and disjointed it."
"raleigh-durham"
"Students seemed a little worn out. Durham is the middle of nowhere...I don't think that there's much to do there besides study or do something at the university."
"The interviewer didn't have any information about me, yet he was supposed to have received info from Duke. I had to provide the paperwork such as AMCAS, secondary, transcript for him to review."
"That is wasn't at Duke. I got a really great impression but I know next to nothing about Durham."
"nothing (hard to negatively impress on a regional interview)"
"obviously, i didn't get a chance to really get a feel for the school"
"Well it is in the South..I've lived in CA all my life, how can you compare?"
"very little (if anything)"
"Nothing really. I just hope that regional interviews are given equal consideration as on-site."
"they take paper tests "
"There is absolutely nothing to do in Durham - even the students admitted you need a car to do anything fun."
"Nothing- the interviews were very casual, everyone I interacted with was incredibly friendly and approachable, and the school itself was great. The only negative thing was that some of my fellow interviewees were pretty cocky."
"Durham! There is nothing there."
"I am still not sure if their curriculum is right for me. They seem to be so geared towards producing physician scientists, and I am not sure that that is the direction I want to go. there are other things that you can do with that year off, like get an MPH etc. Many other schools give you some flexibility with electives and such the first two years, but Duke has taken all the flexibility there and put it into the third year. "
"Durham is not exactly a great city...I would be willing to overlook it to come to Duke but it would be an adjustment."
"When they told us the avg MCAT was 36 and avg gpa was 3.8, I was tempted to walk out :) I have no idea how I got an interview at Duke..."
"The tour was so short! I really really love Duke and have worked in its hospitals and clinics for years. There is a lot of great stuff here that they didn't choose to show the applicants. I found that weird."
"Nothing, except that the student tour could have been more organized."
"I am a city boy, and Durham is really small. It's nearby stuff to do but you have to have a car if you want to go there (or else you are dependent on others for a social life). There are a lot of things to do if you to get away from the hustle and bustle of a city, which is good, but I like being within minutes of doing anything you want."
"Limited opportunity to talk with students other than first-years who had been there only a couple of months and could speak to very little about the school. The students I did talk to seemed to think it was cool to tell the interviewees how seldom they attended class."
"Students seemed a little bit stressed. Most said that they didn't work as hard as they did in undergrad, but I find it hard to believe."
"Some condescending attitudes. One interviewer was late, and then cut the talk short."
"I dislike long interview days that involve downtime and this day did. Some of us had to sit for an hour or more in the admissions room (well we could have left I suppose) while we waited between interviews. It just seems wasteful of our time to me?"
"the interview is only 30 min...and by the time you think you are getting started, it is already over"
"durham is a small southern town."
"not too much, really. my student interviewer was intense and made me a little nervous, but nothing too bad."
"nothing negative stood out."
"eh, durham is not the most exciting city in the world. "
"My student interviewer was piss-poor at conducting an interview. She lacked the ability to steer a conversation and was resistant to gentle pushes. She had a list of 8 questions that were on her agenda for the allotted .5 hour and none of them were specific to my application. "
"The interviews were not held when scheduled. My second interviewer kept me waiting for over an hour. The meal requests (vegetarian, kosher) were not honored."
"My interveiw. It was just the luck of the draw. I got an uninterested interviewer."
"I don't think that the interviewers really tried to get to know me beyond my application."
"Durham isn't a great city, but Chapel Hill is just down the street. "
"not much."
"Hotel access in the area is spotty. Reserve early."
"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."
"things aren't very close together, need a car"
"nothing really...maybe that there is no on campus housing"
"I wasn't too thrilled with the quality of the interviewers. At Duke, you have an "Alpha" and a "Beta" interviewer (2 interviews), and I didn't think either of mine were great. Both had no flexibility in terms of asking follow-up questions, and with their lack of social skills, it is a wonder they could interact well with patients at all. Luckily, the other students there thought so too!"
"Stress level of the school. There is an AOA here; and I would have to study my tush off indefinitely."
"Though the students seemed happy to be at Duke, they did not seemed thrilled to be giving tours, fielding questions, etc. Perhaps it was the time of year."
"well, coming from LA, Durham is a bit sleepy"
"Finaid presentation was a little bit cut-and-dry (kind of corny, but very informative...except the lady didn't really seem to want to help out too much.) Also, confusing to get around. I spent ~ 20 minutes just trying to locate the admissions office. "
"the lunch...not very good."
"Nothing really, its expensive like most other private schools, but if I had to choose between this expensive set of schools, I would definitely choose Duke over some of its peers and "higher ranked" institutions just because of its third year."
"I had a horrible regional interview that I am incredibly upset about. My interviewer asked no questions about my background, and when I volunteered personal info, she changed the subject. She cut me off when I answered her questions about ethics. After about thirty minutes, her friend came over and sat behind us. She then claimed she had errands to do and that we had to end the interview (while I was in mid sentence.) After I got up to leave, she sat with her friend, as if they had a planned meeting. The worst part was when the interviewer stated that she thought my college only focused on writing and not on research. I had to remind her about my research background and what a science major was like at my school. She didn't seem to change her opinion after my explanation. This interviewer obviously came to the table with preconceived notions about what I was like and obviously did not read my application before asking questions. "
"I wish my interview was open-file so that the interviewer would have had some backgbround. What I didn't like is that he forgot to tell me that it was closed-file (he later apologized), so that during the first part of the interview I omitted a few things which I figured would have been repetitions from my application. Later, as I realized he didn't get my references to the application, I backtracked. If you are not sure if it is open/closed file-AKS."
"seemed like a lot of students were gunners open 3rd year could be an opportunity to slack if you let it"
"None."
"I attended a first year lecture where everyone in the classroom was on the computer chatting on Instant Messenger and playing poker."
"prospect of spending another 4 yrs in Durham..."
"financial aid"
"no on-campus housing"
"Nothing."
"Only 8% of the class are non-traditional students"
"nothing, duke was grea"
"lots -- the students didn't seem that happy and a little snotty. the curriculum seemed a little too intense (i heard the word rigorous more than I would have liked). the students and faculty kept talking about how they were better than other top schools, which was annoying and unnecessary (just made duke look paranoid)."
"The lunch."
"Some people complained about NC"
"durham, nc. yick. i hear chapel hill is cool, though. "
"I know I shouldn't complain about this but their breaks are really short...the first summer is only one month long!"
"Durham - seems like it has the disadvantages of a city (traffic congestion, crime) without the advantages"
"The dreary weather today and some of my second interviewer's questions. "
"Durham (my bus drivers both told me the crime rate was high for such a small city) and how the campus seemed a bit isolated from the city. Also, for med school it really seems like a commuter campus (you need a car - they said this in the financial aid presentation)."
"nothing"
"the very low age of most Duke Med students, lack of age diversity and nontrad students"
"The interview process"
"Fellow interviewees"
"I wasn't too happy with the questions I got asked by the one interviewer."
"That interviewers will try to test your patience."
"It's important to stay hydrated during the MMI process. My worst station(s) was when I was thirsty lol"
"NA"
"Don't be afraid to bring truly comfortable walking shoes - you will need them."
"The MMI questions lol but the Best advice I got was to just be myself and answer the questions."
"That the MMI was more relaxed than I thought--I would have spent less time freaking out."
"mmi"
"Durham is very segregated and can be quite dangerous."
"How awesome Duke was and special this place was"
"I needed more practice."
"Not to be so nervous about the interview"
"how much effort my interviewers were going to put into reading my essays."
"Do not find out if accepted until March."
"The interview group was smaller than I expected--only 10 interviewees. "
"The Ivy-aspirations of the school."
"they will ask questions from your secondary so DEFINITELY REVIEW IT!!!"
"The curriculum has existed in this format since 1965."
"How beautiful the campus was!"
"The interviewers don't know your GPA or MCAT score during the interview. But, apparently they are allowed to just come out and ask."
"Definitely heed the warning about bringing comfortable shoes!!"
"That my student host was going to cook me dinner, and make me breakfast in the morning."
"All of the applicants on my day got out by 2 PM so I should have booked an earlier flight."
"That outside of the few restaurants located on the campus, one would have to drive or walk for a bit to find other places to eat."
"The interview times are random, so you can't predict what time you're going to be finished. My interview was done a few hours before I could check into my hotel for the night and I had nothing to do. "
"The poor interviewers also had to run through 6 students in one sitting (3 hours). I felt very, very bad for them, but could not help wonder how well they really got to know me, being as fatigued as they clearly were."
"there are not too much diversity, mostly white people"
"Brief interviews sort of threw me. I had a lot of things that I didn't get to say, but the interviewers said they got a good picture, so whatever."
"no on campus housing and this is just personal, because i'm from the northeast, but it was a really southern atmosphere..."
"Interviewers did not have MCAT or GPA. Student interviewer had nothing on me, just name and major."
"I knew that I would be impressed, but I never thought I would be that impressed."
"The school is not competitive and the students and really like a family."
"WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES & be prepared for weird personalities!!!"
"That the interviewers (especially the faculty one)would ask me questions that were far and beyond my application and questions that I wouldn't even expect! This interview was pretty stressful! The student one not so much but still a little stressful."
"How great the school is and how interested they are in training academic physicians"
"zip"
"That Duke doesn't have rolling admissions: obviously one of those things I should have known but didn't. I'm really happy about this because I applied relatively late."
"Though I used to live there, I had forgotten that Durham is a much smaller city and things are much closer. I didn't really need to rent a car. "
"They're so focused on research and apparently on their graduates doing research later on. I wish I had known that you do an entire year-long research project (and thesis) but you don't get a dual degree for it."
"My first interviewer was more interested in recruiting me than hearing what I had to say - he even drew me a little map of the campus and insisted I go look around and check out the basketball arena! The second interviewer was a 3rd year med school student who had all his questions prepared (typed out on his computer) before I got there. He made sure he asked me all his questions before I was able to ask him questions and make it more conversational."
"It's colder than I thought it would be."
"All the merit aid is reserved for URMs."
"some popscicle place down some windy roads and in a shack! it was delicious!"
"That although they say it's a semi-closed file interview (they don't look at your GPA or MCAT scores) that's not always true! You should prepare for having to deffend a bad grade in your record (a ''C'') and if need by your MCAT scores."
"they give you a frisbee that says: I interviewed at Duke Med. cab to/from airport is expensive!"
"nothing, I went there for undergrad"
"that i wasn't gonna be asked any ethics questions (i was super-prepared for all sorts of nightmarish scenarios)"
"The interviews are SEMI-CLOSED. They have access to all your essays and AMCAS, but NOT your GPA or MCAT score. The Admissions Director said, "We are looking for two qualities in our candidates: a capacity for academic brilliance as well as [something like 'humaneness' or 'human understanding']. We assume that if you are invited for an interview, you are academically prepared to study at Duke. So, in your interviews, we do not disclose GPA or MCAT so that your interviews can gauge your [humaneness]." Sorry, I can't remember what the term she used for "humaneness" was. It was something nice... Also, Chapel Hill and Raleigh are only 15 miles or so from Durham. For some reason I thought they were much further away."
"They have great financial aid"
"After visiting, Duke is my first choice school for sure."
"it's not as high stress as i expected"
"That the shuttle from the airport doesn't run after 11pm"
"That the interviews would be so conversational."
"that I would have been asked a question on Iraq."
"I didn't expect Durham to be so Southern, but almost all of the locals have strong Southern accents, and there is country music playing everywhere. Duke has really good financial aid, and the average student debt is approx 25k lower than the average debt at PUBLIC med schools. Duke also gives some full merit scholarships. Another thing- they black out your GPA and MCAT so that your interviewers don't have access to this info. "
"The alpha and beta interview classifications don't always apply. Don't be too geared towards classifying your interviews. Also make sure to know your research and explain why it's important. Research is a big priority at Duke. Be sure to buffer in time to get around and find locations. Be careful during lunch with the students, apparently they report back to the SOM office."
"This interview day was not stressful at all!"
"How much my research would be a part of my interview."
"I was put at ease about the condensed first year curriculum."
"The school does not have rolling admissions and they compare all applicants before making a decision, which I guess makes everything more fair. If you are from the westcoast, you should be sure to get some sleep the night before of the time difference. You need to be there by 8:00am and it is like five in the morning for us. I had to have 2 cups of coffee by nine. "
"That I would be asked about something at which I had failed. My response now would be "answering this question.""
"no one was there..it was just after new years and none of the students were there."
"How isolated and rural the Durham area is."
"That much of the interview was going to be the interviewer reading my credentials."
"How wonderful regional interviews are! Also, they have your file but they do not know you're MCAT score. Put your heart into the 2ndary, I think it really helped me out."
"Duke is a "number whore" school (avg. GPA around 3.8, MCAT around 35). Yikes!"
"Did not have complete access to my file. Only AMCAS and some of my secondary answers. Did not know MCAT scores."
"How friendly the students are; it causes the day to be much more enjoyable."
"I think this site and my other preparation left me without any real surprises"
"How out of my league the school is :P"
"I wish this hadn't been my first interview because now I'm going to compare all schools to Duke and I have a feeling they will all look bad"
"Call the shuttle company first thing when you arrive at RDU, or even before....I ended up shelling out 40$ for a cab ride :P"
"Well, I didn't know I was supposed to pre-arrange a shuttle pick up from the airport. So I spent a while looking for a bus to take me to Duke. The shuttle is $25. Otherwise you have to take a cab and that is $31 or $35 or something. Luckily my host came and picked me up after I had been wandering outside the airport for a while :)"
"For all they talk about the alpha/beta thing, I got NO ethical questions."
"That Duke was such a wonderful school and the interview was so not stressful. Oh, and ladies, PLEASE wear shoes that are comfortable. You're gonna be walking alot! (Wish I'd listened!)"
"You really should have a car if you want to go there. I guess that's true of a lot of schools but definitely Duke and since I live in a city I've never bothered to buy one. I guess I should buy one now. "
"That the focus on research would come out in the interviews. I was asked to talk about research papers I wrote in grad school five years ago and had trouble remembering specifics."
"Interviews are not as difficult as I thought they would be!"
"Nothing really."
"Most people were done by 4 as opposed to by 5 so they could have made flights home."
"the directions are so confusing to the admissions office...... the whole building is a mess so give yourself little extra time to reach there"
"how small durham is..."
"that the single year of basic sciences courses is actually "do-able!""
"students are heavily involved. there are students on the admissions committee and on the curriculum committee. not so much "wish" i knew, but didn't know until i got there"
"that the city is really not walkable, you definitely need a car to go anywhere"
"I wish I had known that visiting Duke didn't really change my opinion of the school all that much. It's a wonderful place, but all the same, it would've been better to save my money and have a regional interview."
"Many students do an MPH during their third year."
"not a thing"
"40% of Duke Med students use the 3rd year to work on another degree - but you don't need to apply or proclaim interest until your 2nd year. Some students are interviewed by Dr. Armstrong."
"How relaxed everything would be. Also the average debt for Duke was lower than my state school."
"That the 3rd year can be, and often is, used for pursuing a second degree: JD, MPH, MA, MBA etc."
"That it snowed last Friday. I would have scheduled my interview then so that I would have been able to see it."
"very relaxed interview"
"that the people are mad cool"
"Just how much I'd love it here! When I don't get in, I'll be very sad..."
"Rapid interviews mean you can't get any sense for the faculty whatsoever."
"There was a lot of downtime during the day. We arrrived at 10, my first interview wasn't until 3."
"not much"
"Duke's 60% grant to cover student's financial need... "
"That it wasn't stressful"
"This was parents weekend. This made it difficult to find a hotel room close to campus. I suggest that you plan your interview data around hotel availability."
"Nothing really. The Admissions office is one floor BELOW the ground level in the basement of the purple zone."
"How "down to earth" my interviewer was even though he went to Duke Med School."
"admissions office is impossible to find, students don't want to house you so get ready to pay. getting an interview date is tough toward the end, so be ready to alter your schedule for them."
"Duke's interview process is not a "hardcore stressed" out session that many believe it to be. It was probably one of the most laid back interviews I've had."
"The interviews are scheduled in the afternoon after all the days activities. It was a long day."
"how bored I would be - I'm a duke undergrad and as of recent have been spending more time on the med campus than undergrad campus "
"nothing"
"The tour IS really long...and there are soft drinks and juices in that little refrigerator by the coffee pots. "
"Nothing."
"that the interview were such a small part of the day and they are very laid back."
"the financial aid is really good too"
"that duke is not so flexible about what you can do during the third year."
"Nothing in particular. I was very impressed by the school. It's one of my top choices. I didn't know about the school at all and considered it substandard for reserach. But I now know that I was wrong and it's really an awesome school"
"That Duke was so awesome! I would have gone in with it being my number one choice like I did when I came out."
"how young everyone was. average age was like 22? being a little on the non-trad side, this is a sketch too young for me, i think"
"Nothing - their website is extremely informative."
"that there is such an emphasis on RESEARCH; that the interviews were standardized"
"That the interviews are laid-back."
"That the airport shuttle is not in operation - the Millenium Hotel is about the only shuttle besides the expensive taxis, but you have to stay there."
"that i wasn't going to be asked any ethical questions"
"that I wouldn't be happy here, but it is a great school for some..."
"That the 2 interviewers were interviewing everyone (6 of us total) that day. So you would come out of the room after interviewing with one guy and another student would go into see him. I thought "
"I wish I had stayed with a student host, or even closer to campus. It's hard to get around Durham without a car - I waited about a half hour for a cab everytime I had to go somewhere."
"Great school, unique and amazing curriculum, beautiful school."
"The MMI here is not so bad - just try to relax and express ideas that are consistent with your values in a somewhat logical way (I know it can feel hard to do so under stress). The rest of the day is pretty enjoyable. Try to socialize with your fellow interviewees and keep an eye out for the things that matter to you for deciding on which school to attend."
"What an amazing school"
"I hope they show me love."
"I loved this place. They had me at "hello"."
"good"
"Good school, but they seemed a little too proud of themselves."
"prestige all around"
"Awesome school and happy students. Would love to go here."
"One piece of advice: They emphasize research since they are so into it. Try to play up your interest in it."
"I was very impressed by this school an I can't wait for march to find out if I got in!"
"Definitely my most challenging interviews of the cycle.. that being said, Duke is the bomb! Some places I went my interviewers made me feel unimportant or obviously had not read any aspect of my application. This place wants to get to know you through the essays, and they are dead serious about it. Just to dispel something brought up on here, merit scholarships are NOT by any means reserved for minority students"
"Love this place. Definite #1."
"Because 2nd years were in the hospital, 3rd years doing research, 4th years doing own thing, only got to meet first years. Would have been nice to meet more students from different classes."
"Duke has a wonderful curriculum, especially if you have particular interests that you want to pursue. It is probably worth finding the medical school admissions office the night before the interview. "
"I think Duke rubbed me the wrong way because I've never really had much experience with wannabe-Ivy/Ivy schools before. At Duke, it was all about how going there could get you connections to other amazing schools and give you tons of research opportunities to give you a great career at some awesome medical school. And, not that this is bad, but it seemed like there were a lot of richer kids there too. The financial aid guy seemed quite surprised that 5/10 of us said we already had student loans. He said, "Wow, usually it's a lot fewer of you." And he also in his 9 years there had *never* had a med student apply for the NHSC. Really? No one in 9 years? Of course, the 3 3rd and 4th years I did meet all were going into radiology for whatever that's worth..."
"It's such a relaxed day, they really do a nice job making you feel welcome. And obviously, it's Duke, so everything about it is just awesome. "
"Duke was really fun to interview at. It was purely conversational and laid back. They do a really good job of telling you about the school and all the medical students seemed genuinely happy with their Duke experience. Although I am a Duke undergrad, I still learned a lot about the program. Biggest thing is don't stress as the interviews fly by."
"Bring comfortable shoes for the tour!"
"This is a great school. I was really impressed, although it is difficult to envision living in Durham for 4+ years. Most of my interviews focused on what I had written for my secondary application."
"It was awesome, not at all stressful, and I really really hope I get in. As far as I can tell, the interviews are open-file but blinded to MCAT & GPA."
"There are two interviews. The alpha interview (open file, but no MCAT and GPA) consisted of a series of questions about myself. The beta interview (closed file) is supposed to push you past your limits, and to determine if you are a compassionate human being. My beta interview involved three ethical scenarios. I heard from other students that they had no ethical questions in their beta interview."
"Be prepared for Mr. Wallace's pre-interview pep talk. It was the greatest, most heartfelt 10 minutes of my life. He is so awesome."
"The day started at 8:30 with a brief orientation, then a talk about Duke's curriculum and screening process from the Dean of Admissions. She spoke very highly of all the students at Duke and wanted all of the interviewees to know that the most rigorous part of the application process was already over and that we should relax. Next, we spoke with someone from the financial aid department. I must admit, I was imp
What is one of the specific questions they asked you (question 1)?