Duke ED or Oxford Medicine?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Situation: I'm debating between applying for Duke's ED and going for Medicine at Oxford (so I'd be an international student), but if I apply for Oxford it's probably not a great idea to apply for Duke ED. If I don't ED Duke, I'll apply regular decision, but I want to see if it's worth giving up a slightly easier chance at Duke for a chance at Oxford. Also, I get that both these schools are reach schools; if anybody could provide some advice, it'd be greatly appreciated! Thanks.</p>

<p>Female, Asian, rising senior in California's Bay Area, public school
Unweighted GPA: 3.889 (includes freshman year; 4.0 A, 3.0 B, etc.)
Weighted GPA: 4.278 (includes freshman year; 5.0 A, 4.0 B, etc. for AP/Honors classes)</p>

<p>Superscored SAT: 2350 (730 CR, 800 M, 800 W)
APs 2013: Statistics (5), Physics B (5), CS (5), Chinese (5)
APs 2014: Calc BC, APUSH, APLAC (Language and Composition), Chemistry - scores aren't available yet
SAT Subjects: Physics (800), Math 2 (800), Chemistry (N/A), Literature (N/A)
didn't do so well on AMC 10 or 12 (never made it to AIME) or on any Olympiads</p>

<p>Senior year schedule: Engage (acting as a tutor), APBio, APGov/Economics, AP Literature, AP Spanish</p>

<p>EC (all for 9, 10 years): piano (CM level 10), abacus (7 dan), art
School sports (varsity every year in high school): water polo, swimming (scholar athlete awards each season/sport)
Clubs (not officer in any): Speech and Debate, Science Club, Math Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Key Club, WiSTEM (Women in STEM), Society of Psychology and Sociology</p>

<p>Summer 2012: SMaRT (2-week math camp), CTD (3-week Chem H), THINK (3-week Statistics/CS, imitating college life)
Summer 2013: UIowa SSTP (6-week research)
Summer 2014: BU RISE (6-week research)</p>

2

<p>just realized I added wrong for the SAT superscore ._. sorry, 2330</p>

3

<p>I believe Duke is not a reach for you. You have higher chances at Duke than just a reach. However, your chances at Oxford aren’t bad at all. If I were you I would choose going to Oxford. It has a better name, better job placement in Europe, is the best undergrad program in medicine worldwide and is respected more than Duke by top hospitals and med schools.</p>

4

<p>darthvader2 is mistaken about your chances at Oxford (assuming you mean the university in England). Oxford has about 160 places for medicine, of which they are only allowed to offer a maximum of 14 to international students- and in fact they offered only 3 places to international students last year. All UK universities have caps on places for medicine for international students, set by the National Health Service and relating to clinical placements. </p>

<p>Note that the only ECs that Oxford will look at are those directly related to medicine, and you do not appear to have had any exposure to the medical world. Assuming you do as well on the 2014 APs as you did 2013 you are in good shape on the stats front, although I am pretty sure that if you were to get an offer it would be conditional on your AP Bio score in 2015. The BMAT (UK version of the MCAT) is crucial. Everybody sits the exam in early November, scores come out in late November, Oxford sends interview invitations in late November, interview are in early December and offers come out in January. </p>

<p>Here are the admissions stats: <a href=“Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics — University of Oxford, Medical Sciences Division”>http://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Honestly, it depends on where you want to live and work. Duke is very capable of holding its own against Oxford in the US (specially in the medical field). Oxford obviously has the edge globally, but that’s a function of an age old reputation. Both schools will be able to provide you with incredible resources and access to research opportunities.The culture at both schools will be quite different.
As far as your chances are concerned, you have a good shot at being admitted to Duke if you choose to apply ED. Your chances in the regular round will be significantly slimmer (you would still have a better shot of being admitted than an average applicant). </p>

6

<p>Oxford Med is definitely the higher reach of the two…</p>

7

<p>Would my chances for Duke in the regular round be significantly slimmer to the point where it’d be too risky/impractical to not ED and try Oxford instead? Also, after some further research online, I might look into other Oxford courses like biochemistry and biomedical sciences, so not necessarily medicine (the # of international students accepted is so incredibly low).</p>

8

<p>Based upon this year’s numbers, your chances of getting into Duke ED are far greater. ED acceptance rate was 25%; RD acceptance rate was 9%. Whether you want to take that risk is your call.</p>