Hey guys,
I’m applying to Duke, and I’m interested in pursuing an undergraduate in premed. The primary major I am interested in is Neuroscience and I am applying to Trinity College. However, I was just wondering why Duke doesn’t allow first year students to apply to the School of Medicine on the common application. (It would be much more convenient for me to orient my supplements around that) Is it different from Trinity? Do I mention the School of Medicine at all in my supplement? Can I still switch to it if I get accepted to Trinity?
I would really appreciate some clarification. Thanks!
Medical school in the U.S. is generally a postgraduate track. Undergraduates at U.S. institutes do not apply to medical schools, they go through 4 years of undergraduate education and fulfill premedical requirements. There are a few programs in which combine undergraduate education with subsequent medical school (Brown PLME, Northwestern and WUSTL are some examples), but in general you cannot apply to medical school out of high school, just as you can’t apply to law school or business school.
Trinity is one of 2 Duke undergraduate schools (along with Pratt) to which you can apply. You can be a premed at either, but you cannot major in “premed”, you can only fulfill the premedical requirements. You cannot “switch” to the medical school, because it is not an undergraduate school. It’s an apples and oranges thing.
Given the multiple threads that you have started in the past few weeks on premedical tracks at Duke and other top universities, it’s a little scary that you are under the misapprehension that you could apply directly to the School of Medicine as an undergraduate. To convey that on your application would likely create a strong negative impression.
You can certainly orient your application around a desire to become a physician, and its fine to discuss things such as biomedical research opportunities and the resources available through the medical school, some of which are available to undergraduates, but I would strongly advise against orienting your application for undergraduate admission around the School of Medicine.
You cannot apply to Duke’s SOM without an undergraduate degree. Medical degrees in the US are postgraduate.