<p>First!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>seconddddddddddddddddddd</p>
<p>Really? Oh well, whatever.</p>
<p>I'd just like to take this opportunity to tell the incoming class of 2013 that they should feel free to post pointed questions and they should get quick responses. If anyone has any specific questions on Pratt (BME), NROTC or East Campus life I would be happy to answer them. (you can PM me those questions if you like)</p>
<p>Anyway welcome incoming freshman.</p>
<p>Congratulations everyone! If anyone has any questions on humanities/liberal arts at Duke, as well as Pre-Graduate school (Masters, PhD in particular) I'm happy to answer them as well! I've also got a pretty decent knowledge of the Pre-Business environement on campus as well, so feel free to shout out if you're interested in that!</p>
<p>Welcome to Duke!</p>
<p>SirGecko: I was wondering how hard BME was, I want to go to medical school, and BME sounded really interesting, but I don't want to kill myself trying to major in it. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>vasudevank: I won't lie, BME is hard. Duke's BME department didn't reach #2 in the ranking by being like everyone else and being average. Pratt devotes a lot of resources to make BME competitive on a national level and they expect BME students to really work hard and put forth their effort. </p>
<p>On the other hand, you won't "kill" yourself trying to major in it. You'll find out quickly (usually after a year) whether BME is for you and you'll either decide that you can handle it and stick with it or you'll decide that the rewards aren't worth the effort you'll need to expend and transfer to trinity or another major. Either way, you probably will not find yourself in a situation where you absolutely hate the major but are stuck with it. transferring to trinity is very easy as is transfering to another track. </p>
<p>As for the curriculum, I know that the undergraduate BME program is getting a major overhaul which started with the incoming class this year. The department is really starting to develop the different concentrations they offer in terms of the electives and are thus restructuring the curriculum to better facilitate choosing a concentration. Because it's so new I can't really say anything and you probably won't see any feedback or results for at least a year or so (after the first people go through the courses) but sometimes I really wish I was a little younger and can do tis new curriculum. </p>
<p>No matter the curriculum though, as a BME/premed myself, I can tell you that it's challenging. Not impossible (as many people have done it) but not a walk in the park or even taking all AP's in high school either. Unless you have a decent amount of AP credits, you'll find that your schedule is very inflexible because you have to take so many classes for premed in addition to BME. If you have enough AP credits to skip the intro science you'll have a couple free slots to take classes you want. </p>
<p>Finally, I want to say that there are many people who come into BME because they find the name interesting or because they have a vague idea of what BME is. While I'm not discouraging that (in fact I do encourage that), I have to say that many of them find BME to be totally different from what they expected and lose interest very quickly. BME requires dedication and a genuine desire to stick with it. If at any point, you have doubts, I encourage you to find out more about it and think it over. Of course you don't have to declare a major until end of sophomore year, so there's plenty of time. Just know that there are plenty of premeds in other majors (even art history) who go to med school. Just because BME has "medical" in it does mean it has a monopoly on med school admits or even that it's content particularly medically relevant compared to say...a biochem concentration.</p>
<p>Edit: phew that was a long one. Obviously you can tell that I'm very passionate about my major. If anyone (particularly BME/premeds) have any questions, being it specific or general, feel free to ask me here on CC or by pm. I'd be happy to answer or point you in the right direction. :)</p>
<p>Actually that makes BME sound more interesting. I was worried that at Duke BME would be very broad and not focus (I heard that at other places like JHU you are forced to take a minor like chemical engineering or electrical). I really liked the idea of applying engineering techniques to the medical field. I have quite a few AP credits, but I am not sure if I should use them, because many people say that for MCAT its better just to retake in college. (Heard the same on pre-med forum on CC). From what I've read on wikipedia and on duke's website BME sounds like the major I want to pursue. Another question would be as a BME/pre-med would have time for all the other things on Duke's campus (ie. basketball, partying, etc.) I don't want to only focus on the academics. Thanks.</p>
<p>1). I agree, having concentrations definitely makes BME a lot more interest and I'm glad you think so too.</p>
<p>2). BME is the application of engineering to medical fields but if you are thinking of doctors doing surgeries, diagnosing diseases, then no, not in that way. It's more the design of medical instruments and devices, design of drug delivery systems, etc. BME deals with the hardware side of medicine</p>
<p>3). You should use those AP credits. Taking Bio 25 probably isn't going be a big help compared to just studying on your own. Assuming you've taken the intro sciences and understood the important concepts. In those weed out classes, you'll face a lot of competition and pressure (from othe premeds) and personally, all that hassle plus the potential impact on the GPA just to review gen chem and bio is definitely not worth it. If you need to, take a Kaplan's course or something. Of course, you can still do it if you want to. </p>
<p>4). Yes, you will have time for basketball, partying, clubs, sports, greek life etc. Just not as much as other people, I'm sure you realize. Obviously you won't be tenting in the same semester as you are taking the MCAT, but you'll definitely have the chance to do all that if you'd like. </p>
<p>BME is what you make of it. It requires a certain level of committment that's higher than some majors, but beyond that, you can put in however much effort you want, as long as you are happy with the results.</p>
<p>I have been looking at the BME undergrad advising handbook, is the intro calc 31L and 32L basically calc ab or bc?</p>
<p>That is actually an interesting take, my bio teacher and you, SBR, are the only ones to advise me to use AP credits. Other people have constantly said that med schools don't accept AP credits so you will be forced to take harder classes resulting in a lower GPA so instead you should take the intro classes, because it will be simple. Are the upper level classes at Duke not too bad?</p>
<p>As long as there is an opportunity for a social life. I am not a big party person, but I don't want to only study.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your help.</p>
<p>1) Yes, Math 31/32 is Calc AB/BC. Again, I suggest using the AP credits on that one as math isn't on the MCAT and engineers typically would want to get all their math requirements out of the way ASAP (math 31/32/103/107/108 and stats 113). </p>
<p>2) As I've checked, top medically school generally do accept AP credits for intro classes as long as you use them to take more advanced classes. The correlation of more advanced classes resulting in lower GPA and intro classes being easier is false. Many intro classes are considered weedout classes. In a gen chem class of 200 people like chem 23 I can say with a high degree of certainty that over half are premed. Assuming about 25% get A's (pretty standard for a large lecture), you can imagine what the competition is like. </p>
<p>Also another thing to consider, to med schools, getting a B in an advanced class is a lot better than getting one in an intro class. While I'm not saying you'll do either, the reality is that not everyone get A's in intro classes, not even all premeds get all A's. Just another thing to think over. These classes isn't like in high school where it's straightforward regurgitation on the exam. Just because it says introduction to _______ doesn't mean an automatic A.</p>
<p>Edit: you are very welcome :)</p>
<p>Thats good.... is AP Stat equivalent to stat 113? </p>
<p>I guess I may review intro level bio, chem and physics. I am not 100% confident on the teaching and my understand of the concepts, but I did fine on the AP exams. I would rather learn more advanced and interesting concepts than the basic ideas of cell life or lewis dot structures. </p>
<p>Also I don't know if you know about this, but in case I don't get into medical school, is hard to find funding for graduate school? I personally don't think working with only a BS is very good so I would want at least a masters degree. I've heard about the +1 program, but wasn't sure about the funding available. </p>
<p>Thanks once again, btw. what year are you?</p>
<p>I was just looking at Duke's AP credit for AP Chem it says getting a 5 on the exam still places you in 23L and also the AP Bio credit isn't for 25L, im guessing there are many intro classes, but I was just a little confused by it. </p>
<p>Thanks once again!</p>
<p>1) Stat 113 is required for all engineers. AP statistics will not substitute for anything.</p>
<p>2) I don't know about funding for graduate school. All I know is that doctoral candidates have funding. Don't know about MS</p>
<p>3) I'm currently a junior</p>
<p>4) As far as I know, AP chem credit allows you to take orgo if you want to. I took Chem 23 and Physics 61 my freshmen year despite having AP credits for both because of other reasons (not because of MCAT).</p>
<p>Chem 23 because med schools can require a year of gen chem of which AP chem usually only gives credit for one semester. Also I haven't had AP chem since sophomore year of high school. Physics 61 because back then, you could take it to fulfill the "1 physics at Duke" engineering requirement and still use AP for physics 62. The latter is now prohibited and everyone with AP Physics C Mech/E&M credits need to take either physics 63 or physics 61+62. I was overloading that semester so decided to go easy on the physics. </p>
<p>Having taken both of the intro courses, physics was easy because I actually like mechanics (and I took both AP and a college course on it in HS). Chem was definitely not easy. In fact, Chem 23 took about as much effort as orgo, which demonstrates my earlier point about intro weedout classes. In fact, my good friend who is a premed took both orgo and chem 23 with me. He did so much better in orgo than he did in chem 23. </p>
<p>AP Bio gives credit for Bio 19 which is counted as the equivalent of Bio 25 except no lab credit. Premed requires 1 year of bio lab. Since BME 101L has a lab component that will count toward that, you can satisfy the 1 year of bio with lab requirement for most med schools (TX med schools require 2 years I heard) by using AP bio, BME101L lab, and another bio course that has lab like Bio103L. </p>
<p>I just want to emphasize that taking intro courses also depend on your requirements. Some of them you can't avoid, which necessitates you to take some intro courses. However, my earlier point was that don't take all of them just because you wanted the MCAT review, you'll probably forget by junior year when you take the MCAT anyway.</p>
<p>Thanks, that clears up a lot of things, as well as which AP Exams I will take this year. I wish now that I had taken AP Physics C instead of B, but can't change the past. I will probably have more questions once the Blue Book comes. Thanks for everything! Go Blue Devils!</p>
<p>You are welcome :)</p>
<p>Allow me to post a correction of my hypothetical year of bio requirement above. In addition to AP Bio credit, one might need another bio course like bio 118 as many med schools don't take AP bio. So it'll look like Bio 118 (or another bio), BME101L lab, and Bio103L which equals 2 semesters of bio plus lab.</p>
<p>Edit: sorry for double post.</p>
<p>Basically instead of Bio 25, which is an intro course, I would take some more advanced bio courses and get the lab portion through a BME requirement.</p>
<p>Half of the lab portion can be done through BME101L. You need a whole year of bio lab, BME will only give you a semester. Therefore, you need another semester like Bio103L.</p>
<p>Congratulations everyone who has already been accepted! I'm a current freshman at Duke, and if anyone has any questions about Program II, pre-med, Spanish, or Philosophy courses, feel free to ask! I'm also involved with Campus Crusade and am in the marching band/pep band as well as the Duke Chorale, so questions about any of those are also welcome! :)</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone!
You will all love Duke! :)</p>
<p>I am open to many questions.
I'm probably best at answering questions related to math and greek life.</p>