<p>Having been offered a likely I wanted to know what I am in for.
Basically, I want to know:
How many hours do you put in a week studying?
How many students make it to medical school/what happens if one gets rejected?
Should I go to Duke or my state school (UCLA/UCB) for the sake of a better GPA?
thanks!</p>
<p>Question directed at Bluedevilmike heh heh.</p>
<p>I was also premed at Duke. I have had good success in the medical school application process (multiple acceptances so far). Premed at Duke is fairly hard, but I don’t think it would be harder than at UCLA or Berkeley. In gen chem/orgo/cell bio (if you take cell bio), the curve is basically set so half of the class gets A/B, half gets C/D/F. You will need to be in the top half of those classes to get A’s and B’s if you want to have success in the med school process. (DISCLAIMER: People (including some that I know) do get into med school with a C or even two if the rest of their record and MCAT are good.) The curve for biology/physics/biochem (if you take biochem) is more lenient. </p>
<p>The students at Duke are smart, so you will have to work pretty hard to beat the curves. That said, study times vary widely. I am not a huge studier. I got all A’s and B’s with probably <10 hours per week on average. It really depends on your natural aptitude and the class. If you’re good at math, physics is pretty much a breeze. If you’re good at memorization, biochem is no problem. And so on.</p>
<p>There’s a lot more I could say about premed at Duke but I won’t go off the deep end here.</p>
<p>thanks; very helpful</p>
<p>I’m premed here at Duke currently, so I’ll answer also.</p>
<p>I spend about 15-20 hours studying for pre-med classes (e.g., orgo, calc, etc). It’s definitely not easy, especially since most people around you are so ambitious and intelligent. But medical schools know this and realize that because of this, a Duke student’s GPA may be artificially low. Which brings me to my next point:</p>
<p>85-90% of students who apply to medical school from Duke are admitted. This is much, MUCH higher than the national average of ~47%. Duke has good classes, good professors, and smart students. It’s all a great combination that medical school admissions officers like to see.</p>
<p>I big reason I chose Duke over UCB/UCLA was for better medical school advising and preparation. ~47% (the national average) of UCB/UCLA students are admitted to medical school, which should say something… Going to UCB/UCLA for the sake of a better GPA will not necessarily be the best move in terms of going to medical school haha.</p>
<p>20 hours a week is just 4 hours a day. Isn’t this similar to high school?</p>
<p>Wow, I must have an easy schedule then.</p>
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<p>That’s just for ONE premed class of the total four classes you take lol.</p>
<p>Going to UCB/UCLA for the sake of a better GPA will not necessarily be the best move in terms of going to medical school haha. </p>
<p>This makes me laugh. Grade inflating school like Duke saying this to notable grade deflation school Berkeley? lol you must be a southerner</p>
<p>33hours, you seem to hate Duke… I am wondering why are you lurking in the forum? I see many of your trollish posts littered through the forum bashing Duke. I’m sorry Duke did not offer you enough aid, but that doesn’t mean you need to hate Duke. You also seem to hate the rude behavior exhibited from your perception of Southerners… I think everybody would agree that your childish behavior is far worse.</p>
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<p>So, you spend a total of 12-16 hours a day studying/doing work?? D:</p>
<p>I think you generally only have like 2 premed classes in a semester so that would be ~3 hours/day per premed class, so about 6 hours/day total? Eatsalot, correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>Soooo to try and clarify, a lot of this depends on </p>
<p>a) your natural intelligence
b) your work ethic
c) your aptitude towards the subject you’re studying.</p>
<p>If you’re taking orgo, then yeah, it might be about 10 hours a week. But if it’s another premed class, say biology, then maybe its 5. It really depends on the class. </p>
<p>Just remember, Duke’s average MCAT is a 34. That means that by being average coming out of Duke, you’re at the 91.2–93.6 percentile. …To me, that’s an incredible advantage. Duke prepares you VERY well.</p>
<p>I know this specific question wasn’t asked but I thought I’d throw out there that doing premed as a BME at Duke was quite difficult. That said while it made it harder for me to get into medical school I think it prepared me very well. I was way more stressed in undergrad than I’ve been all year.</p>
<p>eatsalot and All,</p>
<p>I got a few questions and wondered if anyone could help with the answers. </p>
<p>1) Was the average MCAT of 34 from all students who submitted application for medical school? Does it include the scores from students who did not submit the application?
2) One AAMC reports showed that there were 387 applicants from Duke who applied for medical school in 2009. I was wondering if you may know the average # of incoming freshmen aiming for medical schools? I understand that many students may not make their intention known.
3) What are the numbers of students (class 2011 or 2012) from the following departments:
a) Biology
b) Chemistry
c) Biomedical engineering
d) Physics</p>
<p>Thanks</p>