<p>So a good chunk of my friends have said that they want to do "pre-med," and they have mentioned Duke as a good school for that (I have also seen this on CC too). To clear things up, there isn't a joint pre-med program at Duke (like at USC/Brown/Northwestern), right? Is "pre-med" just a name for the type of program you will be following at Duke, with emphasis on biology/chemistry classes and things like that?</p>
<p>No, there is no joint program which automatically admits you into the medical school. Duke is good for pre-meds because it frequently places graduates at top medical school, including its own, and has a well-oiled process to guide the student. Also, the close proximity of Duke Hospital allows for a lot of potential volunteering experience.</p>
<p>However, none of this should be construed as being easy: a large fraction of “pre-meds” (in quotes since I’m talking about the people who want to be doctors without yet learning what that truly entails) will cease being pre-meds before they even get the chance to apply to medical school. Duke is able to keep a high placement rate by sufficiently weeding out the weaker students.</p>
<p>To be honest, if all you want to do is become a doctor, you are probably better off going to a state school and saving the money for medical school. It really doesn’t matter where you go to college as long as you are attending a decent institution.</p>
<p>Right, premed is just a collection of courses that you have to take. I think the best part about Duke Premed is the oportunities it offers you i.e. research opportunities, volunteer opportunities, mentors, etc.</p>
<p>since theres no absolute set in stone way to do pre-med at Duke, i think your open to more opportunities. like if i get in i’m doing pre-med by way of engineering, biomedical engineering to be exact. duke has one of the best BME programs around so i’ll be able to learn a lot, do what i wanna do rather than just going bio or chem, and still feel like a competitive applicant for med school.</p>