<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>For current pre-meds at Duke, what specific opportunities do you really like at Duke? That is outside of the classroom, what opportunities in the Durham area- i.e. research, volunteering, etc... do you think have really given you the opportunity to both interact with others and advance your science work? </p>
<p>...Also, would it be too difficult to major in Public Policy and do pre-medicine at Duke?</p>
<p>Hi
Well, since the hospital and medical school are right on Duke's campus, there are a lot of opportunities there for employment, internships, and volunteering. Specifically, HCIP (<a href="http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/internship/signature_programs/hcip.html%5B/url%5D">http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/internship/signature_programs/hcip.html</a>) is run out of the career center for pre-meds, and DSAMMP (<a href="http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/internship/signature_programs/shadowing/medical_mentoring.html%5B/url%5D">http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/internship/signature_programs/shadowing/medical_mentoring.html</a>) is too, and both of those are great opportunities. Duke's pre-health advising department is really great and knowledgeable as well.
There are also lots of opportunities to do scientific research/research independent study/work in a lab because Duke is a research institution and there are tons of labs to get involved in.</p>
<p>One opportunity that I hope to take advantage of this summer besides DSAMMP is the Internship Funding program (<a href="http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/internship/funding_housing/cc_intern_funding_program.html%5B/url%5D">http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/internship/funding_housing/cc_intern_funding_program.html</a>) which helps fund an unpaid or low-paying summer internship. Since I'm considering an unpaid internship this summer, I might apply for this.</p>
<p>A final opportunity that I'll tell you about is Duke EMS (<a href="http://www.duke.edu/web/duems/%5B/url%5D">http://www.duke.edu/web/duems/</a>). Basically they train you on campus for the cost of your book (like $90 or something) plus a really low registration fee to be a basic EMT (and they're starting an intermediate program too). Once you're trained you can work on Duke EMS which responds to every 911 call on campus, including the medical center. They're getting an ambulance soon too. So that's another thing that I'm looking at, it seems like great and interesting experience.</p>
<p>And I'm sure there's more that I haven't even discovered.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I haven't really gotten too deep into anything yet, so I don't know much about volunteering/research. There's a meeting sponsored by the bio department about undergrad research I'm going to tomorrow, so we'll see what that's like. I hear that if you seek it out you can find the research. They have a pretty good pre-med mailing list that keeps you updated on a lot too.</p>
<p>In regards to the major thing, I think it's definitely doable, but will require a lot of work and planning, as well as summer classes/overload. It's just a matter of getting in an extensive amount of coursework. I'm planning on majoring in math, which requires 9 math classes for a BS I believe, as well as filling pre-med reqs. It's going to be rough, but as long as you have a well planned schedule and an extreme amount of dedication to what you're doing I think it can definitely happen.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, about the major thing: I'm taking a major in the humanities and 2 minors (1 in the humanities, 1 in chem) while still doing pre-med. Don't worry about it too much.</p>
<p>loveduke- Is that the info session from 6-7 pm? Or is this something different?</p>
<p>wow definitely the most useful thread ever....</p>
<p>The info session I think loveduke's talking about is 6:30-7:30 in Carr on Monday.</p>
<p>I think they changed it to White 107...but I could be wrong. It's right after the bio major session and there's something else right after the research thing.</p>
<p>hey ay_caramba...can i ask you a question...lol. is math and pre-med crazy? like, am I going to want to die?</p>
<p>Thanks. I knew about the bio info session in White from 6-7, but I hadn't heard about the research one.</p>
<p>hey loveduke
I don't know much about the math major. I've heard that once you get past 31/32, it's not as crazy hard, so if you skipped those with AP BC scores that should help a lot. Maybe it's after 103 that it gets less intense, I'm not sure. However you look at it though, math is definitely one of the harder majors.
But math and pre-med is not absolutely crazy. Yes, GPA is important in med school admissions, so if you can't get good grades in your major you're going to have problems, whether your major is math or philosophy.
It comes down to your own ability to handle your workload. Lots of kids that are biomedical engineers are also premed, and despite the difficulty of their curriculum they have a strong record of acceptance into med school.
Compared to freshman year, I feel like, super-efficient this year. I'm taking orgo but I still plan to overload to 5 classes (including Bio 118, which is supposed to be really hard) next semester, and I don't <em>forsee</em> any problems. Of course, I'm not saying that I'm necessarily making the right moves, but while med schools don't consider major in and of itself, they can appreciate people that take risks and pursue a challenging curriculum (but never sacrifice your GPA or sanity to do so).
So, I guess what I'm saying, in this mixed up kind of way that doesn't really directly answer your question, is that if you can make it through this year, you'll be fine because you'll know how to do well in a typical Duke class. Try to develop good habits now.</p>
<p>Be brave, you can do it!</p>