<p>Hello, everyone. I have a dilemma on my hands; I can't figure out what I am going to do with my applications in the next couple of months. To give you some background information, here are my statistics -</p>
<p>North Carolina Resident
First-Generation; Low-Income
Valedictorian of Class [1/~200]
UW GPA: 3.99 // W GPA: 4.98
SAT Reasoning: 680 Writing / 660 CR / 610 Math
SAT Biology E: 740
SAT U.S. History: 760
AP US History: 5
AP Human Geography: 5
AP English Language: 3
Extracurriculars: 2 Leadership positions (possibly 3) and two other activities
Essays and Recommendations should be fantastic
Honors: Questbridge College Prep Scholar, Graduate of the North Carolina Governor's School, Numerous in-school awards</p>
<p>Now that that is out of the way, I have a few options on the table I would like for you all to examine and perhaps shed some insight. Option One involves Questbridge. As you no doubt noticed, I am a QB College Prep Scholar, but I have ruled out the College Match program because I do not think I should move far from home from my family. My family is very important to me and I will not go half-way across the country for college when we have numerous excellent schools in North Carolina. Option Two is applying to Duke Early Decision. I am a very low income student, but early decision to Duke is a great idea because Duke financial aid involves no loans for my income bracket. There would be no financial downside to applying to Duke early decision; however, I do not feel as if my stats are strong enough to be admitted to Duke. What do you think? Option Three involves forgoing Duke ED and applying to Davidson ED (Davidson also has a no loan component for my income bracket; once again, there would no financial problems if accepted). I have toyed with the idea of attending an LAC; Davidson is not far away and it is a highly ranked LAC. My goal, if taking option three, would be to attend Davidson for a solid LAC-style undergrad education, then going off to Duke or UNC-Chapel Hill for grad school. Do you think I can get into Davidson ED? </p>
<p>All in the background, however, involves UNC-Chapel Hill Early Action. Carolina's a great school, but I would much rather attend UNC for graduate school than undergrad. Its undergrad population is far too big in comparison to Duke or Davidson. However, UNC-Chapel Hill is also one of the very few public schools that have a no-loan component for my income bracket. Once again, I am very lucky. It seems as if my financial options are pretty good, but it is all a matter of where I can get accepted to. Please give me your insight. What option should I go for?</p>
<p>have you talked to your parents? do you absolutely want to go apply ED? if you do, apply to the school you LOVE the most... the one that you know you will not despise once you step on campus. Then apply RD for the other schools..that way, if you get accepted ED, it'll be to the school you want, and if you don't get in(hopefully you get into all the schools you apply to) then you'll have a back up..but remember to be absolutely sure about finances, b/c ED is usually no way out once you're accepted... </p>
<p>It also depends on what kind of education you want. At all those schools you can get an awesome education, it just depends on what you want. I really like davidson b/c of the unique curricula, but you might like something else about the schools. I don't really know much about questbridge, but i really think in the end, you're gonna be the one applying and going to anyone of those schools so it's up to you to weigh out and decide what you want and don't want.</p>
<p>then i guess take your pick! I love davidson too..love the idea of going there, being there(even though i haven't gotten to visit it yet). it's my top choice!</p>
<p>I'm confused. You've ruled out oos schools and the QB College Match program, yet you're taking an all-expense paid visit to Bowdoin (QB related) that could have been given to a student who is actually interested in going there? Why?</p>
<p>^ ccgmom: Why wouldn't OP take one. I'm taking one this month all the way across the country because, lets face it: it's a free vacation trip pretty much. Obviously, OP deserved it if invited to such a trip and wanted to go because they did. People always speak of doing something to bump up someone else's chances, but OP deserved a trip and got one. The person the trip is passed onto may not choose the school either, that's just the way it goes. Those kind of trips are like rewards for achievement, and to get "wined and dined". There's no rule that says you HAVE to be committed to the school.</p>
<p>My predicament is always changing. When I wrote that, those were my feelings at the time. My emotions are dynamic, not static. Also, thank you msneiciernee for posting your opinion on the matter; I agree with you. Look, ccgmom - I have never been out of North Carolina before (we have never had the money to go anywhere) and this is an opportunity I am going to take advantage of because I earned it. When I visit Bowdoin, I may even end up loving the school and go through with the QB match, making Bowdoin #1. Keeping your options open is always a good idea. One thousand apologies to you if I have offended or confused you.</p>
<p>Does your school keep records of what the stats were for kids who have gotten into Duke in recent years? It would be helpful to know how much of a break they may give you as a low income NC resident.</p>
<p>I do not agree with the conventional wisdom on this site that says only ED the one you love most. While that may have been good advice in the past, in my mind the current competition means being strategy driven is a smart approach. </p>
<p>While the very top schools don't give much of a tip to non connected ED applicants, schools like Davidson seem to. Since your current scores are quite low for Duke but only slightly so for Davidson, it would be a good strategy to use your ED there if you would indeed be happy to attend in my opinion. </p>
<p>If I were in your shoes unless I saw proof that Duke has bent that much away from their average scores for people of similar background from your high school, I would see Duke as too big of a reach to use your ED on.</p>
<p>The only information my high school keeps is what is in recent memory. When I was a freshman, our senior valedictorian went to Duke, but his SAT scores were 2200+ and he came from a very wealthy background. He is the typical Duke student. </p>
<p>Over the past month (a month ago I wrote this thread), I have been reconsidering Questbridge because my mother says that I shouldn't worry about leaving the family behind because it is not as if I can be around forever. My options are now open to out-of-state schools.</p>