Applying RD

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Black Female
GPA: 3.81 UW, 4.14 W
Senior Year: AP Calc AB, AP GOV, AP ENGLISH 12, AP BIO, Honors Physics (required), Photography II, Leadership II
Will NOT take AP Physics, Stats, Art History, Spanish, French, or Chem in my high school career</p>

<p>SEMESTER GRADES
I used to get straight A's as a freshman and sophomore, but because of transferring to another school that has a very different grade system and difficult transition, my grades went down in my junior year.
(On 7-point scale with no plus or minus)
Leadership A/A
Honors Math Analysis B/B
Study Resources III A/A
Honors English 11 B/B
AP Psych B/A
Honors Chemistry B/B (.2 away from an A)
AP USH B/B
Photography A/A
I am making a progress throughout the year, and I hope I would get A's in senior year.</p>

<p>TEST RESULTS
PSAT: 161
SAT: 1670 (610M 570W 490V)- will retake
SAT II: 610 History, 660 Math IIC (will retake), 560 Chemistry (will retake)</p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE
Sharing and Caring Hands (food programfor the homeless) for two years
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Student volunteer) for three months
Habitat for Humanity (Built houses for unfortunate families) for a year
Mentoring a deaf elementary student for two years
Research in the lab this summer (40 hours each week)</p>

<p>ACTIVITIES
Club Youth Extending Service (a school volunteering organization) (9, 10)
National Karate (9, 10)
Chess Club (During lunch- 11)
Science Club (During lunch- 11)
Psychology Association (During lunch- 11)
Health Science Academy (After school- 11)
University of Virginia Mini-Medical School (After school- 11)
Made National Honor Society for next year (teacher selection)</p>

<p>HONORS
Academic Honor Roll for three years
National Karate Summer Program Award
President's Student Service Gold Award (volunteering 100+ hours)
National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (a scam but considered a scholarship to me because I was given $8,000)
A Venture Scholar</p>

<p>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
-I was born in Canada, and my parents both went to an elite college in Canada and are now very successful financially. So, in my whole family, I will be the first one to go to a college in United States, and I am a little excited about it.
-Will include my research publication in my application
-Will write the essay about my deafness, the obtacles I faced, how I overcame them, and how it develops my personality as well as contributing to my success today
-Will get excellent recommendations from my GC and my research mentor, but I don't think I will get outstanding recommendations from my teachers because I just moved to the area and I don't know them as long as other students
-I transferred from #1 public school in Minnesota with a very good SAT average score (I was top 10% in my class) to a VERY competitive but smaller public school in Virginia (top 25%). Many students from my new school were accepted into prestigious colleges (MIT, Harvard, Brown, Yale, Princeton, Columbia).</p>

2

<p>I would definitely beef up those SATs and make sure that the admissions committee understands the reason for the drop in grades. And honestly, the fact that your As (with the exception of one in Psych second sem.) are in non-academic classes isn't going to help. However, if you pull strong grades senior year to show that you've adjusted, I think you have a shot. :)</p>

<p>Just out of curiousity, which school do you go to? I live in Northern Virginia.</p>

3

<p>Yes, it is necessary to raise my SAT scores. Everyone keeps telling me that...don't worry-I am studying for it. However, out of curiousity, I went on the internet and searched for the average SAT score of deaf students. I found out that the national average combined score is 903 and that academically gifted deaf students have a mean combined SAT score of 1120.</p>

4

<p>Oh oops, I didn't see that you were deaf. That should give you some leeway. :)</p>