<p>I am interested in Duke but I don't think my chances of getting admitted are too high. How can I improve these chances? What SAT score would be acceptable for Duke? I'm also interested in UNC-Chapel Hill, which I believe I have a decent chance in getting admitted. </p>
<p>Basic Info: Asian-American (Indian more specifically, but that probably won't help), resident in North Carolina (Wake County)</p>
<p>Freshmen Year:
Honors Geometry - B
Honors Algebra 2 - A
Honors English I- A
Honors Biology- A
Honors World History - A
Health/P.E.- A
Spanish 2- A
Computer Programming-A</p>
<p>Sophmore Year:
Honors Pre-Calculus-B
Honors Chemistry-A
Honors Civics & Economics-A
Honors English II-A
Honors Spanish 3-B
Honors Spanish 4-A
Sports Medicine I -A
Sports Medicine II - A</p>
<p>Junior Year: Currently in progress
AP Spanish Language
AP Statistics
AP Environmental
AP English III
AP US History (its year long with honors US second semester)
Honors US History
Honors Spanish 5
Honors Physics</p>
<p>Senior Year: (What I have in mind, although I haven't decided on the last 3 classes)
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Spanish Lit
AP Biology (year long)
Honors English/Maybe AP?
???? (Elective)
???? (Elective) </p>
<p>E.C. Activities:
Key Club (9)
Track (9,10)
Cross Country (10)
Indoor Track (10)
Spanish Club (10,11) - I'm going to try to seek a leadership position
NHS (11)
Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica (11) - I'm going to try to seek a leadership position
Volunteering at Exploris Museum in Raleigh, NC - 180 hours in the summer + I'll be volunteering 4 hours on Saturdays during the school year - I really enjoy doing this.</p>
<p>good grades/schedule, but pretty typical of most students here at duke. You're definitely not going to just be able to rely on your grades/tough schedules/test scores(???) to get in, but rather must really make a contribution to something outside of class. Club membership is fine, but it's definitely gotta go beyond that. You're a junior, take some time to really figure out what you love and do something spectacular with it.</p>
<p>The only additional tip I can give you is to stop being a Cubs fan. And thats just a plug for my STL roots. Rock on Cardinals, central division champs, AGAIN....(sigh)</p>
<p>Short and sweet answer: Yes, Duke cares more about EC's than any state school ever will/could, even a relatively good state school (cringe:$) like UNC.</p>
<p>Slightly longer answer: Admission to state schools for instate applicants is more-or-less just a numbers game, they'll plug your stats into a computerized formula that either spits out a "1" for admit or "0" for reject (sorry, just got done with a MATLAB assignment...nevermind). With Duke, the application process is a lot more personal as admissions folks will sit down and discuss the personal qualities/drawbacks of every applicant and will read all parts of your application very thoroughly, allowing them to carefully craft a class of roughly 1,600 people, as opposed to millions at UNC (or whatever the much-larger-number is).</p>
<p>Get an SAT score in the 2200+ range (but, as always, higher is better). Ace your junior year classes. If possible, do something interesting with your time next summer. Write good essays. Apply ED.</p>
<h2>"With Duke, the application process is a lot more personal as admissions folks will sit down and discuss the personal qualities/drawbacks of every applicant and will read all parts of your application very thoroughly, allowing them to carefully craft a class of roughly 1,600 people, as opposed to millions at UNC (or whatever the much-larger-number is)."</h2>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill admits about 3700 freshmen. I don't know how the in-state process works at UNC which would be applicable for the op; but the oos process is very thorough and ecs/essays are critical. Btw...three kids from d's oos high school got into Duke with similar if not slightly lessor stats than the op...and I think there is a slight preference for NC residents at Duke which will work in the op's favor. The scores will probably tell the story though.</p>
<p>biomed6 - UNC is not Michigan Statewith its 36,000 undergrads! They admit around 6700 freshmen and enroll around 3700. Some schools are going to an in-state model that is just score based (I took classes at South Dakota School of Mines, and they now have an automatic entrance for certain test scores for residents). UNC is not one of them.</p>
<p>If your parents can afford it (or you can check on aid), enroll in Duke's pre-college program next summer (between jr and sr year). Your grades and classes are similar to my son's (freshman at Duke). He took the SAT twice -- 2210 and 2320. He didn't have a wide variety of ec's, but did lots of community service. He wrote a very poignant, personal essay (which I won't disclose the topic, sorry!!) Hope this helps!! Good luck!!</p>
<p>okay, so I was exagerrating when I said UNC admits a million people, and I know UNC is no ordinary state school. Maybe their admissions process is not strictly numbers based, but the original question asked how much more imporant EC's were at Duke, not essays, recs, etc. Of course those are important. Is it not fair to say, though, that Duke is generally looking for significant accomplishments OUTSIDE of class whereas, for instate applicants at least, UNC primarily just looks for very strong academics? That's the core of what I'm trying to say.</p>
<p>biomed6 - I just don't know if what you are saying is a safe assumption. It might be, but also might not. </p>
<p>Two of the three admitted to Duke from my d's school just had the numbers...decent rank, decent SATs (not NMF or Commended, but decent), decent curriculum, normal ecs without leadership, local awards at most. The third admitted was a standout...great rank, NM Commended, nat'l awards, many leadership positions. </p>
<p>My d is a UNC-CH honors student (NMF, nat'l awards, varsity letters, leadership, etc....) and because she is from oos, all those extras were crucial. There is always a huge debate on the UNC board about the credentials of the instate kids vs. the oos kids and it can get kinda touchy sometimes. But honestly, my d has only met very accomplished in-state kids with outstanding ecs...some who turned Duke down, some who turn Ivy colleges down. </p>
<p>I guess that's the tricky thing about drawing general conclusions. You can never safely bet on 'em.</p>