Hi everyone! I’m a junior applying ED to Duke this fall. The major I’m thinking about selecting for Duke is BME with a minor in econ, but Pratt takes in a considerably less amount of students than trinity, so I’m not sure if i should just apply with a neuroscience major instead. Please let me know if you think i have a chance at all to get into the BME program. Also i’m afraid i’m not as competitive for BME because i didn’t and will not take ap bio.
GPA unweighted: 4.0
ACT: 34 Writing: 33 (E:36 R:36 M:34 S:31)
AP: enviro, psych, calc ab, microecon, macroecon, us history, lit, lang, stats, gov
EC: varsity volleyball (4 years) with district awards and nationally placed club team and captain
DECA business program, state and district awards
leader of community service program at my school (over 191,000 meals served to homeless with a event i helped plan and carry out, 100+ service hours)
Art awards and NAHS
NHS
other small clubs at school
paid summer research internship at the childrens hospital in my city
just speaking from personal, anecdotal evidence, the Asians I know at Duke all had ridiculously high stats (35+ ACTs, 2350+ SATs, etc), (Also I know a lot of Asians in BME at Pratt), which suggests that no matter what the admissions office may claim, they do probably discriminate against Asian applicants, i.e subtracting hundred points of your score or putting you to a higher standard. I know in recent years Duke has admitted a lot more Asian international students (I presume it’s partly because they don’t qualify for aid so Duke doesn’t need to spend any more money on aid), so you’re also up against them. Basically, it sucks to be an Asian applying to Duke.
I actually don’t know; I’m also Asian and when I applied to Duke I wrote that I was gonna major in history (which isn’t a lie, I really like history and do plan to declare it as my major), but I wonder if me being an Asian interested in the humanities did anything to increase my chances. My test scores were lowish (~2100) and my I had a 3.73 GPA unweighted. I would imagine that if I had put down that I was going to major BME or Neuro, I would have been rejected straight away. Anyway, I’m not answering your question, but I would imagine that applying as an Asian wanting to major in neurosci would be as competitive as an Asian applying to major in BME.
yep, Duke Class of 2019, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, most likely a history major when I declare next year. I guess my parents were wrong when they told me that history wouldn’t get me anywhere and I should just focus on math
