<p>OK so everyone on CC has incredible stats. I have yet to see one person post a "chances" bulletin who has less than a 4.0 GPA, no varsity athletics, no minority status, no art/music participation, and no community service.</p>
<p>Does Duke truly fill it's 1,600 freshman class with kids only like that??? I feel like there can't be so many in the country for Duke and all the ivies, maybe that's just me though.</p>
<p>My question is, can an above average student like me, (Sats 2150, chem 730, USH 740, Lit 740, and 3 5s on my only AP tests for junior year) still have a shot? I mean sure, I have two years of varsity X country and a tiny bit of community service, but would Duke scoff at a kid like me?</p>
<p>I've been privileged at every point in my life, enjoying a white male middle class status with both parents at home. Am I the only one feeling like there's no hope??</p>
<p>Well to be honest... your chances are slim. Your scores are relatively low for a white male in the middle class and your activities are not that special. So, yes Duke is looking for exceptional students as well as the extremely well-rounded ones. I'm sure you are well-rounded but not to the extent Duke is looking for, according to your post.</p>
<p>Well, the top ten schools in the country only need to find 15,000 or so kids. A quick approximation would probably yield 4,000,000 high school seniors every year. (1/75th of the US population.) So you're looking to get four kids for every thousand high school students. Of course, you can't get all four of them to attend elite schools, so really you're talking about maybe eight or so. But still.</p>
<p>PS: 4M turns out to be almost exactly correct.
<a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_002.asp%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_002.asp</a></p>
<p>Short answer- yes, you have a chance. </p>
<p>There are multiple factors at work in creating a freshman class, and GPA and SAT scores are only two. If you feel you lack in those areas, boost your app in other ways- good recs, great essays, an interview. Focus the "Why Duke?" essay on how Duke is a good match for you, bringing in specific things. If you wrote an essay for another college you really like, send it in as a supplement.</p>
<p>no i don't think that's true--in response to the original poster.</p>
<p>duke i feel is like such a diverse place. and what i like about it is that i think they take students based on who they think will fit together to create a really good freshman class, and sometimes that's not just about who has the highest scores or most outstanding achievements in sports/community service/academics. i feel like i'm pretty normal, and a lot of my friends are as well. granted you've got the overachieving valedictorians from high school all over the place here too, but you've also got a ton of really easygoing people who i think were granted admission to duke just because the admissions officers saw through our applications people who they could picture being at duke and really taking advantage of what the school has to offer.</p>
<p>and you have to keep in mind that most of the CC posters are like...how should i put this...overachievers anyway. i know that's definitely not true for everyone (when is it ever?) but that's usually the type of student who will hunt around CC boards and bother posting chances threads. you've got a ton of normal students who never even find out about the existence of this site until...well, never. so just apply to duke and see what happens :)</p>
<p>^^^ agreed. I would definitely not consider the average stats you see here as representative of the total Duke applicant pool.</p>