I am an International Student who wants to apply to Duke University. Duke is my first choice and I am willing to apply to Duke in ED. But I have searched Duke’s site for hours and hours and was not able to find a definite answer to whether I can apply to Duke in ED as an International applicant. Can anyone tell me about whether I can apply to Duke in ED as an international ?
Yes, you can most definitely apply to Duke early decision if you’re an international student. I know a good number of students in my class (2019) who are international (one’s even a Baldwin Scholar) and got in through early decision.
Does it apply if I have to apply for financial aid ?
Yes, you’re allowed to apply for Fin Aid as an ED applicant. It would be very discriminatory against all but the richest applicants otherwise. Duke wouldn’t want to do that.
Duke’s financial aid office even has an interactive “how to apply” function that asks international/domestic, ED/regular:
https://financialaid.duke.edu/undergraduate-applicants/apply-aid
You are definitely allowed to apply for fin aid when applying ED internationally, BUT Duke is only “need-blind” for US citizens. Meaning they can take your ability to pay into consideration since you’re international. Historically, this has been extremely competitive and makes it harder to be admitted as an international student applying for fin aid, but I do think Duke has made major strides in offering international student aid in the recent past (mainly due to a huge contribution from the Karsh family singling that out). So, perhaps it doesn’t put you at as much of a disadvantage in gaining admissions as it did before, but I haven’t seen any published stats on this at any point. Regardless, Duke WILL meet 100% of ALL students’ demonstrated need (domestic or foreign) if you are admitted. So, if you need financial aid, I definitely encourage you to apply for it – Duke will only admit you if they can offer you a fin aid package (assuming you qualify for it based on need).
Edit: Well, found this:
"Duke University will meet full demonstrated financial need for a limited number of international students. Each year Duke expects to enroll 20-25 first-year foreign citizens who receive need-based financial aid and/or merit-based scholarships. There is no need-based aid for international transfer applicants.
There are two applicant pools for foreign nationals: those not applying for financial aid (who will be considered for admission along with U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents), and those applying for financial aid (who will be considered in a separate process for a limited number of places in the entering class). Also, foreign citizens who do not apply for financial aid initially may not subsequently apply for financial aid during their time at Duke unless they become U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents."
http://admissions.duke.edu/application/aid#need-based-aid-foreign-nationals