Can somone please chance me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Applying Regular Decision</p>

<p>School: Pratt School of Engineering or Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, but can someone tell me the differance for a Computer Science Major?</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>ACT: 23 (Yeah I know) This does NOT represent my ability at ALL!! Family problems is one of the causes for this horrendous, abysmal, and disgusting score. However, read below to see why!</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.45
<strong><em>I'm taking 10 classes this year to bring this Unweighted GPA up, Weighted GPA up, and Class Rank</em></strong></p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.019</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 22%</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Highest achievement in English,</p>

<p>Highest achievement in Social Studies, Highest ascertained score on FCAT, Highest achievement in Math, eCybermission Regional Winner, Adobe Certification Dreamweaver (Pefect Score)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities(place leadership in parenthesis):</p>

<p>Defensive Team Captain for Varsity football team, in charge of calling plays and making sure everyone is lined up correctly prior to the snap, and audibling out of plays depending on how other offense is lined up. I play LB/OLB.</p>

<p>Varsity Basketball Team Captain: I play small forward/power forward, depending on if we're playing big or small lineup.</p>

<p>President of National English Honor Society: Raise money to help donate books and other reading materials to Salvation Army.</p>

<p>Social Studies Honor Society- Built care-packages to send oversees to troops.</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society: Tutor kids who have difficulty in Spanish every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for 90 minutes.</p>

<p>Key Club: Coordinator, was in charge of scheduling events for us to attend such as Ronald McDonald house, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Retirement homes, and homeless shelters.</p>

<p>American Red Cross: Helped collect money to help send to Japan in order to help with the relief effort in Japan. I was in charge of phone-calls, and we even went door-to-door.</p>

<p>Native American Rights Fund: Help raise money to make lives for Native Americans much better. We built care-packages containing basic necessities such as toothbrushes, toothpastes, non-perishable food items, and board games for kids and adults to enjoy. We then shipped them off to reservations across the U.S.</p>

<p>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People- Helped minorities such as Hispanics, Native Americans, assassin homes and jobs. For a better life. I also worked on the clemency case for Troy Davis, who was an inmate on death row for the past 20 years in Georgia, we got over 1000000 signatures. Troy did not commit the crime, because many of the original witnesses in his case recanted their statements, and said police coerced them. But, went to now avail and he was executed.</p>

<p>Race for the Cure: I was able to collect $1750 for Susan G Komen's Race for the Cure, because in late 2010, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, so the Race for the Cure is a special event my mom and I partake in annually.</p>

<p>Adobe Imaging Seminars - Since I received a perfect score on the certification test, I've been invited to and attended many of Adobe's Seminars</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Cashier (Universal Studios)</p>

<p>So, in late 2010, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and she had to undergo intense therapy and was out of work. So, I had to get a job in order to help out my dad. So, everyday I came home for 20 minutes, and then went to work until 11PM, then I came home, Tutored my brother until 1AM, and then I completed my own homework, then went to bed at around 4:00AM, then woke up at 6AM for rinse-wash-repeat. This is one of the reasons for my horrendous ACT score, because I had ZERO time to prepare myself for the ACT test!</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: 161 hours at a MASSIVE hospital in Florida</p>

<p>Summer Activities: NARF, NAACP, American Red Cross, Fundraisers</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: Should be VERY good, both teachers told me they wrote good rec letters.</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Should be good, GC also said he wrote good rec letter. But, GC is NEW and I have only known him for 5 weeks.</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>Applying for Financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): Florida (OOS)</p>

<p>Country (if international applicant): United States</p>

<p>School Type: Public and VERY competitive</p>

<p>Ethnicity: NATIVE AMERICAN, I know Duke has been trying to increase their Native American population at school. Many of Duke's students have said "they don't even exist on campus". So, hopefully I have that going for me!</p>

<p>Also, I have received A LOT of stuff in the mail from Duke such as letters, magazines, brochures, etc... Encouraging me to apply and giving reasons why it's the best place for me. So, I'm guessing they got the information from ACT Inc.</p>

<p>Gender: MALE</p>

<p>Income Bracket: $53,000 (Directly off last year's 1040)</p>

<p>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM and First Generation (Nobody in my family has even graduated high school, and when I mean no one I mean no one)</p>

<p>Please let me know of my chances for Duke 2012!</p>

<p>My intended major is Computer Science. So, which one should I apply to, Trinity or Pratt?</p>

<p>My common app essays are REALLY good, IMO.</p>

2

<p>I think your guaranteed admission based on your race alone. Your grades/ACT score aren’t stellar… but being Native American and a first gen make up for it. Gotta love affirmative action and “diversity” ehhh?</p>

3

<p>I am very sorry for your families situation, but even despite the circumstances, a 23 on ACT is very low (its less then 1600 for all 3 sections on the SAT), especially when Dukes average is 31-34. GPA and rank are weak as well.</p>

<p>I disagree with Jimmyee, just because you are a URM does not guarentee anything; you still need to be competetive. Good luck though!</p>

4

<p>Great list of activities but make sure to highlight your passions. If you can get some good scores, 32 on ACT would be great at this point, you’re pretty much set. Maybe you can address your mom’s breast cancer and its impact on you and family and how you’ve matured because of it in your essay?
With better scores I would say you’re definitely in.</p>

<p>edit: could you chance me back please?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1237138-chance-me-please-ill-happy-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1237138-chance-me-please-ill-happy-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Native American? go to harvard</p>

6

<p>Are you first generation to go to college? I also hate to say this if you are still working that job, but there is an ACT sitting in December and there is a Red Book of real ACTs at Barnes and Noble. I agree that the 23 is a poor summary of your true potential and ability to learn. However, if you could take even one full Sunday off to study and you could get to bed at 11 the night before this exam and walk into it early and pay on the spot, you might surprise yourself with a new score. Our Duke son added 200 SAT points to his October senior sitting which was most unexpected.</p>

<p>I hope you are also applying to Florida schools that will admit you. </p>

<p>However, if it is your desire to get out of state and to get into a college where you test scores are in the bottom quartile because you believe in yourself, if you were my son, I would also ask you to apply to LIBERAL ARTS colleges that have stellar reputations and more importantly NO LOANS in their financial aid packages. Why? Because it can be argued that you can get much much more tutorial and compensatory learning in a class of 25 students than in classes of 200 (Duke’s intro classes are large and curved). You may not be ready at age 18 to perform next to super test takers that tend to get into Duke and set the pace. However, the outcomes for grad school, employment, and happiness in your social being are the same if not better at many of America’s fantastic liberal arts colleges where I think more transformative things can happen. Schools like Davidson and Haverford and Bates and Bowdoin. Even Wake Forest has gone test optional. I believe Bowdoin, one of my favorite liberal arts colleges in the USA has gone test optional. These colleges have faculty members who will sponsor your best interests beyond graduation and who are going to really get to know you. They have reputations for excellent classroom instruction. I know a Davidson student who says her Calc prof met her in the Student Center to go over homework challenges. This would never happen at Duke or Vanderbilt…these colleges have tutors of course but they are too big for the teachers to get to know each student that well unless they are majors and in upper classes.</p>

<p>Don’t apply to the “usual” Suspects with the challenges of your ACT score being not commensurate. Do apply to colleges with NO LOANS in their financial packages. Please take a look at the reality of how wonderful our nation’s liberal arts colleges are…and some of them get more female than male applicants and don’t get what they are looking for annually in minority student origins. I wish you only the best and a happy four years at college.</p>

7

<p>Good advice Faline2.</p>

8

<p>[A</a> New Book Argues Against the SAT - NYTimes.com](<a href=“A New Book Argues Against the SAT - The New York Times”>A New Book Argues Against the SAT - The New York Times)</p>

<p>A full list of colleges that are now test-optional — numbering near 900 — can be found at fairtest.org.</p>

<p>StanfordKid, I really hope you are spreading your applications to schools that are excellent and have excellent finanicial need packages where instruction is the strong point. I know you are applying in Florida, which is good of course. But don’t apply to Stanford and Duke and skip applying to top colleges that are less brutal re selectivity that might have more personal classrooms and be places that would focus on your abilities to get you over the initial hump of catching up with students who have had more advantages. My sons did their applications over winter break because they were too busy in the fall, although they obviously had to meet some deadlines for scholarship applications and to provide decent and courteous timelines with their references.</p>

<p>Undergrad school for you should be a wonderful time of academic immersion and checking things out for the first couple of years without suffering from being blocked or weeded out of a career path. Highly recommend liberal arts colleges. If you like sporty, recommend Bucknell, Wake Forest, Colby, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Dickinson, Furman. My Furman classmates started with stats that could not get them into a Duke, but they ended up at Stanford, Chicago, Harvard Med, Harvard Law, UVA Law, Yale Divinity, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Columbia, and many graduate state schools like Georgia, UNC and Florida and South Carolina. Just saying access to faculty can be a deal breaker in your starting position. You can turn a college in the 30s or top 40s in ranking off the top 50 list into a great foundation for your life. My eldest went to Duke and he was by far one of the least prepared people there at the age of 18, but his friends were incredibly fiercely focused and driven and self directed, and in many cases more advantaged with top public and private high school backgrounds. He learned a lot from his peers more than he really got to know the faculty at Duke.</p>