I talked to @RoughingIt in the latest episode of Admitted: The (Official) College Confidential Podcast about the Early Decision process at Duke. Take a listen:
One of the things that I’m enjoying about these discussions is hearing that in spite of all the stress of the last year, people are ending up in a good place. If you’d like to share your story (even if it doesn’t have a happy ending yet) let us know!
Would have been interesting to know the rolling admissions schools to which the student was accepted.
Would have been interesting to address whether or not this student would be interested in reapplying for entry into the USAFA during her first year at Duke and the concerns involved with such a plan.
I’m not following here. Was the application to Duke on a lark, to see if you could get in??? ED is supposed to be the first choice…
It wasn’t a lark. @RoughingIt really did want to attend Duke. Applying to service academies complicated her situation. As we talked about on the episode, it’s an even more involved process than other college admission because it requires a physical, physical fitness tests, and a nomination (usually from a US Representative) in addition to the normal application forms. It’s a lot of work and the vast majority of applicants don’t make the cut.
I suppose in retrospect Early Decision is probably incompatible with applying to a service academy. It’s very long odds and quite a bit of work to apply for an academy, so you don’t want to take yourself out of the running by applying early to a school you’re more likely to get accepted to.
That’s a good point, which I hadn’t thought of during the interview. There is a path for college students, so it remains an option for her.
Would have been interesting to know the rolling admissions schools to which the student was accepted.
Kettering and Milwaukee School of Engineering
Would have been interesting to address whether or not this student would be interested in reapplying for entry into the USAFA during her first year at Duke and the concerns involved with such a plan.
At the moment, I’m not planning on reapplying to USAFA. While I do think I would have done well there, I believe I’ll also thrive at Duke and, by part taking in their AFROTC program, will still get to commission and serve in the end.
Following up on what @CC_Jon said, Duke was already my top choice civilian schools, and I was concerned about how a medical condition could impact my admission to a service academy. Choosing ROTC would give me more time to work through the waiver process as well as assurance I wouldn’t be kicked out of school if a flareup occurred later on. Furthermore, I did really like the detachment at Duke and felt I’d be a good fit there.
Of course, it did pain me to have to turn down USAFA after having wanted to go there for such a long time, but I don’t regret the choice nor do I lament going to Duke. I know that if I would have had to turn down Duke to go to USAFA, I’d be feeling the same way. However, ultimately, my end goal was always to commission so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with either option.
Now, I look forward to attending Duke this coming August and embracing the challenges and taking advantage of all opportunities AFROTC has.
@Roughingit Thank you for sharing. You seem to be mature and articulate.