chance a cool kid applying RD to Duke :)

<p>-GA resident, male
-Ethnicity:1/4 Hispanic (Is this enough to only say Hispanic? I think I look somewhat Hispanic, but mostly Asian. Would it be best to just say I'm mixed Filipino and Spanish? My surname sounds pretty Spanish.)
-UW GPA: 3.94ish
-Weighted GPA: 4.14
-school doesn't rank, but I got an award for being the junior with the highest weighted GPA, meaning I'm a would-be valedictorian.</p>

<p>SAT I's (I'm retaking this October or November. I will aim for getting as close to perfect as possible.)</p>

<p>Math: 800
CR: 730
Writing:710</p>

<p>SAT II's (should I take some more, I'm also applying to 6/8 of the ivies and Stanford as well)
Math II: 800
Chem: 720
U.S. History: 710</p>

<p>Past AP's: US Gov and Politics-5
Projected AP scores for this year:
APUSH: 5
AP Chem: 4/5
AP Eng. Lang: 4/5</p>

<p>Senior Load
1. AP Calculus BC
2. AP Statistics (is it true stats is not really math, but is more like reading?)
3. AP Biology
4. AP Physics C
5. AP Literature
6. Economics (I wish my school offered AP.)</p>

<p>-school doesn't offer honors classes, but mentions "due to the rigorous curriculum of the school, no classes are designated as honors" in school description.</p>

<p>My only B's have been graphic design freshman year, AP Gov last year(will a 5 on the exam atone for this), and a mandatory composition class at our school this summer? I got straight A's junior year.</p>

<p>-will mention Math, Economics, and Chemistry respectively as my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice majors. I want to be an investment banker or hedge fund manager when I grow up.</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Boy Scouts
-Eagle Scout (just did my board of review). My project was building benches, pressure-washing old ones, and putting sealant.
-Senior Patrol Leader during 10th grade, Patrol Leader during 9th
-broke a national record for hiking. I hiked the Bartram Trail (100 miles/5 days, has a lot of elevation): honored by Governor Sonny Purdue and national head of boy scouts for this feat
-LOTS of community service projects
-raised money for inner-city kids to buy scout uniforms
-Philmont Summer 2010</p>

<p>Tennis (all 4 years)
-private lesons
-varsity tennis</p>

<p>Academic Quiz Bowl team (10-12)</p>

<p>I founded and am president of our school's food critic club. We go to restaurants about once a month and write critiques about them, which are published in the school newspaper.</p>

<p>Trumpet
-private lessons
-Superior Rating (9,10,11) at Solo Ensemble Festival
-Community Jazz Band (9-12)
-GISA all-select band member (11th grade) (top band members of private schools in GA)
-played for church on Sundays
-invited to play at school's open house 10th grade</p>

<p>Piano
-lessons
-invited to play at several concerts</p>

<p>Young Republicans (should i say this? i know prestigious colleges are very liberal?)
-Vice President in club
-Raised money every year for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (don't know exact amount, club's teacher sponsor can tell us).
-campaigned for McCain for president, and Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson for U.S. Senate</p>

<p>Duke TIP summer program (summers after 9th and 10th grade, I respectively studied macroecon. and robotics)</p>

<p>Academic Awards:
-Georgia Certificate of Merit
-Phi Beta Kappa Award (given to Junior with the highest weighted GPA in class)</p>

<p>Hobbies:
-food-trying at restaurants (and even cooking some by myself)
-camping/backpacking</p>

<p>Miscellaneous:
I also volunteer at the library during the summer.
-I'm almost certain my PSAT score will qualify me for semifinalist standing in the NMS search. I didn't fill out Hispanic in the ethnicity section, so I wont get National Hispanic Recognition Program Honors.</p>

<p>Recommendations: I know several teachers at my school who like me and will probably write well about me.
Essay: 1) talk about perseverance, about how I thought I could accomplish anything after my national record hike (would this sound too trite?)
2) talk about how certain adversity in a trumpet competition didn't kill my trumpet passions.</p>

<p>Your Spanish ethnicity will help. Your SAT I score is relatively low, but you have mentioned you will retake it, so I’m sure it will not be a problem. You should not consider taking more SAT IIs, but rather improve the scores on those you have already taken. 720 Chem and 710 US History is also relatively low. Your extracurriculars are fire, and I’m sorry I cannot provide any insight on your Young Republicans predicament. Also, you could contact CollegeBoard to change your ethnicity to Hispanic, although it might be too late. My friend was in a similar situation, and successfully got his ethnicity changed, although this was some time ago. Overall, I think you are in good shape.</p>

<p>What are the middle 50% scores for the class of 2014?</p>

<p>I’m not sure if the middle 50% scores are released for the class of 2014, but for the class of 2013 the statistics were as follows.</p>

<p>Middle 50% of Verbal - 690 - 770
Middle 50% of Math - 690 - 800
Middle 50% of Writing - 680 - 770</p>

<p>And the 50% range on the ACT is 29 - 34, in case you were wondering.</p>

<p>You can find the Class of 2013 profile and statistics here
[Duke</a> University Admissions: Class of 2013 Profile](<a href=“http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2013profile.html]Duke”>http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2013profile.html)</p>

<p>so it looks like my SATs are in line to getting in.</p>

<p>You really should put multiracial/biracial and then specify which races on the application. Saying only Hispanic wouldn’t really give the adcoms the full picture…Having said that, your chances look solid. You’re certainly a competitive applicant.</p>

<p>Just curious, but would being of Spanish descent be considered URM (i.e. Hispanic)?</p>