Chance a Jersey Boy

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>SAT I (breakdown):790 M, 750 CR, 760 WR</p>

<p>SAT II: (did not send any) 720 chem, 730 USH, 730 math 2</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 5.139/5 weighted so i think a 4.0/4.0</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/447</p>

<p>AP (place score in parenthesis): Chem (4), USH (4), Lang & Comp (4)..taking physics b, calc ab, stats this year, self-studying both physics c, both economics, calc BC</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load: AP physics calc AB stats, honors english history </p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, school awards, baseball offensive mvp frosh, team mvp jv</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Executive Student council (Student body president), Student government (Class VP, Class Rep), baseball (freshman Captain), FBLA (President, treasurer), youth group, bunch of other clubs with school</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: work at dad's office, tutor</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: multiple mission trips, work church soup kitchen, other church related activities</p>

<p>Summer Activities: tutor, work at dad's office, baseball, mission trips</p>

<p>Essays: pretty good i thought</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: im assuming both were decent</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: had two counselors (one retired after soph year), both were prob pretty good</p>

<p>Additional Rec: n/a</p>

<p>Interview: n/a</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): NJ</p>

<p>School Type:Large Public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Income Bracket:50-75k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): white male from jersey..absolutely no hooks</p>

<p>Accepted: Rutgers (full ride + room & board), Penn State (CoE), UMich (EA), Notre Dame (EA)</p>

2

<p>You look like a strong candidate. Your grades are top-notch and your SAT score is fantastic (all sections are 750 or higher). Your SAT II and AP results are not quite as splendid but they should suffice. You have a clear interest in baseball and student government so I hope you emphasized those activities in your application since colleges prefer quality of involvement instead of quantity of activities with regards to extracurriculars.</p>

<p>Duke Admissions is sort of a crapshoot but I think you have a 50-50 shot which is about as high of a chance you can have without having a hook.</p>

3

<p>thank you very much for ur response! my SAT2s shouldnt hurt me considering i didnt send them to duke…in my essays i wrote about my growth as a leader which did include both baseball and student council…nd for my extra curricular essay on the commonapp i wrote about all i have learned from FBLA…and yeah i understand that admissions r basically a crapshoot so to be honest if i got in i would be pretty surprised…although im not sold on if i would go to duke if i got in (umich engineering is tough to turn down), i wonder if i would have had a better shot ED</p>

4

<p>I chose Duke over Michigan in-state so PM me if you want specifics regarding how I came about that decision. But generally speaking, I found Duke to be a lot more research-oriented and interdisciplinary than Michigan and engineers at Duke do a lot more research due to greater interaction with professors.</p>

<p>Most Duke Engineers major in BME (which Duke is #3 in the country in) so if you choose to study ECE, ME or CE, then you basically get the entire faculty to yourself and have your pick of employers come graduation time whether it be in a niche engineering firm, finance, consulting or software since Duke has no undergrad biz program and engineers are reputed to have the best quantitative skills. Remember the reason that state schools like Michigan or Illinois have higher ranked engineering programs than Duke or Penn is because they have many more departments and far more faculty to begin with so their research output is simply far greater. It says nothing about your individual chances to succeed coming out of any of these schools.</p>

<p>If you are fortunate enough to be admitted to Duke, you will find your financial aid package will exceed that of Michigan and Notre Dame’s as well making it cheaper to attend. Good luck with admissions!!</p>

5

<p>any other opinions??</p>

6

<p>essays and references matter a lot. Think hard about your reference letters and make sure that your references understand you very well. Also…do not hyperfocus on Duke. Spread the love around. Our son ended up at Duke and was absolutely surprised to be admitted and had attached to schools where he expected to be accepted. I recommend attaching to colleges with higher admission rates that will be thrilled to get you and to do your best with Duke’s applications. Tons of fully qualified students will not be admitted so keep your heart open. Duke is a great experience but so are many other colleges.</p>