Chance Me ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>I know that everything is out of my hands now, because everything is handed in, and I have to just wait another 20 days, but I'm freaking out, and am wondering what you guys think of my chances! So here's the jist of things</p>

<p>I am a white male from Wisconsin planning to study microbiology</p>

<p>ACT: 34 (36 Science 35 Reading 34 Writing 33 Math 11 Essay)</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests: 800 Chemistry 740 US History</p>

<p>AP's: Chemistry(5) APUSH(5) and German(4) My school offers 12 AP classes and by the end of my senior year I will have taken 10 of them. (Everything but AP art and AP Spanish).</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1 out of 419</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0</p>

<p>My senior class load is: AP Psych, AP Calc, AP Stats, AP Lit and Comp, AP Government, AP Physics, AP Physics Lab and Independent Study German 6</p>

<p>Major Awards: AP Scholar, Academic All-Confrence for soccer, nothing major</p>

<p>Extracirriculars:
4 year soccer player, 2 year varsity letter winner.
3 year quiz bowl member.
Organizer for the local blood drive.
Student mentor.
I participated in a thing called High School of The Future where I helped modernize my school.
I also organized a soccer clinic for kids with need in downtown Minneapolis
NHS</p>

<p>Essays: For my common app essay I wrote about my passion for soccer and how it has been a common themem throughout my life (I lived in Germany, have a step dad from England, been playing all my life) and how I have been able to channel my passion into my community through the clinic I organized</p>

<p>For my Duke essay, I just talked about how much I love Duke, and the programs I would take advantage of, pretty much what everyone writes</p>

<p>From what I've read, I have good recs (counselor wrote one of the best students she's had in 28 years, although I'm sure these colleges recieve similar letters all the time)</p>

<p>A potential draw is I have lived in Germany for 3 years</p>

<p>So what do you guys think? Just 20 more days, this is torture!</p>

2

<p>I look at it the same way as several of the chance posts on here. If you look at your credentials they will be as good or better then the majority of the people that will be accepted ED. From that point on you are at the mercy of the randomness of the admission process. Trying to quantify the subjective isn’t as much about torture as self abuse.</p>

3

<p>I know it is nonsensical to rationalize something which I have no control over. The entire process for top colleges seems random which makes it much more stressful. Chancing is either a version of comfort or a way to begin preparing for rejection, even though the only “Chance” that matters is the one from the Duke admission committee. So anyone else that is willing to submit their subjective “Chance” would be greatly appreciated!</p>

4

<p>I was well aware that I could submit what I wanted to with or without your approval. If somebody asks for a “Chance” that is at the mid or below for Duke’s requirements it can be seen as a legitimate request. When you have credentials that are very high and you look for a “Chance” it is about ego.</p>

5

<p>I think you may be misreading my post, as I came off slightly aggressive. I didn’t mean to, and you’re completely right, it is an ego thing to some extent. I mean I have a perfect GPA, am valedictorian, have close to perfect test scores, and even lived in Germany. You would think an applicant like that would not have to worry. But as the time approaches and as I see the people with as good or even better applications who have been rejected, its stressful. I was only asking for a chance in part to put my mind at ease so I apologize.</p>

6

<p>Sigh. At this point, all of the chance threads on the Duke subforums are starting to look the same. </p>

<p>Same grades, same scores, etc. This is so worrisome. I’m competing with some insanely good kids. Yeah… there’s not a good chance that I’m going to be in the top 1/4 (~the Duke ED acceptance rate) of this applicant pool.</p>

<p>Well, I guess I’ll start working on my RD app essays this weekend…</p>

7

<p>Wait–if you don’t get in ED then you have to do NEW essays? If I have to proof one more essay I’ll scream!</p>

8

<p>Haha, no. I meant the supplement essays for the schools on my RD list – Harvard, Rice, Yale, etc. </p>

<p>A lot of them have supplement essays/short answers.</p>

9

<p>Nah you look like a much better applicant than me Rahul! I mean your standardized test scores are better than me (34 is approximately a 2300) and your ecs look much better than mine. I guess my rank is better by 1 but that hardly makes a difference, and I’m guessing your school is much more difficult than a Wisconsin school. You don’t nessicarily have to be in the top fourth if you think about it. I have a lot of friends who are maybe in the top 50% applying to these difficult schools ED cause Yolo. Probably a forth of the applicants are like that, and another fourth are probably good, just maybe not quite duke standards and are hoping for an ED boost. So when you think about it, you probably only have to be in the top 50%, and I’d be very surprised if you’re not! Then again, who knows? Isn’t waiting fun?</p>

10

<p>Well, I’d like to think that you ALL will get in! Don’t forget about the CC skew. Maybe someone needs to do stats on admits with all these top scores, who are ALSO on CC! I bet the admit rate is abnormally high! I look at all your scores and AP classes, EC’s, etc., and don’t think all the worry is necessary. </p>

<p>My son is getting a little more worried as the time approaches, but he’s pretty confident, and his EC’s are less than some of yours (you all’s?? Y’alls?? :slight_smile: ) His scores are high, and GPA is high (school only sends weighted), don’t know rank. Last year our high school had a 37.5% admit rate to Duke (both schools combined) Also, he’s trying for Pratt, where the acceptance rate for Duke’s class of '16 was 31% (123 of 397 apps) and Trinity was 23% (524 of 2239 apps). It’s out of our hands now… (except for making sure GC actually sends first quarter grades…)</p>

11

<p>A good exercise is to look at the cc 2016 RD results. The majority who have posted their stats have stats as good or better then accepted RD applicants.</p>

12

<p>Wouldn’t it be better to compare to the 2016 ED thread? Actually, we shouldn’t be comparing at all… just waiting. And as CaptnKirk says, waiting is so much fun!</p>

13

<p>What should be obvious to most if you are at or above the credentials for RD you should be even better off as an ED applicant. We should be comparing if comparing is what we want to do. Obviously we shouldn’t be instructing.</p>

14

<p>Thanks, CaptnKirk! That was a great pep talk. You’re looking pretty exceptional yourself! </p>

<p>I’m actually really worried about my recs/essays. </p>

<p>My Common App essay is either one of the best they’ve ever received or just mediocre. I took an extremely creative approach to mine, but I think if one does that, it’s either a hit or miss. So, that’s part of why I’m really worried. </p>

<p>I personally think my grades/scores/ECs/course rigor are all probably above those of the average accepted Duke applicant, tbh, so not terribly worried about that.</p>

15

<p>And I have gone through the RD 2016 and ED 2016 threads… Probably dozens of times already… -_-</p>

16

<p>I feel confident about both my essays because for my common app one it was so on obvious why I have a passion for soccer because my step dad is from England, I lived in Germany, it’s helped me settle into my surroundings and it doesn’t leave you going so what because I channeled my passion into my community by creating a free soccer clinic for disadvantaged kids. The only thing is that I’m sure my essay is pretty common because everyone talks about their passions. I’m just banking on my experiences being unique. I also talked about dukes emphasis on study abroad and my time in Germany again, which I hope will be relatively unique compared to other applicants. But being a Midwest applicant is also difficult. No one in the 60 year history of my school has been accepted to duke (although I bet not even 10 people have ever applied). Looking at all the opportunities applicants from other regions of the US have had it makes me nervous cause I really don’t think my ECs stack up. I didn’t even get an interview opportunity because my town is too rural (even though its only an hour from Minneapolis)</p>