Chance me for Duke ED + others? I'll chance back

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone, I am going to be a senior this fall, so I’m looking for some honest feedback. Thanks!!

I am looking at the following schools, so if anyone has any insight, it would be greatly appreciated! I will chance back if you leave a link!

Duke (ED)
Notre Dame
Brown
Dartmouth
U Chicago
Northwestern
Cornell
Columbia
UNC
Wash U
Georgetown

White male from Ohio. I attend a very competitive, highly ranked public high school
Income bracket: $150k +

ACT: 35 (35 E / 35 M / 36 R / 35 S w/ 10 essay)
SAT I: 2220 (750 CR / 740 M / 730 W w/ 9 essay)
SAT II: 760 US History, 740 Math II (may take a third because Georgetown “strongly recommends” 3)
GPA: around 4.0 UW, 4.64 W
Class rank: top 10 in class of 400+ students (roughly top 2%)
AP Courses (score on exam) : Euro History (5), Statistics (5), US History (5), English Lang & Comp (5), Calc AB (5), Macroeconomics (4), Microeconomics (4), Chemistry (3)
PSAT (as junior) : 204 (National Merit Commended)
Senior Courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Bio, AP Physics 1, AP Lit, AP US Gov’t, and an art class i need to take to graduate

EC’s: (leadership in parentheses)
Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s Junior Ambassador Volunteer Program
4 years high school soccer, 3 on varsity (captain this year)
Mu Alpha Theta (secretary last year, hopefully president this year)
Student Volunteer Program (Vice President)
HUDDLE Program - teach elementary and middle school students about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (program coordinator)
Leadership Conference Planning Committee for my high school’s yearly leadership conf.
National Honor Society (team leader of special events committee)
Church Group all 4 years of high school (I’m Catholic, if that matters for schools like Georgetown and Notre Dame)
Community First Youth Advisory Board member
Club soccer all 4 years during winter/spring
Olympic Development Program State Team for soccer

Job Experience/Volunteering:

Volunteered at local library summer before sophomore year
Worked summer before junior year at a veterinary hospital as a kennel attendant
Volunteered at Cleveland Clinic this past summer (about 120 hours total)

Will have over 250 volunteer hours by end of summer

Letters of Rec: Should be very good; I already read one from my AP Lang teacher and it was amazing!

2

Are you applying to Trinity or to Pratt?

Overall, your academic stats are fairly solid:

  • Your ACT score of 35 is at the top end of the 25-75% range for both Pratt and Trinity
  • Your SAT I critical reading score of 750 is in the middle of the 25-75% range (680-790 for Trinity, 700-800 for Pratt)
  • Your SAT I math score of 740 is in range for Trinity (700-800), but below the 25% percentile for Pratt (760-800)
  • Your SAT I writing score of 730 is on the lowish end of the 25-75% range for both Trinity (700-790) and Pratt (720-800)
  • Your SAT II scores are ok but not great
  • Your GPA, class rank, curriculum rigor and prior AP scores are all very strong.

http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2018Profile.pdf

Duke looks at 6 factors in evaluating applications: GPA, curricular rigor, test scores, ECs, essays and recoomendations:

http://admissions.duke.edu/application/overview

Records released under federal FERPA law suggests that applications are screened according to these 6 areas, and 50% are rejected if they do not meet a numeric threshold:

http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/03/23/ferpa-request-gives-inside-look-duke-admissions-process#.Va2M-GA9b8k

Your HS curriculum, GPA and test scores should easily make the screening cutoff. Your ECs look reasonably solid, and assuming good recs and essays you should easily make it past the screening. Those 50% of applications that make it past the screening get a 2 full reads, one by an adcom member. Beyond that, it’s a question of how well you package yourself, but I’d say you have a solid shot.

You should think about how you want to present yourself. What is important to you, and what do you want to do with your life? What differentiates yourself from the 3000 or so other ED applicants so that you should get one of the roughly 800 ED acceptances issued? Why is Duke a good fit for you, and what skills and talents will you bring to the community? Do you possess the key characteristics that Duke seeks, listed in the admissions page link above? Thinking about these things will help you determine if Duke is really a good fit for you, and also help you refine your message for your application.

Good luck!

3

@renaissancedad thank you so much for the quick response! I forgot to add that I will be applying to Trinity and majoring in Chemistry, with the hopes of attending medical school after and becoming a physician of some sort. I will definitely take your advice about presenting myself; I really appreciate it!

4

Your stats and grades look fine. The ECs look good. Just make sure your story comes out. Good luck.

5

Duke: match
Notre Dame: match
Brown: high match
Dartmouth: match
U Chicago: high match/low reach
Northwestern: high match
Cornell: high match/low reach
Columbia: low reach
UNC: match
Wash U: match
Georgetown: match

I think you have a very good chance at any of these colleges. Your ACT score, GPA, course rigor and class rank all look great. Your ECs look very interesting!! The only suggestion I have is to try to improve your SAT score to a 2250-2300 to look even more competitive. If you’re able to achieve this score range, then I think all of the low reach colleges will turn into matches. However, your ACT score makes up for your SAT score. Your SAT II tests could be a little higher. I agree with what everyone else said about selling yourself. It seems like you have a very competitive application/transcript. Show college admissions why you should be the one accepted into the schools you’re interested in instead of other applicants. As long you do this, I don’t think you’ll have much of an issue getting into most/all of them! Good luck!!

Chance me back please?? Thanks!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1794122-university-of-delaware-in-state.html#latest

6

Duke- match (ED REALLY helps at Duke)
Notre Dame- match
Brown- low reach
Dartmouth- high match/low reach
U Chicago- low reach
Northwestern- match
Cornell- high match (I’ve seen many people with stats very similar to yours go to Cornell)
Columbia- low reach
UNC- match (although OOS is always a crapshoot because of recruited athletes)
Wash U- match
Georgetown- match

Not only are your academics suited for all these schools, but your ECs look great as well. The fact that you are a varsity athlete will differentiate you a good bit from many of the other applicants to Ivies that don’t generally have that on their record. On top of that, your leadership both on and off the field looks great as well. However, I’m not sure if you are gearing towards a premed track (you have volunteered at a veterinary hospital and the Cleveland Clinic). If so, that’s great as your ECs show an interest in that field. Make sure to take the Biology E+M Subject Test because many schools highly recommend that for science/pre-med. If your not going into medicine, you may want to direct your ECs towards the field that you will be majoring in.

Also, are you considering playing college soccer? Have you been recruited? If so, many of these schools would be a breeze for you to get into because of varsity status.

Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1796213-good-test-scores-and-leadership-but-average-gpa-chance-me-for-these-schools-please.html#latest