Chance me for Duke? I'll chance back

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Hey guys, thanks in advance for chancing me. Please be brutally honest. I seriously don't know how I'll do in the admission process b/c I fall in a different category than many of you. I have good academics/gpa/test scores, but weaker extracurriculars. Well, just take a look:</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2400 single sitting
ACT: none
SAT II: Math2 800, US History 800, BiologyM 790
UW GPA: 4.0? school doesn't report, but I've never had below a 95 in a class
W GPA: 4.727
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~top 3 out of 143, school doesn't rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): CompSci 5, World 5, Stats 5, USH 5, Bio 4, Lang/Comp 3
IB (place score in parenthesis): none
Senior Year Course Load: Calc BC, AP Micro+Macro, AP Spanish, AP Physics C, English electives
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMSF, AP Scholar w/ distinction, National Spanish Exam Silver, Headmaster's list</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: basketball team, math club president, computer club president, NHS executive council, Carolina Premier Bank program, Students of Service club, Key club
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at Carolina Medical Center (100+ hrs), Math Buddies tutoring, peer tutoring service (through NHS), school's Key Club
Summer Activities: business camp at UNCC, basketball team camp at Wofford, nothing huge
Essays: Common App (at least 8/10 if I'm being hard on myself), Duke Supplement Essays (around 8-9 out of 10)
Teacher Recommendation: Calc BC teacher (9/10), English teacher (she likes me but not very diligent person, probs 8/10)
Counselor Rec: (9/10, he's a pro and knows me well)
Additional Rec: none
Interview: went really well, he went to the same high school and we bonded over that</p>

<p>Other</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): North Carolina (this is a good thing for duke, right?)
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: private school, send a handful to Ivies on a good year. my year is super competitive, 20 people are applying to Duke this year
Ethnicity: Asian (goddamnit, the only part I hate about being Chinese)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: lol, lets just say that there is no way that I could qualify for FA
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): haha, nope
Major: Economics
Submit date: 12/20/2013 (regular decision)</p>

<p>Also, if current students/parents/alum of duke want to read my essay, just pm me. As long as you don't post it on the internet, I'd love feedback for my essays</p>

2

<p>With stats like yours, DUKE is a perfect reach for you, & your EC is fine.
I have one question:
" Ethnicity: Asian (goddamnit, the only part I hate about being Chinese)"
lols
Why?</p>

3

<p>I’d say you have a 30:70 shot…with the acceptance rate as low as it is, a 2400 won’t get the job done anymore. you need job experience as well.</p>

4

<p>@lana, if my EC is fine, how is duke still a reach? I’m not trying to defend myself, but since I thought my weakest part is EC’s and since you say they’re fine, I thought that duke would be at least a low reach/high match. well, that’s what I guess it’d be. also, I’m in NC, and duke takes the most students from any one state from NC, so that might help. Also, the pool for asians is significantly harder and more competitive than that for any other race.</p>

5

<p>@Tarheel714 State residence does not help at all. Duke is a private school so they don’t have to take a certain number of NC kids. Being in NC means more kids apply from NC than other states, thus it would make sense for NC to send the most kids to Duke.</p>

<p>“The pool for asians is significantly harder and more competitive than that for any other race.” That is not true. It might be marginally harder due to higher average test scores, but significantly harder is a huge overstatement. If you blame not getting into a school based on your race… well, just don’t. If your qualified you’ll get in, regardless of race.</p>

<p>I believe Duke is a low reach/reach for you. Yes you are qualified, have good academics, and some somewhat strong ECs, but I’m not overly impressed by any one of you ECs. I don’t think Duke is not a high match by any means. You really thought it would be a low reach at worst?</p>

<p>Anyways, good luck! I hope you get in!</p>

<p>Chance me back? I was deferred from Duke ED <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1603723-predict-my-results-will-chance-back-immediately.html#post16818487”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1603723-predict-my-results-will-chance-back-immediately.html#post16818487&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>I just want to point out that I am not a big fan of chance threads of top 10 schools. I know that it is such a cliche statement here in the virtual premises of this website but to be honest: when a school has less than 15% acceptance rate and has great reputation (pretty much all of the top 15 schools), it is impossible to give someone anything other than a reach unless you have major awards (international-national, significantly impressive, etc) or are worthy of being recruited for something in particular (sports, well-published scientist, etc). </p>

<p>That being said, you have a chance. No one is denying that. Anyone with your type of “profile” has chances at all the schools. All people are trying to say is that it really depends on the class of 2018 applicants as a whole and the applicants from your school. </p>

<p>FYI, Duke does not prefer in-state applicants. If you look at almost any amazing private school in the country, one of the top 5 states represented will almost always be the home state. In this case it is North Carolina. Because Duke has such a “stamp” on the state itself and how everyone in the state knows about it, there are obviously a very high number of applicants and thus automatically the higher total number of acceptances. Yield Rate for in-state applicants is almost certainly alot higher than out of state because one of the factors used by applicants is location and because Duke would be the closest top school almost always, there is naturally a higher yield rate which translates to a higher number of admits/enrollees. </p>

<p>Also, in any particular period of time the most represented state at Duke wavers between California and North Carolina. <a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2017Profile.pdf”>http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2017Profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt; This link shows total enrollees for the past 4 years and California and NC are close.</p>

7

<p>I’d have to agree with before. You’ve got excellent stats so I’d put you at a Low Reach. I’ve heard some say that being in North Carolina helps you, others say that it does’t. But it certainly can’t hurt. Also, you’re not helping yourself with that username.</p>

8

<p>alright, I get it, in state doesn’t help. Thanks for your replies; I’ll be honest, I kinda posted these just for reassurance for myself. Call it a coping mechanism for all the stress. Everybody likes to talk about themselves, amirite? Anyways, I realize now that I have a chance, but in the end, it’s still Duke. And yeah, I’m a Tarheel fan when it comes to basketball, but I’d rather get an education at Duke.</p>

9

<p>@TarheeI714. I agreed with the others. Your EC is typical of a “smart student” & your job experience is zero. I still say you have a very good chance because you show some leadership skills. By the way, your Chinese horoscope sign is a boar? 2014 is a lucky year for you, so I say you’ll get in. Seriously!!!</p>

10

<p>lol, yeah I’m the only boar in my family of snakes, haha. I’ve never believed much in stuff like that, but I’ll literally convert to scientology if it means an acceptance letter. Thanks lana</p>