Chance me for ED?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>Can anyone chance me for Duke ED? I'll be applying for Trinity Class of 2018.</p>

<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2110 (680 Math) (730 CR) (700 Writing)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 800 US 760 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (5.44 weighted)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/396
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s in: AP Human Geo, Stats, US. 4 in Chemistry</p>

<p>AICE (place score in parenthesis): Scale is A (highest) to E, A's in: Eng Lang, US History, Marine Science, General Paper. B's in: Chemistry, Sociology D's in: Psych, International History, Thinking Skills. </p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load: The hardest classes available and some AP's online and a few Dual Enrollment at a local community college</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Hispanic Scholar. Superior on a Grade 6 solo at both state and district solo&ensemble. Invited to and Marched in the last Presidential Inaugural Parade with a drum corps (see summer activities). Scheduled to perform in Carnegie Hall next Spring with the Youth Symphony Orchestra. I'm not sure where to put the last two, but they're pretty significant. Is there a place where they'd be acceptable on the application, or should I leave them out entirely?</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Marching band (Drum Major), Model UN (secretary), Youth Symphony Orchestra (principal bass trombone), Mock Trial (Founder and President), Mu Alpha Theta (historian)
Job/Work Experience: N/A</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: Approximately 150 hours. Most of which would be working at a horse rehabilitation center. The rest would be performing in a pit orchestra for a local musical theater production.</p>

<p>Summer Activities: Marched in a World Class Drum Corps (Boston Crusaders) as a lead baritone
Essays: Should be good
Teacher Recommendation: Should be very good
Counselor Rec: Alright, although the counselors rarely have the chance to know students personally at my school.
Additional Rec: Should be great, this one would talk a lot about my character and leadership traits</p>

<p>Intended Major(s): Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Slightly below average Public. Not a large push for colleges other than state schools. Minority of us go to flagships.
Ethnicity: Hispanic (Puerto Rican)
Gender: M
Income bracket (if applicable): <40,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first-gen, (low income?)</p>

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<p>Forgot to add in there that I was the co-principal trombone for the All-County ensemble.</p>

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<p>Don’t apply ED to Duke… Your stats are amazing that you can get into a lot of schools. Don’t constrict yourself to Duke. I’d suggest taking the SAT I again, and they like to see SAT Math Level II. The SAT Math Level II is actually easier for a lot of people because the topics are more recent. A 2110 is certainly not bad, but it won’t super boost you either. Since you got a 730 CR, I’d take Literature too. It’s like CR without the vocab. The rest of your app sounds great! You seem like a well-rounded, diverse individual.
Is AICE like FL’s version of IB? Sounds interesting. Gonna have to look it up.
If you are going to take some more SATs, I’d recommend Princeton Review book for SAT I and Kaplan for all SAT IIs. Don’t bother with a course. The teacher just stands over you, doing what your fav math teacher could do before/after school for free.
I know it’s none of my business, but why ED? The higher admit rate is a little misleading. They only admit more because ED really, really, really want to go to Duke, and are thus more competitive then RD.
I know the feeling about the counselor thing. What I did was sat down and talked with my counselors/recs about what I felt my positive qualities were and we went over my activity sheet/resume. They’ll love you for doing this since it’ll make their job that much easier.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much for the input! And I was certainly thinking about taking the SAT Lit test, because I performed very well on the practice problems they gave me. The only thing that brought me down in CR was vocab. I have the Lit test scheduled for the next SAT test.</p>

<p>And yep, AICE is very similar to IB in the sense that you receive a diploma for passing a certain number of exams, and the courses are similar to AP and IB in rigor. More centered and insightful than AP, but the courses doesn’t cover as much area. I personally don’t favor it, as the courses rarely cover SAT subject test material. I ended up taking AP US through FLVS in order to get that 800 on the SAT II.</p>

<p>And I’m choosing ED because Duke has always been my first choice since 8th grade. The obligation to attend certainly wouldn’t cross my mind as not being something I absolutely want to do. I love the mentality, the campus, the basketball (lol), their study abroad opportunities, and all the specific programs they have. And since I feel this way, I would hope that ED would help my chances to reach this childhood dream of mine.</p>

<p>And thanks for the counselor idea! I guess I should be doing that, lol. He occasionally invites me down to sign up for things since I’m at the top of my class, but he doesn’t really know much about me outside of academics.</p>