<p>Any input will be well appreciated, thanks!</p>
<p>*Out of State</p>
<p>Male
Greek American
Go to a very competitive public school in Washington- ranked 35th best public school in the nation
GPA- 3.52 (UW) 3.61 (W)
Excellent upward grade trend.
SAT- 670 W, 540 M, 600 CR- 1810
ACT- 27
Class Rank- N/A</p>
<p>Senior Classes with 1st semester grades:
AP Senior English- A
World Religions- A
AP Statistics- B
AP Environmental Science- A
Anthropology- A
AP American Gov.- A</p>
<p>Teacher & counselor recs- excellent, lots of thought put into both
Essay- very good, I've worked on it since summer.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars-
-4 year varsity tennis letter winner- 9-12th grade
-2 year district tennis qualifier
-1 year state tennis qualifier
-Captain of my club tennis team
-Play in competitive tournaments locally
-Senior Class Secretary
-Class Senator- 11-12
-President and Founder of a club at my school- 10-12
-Member of Asian Culture Club- 11-12
-Member of Key Club- 11-12
-Member of A.S.P.E.N.-12 (Had to try-out)
-Community service award for completing a certain amount of volunteer hours
Volunteer work at a local tennis club, through Key Club, camp counselor, district wide volunteering events, and various other events</p>
<p>I am working on recieving a recomendation from Melinda Gates (Yes, Bill Gates wife). She worked with my father for many years and was a Duke graduate. I was wondering how heavily Duke takes recs. into consideration, bc if they do and i can pull through with this rec, i think i am a lock</p>
<p>A rec from Melinda Gates is going to help you a lot for Duke.. but wouldn't call you a shoo-in due to your test scores & grades. </p>
<p>The only people I know of with 3.5 GPA's and 1800 SAT's who are going to Duke are recruited athletes for football/lacrosse/bball..</p>
<p>However, I would have to say your EC's seem pretty solid. Tennis plus being friends with Gates will both help you out as much as they can.</p>
<p>My advice would be to have a challenging courseload senior year, try to get your weighted GPA up to at least a 3.8, and bring SAT's up to 2000 or ACT's to 30.. with the Gates letter, then you should get in!</p>
<p>Good luck next year with college admissions! :)</p>
<p>I'm confused...how do you already have senior year grades, but yet are applying to Duke for next year?</p>
<p>I think that your grades are a little low, despite you going to Newport (I assume). It's a good school, but 3.5 seems low for a place like Duke.</p>
<p>If you really do have a rec from Melinda Gates, that's pretty cool and may be helpful, assuming it's not generic. Good luck!</p>
<p>to be honest I would think Melinda would need to attach a little checky check to that letter for it to mean much. it's not like you interned or worked closely with her...admissions people are going to see through the whole "well she was a friend of my Dad's" deal. Focus on the academics, Duke won't be a good place for you if you can't hold your own in the classroom. Think about what's best for you as a student.</p>