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<p>They never release exactly how this is scored so my opinion is mostly speculation. I do know that to get a 5 in EC’s you usually have to do something on the national level or something incredibly impressive. Also for test scores I’m guessing that 2330 or over is a 5. As for essays/reccs I would caution you from ranking them so high because you must keep in mind that the “average” meaning 3 is still very good for essays and the average recc for someone applying to Duke raves about the person’s ability. To get a 5 on the essay I think you’d have to be really creative or just reveal a highly desirable characteristic about yourself in an interesting way. Reccs are impossible to rate. I also suspect that getting a 5 in course rigor means you have to take classes outside of school or self study AP’s or something. I also speculate that you cannot get a 5 for GPA unless you have a 4.0 UW or are valedictorian/salutorian.</p>
<p>course rigor: 4
GPA: 2 (most people applying have near perfect grades)
essays: probably not 5 unless you spent an inordinate amount of time on them or are an exceptionally good writer
recs: don’t know how this works at all
test scores: 5
ec’s: 4</p>
<p>I would have given myself:</p>
<p>course rigor: 4
GPA: 5
essays: 4
recs: 4
test scores: 5
ec’s: 2</p>
<p>So you are pretty similar to me and I got in, but then again they say the transcript is the most important part so who knows how much your grades will hurt you. Also (can’t remember) if you’re an URM that helps a ton.</p>