Chances at Duke ED?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>First post on CC - be nice, I'm fragile ;)
Applying to Duke Early Decision, it's my dream. And apparently everyone else's.</p>

<p>PROFILE
East Asian female
Region: South Jersey
School: uncompetitive public school, pretty big
GPA: 3.78/4.0 weighted, unknown unweighted.
*I might mention that my GPA went from 87/100 freshman year, 94/100 sophomore year, 98/100 junior year with increasing difficulty in classes.
Class rank: 149/658. Blargh.</p>

<p>SAT Composite: 2270
CR: 720
M: 770
WR: 780</p>

<p>SAT II
Math IIC: 710 (will retake)
Literature: 710 (will retake)
Chinese: 800</p>

<p>PSAT: 202</p>

<p>First-generation immigrant and first one to go to college.</p>

<p>FRESHMAN (<em>) means weighted
Spanish Intermediate</em>
Honors Intro to Physical Science*
Algebra 2*
English
Required PE
Lunch
Intro to theater (ugh)
World History</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE
Spanish Intermediate II*
Honors Geometry*
Honors Biology*
Required PE
English
Lunch
AFJROTC
US History I</p>

<p>JUNIOR
Spanish Advanced*
Honors Pre-Calculus*
Honors Chemistry*
Honors English*
AFJROTC
Honors US History II*
Accounting*
Required PE</p>

<p>SENIOR (registered)
AP Spanish*
AP Calculus AB*
Honors English*
AP Economics*
Honors Physics*
AFJROTC
AP Statistics*
Required PE class</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
Mock Trial Attorney, Captain senior year (10,11,12)
AFJROTC Officer, Head Staff, Kitty Hawk Air Society Commander (10,11,12)
Peer Facilitator (10,11,12)
Student council homeroom representative (9,10,11,12)
Interact Volunteer Club (9,10,11,12)
National Society of High School Scholars (11,12)
X^2 Cheerleading (7,8,9,10,11), out-of-school, varsity cheerleader.
Science League (10,11,12)
Math League (9,10,11,12)
DECA (11)
Nominated for Rotary Leadership Conference at Stockton College (11)</p>

<p>AWARDS:
Student of the month (11)
Renaissance Gold Card Holder (93+ GPA) (10,11)
People's Choice Award (11)
Honor Roll (9,10,11,12)</p>

<p>LEADERSHIP:
Peer facilitators trainer
Mock trial captain
AFJROTC head staff
Kitty Hawk Air Society (NHS of JROTC) Commander
X^2 Cheerleading JV captain.</p>

<p>VOLUNTEER WORK: every year unless noted
Monzo Madness – helped friend go door-to-door to raise money.
Buddy Walk – Down Syndrome awareness walk.
Thanksgiving with the Seniors – volunteered an hour per year to spend thanksgiving with senior citizens at the center.
Epilepsy awareness fair – helped with serving lunch and organization.
English tutor to prospective foreign exchange students: went back to China in the 2008/2009 summer to tutor future FE students.
Festival of Friends – dance for mentally challenged adults, helped organize and attended.
Offered SAT tutoring sessions for classmates.
Tutored in word memorization, math skills, and essay improvement. 5+ hours a week.
Tutor for students ages 6-14 in mathematics.
(A few more, relatively minor).</p>

<p>ESSAYS:
Writing is my strong point, I consider them very on-target essays. (10/12 on SATs)</p>

<p>RECS:
Good to excellent, from Mock Trial Coach, Math, History, English teacher, as well as AFJROTC instructors (will pick as the number each college needs from these), employer and prospectively a Duke record-holding alumnus.</p>

<p>ADDITIONAL INFO:
Took a Chemistry 111 class at the community college, received an A.
Took an MIT opencourse on Causes and Preventions of War, with written essays.
Worked for a private businessman for five years, handling bills and advertising.
My counselor for three years decided to retire, telling me so on the last day of school.</p>

<p>PLANS:
Pursue the Public Policies track.
Obtain Master's degree.
Obtain Ph.D.
Join the United States Air Force after ROTC in college.</p>

<p>Other colleges; chance if you'd like:
College of William and Mary
Harvard University
Princeton University
Pennsylvania State University
New York University
Wellesley College</p>

2

<p>Not so favorable demographics, mediocre weighted GPA, and relatively less rigorous course loads = most likely rejection or WL at best.</p>

3

<p>Our school has odd prerequisites for advanced course loads - really hard to get into lots of APs by junior year, at best one or two.
Thank you!</p>

4

<p>Keep in mind that college admissions is an unpredictable game, so anything can happen. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Wish it was a 1-2-3 game. Thanks again and good luck to you too.</p>

6

<p>You <em>would</em> have a very good chance, but that rank kills you, especially at an “uncompetitive” HS like you stated. The vast majority (90%+) of admitted students to schools like Duke are in the top 10%, and most likely in the top 10-20. The rest are typically URMs and recruited athletes, or have some other type of extraordinary accomplishment (and I mean VERY extraordinary). </p>

<p>Your extracurriculars are excellent, and you’ve shown a lot of initiative and dedication. Your test scores are great, too. But your rank (the most important aspect) serious drags you down. Unless you can give some sort of rationalization or sell yourself through your ECs and essays, I’d say your chances aren’t too good.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for chancing! It’s the same thing I’ve been thinking - it’s the freshman year grades that killed me, I went from a 212/650 in my sophomore year to this rank. Hopefully it’ll get better, but I don’t know if it’ll be in time. :x
Wish freshman year didn’t count.</p>

8

<p>Don’t retake an SAT II, ever. I can’t think of a bigger waste of money.</p>

9

<p>You have a very low rank.</p>

10

<p>Thank you - does Duke take SAT IIs really seriously?</p>

11

<p>Bumpity bump bump.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, if the OP didn’t retake her SAT IIs (in math and lit), she would still take SAT IIs in other subjects and spend the same amount of money, so why not? And if she thinks she can do significantly better, I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t. I personally had a horrible experience the first time I took my SAT IIs; I retook them a month later after studying and each score was 80-100 points higher.</p>

13

<p>Colleges use SAT II’s primarily for placement. It’s just not really worth it.</p>

<p>If the OP got terrible SAT II scores for subjects related to her intended field of study, then it might be worth it. But retaking to improve on a 710 is stupid.</p>

<p>Oh, and if you’re fluent in Chinese due to your Asian background, that SAT II score is useless.</p>

14

<p>Nah, it was my first language but I stopped speaking it when I was three or four. Been going to chinese school and teaching myself for a few years now. Thanks, you guys - really helpful comments (:</p>