Chances at Duke

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a high school junior and my friend and I are visiting a few colleges on the East Coast this summer and Duke is kinda out of our way and if there's no way i'm getting in, i hate to waste my time visiting it...so Please help :)</p>

<p>-Unweighted GPA: 92.7</p>

<p>-Weighted GPA: 94.6</p>

<p>-Rank: My high school is college prep and rigorous, but doesn't rank</p>

<p>-Taken the most rigorous schedule available </p>

<p>-AP Scores AP Euro-4
AP US history- score pending...but on every test i've taken in class i've gotten a solid 5 and my school is very good at prepping kids for this test
AP Calc BC- Score Pending but I expect a 4</p>

<p>Senior year schedule: AP English, AP Government, AP Economics, Latin 4, AP Biology, and a required Religion course</p>

<p>-SAT-2070 </p>

<p>-ACT- 32</p>

<p>-SAT II : Chemistry: 680...will take Math II and US history...expect to do really well in history and decently in math</p>

<p>-ECs --
-Leader of Muse Poetry Club
-Library children's department volunteer
-Wind Ensemble- Flute player (High Band 3 years of high school and will continue on Senior year)
-I also play for my Church
-I also play for my musical's pit orchestra which is extremely competitive at my school
-9 years of piano
-NHS
-Latin Club</p>

<p>-employment --
-Library Page
-Baseball Umpire
-Music Camp leader at my high school</p>

<p>-honors/awards
-Bronze, silver, and gold awards
-AIM Piano exam
- National Latin Exam- Summa Cum Laude (highest possible award)</p>

<p>-Recs
-well...i'm just a junior, so idk...same goes for essays, although everyone i meet tells me i'm a good writer and i get great grades on all my papers.</p>

<p>-I'm kinda just an average person: white, female, Chicago Suburb, both parents went to state school...yeah, no real hooks there</p>

2

<p>i’d say you’ve got a decent chance, i would try going ED</p>

3

<p>I’d say you have a very low chance of getting in…</p>

4

<p>As of now, your tests scores are too low for Duke.</p>

5

<p>i think u have a good chance but the sat score might hurt you… everything else looks like it would give u a decent chance</p>

6

<p>It’s definitely worth visiting because you definitely have a shot… I don’t think its a great one because of your scores and, don’t take this the wrong way, but somewhat bland ec’s. You should have a better chance if you do ED though.</p>

<p>Chance back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/862564-ups-what-can-brown-do-you-ill-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/862564-ups-what-can-brown-do-you-ill-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/861966-chance-me-please-cmu-cornell-wvu-others.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/861966-chance-me-please-cmu-cornell-wvu-others.html&lt;/a&gt; i wouldnt mind a chance back :)</p>

8

<p>First of all, I think it’s great that you are considering your colleges as a junior-- if you really love Duke and if it’s your absolute first choice, then I would encourage you to apply early decision. </p>

<p>Duke considers six factors in their admissions: GPA (academic performance), standardized testing, strength of the course selection, extracurricular activities, teacher/interview recommendations, and your personal essays. You obviously want to be as strong as you possibly can in each ‘factor’-- I think if you work hard at it, you can raise your SAT I (and do well on your subject tests). Your personal essays are very important as well-- avoid cliches approaches to topics and be dedicated to your essays (both the common app. and the supplementary).</p>

<p>I think that you have solid, good extracurriculars, but they aren’t ‘great’ yet. I can see that you love music because you not only play in your high school band but also play at your church, and in the musicals’ pit orchestra (I know that rehearsals are intense… I’m in my school’s musical casts and I can see how hard the pit orchestra works). However, I suggest putting more dedication into your activities and make it show through your application. Perhaps you can tutor younger students/neighborhood children in piano playing since you’ve been playing for so long. Or maybe you can be a musical accompanist for spring musical auditions. Choosing an extracurricular activity such as you have in music, and then branching out into many different parts that include immersing yourself in it, teaching, & leading others, as well as putting many hours a week into them shows passion. That’s what Duke wants to see. It wants to see that an applicant is passionate about something, whether it be about learning, philanthropy/helping others, cultures, music, theatre, or lacrosse. </p>

<p>Good luck and God bless with your college admissions process!</p>

9

<p>i think it would be a reach, but it could be doable if you show interest- campus tour, possibly going ED</p>

10

<p>If this were a normal school, you would have a decent chance of getting in, but this is an ivy league, and ivy leagues consistently reject people with infinitely better credentials than you. Your greatest weakness is that your application completely lacks personality, I cannot tell who you are and why I should care about you (not to be rude) just by analyzing your numbers. You lack spark and interest. You lack credentials. I would say that, apart from boosting your gpa and sat, you should figure out who you are, why you’re special and then base your application around that.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/862600-applying-columba-ed.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/862600-applying-columba-ed.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Based on my D’s experience last year, at the highest ranked schools you visiting them doesn’t have any correlation to you getting accepted. My D was accepted at colleges we didn’t visit and rejected at colleges we visited in depth. We didn’t visit Duke until accepted students weekend and my D is attending there now and loves it. I would agree that it would help if you could improve your SAT score. More officer positions and awards in your ECs would also help. I like to think my D was accepted at Duke because of the parent letter I wrote (family members can write a recommendation letter for the student).,</p>