Chances Class of 2021 RD

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

Objective: Biology Major at Trinity CAS

SAT: 2230 (CR-670, M-770, W-790 Essay:10)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Biology E
ACT: 32 (Math:33, Reading: 28, Science: 35, Writing: 33)

NC GPA (Unweighted) - 3.96
Class Rank: 7/631
Attend Top Public School in NC
Student in North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Online Program
Taking courses offered nowhere else in the country, which include Honors Medicinal Chemistry and Honors Bioinformatics

AP (6 AP’s taken):
Biology (4)
Calculus BC (5)
Statistics (4)
Human Geography (5)
US History (4)

Senior Year Courses:
AP Computer Science A
AP US Government and Politics
AP Comparative Government and Politics
AP Psychology
Calculus III (at NC State)
Honors Anatomy and Physiology

NCSSM Courses:
Honors Computational Chemistry
Honors Medicinal Chemistry

Major Awards: Winner of Genentech Emperor Science Award in Cancer Research, PVSA recipient, Selected and Completed NC Governor’s School in Mathematics, NC House of Representatives Page, Junior Marshal

Subjective:
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Men’s Tennis Player (9-12)
Cancer Research Lab Assistant at UNC (11-12)
Key Club (9-12) / Executive Board Member (10-11)
Science Olympiad (9-12) / President (11-12)
National Technical and Spanish Honor Societies (11-12)
Quiz Bowl Team 9-12) / Co-Captain (10-12)
Tutoring Club (9-12) / President (10-12)
NC School of Science and Mathematics Ambassador (11-12)
UNC Hospitals Volunteer (11-12) 200+ Hours
Red Cross Volunteer (9-12) 50+ Hours

Race: Asian

2

Seems like a reach, but Duke is a reach for almost anyone. What does the rest of your potential college list look like?

3

Thanks for the feedback comploadite! I have UNC, UVA, UMichgan, Georgia Tech, UChicago, Georgetown, Boston College, and Notre Dame on my list.

4

Duke screens all applications using a 6 evaluation criteria, and rejects 50% of applicants who don’t meet a certain threshold for those criteria:

  1. Curricular rigor
  2. Academics (GPA, class rank)
  3. Standardized tests
  4. Extracurriculars
  5. Essays
  6. Recommendations

http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2015/03/ferpa-request-gives-inside-look-duke-admissions-process

Assuming you put together a coherent, cohesive application with strong essays and recommendations, I think you should be fine getting through the first cut. Your standardized test scores are a tad lower than ideal but within range (the Trinity composite ACT middle 50% range for the class of 2019 was 31-35; your CR of 670 is definitely on the low side); they should also be offset somewhat by your GPA/rank and curricular rigor.

Beyond that it’s a crapshoot, and a lot depends on how you present yourself. What drives you, what is important to you? Your Genentech award will look good; do you have any research publications pending? You have a lot of diverse ECs, so you will need to structure them to present yourself as having a coherent focus.

You might also want to take a look at “what Duke looks for”:

http://admissions.duke.edu/application/overview

Good luck!

5

I think I know you haha. Last initial ‘I’?

Your scores are okay; I had the same composite SAT with a slightly lower reading score (650) and I got in. You have a solid chance.

Good luck!

6

I think your scores are pretty good. Definitely better than mine, and I got in! The awards definitely help, but you might want to think about what will make you stand out from the other applicants. I’m from Asia, so I can say that there are lots of Asians who are in Key Club, Red Cross, and etc…

Your experiences in these and your ability to convey your experiences will (I believe) make you stand out. Good luck!

7

@renaissancedad - wow! If Duke’s middle 50% has an ACT range of 31-35, does that mean (per convention) that the top 25% of admitted applicants have a 36 ACT? That would mean 697 students out of 2790 admitted students in class of 2019 will have a perfect ACT score (http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/DukeClass2019Profile.pdf). According to Prepscholar, 1407 got a perfect ACT score(http://blog.prepscholar.com/how-many-people-get-a-34-35-36-on-the-act-score-breakdown), and more half of these students applied and were admitted to Duke?

8

@OHToCollege, you’ve made some assumptions that are probably not correct. First, you can’t assume that 25% scored higher than a 35. Rather, the statistic is that the highest 25% who submitted ACT scores scored either 35 or 36. For example, if 70% scored 34 or lower, 25% scored a 35, and 5% scored a 36, the 75th percentile score would be 35. Secondly, not everyone submits an ACT score. So, it’s highly doubtful that half of all perfect ACT scorers were admitted to Duke.

It’s a mistake to focus too heavily on scores: many students with excellent scores are not accepted, and as the range indicates students with imperfect scores are accepted. I would encourage the OP to apply.

9

@wstrav, although not at Duke, see following link and paragraph below that provides explanation of middle 50% at Vanderbilt (http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2015/09/what-is-the-middle-50/). These 2 schools are comparable for the caliber of students they attract (granted, I should really ask this question on the Vanderbilt threads), most recent data shows a profile of middle 50% at Vanderbilt same as Duke, i.e. 32-35.

“For example, at Vanderbilt last year the middle 50% testing range on the ACT for enrolling first-year students (the Class of 2018) was 32-34. This means that of the approximately 1,600 enrolled students, about 800 (the half in the middle) had a score that was in the 32-34 range. From this you also know that about 400 of enrolled students scored higher than this range, either a 35 or 36, and about 400 scored a 31 or below.”

10

@OHToCollege, I would say that is sloppy writing on the part of Vandy. It’s easier to explain the 50th percentile by saying 50% scored 32-34 than saying something like 64.3%. If ACT scores were more differentiated (more like the SAT), it would be easier to divide up the population into neater quartiles. However, even SAT percentages can be misleading: if you look at SAT scores at Vandy, you see that the middle 50% for math for Class of 2019 is 720-800. Surely, you wouldn’t claim that 25% of Vandy students have a math score above 800.

Also, please note that the Vandy explanation is not meant to be exact: contrary to the example given, not all 1600 Vandy students even submitted ACT scores.

11

@wstrav, you are right when you apply above logic to SAT scores it makes no sense to report that 50% of admitted scored between 720-800 for math, since section scores are capped at 800. First I thought, may be the ACT supers-coring may have something to do with this high an ACT range (32-35) for the middle 50%, but Vanderbilt does not superscore and Duke considers only the highest sub-scores from multiple ACT tests, but does not recompute the composite scores. The explanation for this high an range must be within the overlap of students who submit both the ACT and the SAT scores - students who scores high on one test, must also score high on the other.

12

@OHToCollege, just to clarify: it is possible for the middle 50% to score 720-800 on math. Here’s an example: 25% score 710 or less; 45% score 720-790; 30% score 800. The middle 50% score is 720-800. And this does not seem terribly unreasonable because SAT Math section 800s are far more common that ACT composite scores of 36.

Anyhow, I apologize for hijacking this thread. Best of luck to OP.

13

@OHToCollege @wstrav. I think the point wstrav was making was that the distribution of ACT scores do not follow a perfect gaussian curve.

I was interested in this, and did a bit of google searching. A statistician at SAS calculated the frequency distribution of ACT scores from 2012: http://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2015/07/17/viz-act-scores.html

Unfortunately he doesn’t graph the composite score. But he links to the raw data, which shows that approx 14,000 students scored a 34, 35 or 36 on the ACT in 2012. This accounts for approx 1% of test-takers.

14

I know this might be last minute but can someone chance me for Duke Trinity (Planning to Major in CS)

Objective:
UW GPA: 3.35
Weighted GPA: 3.9

ACT (breakdown): 31
I sent 2 scores, one has a 35 in reading and 33 in science and another has a 35 in math

SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math II: 710, French: 430 (yeah i know)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Does not rank
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Human Geography (4), AP Comp Sci (3), AP Stats (4), AP Euro (3),
AP Calc AB (5), AP Lang (3)

IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, Virtual Enterprises International (Weighted), AP Literature, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Honor and some major business/technology awards

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: (place leadership in parentheses): Cloud-based carpooling app startup (CEO and Developer), VEX Robotics Programmer, Virtual Reality App Startup (CEO and Developer), Android Development Intern, Business Development Intern, Young Entrepreneurs Academy (Selective Academy), Lobbyist for Youth and Gov, Me to We Club: An International Community Service Organization (Vice President), Business Professionals of America (won several awards), Sprinter on Track Team
Job/Work Experience: Internships mentioned above^
Volunteer/Community Service: VP of International Community Service Organization (Me to We Club)
Summer Activities: Internships and working on startups
Teacher Recommendations: Think they were good. Got one from my business mentor and one from the math department chair that I was really close with
Counselor Rec: I wouldn’t expect too much due to many students in our senior class

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): IL
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: M

Reflection
Strengths: EC’s, Leadership, Test Scores (Except for French), Senior Year Course Load, Recommendations
Weaknesses: GPA, French Test Score, AP Comp Sci Test Score