chances?!

Colleges & Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>User Name: katiemcm1015
Gender: F
Location: houston
College Class Year: 2014
High School: Public</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.99
GPA - Weighted: 5.27
Class Rank: 15
Class Size: 766</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 710
SAT I Critical Reading: 690
SAT I Writing: 770
SAT II U.S. History: 720
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 800</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars:
orchestra</p>

<p>church music (handbells and choir)</p>

<p>Health Occupational Students of America</p>

<p>National Honor Society</p>

<p>Spanish National Honor Society</p>

<p>Leadership positions:</p>

<p>member of a committee to choose a new youth director</p>

<p>work in customer service booth at Kroger</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
Susan G. Komen breast Cancer Walk</p>

<p>Walk for NAMY (foundation to help the mentally ill)</p>

<p>Mission trip to Kentucky</p>

<p>Mission trip to Mexico</p>

<p>volunteering at low-income apartments</p>

<p>serving meals to the homeless on Thanksgiving</p>

<p>serving meals to the elderly</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:</p>

<p>placement in Region Orchestra for four years</p>

<p>most improved player</p>

<p>my orchestra played as the TMEA honor orchestra (best orchestra in the state)</p>

<p>College Summer programs:</p>

<p>National Youth leadership Forum on Medicine</p>

<p>i know i need to work on my extracurriculars and leadership and definitely take the SAT again. but besides that what do you think?</p>

2

<p>Everything looks strong. I would suggest condensing your ECs into an easy to comprehend, concise arrangement to show off how involved and well rounded you are…also attempt to focus on one or two heavily in your essays/application to show some deep passion in your favorite activities. The 1400/2170 SAT score in my opinion is fine for any top 10 school, but some would probably suggest taking it once more in an effort to raise your CR-- if you are willing to give up one Saturday and the registration fee I suppose it wouldnt hurt. Other than that, your application looks really good. You have a good chance, but with Duke’s selectivity now it has become almost a crapshoot for anyone. </p>

<p>Are you applying ED? There is a slight advantage to applying through the early binding program, but this is only for students who are sure Duke is their first choice. It seems to take some of the randomness out of the admissions process. Best of luck</p>

3

<p>Duke is definitely my first choice so i want to apply ED, but financial aid is going to be a factor in deciding where i can go. I heard that if you apply ED and don’t get enough money you can remove your admission even though in most circumstances it is supposedly binding, but i’m not sure. I think i’m going to call the office of undergraduate admissions just to clarify.</p>

4

<p>They can only oppose the “binding” part of ED if you truly demonstrate you can not attend due to financial aid problem. This does **NOT **apply if you are not satisfied with your financial aid offer. Only if you can truly demonstrate that you cannot afford Duke. It is actually quite hard to do so and few people actually truly succeed.</p>

5

<p>Don’t count on being able to get out of the ED agreement if you decide you cant afford it based on your aid. Duke meets 100% of your demonstrated financial need (as they see it) so its hard to back out this way. The decision of whether or not to apply ED should be made through careful consideration alongside your parents-- Duke’s aid is really good but you need to look at your personal situation and make sure you are prepared to handle a reasonable aid package given to you. If not, you can definitely apply RD through Duke and still have a reasonable shot of admission. This would allow you to compare your aid package to other schools.</p>

<p>Also keep in mind that the ED admission advantage exists, but it is relatively small. The acceptance rate is higher, but the stats/qualifications of those admitted are virutally the same. The overall quality of the smaller ED pool is stronger as a whole and ED is used to admit a lot of athletic recruits, legacies, etc. which drive up the acceptance rate. Good luck!</p>

6

<p>Actaully false, ED students are on average weaker, but are accepted at a much higher percentage due to various reasons.</p>

7

<p>noobcake, I think that was true a couple years ago, but now that the number of applications are going up, it has differed.</p>

8

<p>noob,</p>

<p>That is not true. The reason there is a higher percentage of admits ED is because it is easier to stand out. There are only 1200-1500 applications ED, so much easier to stand out against 1,500 than against 22,500. </p>

<p>If you ask admissions they will tell you that the stats of ED vs RD students are virtually identical. People that apply early know they want to go to Duke. Not only that but they have already scored well on their SAT (no need to re-take as a senior, which sometimes prohibits you from applying early) and they feel like their AP’s and class schedules are strong enough. Since nothing from your first semester is reported when you apply ED you better have become a leader in your EC’s and have good AP’s and a good SAT score.</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>There is no statistics that indicates ED = RD students in terms of stats. Standing out in a smaller applicant pool has nothing to do with the higher acceptance rate. ED has a higher acceptance due to the binding nature of the ED agreement. It can be used as a means of improving yield (and admit high interest students at the same time). Additionally, fewer students apply ED than RD resulting in a smaller applicant pool and less competition.</p>

<p>I don’t buy your arguement
The seniors with “strong enough” AP’s and class schedules and “no need to re-take” could very easily apply RD, instead they choose ED for an easier acceptance.</p>

<p>Tell me with a straight face that atheletes and legacies (of course not all) have higher stat than the regular student body.</p>

<p>sp, grm</p>

10

<p>noob,</p>

<p>Actually yes there are stats that indicate that RD = ED. Ask some of the admissions counselors and they will let you know. The stats are not published though. </p>

<p>And for athletes and legacies, I will help answer some of those questions as well. Legacies have the same admit rate as ED applicants. Again demonstrating that ED applicants and legacies just have an easier time standing out. Legacies just get a second look-over when applying and they usually have the same sort of commitment that ED applicants have because they plan on attending Duke no matter what. </p>

<p>And athletes, recruited athletes on average will probably have lower stats but they usually fall right into Duke’s range. I had several of friends who were athletes. The lowest SAT score out of my athlete friends was 1450 (on the old scale) and the highest was 1580. One friend ended up graduating with a 3.97 GPA in Biology. I only knew one student-athlete with a GPA lower than 3.3 (most majored in Economics, or engineering). Countless friends ended up at excellent graduate schools. </p>

<p>You have to realize that athletes are extremely focused and determined and they will usually do extremely well in school. Recruited athletes at Duke are top performers both in the classroom and outside of it. </p>

<p>And finally, all you are talking about are “stats”. Numbers. Numbers don’t tell the whole story. There is no way to quantify the leadership positions or the EC’s of an applicant. There is also no way to quantify the life experiences and essays that these applicants write. Applicants become obsessed with “stats”, usually GPA and SAT, these are TWO and only TWO components of an entire application.</p>

11

<p>And I should also add:</p>

<p>Athletes are similar to top chess players, or piano prodigies, or excellent artists. They have something that stands out. To be a top nationally ranked athlete is an exceptional skill, similar to being a nationally ranked chess player, or piano player. So they have part of their application that already sets them apart.</p>

12

<p>I don’t understand why you are even trying to prove that Legacy ED = Regular ED. You simply can’t take an adcom’s words as the truth. No released from Duke, will have to use data from other schools [ED stats are weaker on average].</p>

<p>My experience with athletes are different; some good, some bad. I must really not be friends with my friends since I don’t know their SAT scores.</p>

13

<p>noob,</p>

<p>A couple of things. I never said legacy ED = regular ED. I said a legacy RD applicant has roughly the same acceptance rate as an ED applicant. </p>

<p>This helps strengthen the point about why percentages are higher when applicant pools are smaller. Legacies are looked at closer when they apply RD because of their legacy.</p>

<p>And as for knowing my friends SAT scores thanks for trying to make me sound dumb, but I’ll tell you why I know these things. When I was at Duke I heard a lot of ignorant comments about athletes. I did not think that these things were fair so I took some polls and put together some data for a class. It was that simple, I asked random people but I also asked my friends (the ones that didn’t feel uncomfortable giving out this information). I did this because unfortunately many people have this negative impression of athletes, when as I pointed out before being a nationally ranked athlete IS a reason to be accepted to school just like a nationally ranked chess player or anything else. </p>

<p>Athletics are part of your EC’s and if that is what you focus on and excel at then great, it should help you get into school even with lower “stats”. An application is MUCH MORE than stats.</p>