<p>I was wondering how strongly Duke values community service. Would anyone here like to tell me about their work (or things their Duke applicant friends have done)? I'm wondering how big of a deal it is.</p>
<p>At least for auto admits, the reader rating system at Duke does not place a lot of emphasis on community service. In fact, you can be extremely average in terms of both your essays and EC's, and still get auto admitted to Duke if you are an academic standout.</p>
<p>In committee, I'm not so sure how it works. My guess is that just like for the Ivies ... and I consider Duke on level with many of them, better than some ... a very significant dedication will come across like a strong dedication to anything else. But unless you are very dedicated, it does not distinguish you.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>I always here that term: Auto admit. Who's an auto admit? URMs with 1400+ and 4.0's? Legacy 1600s? How many auto admits are there in reality of the 17,000 applicants? Afterall, all, probably 30% of those admitted have 1500+ and great grades. Just curious.</p>
<p>Okay, here are the criterea for an auto admit at Trinity.</p>
<p>1) Taking the most rigorous curriculum available.
2) Straight A's (or damn near it), or Top 1%/Top 2% Rank. Top academic achievement.
3) Extremely strong recommendations. Either among the best ever at a not-so-competitive high school, or the very best this year at a competitive high school. Evidence of intellectual curiosity and both strong written and oral work must exist.
4) Above a 1480 in Testing.</p>
<p>5) Essays, and 6) Extracurriculars can both be AVERAGE, and both the very bottom and very top kids in the pool often get AVERAGE ratings in these! Rachel Toor even said one of her colleagues had no sense of what made an essay good or bad, and gave all of them average ratings, simply because he didn't know how to assess them. </p>
<p>The auto admits at Duke, and at many other schools, have not had magical personal experiences which they articulate in beautifully written essays. The auto admits are admitted almost exclusively on academic ability. Of course ... essays can't be terrible, and extracurriculars have to exist, but as you can see, they don't differentiate kids in Duke's reader rating system.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>I think that information is misleading.</p>
<p>I agree. The information cited was written in an extremely biased book by a seemingly bitter ex-admissions officer from Duke. While this system may be used, college admissions is a dynamic process and has probably changed a good bit since the woman was an officer.</p>
<p>well, i'm not sure if the process has changed "a good bit" since she left; academic ability is still the most important criterion when looking at a person's application, and #s 1-4 above are very important. (Though 1480 is probably low now to be called an "auto admit," if a thing even exists in such concrete terms within the admissions office).</p>
<p>I do think that many rejected applicants could look at that list and fall into the category of "auto admit," however. That's just going to happen when you have almost 17,000 applications for 3,800 acceptances. So I think that calling yourself an "auto admit" by those criteria alone would be a mistake (though you'd have a rather good chance if you fit them). And the part about colleagues not knowing about what makes a good essay just sounds like resentment or grudge on Toor's part, I wouldn't take that too seriously.</p>
<p>If community service is one of your application's strengths then it would probably be valuable. If it's just average, I would say that it doesn't influence your chances at all.</p>
<p>Cool Mike is takin over the board y'all</p>
<p>(lol i said y'all)</p>
<p>Heh but I have a long way to go to start avging 21 posts a day :P</p>
<p>
[quote]
I do think that many rejected applicants could look at that list and fall into the category of "auto admit," however. That's just going to happen when you have almost 17,000 applications for 3,800 acceptances. So I think that calling yourself an "auto admit" by those criteria alone would be a mistake (though you'd have a rather good chance if you fit them). And the part about colleagues not knowing about what makes a good essay just sounds like resentment or grudge on Toor's part, I wouldn't take that too seriously.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Testing and course selection is usually NOT the problem for most applicants that ask why they got rejected. Often, it's grades ... and you'd be surprised at the extremely high standards they hold up for grades. The auto admits pretty much have to have straight A's in the toughest courses possible. Rachel Toor said it was very hard to get the top achievement rating if your transcript was blemished with a B. To be an auto-admit to Duke, you need the top achievement rating. This usually entails you being #1 or #2 at a not-so-great school, or in the top 2-3% at a highly competitive school.</p>
<p>Then comes recommendations. These kill students. In the case of high testers, not usually by what a teacher says, but what a teacher fails to say. The very best contributors in a classroom get the top achievement rating. The bright and diligent rec is an application-sinker at Duke, at least. Extremely insightful, among the very best year/career (in a very competitive school/not-so-great school), outstanding oral and written work, extraordinarily intellect are the words and phrases that need to stand out. "One of the top several high-school thinkers I have had the pleasure of meeting in my career" is the sort of thing they're looking for.</p>
<p>According to Rachel Toor, most of the recs sent to Duke were extremely average. 3 average. The 5's (provided the other academic criterea were met) were the real heavy hitters, and they were admitted time after time.</p>
<p>Maybe Admissions Confidential is somewhat biased. But it does really outline what a top student needs to get into Duke. And it defines what exactly "top student" is, anyhow.</p>
<p>Joey</p>