So unfortunately, I was deferred from Duke ED. I was really hoping to go there, but on the bright side, I have a shot at Georgetown, Cornell, and Northwestern. However, I have been told I would be a long shot at all three of those schools Regular Decision. With a 32 ACT, 4.0 UW and 4.38W GPA, strong Recs and letters, and very strong course load, do I have a fighting chance at any of those schools? I have redone the ACT’s in December also. I’m not really looking for a chance me, but rather deciding if it is even possible for me to get in.
Everyone is a long shot at those schools because their acceptance rates are so low and the applicants are so highly qualified. That said, those schools would all seem to be reasonable reaches (as opposed to unrealistic reaches) for you.
Please make sure you have matches and safeties you can be happy with.
I don’t get the huge number of kids applying ED to expensive Ivy Leagues. Unless you’re either very rich or have a very low EFC and are guaranteed a full ride, they seem just so damn expensive! Definitely not an option for my family.
A 32 ACT is a great score, but at these tippy top schools it’s toward bottom 25% (Cornell 31-34, Georgetown 31-34, Northwestern 32-34) so it’s a super reach. Remember they are a reach for everyone - our DD’s both had a 34 ACT (single sitting) and were both denied from Cornell in RD.
Do you also have a list of both realistic reaches, matches and safety schools - make sure realistic reaches are not really super reaches - if you don’t have any hooks and it’s a top-30 school, you’ll want to be in the top-25% to make it a realistic reach.
Thank you for the info! @Chembiodad I have also applied to other schools (USC, Emory, Santa Clara, state school, Tulane etc). I took the december ACT and am hoping for 34-ish scores. I think taking my highest scores in each category (plus hopefully strong december scores) I can piece together a 34. Is it bad that I probably won’t have a 34 in one sitting?
@mclmom I visited this past summer and toured. Would you recommend contacting them via social media, or something like writing a letter to the admissions offices?I appreciate your advice!
@"WVOR357$’ I would recommend looking at all the checkbox things on the common app in the question about contact and making sure you can check many of them.
I don’t know the answer as to whether schools truly treat a superscore the same as single-sitting - they say “yes”, but I wonder…
I agree with @chuckyma that NW has become so focused on both driving acceptance rate down and yield up that unless you are a high stat applicant that has shown tons of interest it’s a super, super reach.
Are you assuming USC is a match, it’s not; same for Emory - these aren’t super reaches, but still reaches as an unhooked applicant with a 32 ACT. I don’t know enough about UCSC, but they are difficult OOS - seems like you need a couple more matches and safeties, unless you are confident with your state school.
Oh! I didn’t mean safeties for USC and Emory lol, oops. As for safeties, Northeastern, Tulane, and Oregon/ Santa Clara (which already admitted me) are the ones. I also applied to UVA, which is a reach. In hindsight, I probably went overboard on reaches, but that’s why there are safeties I guess! @Chembiodad
“We’ve been told Duke is very score focused. Good luck with all your apps.”
I would disagree with that assessment. Duke takes a very holistic approach to admissions. This is evident at the undergraduate level and at the professional school level (Fuqua, Duke Med, etc).
Duke may take a holistic approach as it relates to hooked applicants, but the median ACT is still 31-35 for Arts and Sciences and 33-35 for Engineering - and that includes hooked applicants.
