<p>To my extreme disappointment, I found out I was deferred from Duke yesterday. Duke has been my dream school since freshman year, I am a legacy, I have a 33 ACT, and great EC's. I believe all parts of my application for Duke were excellent, except one, and unfortunately the most important- GPA. </p>
<p>I have a 3.4 UW, 3.65 W GPA. I take the most rigorous curriculum possible, but I have been a mostly B student (1 A sophomore year, 2 As junior year), until this year (straight As so far). </p>
<p>Should I be thankful that I wasn't flat out rejected with my GPA? </p>
<p>Also, the main question is should I contact my regional rep to ask why I was deferred? I have read that that's a good idea but I don't want to badger them. </p>
<p>I really really really want to go to Duke. What is my best course of action to maximize my chances for regular decision?</p>
<p>WOW you and I are very similar applicants (I have a 3.4 UW with 1 A soph year and 2 As junior year too). I’m applying RD though.</p>
<p>Yesterday I watched a video where Duke’s dean of admissions answered questions about how the admissions process works. When it comes to GPA, he says that they only give it quick look to determine if you’re a good student or not – after that everything else like recs, ECs, test scores, etc is what counts. Since your GPA is below average, the adcoms probably questioned whether you’re a good student or not. I’m no admissions officer but I think that it’s very possible that you got deferred so that admissions can see your 1st semester senior grades to confirm that you’re a good student. I guess the best course of action for the both of us is to maintain straight As this semester and not lose hope, because I have seen people get in with below 3.5 and no hooks.</p>
<p>You need to self-advocate. Send any updates, awards, etc. to admissions. I wouldn’t wait until the mid-year reports if there are any significant accomplishments to add to your resume btw. now and RD round. Make sure that Duke knows you will accept the spot if offered (sometimes they aren’t sure whether a legacy applied for a parent or themselves, so make sure they know YOU really want to attend Duke if the spot is offered). Don’t go overboard with contacting the admissions office (no gimmicks or over the top shown interest), just significant updates to grades, awards, etc. Sometimes you get accepted RD, sometimes you don’t, but the worst thing to do is to leave your app as it is. Good luck!</p>
<p>forgot to say that often they defer in order to see the mid-year report grades, so if you are on this upward trend that may be what they need to confirm to admit you. So, just stating the obvious, but you need to do better than you ever have academically :)</p>