Do I have a chance with Early Decision??

<p>Hello all, I am an Indian male in the IB program, and My stats are as follows:
GPA: uw: 3.75 w: 4.53 rank: 15/521
SAT: M-700 CR: 670 WR: 660
(Math is my forte, so i will be retaking my SAT's, along with SAT II's and ACT's)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
FOUNDER OF "TEEN 'TEERS"- GUIDE TO NORTHEAST COMMUNITY SERVICE- (FUNDS GO TO UNICEF AND UNITED WAY)
Future Problem Solving- President
Model UN- President
Beta Club- President
Ultimate Frisbee Club- President
Interact- Community Service Officer
"Camp i am special"- camp counselor for handicapped kids- 150 hours
Youth Leadership St.Johns
Varsity Soccer, Track, Football
JV Athletics
Invited to People to People Future Leader's Summit
Indian Classical Music- Thabla- 6 years
Club Soccer- Team invited to State Cup</p>

<p>Summer EC's</p>

<p>Duke TIP- 3 weeks
Summer Science Program- UF SSTP- 7 weeks
Independent Lab Research at UF- United States Department of Agriculture - 6 weeks during summer of Junior Year
Boys State- 1 week Leadership Camp</p>

<p>AAU Basketball- Team Captain- Invited to USSSA National Tournament</p>

<p>Awards and Recognitions
Various School and County Awards
2nd Place Regional Competition- Future Problem Solvers
2nd Place State Competition- FPS
3rd Place Presentation of Action Plan
1st Place Regional Spanish Competition- Brain Brawl Team Captain
Speech Contest- 1st Place - St.Johns County Youth Leadsership
School Science Fair- 1st Place
Regional Science Fair- Project sent straight to State Competition
Florida State Science Fair- 3rd place- Zoology
1st place Agricultural Related Project- United States Department of Agriculture
Tutoring- NHS- Various subjects
Numerous hours of community service- (about 500)</p>

<p>Other Info:
I am currently in IB. Here is my schedule:
9th grade
-pre-ib Biology
-tv production
-pe
-pre-ib english
-pre-ib spanish II
-honors geometry
-pre-ib english
-honors world history
10th grade
-pre-ib chemistry
-pre-ib english
-honors algebra 2
-honors pre-calculus
-IB Spanish 3
-AP Gov
-honors physics
11th grade
-IB/AP English
-IB Biology
-IB/AP psychology
-APUSH
-AP Calculus
-AP Stat
-IB Spanish 4
12th grade
All classes will either be IB or AP
Furthermore, I will be teaching myself AP Physics during my senior year</p>

<p>Finally, I want to close by saying that Duke is my dream school. I have been wanting to go there since my freshman year of high school, and I have an older sibling who also attends there.
I WILL EARLY DECISION TO DUKE- i will be applying to the BME program and I will also be retaking the SAT's in an effort to boost my math SAT score.
Thanks</p>

<p>Well, you already know that your SAT/GPA are really low for Duke, even for ED. What Duke does in its ED period is this-
1) Many legacy applicants get in. Some are qualified, some wouldn't have gotten in without the boost.
2)Same applies to URMs + athletes.
3) They also take super high test scores during this period- Duke has to make sure that their average test score remains competitive with the Ivies/Stanford/Mit. They have the extra challenge of overcoming the generally lower scores just because of the sheer amount of big-time athletics at Duke. Thus, they love high test scores.</p>

<p>I really see no EC's that just jump out to me immediately except for one. No, it's not your foundation (that is cool and sounds like it'd be a good hook, but won't help that much.)</p>

<p>What really stands out to me is the basketball EC. 1) It distinguishes you from the thousands of other Indians. and 2) It's AAU, which means you're already pretty legit. and 3) Duke loves to see sports. ESPECIALLY BASKETBALL ;)
One question though, why don't you play on your school team?</p>

<p>However, I still wouldn't say your chances are necessarily high. I just think that the basketball EC really, really sets you apart, and I would emphasize how important that is to you in your essays/interview. Good luck :)</p>

<p>Thx for the response.
PS, i would like to add that we are back to back high school state championship winners, if that has any effect at all.
Also, I did not play for my high school team because i broke my ankle before tryouts my sophmore year. I grew up playing both soccer and basketball, but in high school I could only play one. Therefore, I tried out for my soccer team, made it, and then won the state championship. The following year, along with club soccer, I played high school soccer and played for another State Championship team.</p>

<p>One more question: If i get my SAT's to a 1450+, what will you say my chances will be? On my practice SAT's I have been scoring in the high 700's-800 (for math), however on the real thing i choked, and I knew it. Furthermore, I will have a great recommendation from a highly regarded Research Professor from the University of Florida. Once again, I want to enter the BME program, so how do you think my many weeks of college level research will effect the decision?
Thanks!</p>

<p>Your EC is pretty awesome. GPA/Rank/Course load is good. SAT is comparatively weak. Being an URM won't help, but ED helps quite a bit.</p>

<p>Try to raise SAT by 100/200. Maybe try the ACT?</p>

<p>Your chances are good imo</p>

<p>thx noobcake.
couple more question...
how much does sibling legacy help?
and once again......will science research and a great recommendation from a professor at UF help in regards to BME admissions?</p>

<p>*I meant ORM, not URM.
Sibling legacy doesn't do much from what I have read, its mostly parent legacy. ($$$ matters more)
A good recommendation from a teacher who loves you is better than an impersonal recommendation from a college proff. Just make sure he knows you well or else the letter will be quite generic.</p>