<p>Someone posted on another thread that locals have an advantage at Duke; is that true?</p>
<p>What do you mean "have an advantage at Duke?" </p>
<p>Do they have an advantage in the admissions process? Slightly; don't bank on it getting you in unless you have the impeccable high school record to go along with it.</p>
<p>Yes, that's what I meant to say. Is there an advantage in the admissions process for applicants from NC and perhaps SC?
Duke is way up there, and even I know that. I think that I might be a contender and was just assessing advantages and disadvantages of my application portfolio. I'm in NC.</p>
<p>Yes, NC residents definitely have an advantage. Unfortunately, the most recent numbers I have at hand are those for the Class of 2008. </p>
<p>A&S
Applications: 121 (ED), 1036 (RD)
Accepted: 66 (ED), 450 (RD)
Enrolled: 62 (ED), 194 (RD)</p>
<p>Pratt
Applications: 14 (ED), 164 (RD)
Accepted: 4 (ED), 76 (RD)
Enrolled: 4 (ED), 32 (RD)</p>
<p>High School Rank
Top 10 in class: 78% (A&S), 79% (P)
Top 5%: 61% (A&S), 63% (P)
Second 5%: 6% (A&S), 8% (P)
Second 10%: 3% (A&S), 0% (P)
Below top 20%: 2% (A&S), 0% (P)
No rank: 29% (A&S), 30% (P)</p>
<p>SAT-1
1500-1600: 22% (A&S), 38% (P)
1400-1490: 33% (A&S), 46% (P)
1300-1390: 30% (A&S), 14% (P)
1200-1290: 11% (A&S), 4% (P)
1100-1190: 2% (A&S), 0% (P)
Below 1100: 1% (A&S), 0% (P)</p>
<p>ACT (A&S only)
35-36: 2%
33-34: 15%
31-32: 29%
29-30: 24%
27-28: 19%
25-26: 7%
Below 25: 4%</p>
<p>Middle 50% of Admitted Scores
ACT: 28-32 (A&S), 30-33 (P)
SAT-1: 1330-1480 (A&S), 1410-1530 (P)
SAT-II Writing: 660-750 (A&S), 630-730 (P)</p>
<p>by charter, duke has to take i think 12% (correct me if i'm wrong) of ppl from NC. So yes, it is easier if you're from the Carolinas.</p>
<p>thankfully, it is in fact easier for us locals!!</p>
<p>I think that this "advantage" extends to South Carolina as well (I know there are several of us on this board...).</p>
<p>I think there's an advantage.</p>
<p>My son was told by his GC that his school, an excellent public h.s. in NC, has a 50% accept rate to Duke. Amazing.</p>
<p>I am reasonably sure the charter states that 15% of a class must come from North and South Carolina.</p>
<p>Take a look at the Admissions website. For the Class of 2010 14% of freshman are from North Carolina. That 14% does not include South Carolina!</p>
<p>haha , just a little bit of an advantage.. but it is there.</p>
<p>As a former Admissions Office Tour Guide with a bad memory, I believe the charter does state that we must have 15% from the Carolinas, but that while we always make a good faith effort, we very rarely actually manage to meet that goal.</p>
<p>The country is a big place, and finding 15% of our very-qualified students from just two states is a difficult task. We come pretty close, and (apparently) this year we even made it.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike - you are correct - the charter does state 15%. However, Duke more than made it as the 14% number was only for North Carolina. South Carolina was not included in the 14% number!</p>
<p>That is interesting. I suspect the class of 2010 fielded 18%-19% total from the two Carolinas,but that's just a wild guess. I don't think it's a stretch to find 15% of the class from NC and SC though. However, if you're bright kid with the grades,standardized test scores,recs., EC's,etc..,there is an advantage in being from the Carolinas.Alas, evil tobacco money is good for something down here. Ha!</p>
<p>I really hope this is true , but quite honestly, I don't understand why Duke does this. It's not public, and it's certainly not lacking in applicants from the carolinas.</p>
<p>If you read about Duke's history you will understand. In December of 1924 the New York times ran an article with a sub headline that read " College at Durham is Invited to Change Its Name in Return for a Gift of $6,000.000".</p>
<p>To put it in perspective it would be $65 million in 2005 dollars.</p>
<p>James Duke also established a foundation with an endowment of $40 million the same month. That is $434 million in 2005 dollars.</p>
<p>The $6 million dollars was to buy land, build buildings, etc. Trinity College (the current East Campus) was asked to change its name to "Duke University" in honor of Washington Duke, the father of James Duke.</p>
<p>James Duke wanted North Carolina to be equal to states in the North. You have to remember 1924 was less than 60 years after the Civil War. He wanted his home state to have an educational instituition like Havard, Yale, Michigan, Illinois and Columbia. At the time he was living in New York City where a tobacco factory had been established.</p>
<p>If Trinity College declined James Duke was prepared to build a university elsewhere in North Carolina. Washington Duke had been a big supporter of Trinity College so he wanted to offer the funds to them first. Other cities, including Charlotte, were lining up to offer land and other incentives in case Trinity turned James Duke down.</p>
<p>The Duke family had made their money in tobacco and they wanted to give back to their home state. In 1925 after the death of James Duke the $80 million endowment (the endowment was increased under the terms of his will)of Duke University was the largest in the country surpassing that of Havard which was $64 million.</p>
<p>What James Duke did was unheard of for the era. He also gave funding to other universities and colleges, established hospitals, orphanages, built churches, etc. He planned to use his fortune to help the state of North Carolina grow and flourish on a par with states in the North. So impressed were they that even some of his Northern business associates made contributions to Duke University.</p>
<p>James Duke never attended college. At age 14 he was involved in this family's tobacco business. </p>
<p>Take a look sometimes at the historical New York Times - there are many articles about the founding of Duke University. It should be on line through Proquest which is available through most public libraries.</p>
<p>I believe my class was 12% from both Carolinas. Like I said, it does seem that we made the goal this year!</p>
<p>lol...I don't think finding enough Carolinians qualified enough for Duke is the problem at all. (That's so funny!) I would suspect the issue is more of maintaining geographical diversity at Duke, a factor important in retaining prestige. Duke surely is enrolling at their minimal instate requirement in order to maintain a 'national' image and to protect this prestige. </p>
<p>Rice has been battling this issue forever. They have a problems appealing to a geographically broad spectrum of students because they have an at least 50% instate student body. It becomes a Catch 22...many excellent students from out of state pass Rice over for more geographically diverse schools which feeds the problem of Rice not being geograhically diverse. What to do? One thing is to turn down top shelf Texans (and especially Houstonians) to make room for as many oos candidates as possible. I'm sure Duke has no intention of backsliding into the Rice scenario.</p>
<p>While I do understand NC students having the advantage, why SC? Just bc. the word carolina is in our name? To say that we deserve it more than say Virginia, or Tennessee is absurd, esp. considering that on average, SC will probably produce less qualified students than those other 2 border states.</p>