He’s as strong as any applicant for Duke, but unfortunately, for college with a 10% admissions rate, that’s not saying much. With these hyper-selective schools, it’s virtually impossible to stand out. After a certain point, all the applications look identical. It becomes more a lottery than a competition. All you can do is hope for the best…assuming you can afford it.
I’m not sure if my son would be happier if attended a school that offered him a better package, but his dad and I would be. We ran the net price calculator and it came back slightly higher than our Fafsa score. It would be a squeeze for us to afford the tuition if that’s the price we cam back with, but we could do it. However, if another school offered a significantly better package we would have to sit him down and have the talk. His younger brother is interested in a trade, but our daughter thinks she wants to go to college, so we have to take that into consideration.
Did your son ultimately go to Duke or did he choose one of the schools with a better package? If he went with Duke what was his deciding factor?
These posts make me sad…your son’s stats are impressive and he should be super proud of all he has accomplished. Instead, he’s stressed about whether he’s “good enough” to make it into Duke.
Please make sure he understands that kids with perfect stats are denied admission to Duke every year, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t apply. Duke was one of my D’s top choices last year, and with a perfect GPA, high test scores. and good EC’s she was denied. BUT, looking through the posts of those who WERE admitted it is clear it’s not all about stats. Having good stats is necessary, and your son has those, but beyond that, it’s hard to know what they are looking for as they build their class. A Duke admissions person told us they look at admissions and though they are drafting a football team. They COULD make a team of all quarterbacks (4.0, perfect ACT kids) if they wanted. But they don’t want a team of all quarterbacks. So even if you’re a GREAT quarterback, if they already have one, you won’t be admitted. You have to fit whatever hole they have on the roster. Hopefully your son will!
SO, to answer your question, your son does have a chance (in my opinion). I am not sure I’d send the ACT when you have such a strong SAT. The first generation designation should help. But, Duke is one of those schools that is just hard to predict!
it’s a pitty the test is so soon. You could have requested extended time and may have qualified. I would address it in the area that says any additional information that you would like to share… it is at the end of the common app. My daughter has Aspergers, which is on the autism spectrum. Her essays and style are like a scientific paper, but that is who she is. After talking with a couple of different consultants that came through my daughter’s school, they both said it could be beneficial and could be helpful for them to really understand who she is. Don’t know if this helps.
As for the other part, about the ED, It gives you the greatest chance so that’s why so many people apply that early… So it does tighten the field, but just make sure he comes across real in his application and essays. (That’s advise given to my daughter)
JudiMC72, What school did your daughter end up attending? Do you know if the school, or any of them that she applied to, read the additional information that explained her Aspergers?