<p>@frenchhorngirl:</p>
<p>In regards to demonstrated interest, I’m pretty sure that demonstrated interest plays a VERY MINOR role in the admissions process at Duke, if any at all. I don’t know about you, but I have just been through the 2008-09 admissions process, so I have first-hand knowledge about this. Schools that place an emphasis on demonstrated interest, such as WashU, Rice, Emory, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt, will have a spot on the supplement asking what contact was made with the admissions office (i.e. college visit, interview, high school visit, etc.) and a “Why [insert school name here]” essay. Duke did not have a spot regarding admissions contact, and the “Why Duke?” essay was optional (I didn’t complete it, and I still got in).</p>
<p>Duke is on its way to reach the prestige of HYPSM in the eyes of the average American; Duke only accepted about 17 percent of applicants this year. Sure, still easier to get into Duke than Stanford, but selective enough where demonstrated interest does not need to be a major consideration. There were about 24,000 applicants to Duke this year. Maybe 3-4 years ago they had to take demonstrated interest into account, but not anymore.</p>
<p>BTW, Duke travels with Harvard and Stanford when they host college information sessions (along with UPenn and Georgetown).</p>