Your never too early! haha. i posted this is duke U, but found out that there is a folder specifically for transfer applicants, so here goes
Earlier in the year i visited duke, loved it, but i knew i had absolutely no chance at admission so i didn’t even bother applying.
Duke would have been my #1 by far, and is. I want to apply to transfer to duke in March 2016 - is there anything y’all would recommend i should do now as a graduating high school senior going into the summer before my freshman year at college and during college?
Like besides retaking my SAT, taking subject tests, and getting a high college GPA.
btw i don’t mind retaking standardized tests - as long as its for duke
and yes i know how difficult transfer admission is But i will move heaven and earth to receive and acceptance letter from them.
ALSO, would it be smart to register for summer credit courses at Duke?
What do you want to major in? Academic reasons are the strongest for transferring. I applied as a transfer to Duke this year and wrote about how they had a major my university didn’t have, and how I specifically liked the size of their department as well as certain resources that were unique to Duke (I actually got into another school that I like even better, so I’m not really considering Duke anymore, but that’s another story). My essay was very focused on my subject of study and outlined how I would take advantage of Duke to meet my goals. Basically, an essay only about “Duke is so cool and has been my dream since forever” isn’t gonna cut it.
Apart from academics, social/environmental/regional reasons work too, but are a bit weaker.
I would say, as well as retaking SATs and getting a high college GPA next year, try to focus a bit more on what exactly you would do at Duke.
If your HS grades were really lacking, you might want to consider transferring to Duke as a rising junior, since your college grades would be more looked upon.
Duke wait-listed me this year, but I’m assuming that they already made up their mind to gently reject me, so guess we are on a same boat here. I think there’s nothing we can do right now more than to study hard to rock freshman GPA and to maintain similar ECs we used to do during HS periods in college. Retaking SAT would be wise, but we have to do so quickly, because SAT will eventually get harder in this upcoming 2016.
But wait you plan to apply to transfer in March 2016? That’s interesting because I heard that Duke requires transfer applicant to complete at least one full year by August in which we start to apply.