How hard is it to get into Duke compared to Ivy league schools? I’ve heard conflicting thoughts on this- some say its just as hard while others disagree.
The Ivy League is an athletic conference that is composed of 8 schools located in the Northeastern U.S. I don’t say that to be dismissive, but rather to convey that it’s not a single entity. They vary greatly in all aspects INCLUDING the competitiveness of admissions. By and large, Harvard is harder to get into than Duke, while Cornell is easier to get into than Duke. The universities within the Ivy League all are unique. If looking at acceptance rate/GPA/SAT/etc. most would consider HYP+Columbia generally harder to get into than Duke, whereas Duke is comparable to Penn/Brown/Dartmouth and Cornell is easier. Some may see Duke as “harder” than Brown/Dartmouth, but I think the differences are negligible
@Jenn1976 Depends on the ivy. Easier than HYP, maybe comparable to/a little bit easier than Columbia, Penn and Brown, pretty comparable to Dartmouth and harder than Cornell.
Still I think most applicants on either coasts and midwest would generally choose the ivies over Duke (maybe with the exception of Cornell). I think cross-admits from the south probably tend to choose Duke over the non-HYP ivies.
@Penn95 Duke is actually harder to get into than Brown. See below for 2016 acceptance rates:
Duke: 9.0%
Brown: 9.3%
UPenn: 9.4%
Dartmouth: 10.5%
Cornell: 14.1%
However, prestige is one thing, and comparing Duke to the Ivies based on reputation is splitting hairs at this point. You need to look at the undergrad experience holistically at each of these schools to make an informed decision. And imo Duke has these schools beat here (as a Duke junior hehe). Basketball season, where you basically get to see NBA games for free in Cameron stadium (#1 preseason consensus woot woot) and paint your body blue/sing silly chants is an awesome part of the Duke experience. Duke parties and the “work hard play hard” mentality is another great part of the culture, and not just in Greek life. I know plenty of peeps in SLGs and independents who have a blast with their orgs. Weather is another big thing, and let me tell you I’m glad to be sunning in the Duke gardens in March and April when I’m getting snaps of snow from my friends at northern schools and ivies.
In summary, Duke Duke M***** F*****!!!
Duke wants what Duke wants. Be savvy and try to learn what that is, directly from them.
Any difference is negligible. Based solely on acceptance rates, we’re slightly more competitive than half of the ivies, but it really doesn’t matter.
@Epicurean97 your 2016 acceptance rate figures are not right. Duke had an 11% acceptance rate in 2016, and an 9.2% acceptance rate in 2017.
Penn had an 9.4% acceptance rate in 2016, and a 9.15% acceptance rate in 2017. The 9% you show was for Duke RD only in 2016.
@lhw1998 when you look at acceptance rates Duke has a lower acceptance rate than two ivies, Dartmouth and Cornell, not half the ivies. But I agree that makes no real difference.
Also when looking at yields, Duke is higher than Conrell but lower than the rest of the ivies.
^Not disagreeing with any of the statistics above, but when you have to go to three significant digits to differentiate an acceptance rate (9.15% vs. 9.2%), you can effectively say they are the same. 
Certainly, the acceptance rate is indicative of large element of selectivity, but it also isn’t the only one as evidenced by some wacky ones over the years (e.g. UChicago in the early to mid 2000s was like 40%+). If you look at the Ivy League acceptance rates (https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■/2021-ivy-league-admissions-statistics/), I’d group similar ones together and the differences are negligible:
<7%: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia
8-10%: Penn, Brown (Duke would be in this category)
10%+: Dartmouth, Cornell
I’d even have no qualms with somebody saying Dartmouth and Duke are comparable from a selectivity perspective. We’re really grasping at straws here for tiny differences…So, if you want to be super precise, I’d say Duke admissions is more difficult OR comparable to half of the Ivies rather than saying it’s “more” difficult than half the Ivies. Suffice it to say, there are a fair number of applicants that get into Penn and/or Brown who do not get into Duke and vice versa.