<p>Hey I was hoping you guys could give me some honest opinions about my chances..if i even have any. :(
I'm currently in love with duke, but my gpa is around a low 3.5..I've taken some of the hardest courses available in my school, but I think the main reason for my gpa is my horrible time management.
Fresh year i took alg 2/trig, soph: adv. precalc, apush and a higher level chinese course. right now as a junior i'm taking the IB diploma, with higher level math, english, and physics. My trend kinda goes like this: 3.6, 3.4, 3.6. SAT scores are pretty good, got a 2230 on my first try without studying, so i think i might retake it after studying. Hopefully i'll get over a 2300! 800 for SAT 2 math, and chinese. Taking chemistry/physics/lit later this year.
I have a few ECsstudent council, ambassador program, varsity basketball and soccer since sophomore year. I LOVEEEE BASKETBALL (and anything spirited), which just makes duke even more appealing. It's pretty much perfect.
I'm visiting the campus over the summer, but I'm 99.9% sure I'll be applying ED (since regular just decreases my chances).
How are my chances? Should I even try, or is it too much of a long shot? My biggest hope is that they understand my potential through my SATs, but I know my low GPA would hurt a lot. Help?</p>
<p>Surprisingly, Class Rank and GPA are only considered. <a href=“http://ir.provost.duke.edu/facts/cds/CDS%202009-10.pdf[/url]”>http://ir.provost.duke.edu/facts/cds/CDS%202009-10.pdf</a> Essays and RECs and ECs are more important.</p>
<p>applying Duke regular doesn’t decrease your chances. It’s that ED applicants largely is the more qualified pool. That’s why they accept at higher rates. It’s a more self selected pool of applicants – it’s not that Duke is desperate. You’re mistaken in your thinking here.</p>
<p>Well, a 3.5 while taking the most rigorous courses looks WAY BETTER in an app rather than having a 4.0 and taking the easiest classes offered.</p>
<p>^That’s the rationale behind EA. ED generally does increase your likelihood of acceptance, especially at schools just below HYP, since they know you will matriculate if accepted.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. Applicants to top schools are expected to do well in rigorous classes.</p>
<p>OP, it is a long shot (Duke has accepted some kids from my school with 3.7-ish GPAs, but they had phenomenal ECs), but if you’re dead-set on applying, ED is your best bet.</p>
<p>@glassesarechic, I meant that they look better on apps rather than an easy courseload. And colleges WILL appreciate your efforts in APs and Honors. And of course, she? will have to show the college why she didn’t do so well, or she could make it up with almost perfect test scores/looooooots of EC’s and volunteering. Not everything is about a 4.0. I talked to a Duke alumni in a college fair,so I think I have a decent idea.</p>
<p>If you want the real scoop on how Duke makes its admissions decisions, read “Admissions Confidential: An Insider’s Account of the Elite College Selection Process” by Rachel Toor (a former Duke admissions officer). Like many other colleges, they use an elaborate ranking system that evaluates course rigor, academic achievement (grades and class rank), test scores, essays, recommendations, and EC’s/personal qualities. Although academic achievement officially only counts for 10 points out of 60, the book suggests that unhooked applicants who do not rank in the top 5% of their class (top 10% for highly competitive high schools) are rarely accepted.</p>
<p>wow, can you guys bring him/her down ANY MORE?
i say you go for it and not listen to anybody. just show the school why you’d be great there.</p>
<p>Explain this to Duke! The interview is CRUCIAL in DU’s admissions process. (and ofcourse the Why Duke? essay ;)) Duke University is probably my favorite place in the world (granted I only have a slight chance at admission myself haha) and is full of extremely WELL ROUNDED individuals. Your test scores are excellent which will onlyyyy help. Show them WHY you’re passionate about becoming a Blue Devil. And I suggest ED. If they’re unsure about you, defferment is more likely.</p>
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<p>Again, applicants to top schools are expected to do well in difficult classes, not do well OR take difficult classes. And it’s faulty logic to assume that a bad GPA creates a deficit which the OP can make up with by the sheer volume of her ECs (and since when did volunteering become a way to stand out among a slew of applicants who build houses in Guatemala?). </p>
<p>Yes, it is about more than a 4.0, but that simply means a 4.0 isn’t enough, not that a lower GPA will suffice.</p>
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<p>Worth repeating.</p>
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<p>Interviews rarely play a significant role in admissions at top universities.</p>
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<p>Alumnus or adcom? Alumni have no idea what their college actually looks for (both my parents are Duke alums and have no idea what SAT IIs are). And at a college fair, it’s the adcom’s job to attract more applicants (more applicants–>lower acceptance rate–>(illusion of) heightened selectivity). Besides which, as a said before, saying getting admitted requires more than a 4.0 is not the same thing as saying an unhooked 3.5 will get in.</p>
<p>OP, there’s a whole slew of factors that could determine whether or not you’re admitted, and I’m sure CCers aren’t entirely aware of them. All we can do is advise you to apply ED, but I wouldn’t get terribly attached to the idea of Duke, and make sure you compile a list of matches and safeties that you’d be happy to attend.</p>
<p>College is not the same than it was, say, 20 years ago. This guy was representing Duke at the fair and he was talking about the admissions process. You’re telling this to a girl with a 2.9 gpa that was encouraged (by the schools!!) to apply to: Stanford, Smith, and Rice.
So,yeah, quit being a downer. This kid asked for suggestions. And if anything? colleges LOVE to prove people wrong.</p>