Duke Deferral

<p>Duke has been my dream school for ages, and I applied ED to Duke for the class of 2019, but got deferred. My stats are below. How is this possible?</p>

<p>ACT: 34 Composite: 34(34 M, 33R, 35S, 34E, 9 on essay)
SAT II: Chemistry: 780, US History: 800
UW GPA: 4.0 (All A's since 9th grade)
10 AP's by the end of High School (I'm counting Macro and Micro as one because they each only take up a semester).
AP Scores were: 5: bio, lang., calc AB, physics B 4:chemistry,us hist. .
Senior AP's: Stats, Econ (Micro/Macro), Literature, French. Also taking introductory spanish (for fun) and astronomy
Extracurriculars:
4 years of Track and Field (not very good)
4 years of Cross Country
4 years in key Club
4 years in Student government (treasurer for the past three)
3 years in Model United Nations
2 years in Math Honor Society
Awards: National Merit Semifinalist
My only disciplinary infraction was a detention sophomore year for chewing gum. Could that be a reason?
Average suburban public school (really not much to say about it)
No hooks</p>

<p>Who knows. Move on and forget about Duke. I’m sure you will get into a decent school regular decision.</p>

<p>@sheldoncooperII‌: How is this possible? Well, I honesty hate to explain this to you so bluntly, but probably 67+ percent of Duke 2019’s about 33K applicants, who compete for perhaps 3,250 acceptances, have equally distinguished performance records and potential (there is a reason schools like Duke are categorized as “most selective”). I hope you are admitted during the RD evaluation process – your chances are about 8 percent – but I also urge you to consider @mnm111 's sage advice.</p>

<p>No one can pinpoint a particular reason, but I’ll list out a few suggestions as to why you may have been deferred.</p>

<p>“introductory spanish” - Have you not taken a formal language course for at least two years? While this may not be a requirement, it’s still VERY common for most applicants to competitive colleges to complete, at the minimum</p>

<p>You have great ECs, but any leadership? </p>

<p>Not taking AP Calculus BC may be a slight disadvantage, as the great majority of applicants will have had taken that by the end of their senior year.</p>

<p>I don’t think the disciplinary infraction affected their decision whatsoever.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck in the regular round!</p>