Hey guys! Does anyone have any insight or speculation on when decisions will come out within the Dec. 17-21 window?
I feel like Dec 17th would stick with the Thursday trend that Duke has done in previous years but the huge increase in apps and later application deadline may make the 17th a bit of a stretch for them
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I agree w hockey kid!
agreed! although the fact that they announced it as a window and not a date kinda makes me think even they don’t know when decisions will be out yet
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Ah yes true. Fingers crossed for Thursday and wishing everyone good luck! Especially picklesrcool21! Love your username!
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If I get in ED, I will take an SAT subject test in a foreign language I don’t speak
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lmao that would be so funny i hope you get in
Duke isn’t “less popular.” Who told you that?
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I think they just mean that HYPSM gets way more applicants because of their name, so the people applying to really great schools with a slightly less popular brand (although still very prestigious) are people who truly want to go. Not just random applicants shooting their shot at places like Harvard and Princeton because they’ve heard of ivy league schools growing up. People who apply to Duke, JHU, etc. are the people who are generally good enough to get into some ivies but select said schools because they genuinely like them more.
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I know. It’s just a little naive.
That’s exactly what I was trying to explain, thank you.
Yes, Duke has an extremely popular basketball team, has been in the US news top 15 for as long as I can remember, and has become more of a household because of it. With that being said, a lot of people have this prestige/popularity complex where they believe going to a brand name school in terms of prestige (HYPSM + any of the other ivies) means they’re set for life so they apply to those schools for that reason. I’m sure there will be kids to apply to Duke for the brand and not for the amazing school it is, but I don’t feel like it would be wrong to say the amount wouldn’t be the same as HYPS since it is slightly less of a household name. I guess I could have said “less popular but just as prestigious HYPSM” but I assumed it was implied when I wrote that it was a “less popular” T20, it appears most people sensed that as well.
I wondered this as well.
I think it’s right to say Duke isn’t in the “league” of HYPSP Columbia, MIT, Chicago, Cal Tech, and isn’t even considered to be in the same league as the rest of the Ivies for lots of people. For instance, we’re in New Mexico, and the “top” kids at our kids’ school this year applied to the tippy tops EA. If they don’t get in, they’ll be applying to all the ivies, Vandy, WashU, but not Duke, which seems to have more of a UVA country-club stereotype out here. The kids who ED’d to Duke this year from my kids’ school (more this year than ever, due in part to TO and also people thinking they should shoot higher if they’re full pay) are not the very “top” kids (ie, most rigor, high scores without prep, cum laude in 11th grade (so top 10%), won awards, etc.). When our S told a friend’s dad that he ED’d to Duke, the Dad actually said “oh, that’s not a bad school.” I imagine that in normal years, most kids applying ED to Duke choose Duke, for Duke. Even though our S’s a legacy, he seriously considered other schools to ensure that he was EDing to Duke because it was the best choice for him. (He even made a powerpoint for us, lol, why duke!). Fingers crossed!
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@DukeShama @srparent15 Then I guess it wasn’t implied lol, my bad!
Let’s not sell the students short who apply to Duke. My D20 (gap year) would have been competitive at the ivies (co-Val, 4.0, 8 APs; 34 ACT, very good ECs,) but did not apply to any of them as she wanted to go to a college with huge school spirit (national D1 sports); excellent academics; collaborative student body; top 3 in her major (Public Policy), and better weather than those NE colleges. Trust me when I say that her Duke freshman class is very accomplished, confident, and yet surprisingly humble group of young men and women. Go blue devils!
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My point was only that Duke isn’t as well known as the top school as it is, depending on where you live. Absolutely, the kids at Duke are stellar, most in ED (in normal years) having stats to get into “ivies” and other top schools.
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I find this commentary concerning Duke’s “prestige” to be borderline laughable. I am a sophomore at Duke now so I would say that I have a pretty good idea of the type of people that go to Duke and what we had to choose from when it comes to college selection. First, Duke is relatively “new money” meaning a lot of our students come from recently wealthy families rather than the old money the ivies typically garner. That being said, we do get our fair share of New England prep school kids. In fact, they are everywhere on campus. When it comes to the idea that we are “not in the same league HYPSP Columbia, MIT, Chicago, Cal Tech” is absolutely ridiculous. Almost everyone I know who did regular decision (including myself) turned down multiple ivy offers to go to Duke. The fact of the matter is you are MUCH better situated career-wise in many fields such as finance and business with a Duke degree than some of those you listed. There is a reason we are ranked second in career outcomes by WSJ. When you get this high up in prestigious institutions, they begin to have a similar caliber of students (minus people studying engineering or something from schools like MIT). I have more than 10 friends alone that chose Duke over HYP for school culture and professional mobility reasons… Okay, I am done with my rant. But please, stop this nonsense! At this level, there are only marginal differences that make it a crapshoot. Most of my friends at Yale and Stanford, for example, didn’t get into Duke! It’s absurd. All these schools are FANTASTIC and if you think that Duke is less than nearly any of the other top 10 schools, you need to check your obsession with name clout and look into the actual career outcomes numbers.
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Totally agree with this assessment. Duke is on the map and for anyone to think it is not as competitive as the Ivies or Stanford hasn’t done their research.
I know people who have gotten into Duke but not Ivies, I know people who have gotten into Ivies but not Duke. It depends what you’re looking for. Northwestern depending where you live has become harder to get into than some Ivies. UofChicago, not far from where I live is not even that popular here or considered to be a better place to go than Duke other than if you’re going into something like Econ. But like anything, there are different majors in Duke and some are better than others. Duke is certainly not Wharton. If you want the best business school in the country, you’re going to shoot for Wharton. Computer Science? You’re going to shoot for Carnegie Mellon or maybe MIT or Stanford, but not Duke. But if you want to go to medical school, or law school, or some other liberal arts specialty than Duke it is. Anyone at Duke is going to get into any grad school they want.
Bottom line, this is a silly thread sounds more like some people just have some sour grapes.
Awesome that your daughter beat the odds and made it in. The people I know with kids there all love it.
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I’d love it if we can move the discussion back to early decision news and preparation. I don’t think anyone here was arguing that Duke isn’t as good as the ivies (especially because we’re applying ED lol).
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You are so correct. It’s just kinda yuck to worry so much about “prestige.” The whole conversation seems a little unsavory to me and embarrassing! As a Duke alum, parent times 2, and as someone who works in higher ed admissions, I can say that Duke is pretty unparalleled. One of my children went to an Ivy which was also great. But I think it’s rare to find programs at any of Duke’s peer institutions (and I’m including the Ivies, Stanford, NW, Wash U, Vandy etc) that compare to Focus, Duke Engaged, Bass Connections, Phoenix, and on and on and on and on. And what’s the best about Duke are the people who work there. As a parent, my tendency would be to be harder on Duke, since they’re in charge of my children, but so many times, the administration-- from professors to deans to all others-- have embraced my kids and really scooped them up and mentored them. I’ve yet to be disappointed. They’ve done brilliantly in COVID as well, and the students I know from Duke are resilient, grounded, and committed. While I’m at it, I also love Duke’s commitment to supporting underserved students- from Questbridge to the Rubenstein Scholars programs. Can you tell why my CC name is what it is? I also could be called, "Really happy Duke parent! Good luck to everyone.
Go DUKE!
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