Hi, I am a senior this year applying to Duke ED. Please chance me!
-asian female -New England area -interested in psych/premed
-450 ppl per grade, top 5%
-gpa 4.3/4.0
-no financial aid needed
-SAT: 1520 essay 16 (supposed to take ACT/SAT subjects, but probably wont be able to bc of corona)
-4 yrs volleyball school (varsity as sophomore, captain senior year), and club
-DECA: placed 1st and 2nd at states, qualified for International conference twice
-class officer all four years
-summer internship at local college
-lots of random volunteering, around 100 hours total
-National Honor and National Spanish Honor society
-started mini clothes company
-created non-profit and raised over $700 for frontline workers during covid, and over $150 for BLM
-job at local restaurant
-played basketball and now coaches a rec team (loves basketball, Duke bball, NBA)
-published author twice in history journal (from school, but a real published work)
-refs local vball/bball games ocassionally
My essay is sort of half a joke but hopefully admissions likes it.
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@spritelover420. I don’t like to chance students as getting into any single digit acceptance colleges/universities is a crap shot for anymore, even students with perfect gpa and act score. More than likely, most students will get rejected. However, I think you have a good chance as you seem to be a competitive applicant like my daughter. She was accepted to Duke for the class of 2024 regular round but decided to attend another university. If you haven’t yet, please go to YouTube and google “How to gain acceptance by Duke University” by Solomon Admissions. I don’t know how truthful the video is with respect to Duke Admissions but it goes into great details on what they look for in any prospectus Duke students. Unfortunately, we found this video out after she was already accepted. Per the video, Duke judge each applicants according to 6 categories (Strength of curriculum, grades/class rank, SAT/ACT, Extracurricular achievement, essays, letters of recommendation) and give points accordingly. Good luck!
@spritelover420. Below is my daughter’s stat. Take this as a grain of salt with respect to my daughter’s admission to Duke during regular round. She got lucky as Duke rejected many students with much better stats than her.
- 4.682 weighted/3.986 unweighted gpa (3.982 when applied)
-12 AP Classes & calculus 3
-National Merit Finalist but semifinalist when applied
-AP scholars with Honors
-35 Composite ACT (36 super score as Duke will super score both SAT/ACT)
-760 Biology E, 780 Math 2
-Class Vice President (10-12)
-science Olympiad (2x’s state participant & President)
-executive board key club (high school)
-Lt. Governor key club (State)
-tennis (4 years)
-la cross (2 years)
-National and Spanish Honor Society
-Math club
-research 2 years at medical college
I think you have a decent chance. Last year Duke received 500 less ED applicants and their ED acceptance rate rose to 21% (previously 18%). With the uncertainty of CV-19, possible family finances negatively effected, and prospective students not being able to visit the college this spring, summer, and fall I believe the trend of less ED applicants will continue this year.
The only wild card I see is we don’t know if Duke will accept as many freshman for the Class of 2025 as in previous years? Currently, there are a lot of freshman choosing to take a gap year (my D included) as the restrictions on campus this year are becoming very aggressive (e.g. no freshman guaranteed housing and not many, if any, in-person classes). They still have 10 days to decide to take a gap year.
In a typical year, about 1800 freshman will matriculate but what happens if you have 300 freshman this year take a gap year? Will they allow 2,100 freshman for the class of 2025 next year? No one knows the answer to this question.
With that said, Duke is a wonderful college and if it’s your first choice college and you can afford it, I definitely would apply ED this fall.
Good luck!