Duke ED/Cornell ED/WUSTL ED?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm having deciding between applying early decision to these three universities. I'd apply to Cornell 100% because its close and has a very reputable business program (Dyson), but I'm a little scared that I'm going to be depressed and disappointed there. I took an information session and campus tour there, and it actually did seem a bit gloomy up there. Even a young man that I approached said that he thought living at Cornell was "okay." He didn't even have the decency to at least lie and say that Cornell was a great school or something. The suicide rate is also a bit scary... and I just didn't have a very good first impression of the place.</p>

<p>I'm also stuck between Duke and WUSTL (both universities were INCREDIBLE). So I guess its all going to come down to at which school I have a higher chance of being accepting. </p>

<p>What do you guys think of these stats? VVV</p>

<p>About me:
1. Ethnicity & Gender: White male (First generation immigrant? Born in Ukraine.)
2. Income Bracket > 200k?</p>

<p>Stats:
1. Unweighted GPA: 3.91 - 4.0 (Top 1% - Top 3%); 3 A-, 2 A+s, 1 B, and the rest are all As (all honors/AP classes except for 1 CP Spanish class freshman year)
2. PSAT: 207 & SAT: 2160 (750 M 720 W 690 CR)
3. AP Tests: 5-US History; 5-English Lang
4. Subject Tests -Math L2 - 800; History - 740 </p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:</p>

<p>Sports-
1. Tennis (JV - 2 years, Varsity - 2 years)
2. Soccer (JV - 3 years, Varsity - 1 year)</p>

<p>Leadership-
1. Vice President of UNICEF Club (2 years)
2. Peer Leader (2 years) (Help 10 freshmen in their first year of high school)
3. President/Co-Founder of PascackVolunteers (2 years) (A club/organization/liaison service my friend and I started at our school, which is the main conduit for all other volunteer clubs in the district, which covers two high schools. The principal loved our idea, which is the main reason why he decided to make it district-wide).
4. Application Administrator (2 years). I was part of a programming team that helped to design and program an iPhone application for our entire high school (available on the App Store). I now filter posts that are made to the application.
5. President of Spanish NHS</p>

<p>Ordinary ECs-
1. Investment Club (3 years)
2. Debate (All 4 years) (Undefeated JV season junior year; won 3rd place team award @ the last debate)
3. Math League (4 years) (Invited to dinner meet 2x; only top 10 people at the club)
4. National Honors Society (2 years) (of course, lol)
5. Science National Honors Society (2 years); is this worth mentioning? Didn't do much here...</p>

<p>Volunteering (kinda lacking here?):
1. 125+ volunteer hours at a local blood bank by the end of the summer (telerecruitment and data entry and canteen)
2. I'll obviously get a few hours from NHS and tutoring before I submit my application. </p>

<p>Side passions-
1. Intermediate Programmer. Learned Javascript, HTML (and of course CSS), and I am in the process of learning Python, Java, and jQuerty (obviously not a whole new language, but it might as well be for what I'm gleaning). I skipped CP Java and going straight to AP.
2. Own and manage an equity fund (with the supervision of my parents of course!).
3. Fluent Russian and conversational Spanish...</p>

<p>Summer activities-
1. TENNIS TENNIS TENNIS ALL THE TIME!! 1-5/1-6/1-7 almost everyday during the summer. I am also proud to say I was a part of the best tennis team in school history this past season.
2. Intense soccer training
3. Moved up from CP Spanish to Honors Spanish
4. Learned Java and moved up to AP Java, skipping CP.
5. Shadowed + Interned for Ferrari North America (the lawyer there is a friend's dad).
6. IT administration at my mom's company: Hardesty & Hanover for 1 week...
7. Cultural/learning experience/vacation (lol not at all) in Russia for 2 weeks.
8. SAT prep (obviously won't put this on my application).</p>

<p>Awards:
-Excellence in History - 9th Grade (Only one given out for the entire student body of 350+)
-Excellence in Foreign Language - 10th Grade (Only one given out for the entire student body of 350+)
-New Jersey Scholar's Program Nominee (Top 2 Students in the grade, based on GPA; kind of slid since then, have done badly in physics).
-Minor mathematics scholarship in 9th grade from Raytheon</p>

<p>Most rigorous curriculum senior year (probably will have to drop some classes unfortunately..):
-AP Statistics
-BC Calculus
-AP Lit
-AP Spanish IV
-AP Java (Skipping CP Java; taking a summer course)
-Honors Gov</p>

2

<p>If you have doubts about a college, you should not be applying ED to it. You should only be applying ED if you know that you will be perfectly happy there with no regrets if you are accepted. You seem to feel that way about WU and Duke. Many kids get a severe attack of buyer’s remorse even if their ED school has always been their one and only choice, so for you to be going into the process with these doubts is not a good idea, and you should stick to the schools you know you will love. You may still feel those pangs, but at least the chances that you feel like you made a big mistake will be less.</p>

<p>The problem with ED for kids like you is that the answer to your question is that getting into WU is more likely, and you are not a strong candidate for Duke even ED. But to apply ED to WU and get accepted when in the back of your mind, you really wanted Duke, you are always going to feel a bit cheated and wondering if you shouldn’t have gone all out with your ED choice. So to answer your quesiton, none of the three schools are shoo ins for you, but Duke is a stretch even ED. But it is possible for you to get accepted and maybe the bit of ED statistical advantage is what could do it. </p>

<p>So your chances are better at WU.</p>

3

<p>thanks for the response. </p>

<p>Better chances at WUSTL than Cornell too? Lol im still considering it despite my doubts.</p>

4

<p>Duke: Reach
Cornell: Reach
WUSTL: Reach but a little lower than the other two</p>

<p>Have any safety?</p>

5

<p>haha of course I have safeties. but why would I apply to my safeties for ED?</p>

6

<p>Bumptothetop</p>

7

<p>Like OP said, don’t apply ED if you have doubts. ED is binding and if you are unsure at this point when ED applications are due in a month ED is not for you. Personally I plan to apply ED next year and have known what school I want to apply ED to since the end of sophomore year, most other people I know who plan to/have applied ED have known which school they want to attend just as long. Don’t apply ED just because you think it will up your odds, it is clear ED is not a good fit for you.</p>