Duke/Princeton Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'd love to hear from anyone what you think about my chances into Duke (Pratt Engineering) and Princeton. Chances for Stanford and MIT (curiosity) would be appreciated also. :)
Do you think I'd receive any benefit from ED or SCEA?
Thanks!!!</p>

<p>Objective:
ACT: 35
SAT II: Math 2 - 790, Chem - 800 US History - 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3
AP (place score in parenthesis):
5s: Chemistry, Calculus, World History, US History, Psychology, Music Theory
Senior Year Course Load:
AP Physics, AP Calculus BC, AP Literature, AP Microeconomics, AP Government, AP Biology, a lack of sleep
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended, "Sunshine State Scholar" runner-up</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Odyssey of the Mind creativity competition (since 4th grade, placed 4th at World Finals in 10th)
Marching, Concert, Jazz Band (Since 6th grade, Saxophone section leader, All County and Solo and Ensemble honors, community quartet)
Mu Alpha Theta (Pres, won County competitions in 9th and 10th before they stopped having funding :/)
Key Club (VP)
National Honor Society</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
Worked at Mathansium, a tutoring facility</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:
MOSI (museum) Summer Science Camp volunteer for 9th - 12th summer
Hospitals (various)
Summer Activities:
Research at Alzheimer's facility (not sure whether to list as volunteer or research, I didn't publish anything)
Shadowed surgeon at a hospital near sister's residence in California (no idea how to phrase this, haha)</p>

<p>Essays: Getting there
Teacher Recommendation: Good, awesome academically from both teachers, but one may not be so strong in character.
Counselor Rec: Average
Additional Rec: None? Possibly music sample...</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): Florida
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public, Class of 500
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 60k-80k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>

<p>Also considering/applying: UC Berkeley, Vandy, Emory, UF, FSU, UCF</p>

<p>Note: I'm not really sure how to "sell" myself; I'd appreciate any advice!</p>

<p>Thanks for the chances!!!</p>

2

<p>Stanford, Princetorn, MIT: Reach EA or RD</p>

<p>Duke: Reach RD
Duke: Decent chances ED</p>

<p>Vandy: Good chances ED or RD
Emory: Good chances ED or RD</p>

<p>UCB: Most likely IN</p>

<p>Others are safeties for you.</p>

<p>Apply to many top colleges since you are an Asian male.</p>

3

<p>Thanks 20more!
Is there a specific reason why my chances would be greater for ED Duke than RD?</p>

4

<p>Deadline getting close… any advice?</p>

5

<p>It’s significantly easier to get in ed then rd for everyone.</p>

6

<p>princeton and duke… not so sure. Your extracurriculars are fairly weak, especially for an asian male. To be honest, I don’t think Princeton will accept you, though Duke may consider. </p>

<p>Vanderbilt and Emory seem to be good, however. Good luck! </p>

<p>P.S. Sorry if this seems harsh, but in the world of college admissions, I don’t want to give you false hope. I’m not saying you have no chance at Princeton/Duke, but there are many other people that apply with better stats/ec’s than you and still get rejected. Anyways, good luck with your college application process!</p>

7

<p>if you choose a reach school as ED, they know you are committing yourself to come there and so you stand a better chance. There is a much higher percentage being admitted due to this lock because 99% show up when it is ED.</p>

8

<p>Thanks so much for the honest chances and advice!</p>

<p>hpyscm, are my extracurriculars weak due to a lack of quantity, or lack of prominent awards?
Do you think I should pool in all my efforts for Duke ED, or wait for the offers from low reach and match schools in RD?</p>

9

<p>Extracurriculars are an award problem - 2 or three activities are more then sufficient if you have major involvement in all of them.</p>

10

<p>Thank you for being realistic. I’m now considering Duke ED over other options. Do you think it is worth it to forgo chances at other reaches?
How should I present my ECs/Community service to focus in detail on a few, with the common app being so limited in space?</p>

11

<p>It is a risk vs reward scenario.</p>

<p>If you want to the EA or SCEA route, then forget Duke. If you don’t get anything in EA and you are competing against the complete pool at Duke, you may or may not get in. OTOH, if you are ready to forgo other choices if you get Duke now, then apply ED. No one can make that decision for you, it is upto you. YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS.</p>

12

<p>in at berk. chance back please :slight_smile: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1225356-compsci-schools-students-bad-stats-like-me-uc-chancers-please-look.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1225356-compsci-schools-students-bad-stats-like-me-uc-chancers-please-look.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>I know from experience that Duke’s ED has a lot of Olympic sports athletes/legacies. I honestly think you look like an amazing applicant though, and have a great shot there RD. I would say that you also have good shot (well, above average, its tough for Princeton), especially if you show your interest and go SCEA.</p>

14

<p>I’ve heard the same as above about a lot of the random woman’s sports and men’s sports (except some football and obviously for Duke basketball) encourage athletes to go ED as that can help a lot of the ones that are borderline athletes. </p>

<p>As for your chances, unhooked in terms of sports, I’d say that if you want Princeton/Stanford/ some other Ivy go for that, even if the acceptance rate looks low. You have great stats, so it really just comes to can you stand out a little in your essays. Think to yourself, what school do I want to go to most? Don’t think to yourself which school is the easiest to get into?</p>

15

<p>Duke adcoms stress the fact that regular applicants stand a better chance during ED due to their interest. It is not overloaded with athletes.</p>

16

<p>Ya regular decision applicants have a slightly better chance (its not as good as the numbers seem, like over double)</p>

17

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

18

<p>I would apply ED at Duke the admission rate last year was a 12% and is likely to fall very close to single digits this year so I would improve my chances by applying ED. Plus its one of the fastest improving and most dynamic schools on the planet, Duke does not rest on its laurels. I would apply ED, I don’t think you’ll regret it, unless you tend to be insecure about stuff in which case you would probably keep lamenting not applying to Princeton. But if you are confident of your abilities then put your best foot forward and apply ED.</p>

19

<p>Do you intern at the Roskamp Institute?</p>

20

<p>solid chances at both, slightly higher chances at duke</p>