ED Chance at Trinity?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Short version: Mediocre GPA, decent class rigor, highish scores, decent extracurriculars (i think)</p>

<p>Gender - Male
Ethnicity - Asian (Chinese)
School - Public (Pennsylvania)</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA - 3.43 (4 scale)
Weighted GPA - 4.00
Rank - too low, not going to submit</p>

<p>Sophomore Schedule: (1 AP)
Honors English - A
AP Calculus AB - A
Honors World Affairs - A
Honors Spanish II - C D:
Honors Chemistry - A
Advanced Gym - A
Chamber Orchestra - A
Computer Applications - A</p>

<p>Junior Schedule: (5 AP)
AP US History - B
AP Physics B - B
TV Production - A
AP Music Theory - A
Advanced Gym - B
AP English Language and Composition - B
AP Statistics - A</p>

<p>Senior Schedule (3 AP)
AP Psychology
AP Micro/Macro Economics
AP English Literature and Composition
Advanced Gym
Honors History of East Asia
Honors Finance/Investment
Photography
Honors Chamber Orchestra
Sociology</p>

<p>AP Scores - Calculus AB (5) Statistics (5) US History (5) English Lang (5) Physics B (3) (excepting physics, my 5's in US hist and English leave what impression given my B's?)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2280 (Math 800, 730 on other two)
SAT II: Taking next week (MAth II, English, US History...projected ~700 range)
ACT: 34, 10 on writing
-I havent prepared for the SAT II's at all and so the information is all really rusty, having taken precalc back in 9th grade and all...is submitting SAT I and ACT's ok if i dont do well?</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Miscellaneous:
Varsity Speech and Debate 4 years
-Team Congress Coach
-Greater Pittsburgh Area Congress Champion
-Pittsburgh Region top 5 team Varsity Public forum
AP Scholar with Distinction
National Merit Semifinalist
Class council representative (2 years, running for treasurer this year)
JV Tennis #1 9th/10th grade (Varsity team won state championship)
Junior State of America 2 years (co-founder)
Future Business Leaders of America 2 years
SADD 2 years
President of Table Tennis Club (10th grade)
Local chamber orchestra 6 years
Violin lessons 10 years
District Orchestra (PMEA)
Art lessons 5 years
Presidential Physical Fitness Award
60 hours volunteering at library
30 hours volunteering at hospital
100 hours miscellaneous volunteering - Pittsburgh Chinese Dragon Festival, etc
6 years at Pittsburgh Chinese School
Half year working at Burger King
Half year working at Panera Bread
Fluent in chinese
Parents divorced</p>

<p>No legacy, at least ten other kids with top 10% class ranks also applying to Duke in my school. (whereas i'm about 27th percentile because i was lazy D:)</p>

<p>My quarter grades this year are also not great...historically my first quarter has always been my worst, but in this case i assume Duke will think i'm probably slacking off?</p>

<p>Edit: I also want to apply for Brown because its my ideal school and i can...my chance early decision at Duke (however small) is probably better than my chances at ED Brown though, you think?</p>

2

<p>If your school ranks, it’ll be reported regardless of your personal preference. You don’t have a choice here.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, I would say your rank and unweighed GPA are going to kill you here. Also, I dont see anything extraordinary in your profile - you are an asian who plays tennis, violin, and debates. Not making any judgements or anything, just trying to be realistic. </p>

<p>However, you’ve still got a shot, and I would say apply no matter what. You never know what could happen.</p>

<p>And Duke requires the ACT w/writing or the SAT with 2 SAT II’s, so if your II’s dont go well, you will be fine with just submitting the ACT.</p>

4

<p>You think a good essay would make a difference?
And is there an automatic cutoff at Duke? The rep who visited our school said no, but that (i think Times) article by the Duke admissions head i believe said there was a cut off because of the sheer volume of applicants</p>

<p>Edit: doesn’t Duke do something like 6 evenly weighted categories, of which grade is only one? NOt that i have anything outstanding, but…</p>

5

<p>There is no hard cutoff, but if you are in the bottom of the pack (holistically speaking, not just stat-wise), your app won’t make it to committee.</p>

6

<p>Your GPA is the biggest liability to your application.</p>

7

<p>I agree with NCBoy1’s analysis. Besides for your rank, I think you might have one too many Bs (by asian standards). You still have a shot, but given the competitiveness of today’s applicants, I’d say your chances are lower.</p>

<p>In case anyone is wondering, the six components are as follows: transcript, course rigor, standardized test scores whether they be SAT or ACT, essays, extracurriculars, and teacher recs.</p>

8

<p>High, high reach because of GPA and ORM status</p>

9

<p>Is a 4.0 w GPA a major problem? Kids from my school go with 4.2s and 4.3s…</p>

10

<p>UW is what matters</p>

11

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<p>Lol. 10char</p>