<p>I really want to go to Duke. I've always planned on applying ED. I have double legacy and outstanding extracurriculars and a solid ACT score. The main thing that will hurt me, and unfortunately the most important part of an application, is my GPA. I take an extremely difficult course load. I transferred to a much more challenging private school in 10th grade. So my GPA freshman year was 4.15 weighted, then sophomore year, was 3.35, then junior year was 3.8. So my cumulative GPA is a 3.77. I know this is probably not good enough for Duke, but every other piece of my application is very strong. </p>
<p>I am not sure to apply ED v RD because I know applying ED with double legacy for Duke has a decently high acceptance rate compared to RD, but I know my weighted GPA will be very high for Senior year because I am taking 5 weighted courses. So my GPA will have a major boost and Duke will see that in a RD application. My school runs in a trimester system however, so if I apply ED Duke will only be able to see my interim grades halfway through the first trimester and interim grades won't actually boost my GPA. So do I apply ED with the higher acceptance rate but same GPA as junior year, or apply RD and allow my high senior year GPA to raise my cumulative GPA. It's a really tough decision that I have to make soon. Please help!</p>
<p>Well right now you have obviously dipped down since freshman year, which shows a bad trend, but at least you recovered to start going up again. But because So/Jr/Sr years are looked at more than Freshman year (schools like Princeton don’t even look at frosh year) I’d say you might want to wait and get your grades back up and strong (above 4.0 for Sr year)</p>
<p>I would 100% say that applying E.D. will still give you higher chances as opposed to applying R.D. Legacy barely makes any difference unless you apply E.D… When I was applying E.D. to duke (I’m a legacy as well), I was told by the head of alumni affairs at Duke that they consider the weight of the legacy component when that applicant applies early decision to be much higher than the same applicant that applied regular decision.</p>
<p>I agree, 100% ED. Have you seen the ED acceptance rates vs. RD? The difference is staggering. It’s something like ~20% for ED vs 11% for RD. That is not worth an extra 0.1 or w/e boost you’d get from senior year grades. </p>
<p>I’d say, apply ED, hammer home the point that you LOVE Duke and with a double legacy, you are 100% committed to going. Then focus on all the great aspects of your application such as great recs (I’m assuming), good ECs, solid ACT, etc etc. (A few great AP scores probably wouldn’t hurt either). Don’t dwell on the GPA, it’s not terrible by any means.</p>
<p>I’m not a legacy, but I do know that it helps a LOT with ED. I didn’t have the highest GPA either but I ended up getting in (deferred then accepted). You definitely have a better shot at ED. The RD acceptance has dipped incredibly low. Good luck!</p>
<p>focus on what you can change and write a short two or three sentences about your GPA dip and adjustment…the readers will understand your circumstance and then move on to see if other things about you are compelling.</p>
<p>Make your essays more interesting than your grades.
State where you will be contributing to campus life and make it convincing.
If your ACT is not tippy tippy top, study the Red Book this summer and retake in Sept or October…you can still alter that a nudge
If you are not turning in top SAT Subject tests to prove how well you learn class material, study hard for two of those and take them in the fall. Preparation matters. </p>
<p>in my opinion, for reach schools when you are not a shoe in or a recruit, it is never too late to improve your test scores and your essays. </p>
<p>Make sure your references are well thought out, chosen well and that the writers are clear about your goals at Duke. Be gracious to reference writers and give them the skinny and the facts so they can do their best to help you as you are portrayed to readers. I am always amazed at how sloppy reference requests can be, and how students think busy teachers are supposed to “get” what they are needing and to understand varied colleges that are being targeted with the letter.</p>