Engineering chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Hey guys do I stand any chance at getting in Duke?</p>

<p>I plan on doing civil engineering.</p>

<p>I go to a very competitive private high school in New Jersey. Widowed parent, income around 40k ish, first generation college student. How is financial aid?</p>

<p>I guess I'll just list some stuff and you can let me know if you need anything else to tell me my chances.</p>

<p>white male (double damn)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2020 690 CR, 630 Math, 700 Writing
SAT II: Haven't taken any yet but plan on doing Both math 1 (is this acceptable), chemistry, and either lit or us history (does it matter)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 something UW I did incredibly poor freshmen year and had to work instensely hard to get my grades up. I don't know if they'll see that but the self-improvement was immense</p>

<p>Rank: top 10</p>

<p>Junior year coursework: Honors English, Honors Chem, Honors Alg2/Trig, Ap US History, Honors Spanish 3, Religion (required)</p>

<p>four quarter grades and then year grade</p>

<p>Honors English- 97 97 99 98 98
Alg2 Trig Honors 95 94 96 95 95
AP USH- 99 99 99 99 99
Chemistry Honors 99 99 98 99 98
Spanish 3 Honors 96 97 97 96 95
Religion- 99 99 99 99 99</p>

<p>Senior year: AP Eng, Honors Physics, Ap Art History, Ap US History, Honors Precalc</p>

<p>My school only offers ap classes in English, Art History, US History, and Calc BC, so I'm taking all I am qualified for. I tried starting a US Gov AP and Euro Hist AP but the head of the department turned me down.</p>

<p>Taken 2 courses at a local community college, intro to philosophy (freshmen year- A-), sociology (sophomore year A), looking into another one now.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Academic Team- Captain</p>

<p>Robotics Team-builder and participant when we won the 2005 and 2006 state championships for FIRST (possible hook? Idk..)</p>

<p>New Jersey Regional Science Fair-participant</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society- helped fundraise and tutored students</p>

<p>Model United Nations</p>

<p>NJ American Legion Boys State representative</p>

<p>Intermural Basketball League assistant coach/player</p>

<p>Chess team</p>

<p>Intermural Ultimate Frisbee League- Co-Founder, captain of a team, and player</p>

<p>American Cancer Society Relay for Life-helped organize and set up event, three years</p>

<p>Worked at Afterhours Formalwear</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>· The Elmira College Key Award, 2006
· Excellence in Spanish 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 2 CP, 2004-2005
· Honorable Mention in Eastern Civilization CP, 2004-2005
· Excellence in English 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· Excellence in United History 1 Advanced Placement, 2005-2006
· Honorable Mention in Spanish 3 Honors, 2005-2006
· New Jersey Regional Science Fair Rutgers Student Award, 2005
· National Spanish Examination Certificate of Achievement and Merit¸ 2004-2005 and 2005-2006</p>

<p>BTW I might be able to take ap chemistry next year....there should be enough kids if I want to do it...only thing...my schedule will be absolute hell:</p>

<p>honors physics
ap chemistry
honors precalc
ap english 4
ap art history
ap us history
religion (required)</p>

<p>Think I should try to take ap chem? Would it help my chances at all??</p>

2

<p>You're SATs, especially your math score, are a bit low for engineering. Also, engineering schools tend to look for calculus work, I would try taking calc bc as your school does offer it (it will also make life easier in college). Other than that your ECs are great. Chem AP may help your chances.</p>

3

<p>It would be impossible for me to take calc. I attempted to take precalc over this summer in order to go into calc next year but my teacher said she only had me for one year and that's why i couldn't do it. (Like that has anything to do with my ability to handle a class....the number of years I was a certain teacher's student)</p>

4

<p>Why do you want to get an engineering degree, and why would Duke be the right place for you to get it?</p>

5

<p>Well I guess I'll be writing that on the application, not here. And that doesn't have anything to do with 'what are my chances?'</p>

6

<p>Actually - you're quite wrong on the latter part. And without the former, I can't really help.</p>

7

<p>Well I don't really feel too comfortable explaining why I think I should attend Duke since everyone can see it and it's something that can be used in my essay, I hope you understand my side on that aspect.</p>

8

<p>Troteck~Dr. G (alias DukeEng93) is a professor of Engineering at Duke, and is well-liked by students, and posters on CC--he is an enormous help with these kinds of questions. If you're worried about someone seeing what you might write, you might thing about sending him a pm with some of your thoughts.</p>