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<p>This is mainly true for schools that practice SCEA (or just EA, rather than ED), such as Stanford and Yale. Your GPA is a ~low, I’m not going to lie. But if you combine the right combination of essays and teacher recs, and if you emphasize your ECs, you are definitely within the range of Duke. If you apply ED, (and if you love Duke, I’d recommend it), I’m pretty sure you have a really, really strong shot. And you’ll have a much better senior year as well ahhaa.</p>
<p>Btw, your passion for chess will truly help you stand out. Most applicants to top ten schools usually have to beef up some sort of passion or try extremely hard to make their passions evident to the admissions officer. You have an advantage here. Make use of it!</p>