<p>Title explains all.</p>
<p>ye my bro got in applying Ed</p>
<p>I’m sure there are people who get in without writing it, but writing it does help to convey the amount of interest you have in the school–not writing it may convey the message that if you want to go to Duke, how come you can’t write two paragraphs about why you want to?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for 2014 admits, but obviously it’s the same prompt and I know people who were admitted without writing it. The majority do, though, however. What mttyler7 said is probably correct - my guess would be if it came down to admitting two similar candidates and one wrote a stellar essay about why they wanted to attend Duke and the other didn’t, they’d likely choose the one who wrote the essay (if only in the hope it will improve their yield).</p>
<p>I applied to Duke Trinity last year, and I was admitted without writing the essay. However, if you have time to write an excellent, unique essay (and don’t mention the basketball team, the Cameron Crazies, and K-ville like everyone else does), do it. If you are going to end up writing an average essay, you are better off not sending any “Why Duke?” essay at all. I don’t think it will affect your chances of admissions unless the admissions officer is down to the wire between two candidates.</p>
<p>I feel like if you want to go to Duke, writing that essay should be simple. I always advise people (on CC and my tours, alike) to write it.</p>