How does Duke look for me?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Hey guys,
I've been looking around for some top notch engineering and economics schools, and I stumbled upon Duke. I know it's really difficult to get into, so it's definitely no shoo in. How do my chances look with my current resume?</p>

<p>State: CT
School Type: fairly competitive public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Hooks: legacies (grandparents) at Columbia and UPenn</p>

<p>SAT I - 2050 (700M, 680W, 670CR) I'm retaking in the fall, along with the ACT for the first time.
SAT IIs - took Math II and Physics this month...I took chem last year without studying and did pretty badly (680)
APs - I took Spanish Language and Lit last month...probably 4s or 5s in both.
GPA - ~3.82 (3.92 freshman year, 3.67 soph year, 3.9 jr year)
Class Rank: top 20/400+ I'd say? something around there
Senior course load - AP physics, honors human anatomy, AP Calc BC, AP stats, AP psych, honors world literature, honors modern poetry.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- top 16 award swimmer for 5 consecutive years, placed 2nd at state championships (26ish hrs a week) --> I'm going for recruitment at NESCAC schools and attempting it at some ivys
- piano: winner of a state piano competition, honorable mention in 2 other separate piano competitions, 3rd place in another state competition, winner of a contemporary piece competition, soloist at school, benefit concerts (6-7 hrs a week)
- violin: member of an audition-only regional orchestra for 3 years, member for an audition-only state orchestra for 2 years, participated in the CT high school music theater award-winning pit orchestra from Les Miserables, principal 1st violin in school orchestra <a href="6-7%20hrs%20a%20week">2nd seat</a>
- Founder and president of Odyssey of the Mind [an international creative thinking club, we do mostly engineering projects. Our team won 4th place at the state competition this year]
- Co-president of Freethinkers club [philosophy, culture, politics, basically a discussion club for any and everything]
- Co-president/reviver of Future Business Leaders of America
- Composer
- Photoshop artist, graphic designer
- I plan on sending recordings of my original compositions as well as of my senior recital (for piano and violin)
- Winner of Excellence in Music award and Society of Women Engineers award for excellence in natural sciences and mathematics at school (I'm not sure these matter, but they might)
- 250+ hours community service at a nursing home, I plan on finding a place to volunteer this summer that has to do with engineering or business
- Getting a job this summer</p>

<p>Recommendations should be excellent from both teachers and swim coach (whom I plan on getting an additional rec from). Not too sure about my counselor, but it should be at least decent.</p>

2

<p>I’m sure you’ve already realized this, but the most impressive part of your application, at least from what you’ve described is your ECs. I’d played that up as much as you possibly can, in your essays, for example. </p>

<p>Also, if you are applying to Duke, you need to decide whether you like economics better or engineering because you’ll have to choose to apply to Trinity (Arts & Sciences) or Pratt (engineering). Of the two, Pratt is said to be much more numbers focused and lean heavily toward those who demonstrate interest in science and math. That may be a disadvantage for you depending on your final SAT scores/grades. That isn’t to say that you can’t transfer once you get to Duke but you have to make a choice when you apply that can potentially impact your chances. </p>

<p>Also, I’ll note that when you talk about your ECs in your application, be sure to emphasize how (or if) Duke fits into the picture in terms of helping you to continue to pursue these activities in college. While adcoms like to see unique things, they tend to value them less if they see that it does not fit in with the culture or opportunities available at their institutions. </p>

<p>Finally, continuing with the point above, you need to be realistic in terms of what you can pursue in college. If you say that you want to be a varsity swimmer, a symphony orchestra member, pursue piano lessons, and be an econ/BME double major, it might come across as you not knowing what you are talking about so be mature when considering all that. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Wow! Thank you SO much for you input. That was very helpful. I’ll be sure to keep all of this in mind.</p>

<p>That being said, do you think my chances at Pratt are pretty low right now given my current numbers?</p>

4

<p>I would not rule out Pratt completely. The way I look at it:</p>

<p>Pros:

  1. You have some unique interests which may help you if the adcoms try to build a diverse class for the engineers
  2. Your course work look sufficiently challenging that you probably won’t have much trouble explaining an interest in science/math or engineering
  3. You’ve got plenty of time to bring up those SATs or try your hand at the ACT and your GPA/class rank isn’t out of Pratt’s range. </p>

<p>Thing to improve or work on:

  1. Can you support your case that engineering is something you are genuinely interested in?
  2. I don’t think I need to talk about current test scores again
  3. Make sure you look into Duke more than just Pratt being a good engineering school. Your application needs to reflect why you think Duke should admit you and why you want to go there. </p>

<p>So, in short, no I don’t think your chances for Pratt is unreasonable but there definitely needs to be improvements.</p>

5

<p>if you really want to major in engineering and econ at a great school, I know Northwestern lets you double major from any school</p>

6

<p>You have gotten sound advice above, but your ace in the hole is your ethnicity. Duke is obsessed with diversity, so play that for all it is worth, by that I mean demonstrate that you are multicultural and the you personally “celebrate diversity” The will eat that up with a spoon.</p>

7

<p>@SBR
Thank you so much again!</p>

<p>@patriotsfan1
Yeah, I already checked out Northwestern but apparently it’s not “prestigious” enough for my parents.</p>

<p>@crobinpa
…But I’m Asian. Isn’t that exactly the ethnicity they’re NOT looking for?</p>

8

<p>On a campus visit presentation, the admissions rep flat our said that 50% of the seats will go to 80% of the applicants (whites) and 50% of the seats will go to the other 20% of applicants (minorities). Which group would you rather be in? The College Board reports that last year’s class was 21% Asian. Ah, what percent of the general population is Asian? Obviously you still need to be top notch, but Duke is far more interested in having you there than they are a white girl with the same stats. Also, there is a lot of diversity within the Asian population as well. You just need to find your hook. Do you have any adversity in your past. They love that almost as much as the love diversity. If you can overlay some adversity on top of your diversity, you might end up with a free ride. I know this might sound cynical, but you really can’t be too cynical in the college admissions game. Play every angle, exaggerate as much as your conscience will allow, apply to a lot of schools to gain leverage over the ones who actually do want you, and don’t fall in love with any one school. There are numerous schools out there that could be perfect for you.</p>

9

<p>I guess one thing that could add perspective to my diversity hook is that my parents lived through Mao’s cultural revolution. It’s a huge influence on both them and me (as it affects the way they treat me). What do you think?</p>

10

<p>I think that could be a very interesting angle, but you will need to demonstrate how your parents’ experience has affected your life in a way that is different, and frankly, more interesting than that of other children of immigrant Asians. Here is where you can read up, maybe write a paper or two for school, and delve into the topic. Anyway, that experience needs to come alive in you in a unique and personal way. Whatever way you choose to present yourself, make sure that you don’t come off as the stereotypical “child of tiger mom”. Duke and the other top schools are overrun with them and candidly your stats aren’t all that spectacular. Have you thought about UVA, Carnegie Mellon, or Cornell?</p>

11

<p>Okay, so I just got my SAT II scores back today.
710 physics
760 math II </p>

<p>(of course I do better on the one I didn’t study for at all)</p>

<p>What do you guys think? Should I retake them?</p>

12

<p>Your scores are good (anything 700+ is good enough for the top schools). If you think you can improve them, go for it. But it would be better if you focus more on your SAT/ACT prep than the subject test prep.</p>

13

<p>Your application looks great except your scores TBH. I would focus on test prep over the summer and trying to get an impressive score on the SAT and/or ACT. That would increase your chances a lot. Your ECs are strong so play them up and show Duke how interesting you are! They care a lot about that, as well as other subjective factors such as your essays. Good luck!</p>

14

<p>[YouTube</a> - ‪Duke University: Yuxuan H.‬‏](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>

15

<p>If you’re worried about getting into Pratt (the engineering school), and think you have a better chance of getting into Trinity (the “arts and crafts” school :P), apply to Trinity and then switch over later.
The switch is pretty much guaranteed as long as you take the required classes and maintain decent grades. (:</p>

16

<p>^ Switching is practically guaranteed if you are transferring from Pratt to Trinity. The other way around is not difficulty but they do look at your grades and test scores from HS I think.</p>