<p>I'm currently reading the book and I'm about 100 pages in. I'm sorry, but I honestly can't believe some of the stuff being thrown out by the extremely egotistical Rachel Toor.</p>
<p>She just stated that to be a candidate for admission/be considered at Duke, one should/must have a rating of 5 (on a scale of 1-5) for Curriculum, Grades, Recommendations, and Standardized Testing. To get a 5 in each:</p>
<p>Curriculum: Must have over 5 AP courses
Grades: Must have all A's, their transcript can't be, and I quote, "blemished with a B", they also must be in the top 1-2% of class
Recommendations: She stated that sometimes they don't even read both because of time restraints (not THAT hard to believe)
Standardized Testing: Have a SAT of 1480 or higher (1600 scale)</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but to get a 5 in each to just be considered seems horribly unright. I can't believe there is any truth to it.</p>
<p>Just so you guys think I'm not exaggerating....direct quotes from the book.</p>
<p>"In order to be a competitive applicant at Duke, most students will need to have fives in the first two ratings and a five in testing (1480 and above). To get a five in curriculum choice the applicant must show evidence of having taken the most rigorous program available in a competitive high school. That means that they must have taken at least five solids for each year of high school and have taken at least five AP courses."</p>
<p>"The second rating is for academic achievement. It's separated from curriculum choice so that students who want to take easy courses in order to bolster their GPAs can do that, but it won't help them get into a school like Duke. In order to get a five in achievement the applicant must be in the top 1 or 2 percent of their graduating class. In reality, she should be in the top two places, and should have all As. It's hard to get a five in achievement if your transcript is blemished with a B."</p>
<p>"In order to get a five in achievement the applicant must be in the top 1 or 2 percent of their graduating class. In reality, she should be in the top two places, and should have all As. It's hard to get a five in achievement if your transcript is blemished with a B."</p>
<p>***. Let that guy write about "How to Get Into Harvard" and let's see what he says. Don't read that book, Fandangoya. I think it's pretty irrelevant.</p>
<p>Or it could really be true, there are many good applicants to Duke and they've got to have a way to sort through them all. But yes it's pretty repulsive to read stuff like that, but interesting though.</p>
<p>you were probably one of the weaker applicants obviously</p>
<p>but seriously, i read a few pages in the book store and found her to be very egotistical. however, there also might be some truth in the fact that most students that get accepted to Duke have SAT scores greater than 1480 and are often top of their class. in my opinion top 5%-10% is also top of the class.</p>
<p>The process did horrify me a bit, when several candidates were talked about by all the adcoms, they were basically reduced to numbers. Oh nice numbers all across but a 3 in testing. <em>ploop</em> </p>
<p>fireflyscout: Really? How many did Duke take off their waitlist?</p>
<p>lol ozym what the hell? how is jessiehl "a weaker applicant" ?</p>
<p>I know 3 people at Duke...only one of them was in the top 10% of his class. One other had Bs and Cs (she was white so no URM issue). Another had many Bs.</p>
<p>that stuff is a crock of BS. Look at the REAL statistics from Collegeboard.com: 87% of admitted applicants were in the top 10%. That's a far cry from "MUST BE IN TOP 1 or 2%!!!"</p>
<p>And the middle 50% SAT score ranges were from 690-770 in both Math and Verbal. That means a full 25% of students had a section score on the SAT lower than 690. There is NEVER an SAT minimum.</p>
<p>I think recommendations/essays are pretty important. If a "full 25%" had a section score on the SAT lower than 690, than they didn't have a perfect 5 in testing, and the adcoms probably thought they could offer something else to the fine institute of Duke, perhaps recognized from the recommendation/essay, which conveys the PERSONALITY of the applicant, which is super important.</p>
<p>Phew. Sorry, run-on sentence. And I know I'm screwed in admissions this fall because I have no idea what to write for the essay, and I'm not the best essay writer, at least when it comes to personal stuff. </p>
<p>Personality separates the accepted from the qualified group.</p>
<p>The book demonstrated, using Ms. Toor as the paradigm, that a few admissions officers at elite schools are capricious, self-aggrandizing jerks who allow their personal agendas to control their recommendations. Some even stoop so low as to sell their employers' confidential information for personal gain after they leave. Although I suspect that many of Ms. Toor's revelations are imagined, the one certainty is that the quality of Duke's admissions department was elevated by her departure.</p>