<p>Well I didn't try very hard in school my freshman and sophomore years, so I ended up with a good bit of B's. However, since my Junior year I've focused on school and made straight A's. My rank in my class has paid for it. I'm 37/441, roughly 9.2 percentile, which is actually a 3.77 UW GPA and 4.3W. I've heard that outside of top 5%, admissions to Duke is nearly impossible. Will the upward trend show that I've really tried to turn around?
Btw ACT is a 33 and I have decent amount of EC's (3 varsity sports, job, and officer position in club, with 100 volunteer hours)</p>
<p>I’m by no means an expert, but the qualities of high schools vary so much that class ranking have to be taken with a large dose of salt. A #37 at one school could be a #1 at another. What’s important is the stats behind the ranking. You’ve got good EC and your upward trend will help to balance the B’s. Good ACT.
There’s no point not to apply. There’s nothing to lose in trying vs. not applying at all save a one time fee and a few hours of your time.
(With everything else being equal, which it isn’t, the people in front of you have a marginally better chance. But not all of them are varsity athletes or have jobs.)</p>
<p>You might want to look at this. For those in the 5-10%, the acceptance rate was 12.4% for Trinity and 18.7% for Pratt. Your results will vary, of course.</p>
<p>[Duke</a> University Admissions: Class of 2010 Profile](<a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2010profile.html]Duke”>http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2010profile.html)</p>
<p>Dude, outside of top 5% is not nearly impossible… even Harvard isn’t that way. Just write an essay about why you did poorly, plus the upward trend helps. Are you in state or out? Class rank isn’t overly important anyway.</p>
<p>in-state vs. out of state has no effect on admissions to Duke, a private university.</p>
<p>I thought that being in state still gives applicants a distinct advantage because the acceptance rate for in state is significantly higher than the national average because of the original declaration that 20 (I think that’s the number) % of applicants must come from NC.</p>
<p>Not applicants, 20% of the class</p>
<p>
This is true for most private universities, but Duke does give special consideration to Carolina students. Traditionally, about 15% of each class is from the Carolinas.</p>
<p>It’s part of the original grant from the Duke family that 15% of the accepted students must be in-state (maybe it includes South Carolina, I’m not sure).</p>