I Need Duke!

Colleges & Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>I'm a rising Senior and Duke is my dream school. I am not a minority and I go to a very competitive public high school in the northeast. I am applying early decision and want to know if there is anything I can do to make myself stand out in Duke's very competitive applicant pool. How do my chances look?</p>

<p>STATS:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 UW (school doesn't weight)
SAT I: 2140 (Math - 700; CR - 720; Writing - 720)...will retake in October
SAT II: Math Ic - 750; US History - 770...will take Math IIC in November
AP: US History - 5 (my school only offers AP US and AP Stat to juniors)</p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
AP Calculus AB
AP Chemistry
AP Comparative Government
AP English Literature
AP Spanish
Advanced Latin III</p>

<p>ECs (broken down into sub-categories)</p>

<p>Sports:
9th - Varsity Tennis (youngest player ever on school's team; All-League); Varsity Track
10th - Varsity Tennis (All Conference); Manager of Boys Varsity Tennis
11th - Varsity Tennis (All Conference); Ranked Top 60 in Girls under 16's Tennis on the east coast
12th - Varsity Tennis (Captain...awards not known yet)</p>

<p>Academic/Awards:
School Newspaper Reporter (9th)
School Newspaper Assistant Editor (10th, 11th)
School's Honor Society (11th, 12th)
NAAPT Physics Bowl Participant (11th)
National History Day Competition Regionals - 4th Place (11th)
National History Day Competition States - 3rd Place and alternate for National Competition (11th)</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>Midnight Run Club - brings food, clothing etc to homeless in NYC - one saturday night every month - 9th, 10th, 11th (Treasurer), 12th (Treasurer)</p>

<p>Children's Hospital Club - President/Founder (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)</p>

<p>*I have been volunteering at a group home for men with down's syndrome and autism for over a year. I am currently taking a training course at the group home and will become a certified counselor at the end of the month. I will then be able to give the men their medication and I will become an employee of the home. The men I work with are extremely low functioning (their mental capacities range from 1 yrs old to 5 yrs old). As a volunteer, I baked cookies with them weekly and played memory games. I also taught them about animals and animal sounds.</p>

<p>*I spent the month of July interning at a school for severely mentally disabled and autistic children in London.</p>

<p>*I babysit weekly for a severely autistic 5 year old boy</p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate any comments/input/advice. Thanks in advance...</p>

2

<p>Calm down some. Retake your tests. On your application, try to stress your love of helping the community.</p>

<p>What are you plans for major? Try to tie that into helping the community.</p>

3

<p>I am undecided about my major. I think that poly-sci would be very interesting because I love history but recently, I have realized that I love psychology because I love working with mentally disabled people.</p>

4

<p>Actually I think your test scores are fine. Duke will not reject you for anything over a 700. </p>

<p>Is there any possibility you could play tennis for Duke? Sports can be a big boost.</p>

5

<p>I definitely could not play Varsity Tennis for Duke because Duke's team is one of the top teams in the country. I could play club but that won't help in admissions.</p>

6

<p>I saw that you were ranked on the East Coast so I thought I might as well ask. :) Don't worry, your app looks strong enough to get in without being recruited. You can write your essay about anything you want, but your community service looks like a good starting point. Maybe focus in on a particuarily memorable anecdote, rather than writing a "I volunteer at this place and it is really rewarding because..." essay. Trust me, Duke will read a ton of those.</p>