I really want to go to the home of Richard Nixon/Mike Posner...DUKE!

<p>Hey,
Right now I am currently a Junior at a pretty well respected/rigorous Christian school in NY (and I commute 1.5 hrs a day there). I really want to attend Duke, but its obviously extremely difficult to be admitted. I've listed my stats and ECs below, is there anything I should do to better my chances? </p>

<p>Cum (W)GPA- 3.9, ACT 33</p>

<p>And we can't take APs until Junior year and more than 2 honors until Sophomore year. Also, my school does not give A+s, an A is the best grade. </p>

<p>Frosh Year (GPA 3.54- Yes I know this is very low)
French II- B-
Geometry Honors- B+
English- A-
Religion- A-
World History- A-
Music- B+
Health A
Biology- A-</p>

<p>Sophomore (GPA 4.02)
English II Honors- A-
US History Honors- A-
Alg II Honors- A-
French III- A-
Chem- A-
Health- A-
Art- A-
Religion- A</p>

<p>Junior Year (GPA 4.2-4.26ish)
English AP- B+/A-
Calc Honors- A
French IV- A-
Physics Honors- B+
US AP- A-/A
Religion- A
Music- A</p>

<p>Senior Year Courses:
AP EnviSci
AP Stat
AP Econ (Micro and Macro)
AP Euro History
Religion
English </p>

<p>ECs
Freshman Cross Country- Captain- Elected
Indoor and Outdoor Track- Freshman, Soph, Jr
-Note: I'm pretty good at track, and if I cut off a few more seconds on my mid/long distance events I might get a scholarship at some schools, so this could help
Student Council- Elected and Served-End of Freshman- End of Jr, Elections for next year coming up
Gaelic Games Club- Co-Founded sophomore year
Ping Pong Tournament for Charity- Founded, sophomore and junior years
NHS- Tutor 2 hours a week
Community Service- about 150 hours, have done a little more than school requirements, plan to do excess this summer to make around 200
I am also going over to Ireland this summer and working in their Parliment with a politician for a few weeks there, will this help (maybe as a double major Econ/Pol Sci?)</p>

<p>What can I do to better my chances for Duke? I plan to apply ED, so that should help.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I guess you have a good of a chance as others. Keep it up.</p>

<p>Wait a minute…Mike Posner grew up in Detroit…you want to go there?</p>

<p>But he went to college at Duke. I don’t really want to live in Detroit haha. Horrible economy and high crime.</p>

<p>lol he’s actually from an affluent area in suburban Detroit…it’s not bad at all haha</p>

<p>I just looked up southfield haha, it seems a lot better than the downtown Detroit that Inhave heard of. Anyways, do I have a shot to go there (not Detroit, Duke haha)?</p>

<p>ur gpa is a little low, but good ACT score!</p>

<p>Oh he’s from Southfield? Going out that actually gets more Detroit-like. The HS he went to is in my district, not Southfield but Birmingham. </p>

<p>I think you have a good chance, especially if you raise your ACT. Your grades aren’t stellar (as with mine), so you’ll need to compensate elsewhere. Your ECs look pretty good overall; I’d suggest you get an internship in the field you’re interested in this summer.</p>

<p>^ PS. I was indicating my grades aren’t stellar either, haha. Not saying they are</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure you have a good chance. There is definitely a chance for you to get in! Good job!</p>

<p>I plan on taking some SAT IIs (just took 3 a week ago), I didn’t sign up for the ACT in June per my GCs advice (I wanted to). If I can get 2 or 3 SAT IIs that are 700+ (hopefully two that are 740+) is it worth sending those to Duke even though I don’t need to as I will send my ACT. And this summer I’m going to Ireland and working in their Government with their equivalent of a Nancy Pelosi (House minority leader). Will this help me if I plan to major in Econ and Pol Sci or is there another major I could put with Econ that would make this look even better? Thanks!</p>

<p>I’d send those SAT II scores if you do well. The ACT isn’t bad, but you want to prove you can really ace it. And yeah that definitely sounds like a worthwhile summer activity. You stand a pretty good chance.</p>

<p>Alright thanks, I guess I’ll re-evaluate the ACT opportunity and I might take the Sept/Oct date, even though my GC said not to take it because it fell within Duke’s range and that my SATs were 1800s/1900s and my previous ACT was a 28, he kind of thought it was a fluke haha</p>

<p>

[quote]
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[ quote]Quote here [ /quote]</p>

<p>O no, does anyone know how I can quote someone?</p>

<p>Haha looks like you lucked out.</p>

<p>What’s your unweighted GPA? Class rank?</p>

<p>And what SAT IIs did you take?</p>

<p>Can someone show me how to quote someone please?</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA is probably 3.7ish, its not on the transcript, but thats my guess (maybe a tad lower, but mostly because of a poor freshman year). We only do quartiles for rank, and I should be in the top quartile. I took US History (expecting above a 700) Math I (expecting above a 700+) and Math II (no idea, maybe mid/high 600s). It was my first time with those, so now that I have gotten use to them I can study harder for Math II for the June date, I might take physics and maybe one more if I didn’t break 700 on Math I/US.</p>

<p>I don’t know how to quote, sorry.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t send in Math I. Take/do well on Math II!</p>