I'm extremely interested in going to Duke. Can someone please chance me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>Hey! I'm going to be a senior in the fall and I am currently working on my applications. I am new to CC, so if you need any more information, please let me know. Any suggestions as to how I cam improve my chances would be appreciated. I also included everything I could think of in here, so some of them might be repeated, or may not be too important. I would really grateful if you could chance me for Duke. It's my top choice right now</p>

<p>GENDER: Female
ETHNICITY: Asian Indian
INTENDED MAJOR: Engineering or Applied Mathematics
SCHOOL TYPE: Private/Magnet
LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Fluent in English and Hindi, I know a little Spanish</p>

<p>SAT I: Total-2240. Math-740. Critical Reading-750. Writing-750. Essay-8
ACT: Total-31. Math-36. English-35. Reading-30. Science-25. Essay-11
SAT II: Math Level 2: 800
Chemistry: 750
(I am planning to take English this fall)
UNWEIGHTED GPA (out of 4.0): 3.6
WEIGHTED GPA 4.2
RANK (percentile if rank is unavailable): neither % nor rank is available
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Calculus BC (5)
AP Chemistry (4)</p>

<p>(i went to a public school 9-10 grade and switched to a private magnet school to be in the Engineering Magnet Program for 11-12 grade)</p>

<p>FRESHMAN YEAR COURSE LOAD
Honors Coordinated Science 1
Honors English 1
Honors Global Perspectives
Dance Tech 1
Spanish 1
Honors Algebra 2</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE YEAR COURSE LOAD
Honors Coordinated Science 2
Honors English 2
Honors Pre Calculus
Honors Chemistry
Spanish 2
U.S. History</p>

<p>Spanish 3 (completed at local community college)</p>

<p>JUNIOR YEAR COURSE LOAD
Engineering Physics 1
AP/IB English HL1
Show Choir
AP/IB Spanish SL1
Honors Physics
AP Calculus AB/BC
AP Chemistry</p>

<p>SENIOR YEAR COURSE LOAD
Engineering Physics 2
AP/IB English HL2
AP Physics C
AP Economics
AP Statistics
Differential Equations
(Deciding between AP Music Theory and AP Psychology)</p>

<p>AWARDS AND CERTIFICATES (Grade level in parenthesis)
- Certificate of Merit Level VI, Branch Honors, Music Teacher Association of California (11)
- High Honor Roll Certificate, Fairmont Preparatory Academy (11)
- Division Recognition Award from Center for Global Leaders Essay Competition from among 5000 participants. (10)
- Certificate of Merit Level V, Branch Honors, Music Teacher Association of California (10)
- Commendation at Branch Honors Recital (10).
- Magna, Cum Laude University High School (9)
- Honor Roll Certificate, American Mathematics Contest 8 (8)
- President's Award for Educational Excellence (8)
- Academic Merit Award, University of California, Irvine (6)</p>

<p>MUSIC AND ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT (Grade level in parenthesis)
- Part of school show choir group at Disney Competition 2011, 1st Place(11)
- 2011 All State Honor Choir, American Choral Directors Association, California(11)
- Part of Hawaii Music Festival , Show Choir Group, Excellent Rating(11)
- High School Honor Choir, Southern California Vocal Association(10,11)
- Invited by United Federation of Indo Americans of California to sing at their 63rd India Independence Day celebrations (10)
- Invited to sing at 63rd Indian Association of Inland Empire Anniversary of India's Independence Day (10)
- 2010 Convention Honors, LA, Music Teacher's Association of California (10)
- Branch Honors Recital, Music Teacher Association of California (10)
- Invited to dance and sing at United Federation of Indo Americans in California (9)
- First place Annual Raas Garba and Dance Competition 2009 (9,10)
- second and third places, two consecutive years (group) at IYANA 3rd and 4th ANNUAL Youth Convention (9,10)
- Dance performance-High School Show Case (9,10)
- Donald Bren Honors Concerts, IUSD (6,7,8)</p>

<p>SUMMER PROGRAMS:
Summer'11 Internship at Boeing, Phantom Works
Summer'10 All Girls All Math Camp, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Summer'10 42nd Annual High School Honor Institute, University of Colorado
Summer'09 Microsoft DigiGirlz Summer Camp, Microsoft</p>

<p>LEADERSHIP:
Vice President (11 – present), Light up the World
President and Founder (11-present), Free the Slaves. I started the first high school chapter of this organization in the nation.
Publicity Manager (10), Indian Student Association
Publicity Manager (12), UNICEF</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
Music: Hindustani Classical Vocal (4-present)
Western Classical Music (5-present)
Honor Choir (5,6,7,11)
Musical Theater (7,8)
Dance (9-present)
Sports: JV volleyball (11)
Volunteer: Discovery Science Center (10-present)
Homeless Shelter (9-present)
Clubs: Free the Slaves (9-present)
UNICEF (11-present)
Light up the World (11-present)
Indian Student Association (10)
Educational: NASA Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience
Our school team of four students including me, was one of the 2 teams nationwide that was chosen to attend the 13th Annual United Nations Students' Conference on Human Rights at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Mars Desert Research Station: my proposal to conduct some experiments at the Research Station was accepted by a research team from Georgia Tech that will be conducting these experiments.</p>

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<p>Bumpppp!!! (:</p>

3

<p>I know my GPA is low. Is that going to kill my chances of getting in? Or can my test scores, ecs, and good essays and rec letters maybe get me in?</p>

4

<p>Anyyyybodyy?!</p>

5

<p>Bumppppppppp!!! :'(</p>

6

<p>There is a strong Asian Indian cultural life at Duke including a great annual performance event of Indian dance, music etc and regular Indian food options on certain nights in the dining hall. If you are serious about your vocal training, dig more into this activity at Duke and consider if you are good enough to contribute to this tradition at Duke.</p>

<p>Please consider writing essays that are very useful for the reader in order for them to understand your personality and family values and past experiences. There is no reason for you to be rejected but again, there are way more equals applying so focus on what you can change now: Essays and Quality of Reference letters and showing that you have read a lot about Duke online and you are keyed into how you can contribute. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>While your GPA is slightly below average for a school such as Duke, I think you can still make an impression on the admissions officers by highlighting your extracurricular activities in your essays. Just because you have a 3.6 doesn’t mean you can’t get into Duke, especially considering the difficult classes you took. If you apply regular decision, I’d say you have about a 40% chance of getting accepted. If Duke is definitely your first choice then you should apply early and increase your odds.
No matter what you’re going to get into a great school so if you can (I know it’s pretty much impossible) relax and have confidence in yourself. If you’re able to convey that confidence through either your essays or interview, you’ll come across as a much more desirable applicant. Don’t try to come across like every other Duke applicant out there. Highlight and focus upon your many unique skills and accomplishments while articulating not just your knowledge of Duke (anyone with access to their website can do that), but why you are a great fit. Your grades and standardized test scores alone aren’t enough to get you into Duke but I think your extracurriculars and leadership positions are. Good luck and I hope you get into Duke! I’m sure you can make it happen!</p>

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<p>P.S. Don’t scare yourself by comparing your stats with other members of collegeconfidential. Many people who post seemingly perfect stats are either liars or completely consumed by their grades and the college admissions process (aka they are miserable and have no social lives). Don’t assume that everyone you’re competing with has a 2400 and a 4.0. I’m going to Duke and your stats are similar to plenty of incoming freshmen.</p>

9

<p>I’ve always wondered how many ■■■■■■ post here to scare kids from applying to certain schools, would you say there are a good bit? I’m sure some kids are really smart, but there seems to be so many perfect students acting like they have no shot at all at an ivy/Stanford/duke</p>

<p>To the op, I’d focus on raising your GPA bit. Do you have an upward trend or something? That would really help, but I’d focus on the first semester and apply and hope that you get in</p>

10

<p>Thank you guys so much. Yeah it’s crazy how so many people on here have a 4.0 GPA and amazing ecs and everything. So it’s always intimidatig to thin that you’re going to be competing with those people. But thank you for telling me that most people have similar stats to me (:</p>

<p>As far as my grades go I did really well freshman year, but my sophomore year was baaaad :frowning: I did bring it up junior year though and I’m hoping to keep it up senior year. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the information guys(:</p>

11

<p>Oh I should add that I’m in the top 15% (possibly 10%)of my class. I go to a pretty competitive private school</p>