<p>A bunch of juniors at my school visited Duke over the weekend, and they've all come back scared as hell. Apparently the Duke info session gave them the impression that getting into Duke is next to impossible and that it's essentially stupid to even try. Now, I'm not going to say that admission to Duke is easy, but they do take 20% of applicants (and I'm sure the % is higher ED). And I don't see why they'd use such scare tactics at an info session-doesn't it benefit the college to have more applicants?</p>
<p>Anyway, I was wondering if other people got the same impression from Duke info sessions (I've never been to the one on campus, only local ones with the awesome Alice Sy), or if the juniors are my school are just wusses.</p>
<p>i think they only say that because they only want the best of the best, not some kid who didnt get into any ivys. they want the hardest working and brightest kisd to apply who WILL enroll if they are let in.</p>
<p>I'm surprised that your classmates would have come away with that impression, because the feedback I've received from the sessions was usually positive. I'm sure they try to stress the selectivity of the school, and the competition applicants are facing. Was this the first session they had attended at an upper-tier school? If so, then I could see how they could have been intimidated by the realities of the Duke admissions process.</p>
<p>Juniors always react this way when they're getting into looking at colleges. Every person at/near the top of their class thinks that going to HYPM is their destiny. Then they find out that qualified people often don't get accepted and that it's not predictable. That in and of itself is scary.
By the time the juniors apply the acceptance rate will probably be below 20%, but yeah, Duke isn't impossible to get into by any stretch. I think the info session people just want to stress that Duke isn't a safety school and to treat it like one is not smart. Just as you point out 20% doesn't look like a very low number and some high-achieving students could look at it as a guaranteed admission just because it isn't as low as Harvard. It doesn't work that way.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll tell them (as is my seniorly duty) to chill out. Duke's probably a reach-match for most of them, but I think they know that already. The one thing that was sort of disturbing, is they were quoting that "20,000 people apply to Duke, and only 1,800 get in," while in actuality 1,800 enroll (and almost 4,000 get in). I guess misunderstandings like that happen when you're new to the process.</p>
<p>The admittance rate is not much higher for ED...they deferred a LOT of kids this year...most of whom will be rejected</p>
<p>jfm:</p>
<p>ANY school with a acceptance rate <40% is a reach for everyone, unless they have a major hook, such as Coach K has been calling. Schools like Duke get thousands of apps that have >3.9 gpa, and great test scores great ECs.</p>
<p>Exactly. Duke rejected over 800 valedictorians last year, and though I think that is kind of a gross statistic, it shows just how many extremely well-qualified candidates don't make it through the admissions process. Just a couple years ago Yale's early admittance rate was 38% and its overall acceptance rate was around 19%, but I would be very sorry for the kid back then who saw those numbers with a sense of confidence...</p>
<p>When we visited last spring, I didn't find the session scary so much as off-putting. The adcom who led the session was just about insufferably snotty, not so much regarding the school (we'd done the reading and knew Duke is megaselective) as in her manner and delivery. Zero warmth and not much humor beyond snipy comments about those poor deluded kids who just aren't Duke material. We've been to info sessions at similarly competitive schools, and there are ways to get the message across while maintaining a sense of cordiality and even fellowship. This gal didn't bother.</p>
<p>Two friends reported feeling the same way at different sessions - one with the same adcom, one with another. One mom wanted to stand up during the Q & A and say, "You know, more than half the kids you accept ARE going to TURN YOU DOWN," and walk out (but knew her son would have murdered her if she did).</p>
<p>Duke is a fantastic school, but it was hard to feel that way during the session. Reading "Admissions Confidential" during that same trip was quite the one-two punch.</p>
<p>Yes, unfortunately your experience isn't uncommon at other schools I think. I remember one that I went to at another school, not Duke, the person leading the session was just so arrogant, saying you basically needed 1600s to get in (and this wasn't even that great of a school). I guess certain adcoms get high off making people view them as godlike, omnipotent gatekeepers who hold the key to the masses' (academic) salvation in their hands. I mean, really, that is the highest level to which an adcom can ascend, being an almost mythical figure to be virtually worshipped and appeased to even gain consideration for the right to enter the glorious heavens that are their respective schools.
Anyways, that's a bit of hyperbole, but hopefully you get the point. Sometimes I think that adcoms' minds do get twisted. But mostly I think schools just don't want to be overlooked as "easy" to get into. It's a pride thing.
And that's why it's dangerous to judge a school on one student, professor, class, or admissions representative, whether the impression be good or bad.</p>