<p>So today my GC showed me a [generic-looking] letter from Duke that said something like Dear Colleague: Duke has gotten a huge surge of applications this year meaning we will be able to accept a lesser percentage than ever before....blah blah blah...basically stating to not get your students hopes up of attending Duke. We had about 3-4 apply here, most of which were pretty strong. My question is, did all schools get these, and is this a typical thing for elite schools to send out? Does it signify anything (ie sorry..no one from your school got in).</p>
<p>Not sure I can answer your questions but we met with my son's GC today. She showed us the same letter. My son plans to apply to Duke next year. She showed it to us to point out how many more kids are applying to Duke these days.</p>
<p>On the other hand, our state university honors program told me a few weeks ago that they were expected to get flooded with kids who would normally go to Duke but now can't afford it because of the economy. Seems like mixed messages to me.</p>
<p>I don't understand the point of such a letter...maybe they are trying to head off a wave of questions once people get their rejection notices. Way to keep hope alive.</p>
<p>I would imagine that while there will be more people who will choose to attend a state school over Duke due to financial considerations, calling it a "flood" might be exaggerating it a bit. </p>
<p>Duke's financial aid not only has been largely unaffected by the economic situation but has actually steadily improved in the past few years with introduction of programs which target the families in the lower to middle incomes. These efforts culminated in the just-concluded Financial Aid Initiative which raised over $300 million dollars for financial aid. Furthermore, Duke officials have repeatedly stated that financial aid will not be impacted by the economy. In view of this, I'd say that those that have been most severely hit by the economic downturn (by unemployment for example which causes a dramatic decrease in family income) would actually get better aid from Duke than before due to their new financial situations.</p>
<p>Yeah, my <em>counselour</em> admissions/career people at my school showed me the postcard about a month ago.</p>
<p>But I found out I got in today, so do read anything except that admissions is hella competive.</p>
<p>How did you find out you got in today? congrats!</p>
<p>Let me rewrite that as likely got in. Invitation for BSAI weekend.</p>