My chances at Duke

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>OK, so here's my specs:</p>

<p>-GPA: 4.0 UW 4.47 W
-SAT I: 660 M 630 V 640 W (1290/1600, or 1930/2400)
-ACT: 31 M 31 E 25 S 23 R (Composite 27)... will test again hoping for a 29
-3rd of 168 in my class, really close race though but probably landing in the top 5 people
-AP: U.S. History (didn't test), US Gov't Pol (scores pending, prob. 3 or 4), Chemistry (Senior year...), English Language/Comp. (Senior year...), and possibly Econ (Senior year...)
-Dual Enrollment for Calculus I at North Georgia College & State University (Senior Year)
-Intense course load, all core classes were honors
-I will have taken 5 sciences (Honors: Biology, Physical Science, Physics, Chemistry I, AP Chemistry), 6 maths (Honors: Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Trig, Calc [@ my H.S.], Calc I [@ NGCSU]), 4 englishes (Honors: 9th Grade Lit/Comp., 10th Grade Lit/Comp., American Lit., AP Lit./Comp.), 4 social sciences/histories (Honors: World History, AP U.S. History, AP US Gov't, Economics)
-Layout Editor/Asst. Editor-in-Cheif of an award winning student newspaper for 6 semesters, winning highest honors at the Georgia Scholastic Press Assoc. awards for layout and design, lead the paper to it's first ever color issues and increased the pages of the paper by 25%
-National Honor Society (will hold an officer position next year) (11,12)
-Senior BETA club (9-12)
-Spanish Club (11,12) (maybe officer next year?): 3rd place spanish literature competition (state)
-Future Business Leaders of America (9,10,11,12): awarded 6th place in the state computer programming competition</p>

<p>-EAGLE SCOUT</p>

<p>PIANO:
-National Guild of Piano Teachers 5 year national Superiors
-Participation in GA Music Teachers Assoc. piano contest
-5 year membership in the Nat'l Fraternity of Student Musicians
-Working on the Nat'l Guild High School Diploma
-Will submit recordings with application
-Plan to minor in music or piano performance (if available)</p>

<p>COMPUTER:
-Self taught BASIC, Visual BASIC, Visual Basic .NET, JavaScript, HTML, VBScript, some C++, some JAVA
-Programmed personal projects mostly, some devoted to music
-6th place in state competition for Visual Basic .NET
-Webmaster for a local docters office (not a good example of my work, however)
-Very proficient in graphic design (self taught, used also in the school newspaper)</p>

<p>PHOTOGRAPHY:
-Self taught, and lessons taken
-Photography Editor for the student newspaper (9,10), layout editor (11,12)</p>

<p>Active at my Episcopal church in services, youth group, counselor at a state episcopal church camp</p>

<p>Am. Red Cross certified lifeguard (3 years), Water Saftey Instructor (1 year)</p>

<p>Worked/working at a college pool, and a public pool for 3 years.</p>

<p>Georgia resident (one of Duke's highest admittance rates as far as states go)</p>

<p>Probably a decent essay writer</p>

<hr>

<p>What are my chances at Duke? What other colleges might I persue?</p>

2

<p>I also might mention I was a semifinalist for Google's Summer of Code program where winners work with open source companies in developing open source applications for the summer and receive a $4500 stipend. Although I didn't win this year, I was a semifinalist and will try again next year.</p>

3

<p>I also participated in the National Youth Leadership Council to Washington D.C. this year. I was elected the "President" of my Caucus.</p>

4

<p>really active and involved - I think you have a pretty decent chance, though your SAT scores will be the weakest part of ur app. THis might be overlooked due to the other things u have done and the classes uve taken which I must say are quite impressive - great job! The only thing I'd work on is upping those SAT scores cuz ur below the midrange at this point. Being below is ok to a certain extent, especially if the other parts of the app are great, which they are in ur case. So try to up them a little and apply ED if Duke is the one for you. Good luck</p>

5

<p>If you don't have a hook (athlete, URM, wealth, legacy) having a below average SAT makes you an unlikely admit.</p>

6

<p>Thanks guys. Well, one thing I regret was that I didn't continue soccer into high school. I have realized now that no athletic experience will hurt me. I am working on my SAT. But I think my chances are better with the ACT since I got a 31 in several sections. My reading section I'm sure was a fluke (I only took it once) and I'm a science lover so maybe I can come up a little there. If I get my composite to a 29 then I would fall in the midrange.</p>

7

<p>What is URM? Do you really think wealth plays a part?</p>

8

<p>u hav an amazing transcript but so did a friend of mine who also applied to duke...she got rejected though...this year it had a 7% acceptance rate...you shud try stanford, harvard, princeton...and cornell (just to be on the safe side). I'm not saying that u willl b rejected but u hav to keep ur options open...i wud say that u hav a 60% chance of being accepted...good luck</p>

9

<p>I don't necessarily think that not playing sports will hurt you because you do a lot of other things that fill the plce of sports. The competitions you have won show initiative and ability which is good too. good luck! :)</p>

10

<p>sarah2468: u hav an amazing transcript but so did a friend of mine who also applied to duke...she got rejected though...this year it had a 7% acceptance rate...you shud try stanford, harvard, princeton...and cornell (just to be on the safe side). </p>

<p>Do you really think that applying to stanford, harvard, princeton, or cornell would be BETTER alternatives than Duke? I think my chances are severely higher at Duke than those places, or am I wrong?</p>

<p>Also, on the acceptance rate for 2004-5:</p>

<p>Applications: 16,741
Accepted: 3,806
(Enrolled: 1,638)</p>

<p>That's about a 22.7% acceptance rate.</p>

<p>For early admissions, it's even higher (about 36%).</p>

11

<p>yeah, 7% is extremely misinformed.</p>

12

<p>Thanks guys. I'll try to up my SAT.</p>