My Chances? (RD)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>I'm a junior, but I'm already really into this whole college process. Anyways, the schools I am interested in are (in order): Duke, Penn, Michigan at Ann Arbor, Harvard, WashU, Northwestern (I have legacy here). I am wondering what are my chances at these and whether it will be a huge difference whether I apply ED or RD (especially at Duke).</p>

<p>As a junior who is only done with my first semester, I have limited stats. My school has a limit on the amount of AP's you can take during each year. Freshman year, we couldn't have any. Sophomore year, only AP Euro (4). This year, we can only have three. I am currently taking AP Chem, AP BC Calc, and AP Lang and Comp. Here are the rest of my stats:</p>

<p><strong>btw, I am DEFINITELY interested in pre-medicine and pursuing a career in medicine. i don't know exactly what i'll major in, but either neuroscience, biology, biochemistry, or cellular biology</strong></p>

<p>Gender: M
Location: Council Bluffs, Iowa
High School: Private
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA - Unweighted: 3.98
GPA - Weighted: 4.06</p>

<p>Scores:
ACT: 33
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 720</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Significant Extracurriculars: forensics (participated in both an individual and duet event), math club, tennis, golf, acadec</p>

<p>Athletic Status: tennis - received varsity letter every year, golf - received varsity letter sophomore year, basketball - junior varsity</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: NHS, hospital volunteer two hours per week for one year, cross-age, open door mission, other school-related volunteering</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: forensics - 1st at state (individual 9), 2nd at state (individual 10, duet 10), 3rd at state (duet 10), 1st at districts (individual 9/10, duet 9/10), 1st at conferences (individual 9/10, duet 9), 3rd at conferences (duet 10), 1st at state/districts/conferences as team (9, 10); eCybermission national science fair - regional winner in application of science, technology, and math (9); math club - 1st as team at UNL statewide math contest (9, 10, 11), competed on 1st place quiz bowl team (11); acadec - 2nd in math, 2nd in econ, 2nd in music, led team in math division (11); tennis - academic all state (11); golf - most improved player (10), best sportsmanship (10)</p>

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<p>Something to consider: pre-med at Duke is considered by many to be the most challenging and cut-throat academic pursuit. My interviewer actually attended Duke Med but attended a different, lesser challenging school for pre-med undergraduate because he understood how important a high GPA is for med school. I mentioned the idea of pre-med and he definitely warned against it.</p>

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<p>you have fairly good chances, write some killer essays and give it your all</p>

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<p>@malenonfare</p>

<p>I’ve heard the opposite: I believe Duke pre-med is generally considered to be MUCH less “cutthroat” than the pre-med programs of its peer schools. (Many students and counselors have attested to this.)</p>

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<p>Yes, compared to say Hopkins or other schools it may be less cutthroat. But I’m raising the consideration that if one has a certain intent of attending med school they may want to factor in the difficulty of the school they will be attending for undergrad. Duke pre med is no joke and it would be very difficult to graduate with, say, a 3.7+ where at a relatively easier school it would be guaranteed for some kids and have a much better chance at top med schools. Just my two-cents.</p>

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<p>I think the average Duke student accepted to med school gets something like a 3.4-3.5 GPA though, which is is certainly managable. (Don’t remember where exactly I saw this statistic.) If it is accurate it means med schools take the difficulty of Duke’s program into consideration.</p>

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<p>Fair enough. Just relaying what my interviewer said. Thanks for the statistic though!</p>

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<p>you have a good chance at duke if you do ED1. if you are def going to be pre-med, have you looked at Emory College? it’s a very good school for pre-med. lots of people graduate from Emory and end up going to very good med schools. My cousin went there and he is @ upenn’s med school right now. there are hospitals that are part of Emory, so if you end up at Emory, you could do volunteering/internship there which will look good on your resume. plus, Emory is known as the Ivy of south when it comes to med… most people who graduate from Emory tend to find jobs easily. btw, Emory is right next to the CDC. It’s very diverse and have great social scene. I really recommend that you look into it. :)</p>

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<p>Dude, you need leadership and initiative. Your stats are good (what’s your class rank?), but you need more leadership. Also, make sure that you knock the essays out of the park. If Duke is your number 1 school, go for ED. It is binding, but if Duke is your number 1, that doesn’t matter. Also consider some other schools such as:
Johns Hopkins
UVA
UNC - Chappel Hill
Dartmouth
Cornell
Princeton
Yale
Brown
UCLA
UC - Berkley
and of course some safety school as a fallback.</p>

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<p>^ I forgot to add Columbia too.</p>

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<p>If the OP has financial concerns and needs to be able to compare financial aid packages from different schools before committing, then it does matter.</p>