<p>I'm a rising high school senior and Duke is my dream school. I'm going to apply ED. What are my chances and what can I do to improve them? Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Profile: White Suburban Female from New York (No points there)
GPA: 3.91 Unweighted (School does not weight)
School Type: Highly Competitive Public
SAT: 2140...Math -700, CR - 720, Writing - 720 (Will retake in October...Math practice tests had been 800s)
SAT IIs: US History - 770, Math IC - 750</p>
<p>Junior Year APs:
US History - 5 (School only offers APUSH and AP Stat for juniors)</p>
<p>Senior Year Schedule:
AP Calc AB
AP Spanish Language
AP English Lit
AP Comparative Government
AP Chemistry
Advanced Latin III</p>
<p>ECs:
President/Founder of club to raise money for children's hospital - 10, 11, 12
Treasurer of Midnight Run Club (Brings food/supplies to homeless in NYC)..Club Member - 9, 10...Treasurer - 11, 12
Special Olympics Coach
Volunteer at group home w/ men who suffer from down's syndrome (I will become certified as a counselor there this summer)
School Newspaper - 9, 10...Assistant Editor - 11
NAAPT Physics Bowl Participant (Only girl from my school who qualified - 10 students - 9 boys and me)
High School Honor Society - 11, 12
National History Day Competition - 4th place in region; 3rd place in state
Tutored a mentally disabled boy in math for 4 years
Varsity Tennis - 9, 10, 11, 12 (Captain)
USTA Tennis - Ranked in top 60 in Eastern Section
*I probably forgot to list some...</p>
<p>Please let me know what you think my chances are and what I can do to improve them...</p>
<p>You really can't do a darn thing academically at this point - yes, the SAT might go up a little bit, perhaps, but that just gets you into the game. </p>
<p>Will you be recruited for tennis? Have you contacted the coach?</p>
<p>I could play Division III tennis but Duke is one of the best teams in Division I. I could play Duke but definitely not varsity so I have not contacted the coach. Should I contact the coach even if I know that I would not be able to make the team?</p>
<p>What's the hook? Female physics major? Community service?</p>
<p>And...much more important than any of this...what is the safety that you love? Duke is a great school, but there are an awful lot of schools with relatively similar profiles.</p>
<p>Schools that I don't know virtually anything about (so take with a grain of salt) but which are reputed to have at least some similarities to Duke but with easier admissions profiles MIGHT include Wake Forest, Furman, and Tulane.</p>
<p>If physics is your area of interest, definitely emphasize that in your application. From my son's high school, the girls going into science, engineering and computer science who graduated this year did extraordinarily well in college admissions to ivies and other elite schools, including Duke. Not to say they weren't well qualified, but among the thousands of well qualified applicants, I think admissions people are looking twice at girls going into science/math fields. Perhaps Larry Summer should be thanked for this.</p>
<p>I don't think that physics will be my hook. I did well in the class but studied very hard and the material did not come naturally to me. I think my hook will be community service. I have done a lot of work with adults who have down's syndrome and this summer i am working at a school for down's syndrome and autistic children in london. I do not have any safety schools lined up which I am nervous about. My guidance counselor recommended emory and vanderbilt as potential safeties/matches. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Emory and Vanderbult are good matches, but hardly safeties. Look for schools where they admit roughly 50% of candidates (unless the New York State schools can function in that role.)</p>
<p>On community service, check out Duke very carefully for what community service organizations they are linked up with, and do some research on the Raleigh-Durham community to try to discover where you might fit in. If that comes through on your application, it might make a big difference. (will you potentially be a psychology, neurobiology, child study or social work major? or is it all on the side - which is perfectly fine - just trying to help you think about how to package the hook.)</p>
<p>What is your class rank? Every kid that I've seen get into Duke (I've been an alum interviewer for 10 yrs) had a very high class rank - top 10 (and I don't mean percent). Your SAT's are good but probably a little on the low side i.e. they won't automatically get you knocked out but the adcoms will look a little harder to see what else is there to "overcome" them. I think you have a good hook. Write a great essay. Again, what I've consistently seen is that successful applicants have something "unique" about them and it comes through loud and clear in their application. Like the kid a few years ago who had started a club at his HS called S.A.S.S. (society for appreciation of simpson satire) and really looked forward to starting a chapter at Duke. Now I think THAT really got the attention of the duke admissions people. He was quirky but totally his own person, true to his own quirky self, and I think it probably came across loud and clear in his application presentation.</p>
<p>That's the best advice I can give. And, oh yeah, find a safety that you love. ALWAYS the best piece of advice you'll ever get from CC!</p>
<p>Collegegrl88, your grades, test scores, and EC's certainly put you in the running for the highly selective colleges. Write excellent essays, get good references, and good luck!</p>
<p>Fredo - If you are an alum interviewer for Duke I'll bow to your expertise, but just let me mention that at my kids' HS (another highly ranked NY-area HS), MANY kids have been admitted to Duke without having one of the ten highest GPAs in the school.</p>
<p>OP, I think you have an excellent chance. But I also agree with the others that you need to establish a theme. Woman in Science? Community Servant? Student-Athlete? </p>
<p>(And are you sure you can't get recruited for tennis? Top 60 in the East sure sounds good to me.)</p>
<p>I agree with quiltguru that your grades and test scores put you in the running with Duke. Of course, "in the running" doesn't mean "acceptance in April." </p>
<p>What do I think you can you do to maximize your chances?</p>
<p>It would be nice if you could get your SATs up past 750 in each category--don't know if that is possible; and it won't cement an acceptance anyway. 1420 (old SAT) score for Duke is "OK" but it doesn't ring any chimes.</p>
<p>Do really really well in senior year. If you are on the bubble come admissions time, a bad first semester senior year can push you off (on the wrong side).</p>
<p>Do as good a job you can do on your application. If your hook is going to be community service, you need a really great essay and you should get a fabulous recommendation from the group that you spend a lot of time with.</p>
<p>But most of all--DON'T fall in love with a school who hasn't accepted you and DO fall in love with a safety school that you would be happy to go to if Duke doesn't come through. With a good safety in your pocket, you can reach with confidence for any highly selective school.</p>
<p>I agree that you're stats and ec's put you "in the running" but I just went through this with my son who applied early, was deferred and then rejected with excellent scores (1520), grades (3.9 UW) and decent ec's (also from NY). An excellent essay on your ec's would be very important,especially if you can connect it to a particular Duke or Durham program. My son will be going instead to Vanderbilt, which I think is an excellent alternative to Duke and a great fit for him.</p>
<p>I know a boy who was also rejected from Duke with nearly perfect test scores, and the opinion of a Duke professor that he was a "shoo-in.". There is no guarantee of getting into that school. From what I have heard, Duke is very interested in students with community service and leadership. You have that experience, you just need to call attention to it. You might also play up the female in math/physics angle; most schools are very interested in attracting more women to these fields. You might also look into applying to the school of engineering, which has a higher overall acceptance rate than the liberal arts school.</p>
<p>collegegrl88: My daughter was accepted to Duke, although will be attending UNC. Many kids from her high school are accepted to Duke, and many attend, though some choose to go elsewhere-- for various reasons. But I doubt any would consider Furman, Tulane, or WF to have a "similar profile" to Duke. They are private schools, perhaps similar in size, but definitely not similar in surrounding area (though I'm not that familiar with Furman), nor in quality of academics (in my opinion), but certainly would be considered safeties in comparsion. </p>
<p>I noted your community service, and Duke does have a connection with Durham, where I believe kids do tutor and also volunteer in shelters. I suspect Duke also tends to lean towards kids who have a strong science background, whether you plan on going into that field or not. More importantly, they always stress that students should take the most difficult course load your school offers (and obviously do well in the courses). </p>
<p>And if you haven't posted this on the Duke board already, you should. You'll get some helpful information there.</p>
<p>I think that Vanderbilt, UVA and Emory receive applications from many of the same kids who apply to Duke. We found Vanderbilt to be most similar in terms of size, liberal arts focus, availability of pre-professional minors (such as business) and sports (well, it's not Duke, but it is Division 1). These were all important factors for my son.</p>
<p>I would agree with the above that Emory and Vanderbilt are much more similar to Duke in many ways and do seem to attract many of the same students. I think that's true for Emory, especially, since it also tends to attract pre-med students. And I think these would be easier to gain acceptance (if you're looking for safeties in addition to your application to Duke). UVA, however, is a fairly difficult acceptance for out of state students, though, as is UNC. I do think both these state schools tend to attract the some of the same students (as those applying to Duke), but again..I wouldn't consider either one a safety for an out of state student.</p>