<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Is it much easier to get into Duke ED than RD. I want to do RD, but I'm just curious.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, ED acceptance rate is much higher than RD. 30% vs 17%.</p>
<p>When you do early decision, you put an edge on your application because you are essentially saying - "Duke is absolutely my number one choice." So if Duke is your first choice and you are an applicant on the bubble, you should consider applying early.</p>
<p>DS09 is, of course, right. I wanted to mention that I think there's two reasons for this.</p>
<p>First, it does help the yield and admissions rates. This is the cynical explanation and I think it's probably true.</p>
<p>Second, however, it just means that this kid wants it that much more badly, and - on a personal level - the adcom really is going to pay more attention for that reason. These people hate having to turn qualified kids away, and it hurts that much more when you know you're a kid's top choice. This is the naive, hopeful explanation, and I think it's probably true, too.</p>
<p>Yeah. Duke may be considered more of a safety for some Harvard-bound kids... or whatever. I'm sure they'd much rather see someone who wants to go to Duke for Duke, not because they didn't get into college A and so have to go with their fourth choice school or whatever.</p>
<p>Duke isnt a safety for anyone.</p>
<p>It's probably a safety along with Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for a few of the kids that go to IIT, but that's neither here nor there. Though I do know one guy who might have been IIT material, except really liked Duke's campus and just came here instead of even trying for IIT.</p>
<p>IIT? Illinois Institute of Technology? Indiana? Iowa? India?</p>