<p>So there are at least 8-10 people from my high school (of 1700) applying early to Duke, which seems to be an extremely high number to me. I live in liberal california so not that many people apply south. Does the fact that so many people are applying lessen my chances?</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat here. There are 8 of us including me and one is a recruited athlete and another is the daughter of a very large donor (my grades are far better than both of their's but I dont think it's going to matter)</p>
<p>Duke doesn't seem to be averse to taking many kids from the same school. Don't worry about it.</p>
<p>i kno that i'm gonna sound like a nerd .. but admissions confidential (the book written by a former duke admissions officer) said that if more than one student applies from a school, and they let someone with a hook in (i.e.: sports star, minority, etc.), then they also have to let in any other competitive app, just so that it doesnt look fishy.... but i dont know if i would really take that to heart</p>
<p>Generally, you are not competing for admission with either of them. Sports stars and rich donors are a separate category. In the case of a school like Duke, where there are potentially a lot of wealthy applicants, "rich" is reserved for "really rich." Similarly, a dozen of Duke's sports teams were ranked in the top ten last year and several are considered at the very top, so an athlete has to be really good to get offered a scholarship.</p>
<p>As for how they MIGHT affect your application: assuming both are special cases: Duke might want to take a traditional smart applicant to show that they aren't making special preferences or to help get the other two people to show up. More likely, their applications won't affect you very much either way.</p>