rd chances

Colleges & Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>im applying to upenn ed but duke is my number two choice as of now. can yall please evaluate my chances at admission for duke</p>

<p>I attend the second most competitive public school in Washington state.</p>

<p>gpa- 3.45uw 3.8 w
(6 ap's and 4 honors classes so weighted is close to a 3.9)
sat 2110 (760 v 680m 670w)
im also taking the september act and will likely send in that score rather than the sat.</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>Partial debate record:</p>

<p>National Honors
-One of only 18 debaters (nationwide) selected to attend the Team USA All-American qualifier</p>

<p>-Member of Team USA A-Team. (One of only five 1st team All-Americans)</p>

<p>-Represented America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the Pan-American Championship (western hemisphere debate tournament held in Southern California, October 2006)</p>

<p>-Will represent America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the European World Championship (held in Germany, February 2007)</p>

<p>-Will represent America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the World Championship (held in South Korea, July 2007)</p>

<p>-One of the nation’s first 25 to fully qualify for the Tournament of Champions.</p>

<p>-Finished 5th out of juniors nationwide at the TOC.</p>

<p>-Two time national qualifier in debate (finishing 27th Junior Year)</p>

<p>-Invited to 8 round robin tournaments in 5 states</p>

<p>-Member of top lab at Victory Briefs @ UCLA 2006 and varsity member in 2005 (receiving a merit based scholarship to the camp)</p>

<p>-One of only 6 debaters (out of 300) to participate in camp-wide demonstration debate.</p>

<ul>
<li>National Forensic League speech and debate All American</li>
</ul>

<p>State Honors</p>

<p>-Washington state co-champion of Lincoln-Douglas debate.(first junior to with the 3A state title since 2001)</p>

<p>-First speaker honors at state (first junior to receive award since late 1990's)</p>

<p>-First Junior in history to win 3A title, Top Speaker award, and clear as top seed at the state tournament.</p>

<p>-Only junior from Washington state to qualify for "the tournament of champions".</p>

<p>-First debater in Washington to fully qualify to the TOC </p>

<p>-Only debater to clear at all three "Washington TOC bid tournaments"</p>

<p>-Received "top speaker" awards at numerous tournaments</p>

<p>-2nd at state in extemporaneous speaking (2006) 2nd (2005)</p>

<p>-3rd at state in impromptu speaking. (2006) 4th (2005)</p>

<p>-3A Washington state record for both impromptu and extemp state bids (8 and 6 respectively)</p>

<p>-Only junior in recent memory to win the University of Puget Sound's Charles Battin award for outstanding speaker. (Most prestigious speaker award in the state) </p>

<p>Team Honors</p>

<p>-Two time team captain</p>

<p>-Three time speech co-captain and two time debate captain</p>

<p>-First and only debater from my school to qualify to TOC or Nationals in debate.</p>

<p>-Four year varsity lettermen </p>

<p>-Selected to attend the national qualifying tournament all four seasons </p>

<p>-Voted “rookie of the year” for the 2003-2004 season (my freshman year)</p>

<p>-Voted team “MVP” for 2005-2006 season (my junior year) </p>

<p>I have also done a huge amount of debate volunteer work (500+ hours) </p>

<p>Student Government positions held:
-7th grade class senator (one of only four)
-8th grade class senator (one of only four)
-9th grade council representative
-Freshman class vice-president
-Sophomore class president
-Junior class president
-Senior class president
-During my three years as class president I have lead the c/o 2007 to huge financial success. We are far and away the wealthiest class in history of the school due to our vast amounts of fund-raising and dedicated leaders.</p>

<p>Independent Academic Study:
-Took sixty hours of arabic composition at the Seattle Academy of Languages (Spring 2004)
-Practiced arabic speaking skills independently for 15 hours/week (April-June 2004)
-Enrolled in independent Old Testament studies with local biblical doctorate holder Steven Swanson. Six hours/week. (September 2005-May 2006)
-Completed an American Studies honors portfolio (wrote five essays on American historical figures and their influence on contemporary America) six hours/week. (March-June 2006)
-Read from Frank and Bernanke’s Principles of Macroeconomics in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Four hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*
-Read from Kleiner, Mamiya and Tansey’s Gardner's Art Through the Ages in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Three hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*
-Read from Mahler’s Comparative Politics: An Institutional and Cross-national Approach in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Four hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*</p>

<ul>
<li>I met with a HS faculty member once-twice a week and we would have a seminar or lecture on the material I had just read. The times given are for reading, seminars and homework/week.</li>
</ul>

<p>Baseball:
-Member of Peninsula Baseball Academy (18U All-Kitsap County Team) since age 13.
-Member of American Legion Post 68 Baseball Club (18U All-Kitsap Team) since age 15.
-Member of the 13U, 14U, 15U and 16U Traveling Teams (City-Wide All-Star Team)
-Led the 14U, 15U and 16U clubs in Batting Average and On-Base Percentage.
-Attendee at multiple baseball clinics (both pitching and infield)
-Awarded “first team honors” at both Stubbs’ Infield Clinic and Bainbridge Infield Clinic.
-Led the Freshman team in batting average (.535)
-Hit safely in all 8 Metro Division games sophomore year.
-Was an offensive leader in multiple categories (batting average, slugging percentage, RBI’s, Doubles, Hits, On-Base Percentage)</p>

<p>Tennis:
-One of only two individuals in the Metro Division to finish the 2006 regular season with an undefeated record. (11-0)
- Played as high as number 4 for my high school squad.
-Finished 3rd in the Metro Tournament (Greater Seattle Area) knocking off the 2nd 3rd and 10th seeds at the tournament.
-Finished with the highest winning percentage on the tennis team, (14-1, .9333) dropping only 2 sets all season.</p>

<p>Running/Cross Country:
-Member of xc team's “500 Club” (ran 500 miles over the summer)
-Ran number two consistently for the xc Squad.
-Averaged nearly 50 Miles a week in pre-season training
-Trained for and competed in the Seattle Half-Marathon
-Trained for and will compete in the Toe-Jam half-marathon
-Was a top-finisher for my age group in the 2004 and 2005 Winter Solstice 5K’s in seattle.</p>

<p>thanks again!</p>

2

<p>Your EC's are PHENOMINAL but your grades are atrocious and your SAT's are below average. My friend, I hate to ask you this question but even if you were accepted to Duke, do you think you would be able to handle the workload there??</p>

3

<p>haha we have almost the same SAT scores and college choices. Duke is my #1 and UPenn my #2. and I'm also taking the Sept ACT! Yeah your grades are low... do you have AP scores or SAT II scores or whatnot to back up ur grades? hm... but ECs are amazing!!! i can't say b/c i haven't applied, but just get those grades up.</p>

4

<p>evil- honestly, ive never even close to devoted myself to school. most of the time i dont even bring a backpack and whn i do its full of debate-relevant articles that i look over during class. i think if admitted i would do fine i have an amazing work ethic when motivated (40+ hour debate schedule) so like yes i could handle it.</p>

5

<p>u should get in.</p>

6

<p>the only ap ive taken so far (ap euro history) i received a 4 on the exam. i will be taking 6 ap's senior year so we shall see... will penn see my fall senior year grades if im applying rd (our semester ends in late january)</p>

7

<p>There were approximately 20 students from Washington State accepted to Duke for the Class of 2010.</p>

8

<p>actually more than 20 were accepted, but there are nearly 20 here.</p>

9

<p>No laundry list of EC's can make up for those test scores and grades. I say rejected. You have some nice EC's but the way you list it will become overkill in the eyes of any admissons officer.</p>

10

<p>how can i present it in a way that doesnt look overkill for adcom's?</p>

<p>also what medium to i present if im applying via common app online (do i send in the paper resume along with the two supplementary forms)</p>

11

<p>By the way, you can't choose to not send the SAT. SATs will be automatically sent to colleges.</p>

12

<p>how can i present it in a way that doesnt look overkill for adcom's?</p>

<p>also what medium to i present if im applying via common app online (do i send in the paper resume along with the two supplementary forms)</p>

<p>bump: my chances</p>

<p>thanks</p>

13

<p>The debate hook could get you get accepted, but make sure you tie your ECs in to why you want to be at Duke (or Penn) specifically. </p>

<p>As for overkill, reduce the independent study stuff to one sentence that mentions items 1, 3 and 4 (only) as examples of your outside interests and initiative. Citing dates, hours per week is toolish.</p>

14

<p>Physics08. That is not true. You can choose whether or not to submit the SAT to designated schools.</p>

15

<p>green- thanks a lot i will work on that (you are definitely right who the **** cares about time spent... my bad)</p>

<p>anyone else have overkill analysis for my ec's... or chances?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

16

<p>BUMP: ive heard that duke is a number fiend school, ie if you dont have the states you simply wont get in unless flagged for sports. is this true? would i have a shot with the debate/urm (native american) hook?</p>

17

<p>You did not mention Native American in your original post. If you are Native American you should have some tribal connection and activities with your tribe - there are none mentioned in your original post. Many tribes also offer scholarships for their members to attain a university education. </p>

<p>On the other hand if you are 3rd or 4th generation from 100% Native American you are 1/4 or 1/8 Native American Heritage and do you truly participate in the Tribe and consider yourself a member of your Tribe?</p>

<p>As far as your Debate activities - how do you intend to translate this activity once you are in college - is it something you are truly passionate about and will you be able to engage this type of activity at Duke? Or are you truly interested in a sport and are able to participate in that sport at the college level?</p>

<p>Take a look at the statistics for the Duke Class of 2010 to see how you would fit with this year's class.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2010profile.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2010profile.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Keep in mind that although there are about 1,900 total applications accepted that are in the "No Rank" column many private schools and small public schools do not rank their students.</p>

18

<p>Are you seriously considering Northwestern? They pretty much have the best debate team in the nation. And while debating will just be another hook for most other schools, Northwestern would love it even more because they really want to maintain their record of success - to the point where they would take it into stronger consideration than your grades (unlike Penn and Duke).</p>