<p>hi all.. </p>
<p>Does anyone know what is the percentage from waitlisted turning into acceptance?</p>
<p>Thanks...</p>
<p>wondering the same thing!!</p>
<p>Also waitlisted here. Do you think it’s bad/weird to send a nice email to my regional admissions officer asking if there was anything in particular that put me on the waitlist? I’m just curious. I’m probably not going to accept a spot on the waitlist, but if I knew for sure what it was that kept me off I might have a better idea of if I will eventually be accepted…ughhh this is just frustrating XD.</p>
<p>A few schools publish their statistics on their over all admissions. Thanks to Mathfan123 (a parent on cc) I was able to find the site that has compiled the links of different colleges and you will find it here:</p>
<p>[Common</a> Data Sets - Admitipedia](<a href=“http://www.admitipedia.org/page/Common+Data+Sets]Common”>http://www.admitipedia.org/page/Common+Data+Sets)</p>
<p>Unfortunately Duke is not very good at publishing their information. Yale seems to do this very well.</p>
<p>The letter spelled out 75 picks and about 1000 on the waitlist, which isn’t so great, but, I am choosing to look at it this way:</p>
<p>1) They got 31,500 applications (most in school history).
2) They admitted 11% of those: about 3,400.
3) They put an additional 1,000 on the waitlist.
4) Which means they rejected 27,100 really strong applicants, and fortunately I made the cut and so did you guys if you’re posting up on this particular thread.<br>
5) So, Duke likes me right now but doesn’t LOVE me.</p>
<p>I got into Davidson College and I do believe that the quality of the undergraduate education is at least as good as that at Duke, possibly better, due to the fact that no graduate students teach classes at Davidson. </p>
<p>the kitesurfer.</p>
<p>stewta4,</p>
<p>It’s worth a try but I think you might want to just send in a letter to demonstrate your continued interest in the university. I wouldn’t drop my spot on the waitlist if I were you…you already took the time to write essays to Duke and Harvard? I would just enroll at Michigan for now and wait and see what happens at the other two schools.</p>
<p>While I’m not going to make any statements about quality of undergraduate education at any institution, I think the “graduate students teaching classes” metric is ambiguous, potentially misleading, and ultimately of little value. </p>
<p>Based on personal experience, I can tell you that the one class where I had a graduate student lecturer at Duke happens to be one of the best taught classes I ever took in college. Does that prove anything? No, it’s just an anecdote. </p>
<p>However, what exactly does the metric even mean? No grad student is the lead lecturer in a course? But does that mean grad students can teach sub-sections of a large course like my grad student teacher did? What about labs? Are they run by professors or grad students or maybe even undergrads? What about recitations? Do those count as “courses” or just sub-components of courses? What about teaching assistants that work under a professor? What if they are the first people that you are directed to go to when you have problems or if they are the ones running office hours? All these things are poorly defined but extremely important if you want to get at the intent behind the metric and yet they are not consistent across institutions nor are there even agreed upon standards. </p>
<p>Granted Davidson may have fewer graduate students and therefore less chance of you running into one. (Edit: it looks like Davidson has no graduate students at all and therefore zero chance of you running into one) But I would argue that that’s probably a disadvantage. Graduate students can be wonderful mentors, friends, and mature people. They are further along in their training but are not so far removed from your experiences as to make their perspectives and advice irrelevant. The point is that it’s always beneficial to surround yourself with people at different stages of life and training because they are often your best sources of information. I know I certainly benefited from working with a diverse group of people ranging from undergrads to senior PIs.</p>
<p>Edit: regardless though, the educational environment at Davidson is very different from that at Duke. If you feel like the close-knit community, small classes, and more personal attention is what you like then Davidson is probably a better fit.</p>
<p>goldenboy8784,</p>
<p>Today I actually drove to Ann Arbor by myself (it’s only 1.5 hours away from where I live) and walked around campus and stuff. This is the third time I’ve been to Michigan’s campus and I love it everytime. The thing is, even if I was accepted to Duke, there would have been a big chance that I would have chosen Michigan anyways because its instate tuition, I still love Michigan academically, and I personally like bigger schools better. Duke obviously is better academically, but the difference isn’t that big, especially being in Michigan honors. Not to mention, Michigan football and Ann Arbor > Durham. So I really think I won’t accept my waitlist spot because the only purpose that would serve would be a trivial morale booster for me if I ultimately was accepted. But I feel like it’s rude to keep my name in when there are others who would definitely attend if accepted. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if you accept a waitlist spot and they accept you if you automatically have to go? You can still say no right? (I know this seems like a stupid question considering my prior statements, but my parents want to know haha)</p>
<p>@Stewta4 Here is an article that is work reading on what the right thing to do is:</p>
<p>[You’re</a> on the Waiting List. Now What? - NYTimes.com](<a href=“You're on the Waiting List. Now What? - The New York Times”>You're on the Waiting List. Now What? - The New York Times)</p>
<p>The short answer to your question is NO, you are not obligated to go. With wait list from 4 schools how many of these should my D stay on wait list is a dilemma we are face with. All these schools are in the top 10 by way of ranking.</p>
<p>in the past decade…anywhere from 1 to 200 people have gotten in.</p>
<p>versus a Ph.D.? Please!? </p>
<p>A grad student certainly can be a friend or mentor but if anyone had to choose between a professor or a grad student for teaching a class, and the student was really keen on an intense learning experience, who in the world would NOT choose a professor?</p>
<p>I think Duke has a great reputation but it leans more towards professors doing research, so that’s going to dampen the time in the classroom, certainly at least during the first 2 years. At Davidson, there aren’t any grad students so the profs have to teach, and I think that’s where learning really fosters!</p>
<p>I think of Duke as a cousin to Davidson, and your last paragraph sums that up nicely.</p>
<p>thanks,</p>
<p>the ks.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I’m guessing you’ve never met a terrible professor before. Just because someone is faculty or has a PhD means nothing in terms of teaching ability. A PhD is a research degree first and foremost. You don’t get a PhD by teaching, you get it by doing projects and writing papers. Therefore, the most you can say about a PhD vs. a grad student from academic achievement perspective is that a PhD is more independent in a lab (I’m speaking of a science PhD obviously) and more knowledgeable in his chosen field/subfield of research. I’m not up on how liberal arts colleges hire professors, but in most basic science departments at many universities the criteria for hiring junior faculty is dominated by publishing record, funding record, whether or not candidates have their own grants, etc. Teaching experience is really just a bonus. The same can be said for getting tenure except teaching performance may be a slightly larger component. </p>
<p>While it may be different at Davidson because faculty do not have grad students or aren’t as focused on research, it may not be true everywhere and it certainly isn’t and to say that grad student is automatically inferior to a PhD is a gross misconception.</p>
<p>Can anyone offer their guesses as to how many of the 1000 waitlisted applicants will be accepted? Last year I heard the figure was around 80ish, so can we expect a number similar to that?</p>
<p>I thought it said they admitted 1700 out of 31,500. isnt that more like 5%?</p>
<p>They enrolled around 1700 in the freshmen class, but not everyone they admit will end up enrolling. Historically, Duke’s yield (the proportion of accepted applicants who enroll) is round 43-44%, so Duke accepts around 3900 students across ED/RD/waitlist to get 1700 enrollees.</p>
<p>
I think you’re forgetting that Duke Basketball is probably one of the biggest brands in college sports alongside Kentucky Basketball, UNC Basketball, Notre Dame Football, Michigan Football, etc. so it’s a wash in the sports realm. Additionally Michigan tends to be good at Hockey while Duke is good at Lacrosse.</p>
<p>You have good reasons for staying in-state though. What would the cost differential for your family? I was able to attend Duke being an in-state Michigander but the difference in costs was pretty manageable. I was also pretty upset that I didn’t get Ross Preadmit which was silly now looking back in retrospect.:D</p>
<p>I got accepted after being deferred ED. So there is hope!</p>
<p>^I guess the difference is with MI football you’re assured a ticket for every game if you want one. Not to mention, MI has a basketball team too! (although obviously not as good as Duke, they were still competitive). The cost differential would be large as I don’t qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>You’re guaranteed admission into every Duke basketball game as long as you show up 15 minutes before tipoff basically (except UNC). And the tickets are free and the best seats in the house. At Michigan, as a student you are eligible to purchase season tickets for $200+ in seats that are in the endzone. I’ve been to 10 or so Michigan football games (some in the student section) and 50+ Duke basketball games. Personally, I’d say for the game itself, the Duke basketball experience is superior in the student section of Michigan football (although all the Michigan games I’ve been to have basically been blowouts, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison). </p>
<p>However, the pre-game hoopla/tailgating/campus atmosphere prior to a Michigan football game on a Saturday during the day is far superior to the pre-game atmosphere on a Thursday night Duke basketball game. Although Duke used to have a pretty racous “tailgate” prior to football games, but that got abolished by the administration. Michigan football is certainly awesome though - seeing 110,000 people in a huge stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon is pretty special, but the intensity of the crowd at Duke basketball with people stuffed into a tiny gym for a big game can’t be beat in my opinion. (Although, again, I haven’t been fortunate enough to attend a highly anticipated Michigan-Ohio St football game or the like.)</p>