<p>I have heard the Dean of Admissions at Duke (Christoph Guttentag) explicitly state that Duke does NOT track visits/calls/interest and they do not care about that sort of stuff. They want the strongest class possible. Having said that, if you can demonstrate FIT in your essay and other parts of your application which relates to interest and can back that up with information that you have learned about the university, then that certainly IS considered. So, they obviously want people enthusiastic and well-suited to contribute to the Duke community, but it is set up so that they don’t have any idea if you’ve visited, how many times you’ve called, and how likely you are to attend. Thus, “interest” is perhaps not directly used, but other parts of your application will shine if it’s clear you have a strong affinity and good fit to the university. Some schools do track this sort of information like WashU, for example. Duke does not.</p>
<p>Getting back to the topic at hand, I personally used Illinois and Michigan as my safeties (both for engineering). I got in around Sept/October so it was early enough that I could apply to others if necessary. Although I wouldn’t say that either is particular similar to Duke. Public schools are typically are more numbers oriented and more predictable in admissions than many private schools…</p>
<p>Would you necessarily require large, internationally recognized research universities as your safety schools? If not, there are many excellent “colleges” (notwithstanding their having “university” in their titles) that approach the Ivies, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, etc. in lifelong prestige, alumni network, academic rigor, graduate/professional school preparation, and so forth. These “colleges” do not have extensive graduate and professional school programs, and therefore their aggregate enrollment and faculty size are smaller – but they are excetionally fine and highly reputed institutions.</p>
<p>In/near New York, Colgate, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Trinity, Williams, Amherst, Bowden, Middlebury, Bates, and many others come immediately to mind. Somewhat further from New York, Davidson, Washington and Lee, and Kenyon might be worth of your consideration.</p>
<p>Obviously, these are NOT “safety schools” – they are outstanding, exceptionally selective colleges; however, schools of this nature (perhaps including some with slightly reduced scholastic stature) may be a reasonable – and a truly excellent – fallback in the event you are not admitted to one of your preferred alternatives (Ivy, Duke, et al).</p>
<p>i actually began looking into a few liberal arts colleges such as williams ect and they are way to small for my liking. my guidance counselor actually suggested michigan for me, and i also received a letter from loyola that they are going to send me an application and based on people who have gotten in from my school, i am very confident in an acceptance there. she also suggested college of william and mary as a safety, but is it really a safety school?</p>
<p>^second that. William and Mary I believe has to take a certain percentage from Virgina, therefor raising the standard for out of staters, but based on your stats, I would say that it is a good target.</p>
<p>@tennis625: safeties will also depend on your major. For engineering, many students like Purdue WPI etc. I’d also look at the acceptance rate in addition to the mid 50% for standardized testing. Based on your “name” any chance you want to play tennis in college? Because there’s a huge difference between college teams. What else is important regarding campus life? My d prefers the smaller LACs to the big state schools and she is sorting through sports availability on a varsity and club level in addition to the academics.</p>
<p>I would suggest Wake Forest, Rochester, Colgate, Maryland and maybe Virigina Tech. All are about the same size as your stated schools, offer rigorous academics and should be a bit easier to gain acceptance.</p>
<p>@livin487 i wont be playing varsity tennis in college, i really don’t want to have to commit to a college team although i will probably play at the club or intramural level, which doesnt really matter. and my intended major is biology btw</p>
<p>While Duke may not select on the basis of demonstrated interest, pay close attention to the option that allows a friend or family member to write a letter on your behalf. My son asked his little sister to write a letter. When she asked what she should write about he said to be honest and write about why Duke should accept him. She talked all about my son’s interest in Duke. It took her only a few minutes to write and turned out to be a hilarious letter that really conveyed my son’s strengths and passion for Duke (which was the only spot in his application, other than the two paragraphs in the “Why Duke?” essay that showed the clear fit).</p>
<p>Agree that W&M is a good target for you, although not a safety due to OOS status. You might also consider Rochester, Pitt, Syracuse, and Wake Forest. None are true safeties but with your stats you have much better than a 50/50 chance of admission at each of them.</p>
<p>A few safeties/targets that kids who apply to ivies from my school apply to- Syracuse, Pitt, UMass, Penn State, UVermont, George Washington, VTech, Wake and Maryland</p>
<p>Southern Methodist University is a good one to throw into the mix as well…it acts/feels like Duke in many ways (nice weather, social, pretty, preppy, pre-professional) and offers generous merit money (sibling got a $12,000/year scholarship with an 29 ACT). I’d also argue that it boasts a stronger alumni network than many of the aforementioned schools.</p>
<p>Have you considered the University of Miami? It was one of my borderline safety/target schools after I was waitlisted and then rejected from Duke during my 2007 admissions cycle (and accepted at UF, New College FL, FSU, Emory, and Tulane). UM gave me around the same scholarship value as Tulane (1/2 tuition). </p>
<p>UM is ranked 38 according to US News (higher than Tulane and many others listed), is a sure thing for your admission (I was saluditorian but low 1400s SAT/2110 of 2400 and got a scholarship), has D1 sports (that are currently flagging but with a storied history, great potential and enthusiastic students for fans), and is in a beautiful city. The intellectual environment is split pretty evenly between decently smart partiers and super bright, if pre-proffessional, students. Further, according to Princeton Review, UM and Duke are overlap schools when it comes to applicants with (admittedly) more students prefering Duke. That said, I knew two kids at UM accepted to Duke that still chose UM, one with a full tuition scholarship and one, like me, with half. </p>
<p>As far as grad school admissions post-UM, I am going to Penn (one of your top UG choices) and I have friends at Yale, GWU, the UMs (MD, Mich, Miami), London School of Economics, Duke (haha) and some great state schools. </p>
<p>Anyway, good luck with your admissions cycle. Consider adding UMiami to your list!</p>