Should I bother applying?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Lol... my parents suggested me to apply just for the hell of it. I know my chances are slim, but do I at least have somewhat of a chance? Will I get auto-rejected? </p>

<p>HS: Top 10 public in the state. Sends ~10 kids to Ivies every year and tons more to top schools.
GPA: ~3.3-3.4 UW (horrible I know T_T) 4.0 UC weighted capped, 4.09 UC weighted uncapped</p>

<p>Upward trend
Sophomore year: 5 Bs 1 A
Junior year: 3 As 3 Bs (one of my Bs was in AP English, which is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE ot get an A in)</p>

<p>Rank: HS doesn't do rank
SAT: 2250/1510 single sitting, 2290/1540 superscore
SAT II: 800s on chem and math iic
AP: 5s on chem, calc ab, english lang&comp, bio, and music theory
College courses: A in Intro to Business during jr year
Senior sched: 4 APs (econ, stat, calc bc, lit)
Total APs: 8 including sr year</p>

<p>ECs/volunteer/other crap:
-Piano 9 years. I play competitively and I won a bunch of competitions (internationally too) and awards. I played in Carnegie Hall multiple times. I have also tutored kids since 9th grade, and I perform for a nearby senior center.
-Violin 7 years. Played in school orchestra since 4th grade and started playing in the HS's chamber orchestra since 10th grade
-Vice president of academic league 3 years. We have been undefeated for the past 6 years or so whoohoo
-Breakdance 2 years. Started at the end of sophomore year. I performed a couple of times at school events. Also did performances in China during the summer and got invited to several middle schools to perform and teach dance to the kids.
-Interned at Credit Suisse for several weeks summer before senior year. Traded stock on my own (made some moneyz yay), and learned a lot of stuff from my mentor, a proprietary trader.
-Did research in a Rutgers bio lab for 2 years, 4 weeks each
-50+ hours of volunteer at an environmental center
-~100 hours at Chinese school
-20 hours helping dem. candidates run for election for our township committee
Recs: Should be great</p>

<p>Essays: Probably the strongest part of my app. Got them read by all of my teachers (one of them is an alum interviewer for HYP and another is an English professor at Princeton) and they said that my essays are excellent.</p>

2

<p>Apply!!! in my humble opinion (some may say i shouldn’t I don’t qualify to give advice since i’m international) but I think your SAT scores redeem you a bit and your activities are sufficiently intriguing to some degree! buena suerte (that’s good luck) lol</p>

3

<p>I agree with lalachica, you have great test scores and you never know. It’s definitely worth a shot. :slight_smile: Don’t get too attached to the school though or overconfident (you don’t seem to have an issue with being realistic with you chances but you never know how you will feel down the road…)</p>

4

<p>Are you sure Duke is your top choice? You should have applied ED if it was. If I recall correctly from other threads the schools you wanted were Princeton/Penn. Don’t include Duke if it’s just because it’s a highly ranked school and you’re hoping you can still get into one.</p>

5

<p>^Nah, my top choice is neither Princeton nor Penn, because the chances of me getting into either of them is close to none. My realistic top choice is UCLA, although Duke seems really cool now that I’ve done some research. As I said in my original post, my parents suggested me to apply just for the hell of it, and I just want a rough estimate of my chances to get a good idea of what to expect (most likely rejection I’m guessing). I read on the common data set that GPA is only “considered.” Does that mean that I might have more of a chance even with my low GPA?</p>

6

<p>This thread might be helpful:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1112794-official-duke-2015-rd-results-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1112794-official-duke-2015-rd-results-thread.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It’s a list of students who were waitlisted, accepted, or rejected and their stats, activities, etc.</p>

<p>Try seeing if any students there have similar activities and stats to yours and check their admissions decision.</p>

<p>Best of luck! :D</p>

7

<p>^Whoa, someone in that thread got in with a 3.4, similar test scores, same amount of APs, and similar level of ECs. I guess it isn’t really impossible for me after all, although I’m still going to expect rejection. Guess I should work on those essays :P</p>

8

<p>You never know with college admissions. I would suggest for you simply to apply. You don’t want to save the application fee (small gain), but risk not having another option, in terms of colleges (big loss).</p>