Should I even bother applying?

<p>I haven't entirely decided whether I want to ED or not...I go to private catholic school in CA. I have a 3.4 UW and 3.7 W. My past ACT scores are 21 and 22. I'm gonna take the ACT on Oct. 25 and the SAT II's in November...The only thing I got going for me are my multiple leadership positions, essays, recommendations, and everything else. I am praying that I get at least a 29 on my ACT. Should I even bother applying? If I do, I may just apply Regular Decision.</p>

<p>You need to strengthen your app first with better test scores. You should wait till RD.</p>

<p>definitely retest then apply RD</p>

<p>Of course apply....most schools want diversity. Having a Christain student and paring them with someone with a complete opposite background or exposing others to different ideologies makes for good conversation and opening up peoples minds to different things. College is where you have to be open to challenging your ideals- not necessarily changing them but looking at things from different perspectives. Colleges like this diversity. As far as test scores i would work hard to get them up. I don't think any school automatically rules you out if the scores are a bit low- it depends on who they have applying- if they have multiples with the same demographic then th escores i am sure would be critical...but you will never know without applying. I would discuss RD vs. ED with your school counselor. If you a close reach then ED seems the way to go, if its a long reach seems like maybe RD is better (because I think you likely want to apply to a reach school you want to attend- but if the odds are really poor I think you want to apply to the most realistic reach you would want to attend- be it Duke or somewhere else- if you ae sure you would want to attend the ED school), but your counselor would know better, but apply- because you never know what they are looking for! Duke is a great college and S loves it there...great campus and great professors. The mix of kids he interacts with are amazing.</p>