<p>Hello!!! </p>
<p>I am a sophomore in high school, but have high hopes and dreams. I aspire on becoming a surgeon, or any other type of doctor. During my undergraduate years, I want to major in Biology. Stanford and Duke are my top schools. I visited Duke and Stanford, and immediately wanted to become a student in both places. As strong as my passion for attending these institutions are, I was just wondering if I have a better chance at Duke ED, or Stanford EA. </p>
<p>Some stats: GPA currently 3.5 UW, but going up. As of right now, I will have a 4.0 UW for the semester.
I have taken the practice SAT's. 2400, and 800's on Math 2 and Biology. I know that the practice and the actual differ in scores, but its an estimate :/</p>
<p>Also, I <em>might</em> get an internship at a University's medical labs, and already have been granted permission to consistently shadow Cardiothoracic Surgeons. I clearly know that my GPA is despicable, and do truly wish that you will ignore that in telling me weather Stanford EA or Duke ED is better for me. I also applied to Brown University Summer School, and just got accepted. I plan to take medical courses there. </p>
<p>But basically, please just forget about my scores and everything, if you will. Just with your input, which one would be better for a person with my interests?
Thank You for your input.</p>
<p>Well to get this straight, I don’t know if you know this or not. But there is a diff bewteen Early Action adn Early Decision</p>
<p>Early Action is non-binding. You apply early to the school, and you find out if you got in earlier than a REA student would, but you still have a choice of where you want to go.</p>
<p>Early Decision is binding. Once you apply and they accept you, you are forced to go to that college.</p>
<p>In my personal opinion apply early action to stanford, since its non-binding and you can always go to another sschool if you decided to change your mind. </p>
<p>Academically, I don’t know whats the better fit for you. But just so you have choices of where you can go, apply early action</p>
<p>Yeah. I understand that. Chances are, if I get into Stanford EA, i will attend Stanford. Um… and Duke, ED thats given, i have to go :P</p>
<p>but is it easier overall to get into stanford’s ea?</p>
<p>“Early Decision is binding. Once you apply and they accept you, you are forced to go to that college.”</p>
<p>But if you apply for financial aid at ED time, you are free to accept or decline the offer. If it’s not enough to support attendance, you say thanks but no thanks, and apply RD elsewhere. Try to imagine there were some way to compel attendance, with the student then expelled when the bill couldn’t be paid; it doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>Duke accepts about 30% of its ED applicants. Stanford accepts 10% or so and defers 10% of its SCEA and then rejects the rest. If you are playing the odds, you are FAR better off with Duke</p>
<p>You didn’t really say what your interests are… are you planning to be pre-med?</p>
<p>Either way, just to be clear, apply early to the one that’s your first choice–simple as that. Whether your chances are better at one or the other should not matter. You will be required to electronically sign a statement saying that it is your first choice if you apply early.</p>
<p>Um yeah. i wann do premed/ biology/ bme… just the thing is that i love both schools equally, and both are my number 1. and brown university is making its way up there, as i will be going for a summer camp, and will probably love that campus, academics, etc. as well. so it just comes down to your opinions, as overall what school would u apply to ed/ea</p>
<p>Looking back I would not have applied ED anywhere. Applying RD gives you more time to develop through the admissions process and perfect your applications. I felt like I had to apply somewhere early because I thought it might give me an edge, but I think it hindered me. My application would have been better if I spent more time on it and wasn’t rushed by the Nov. 1st deadline. A lot of the people they accept early are either recruited athletes or fulfill some kind of diversity quota (geographic, ethnic, etc.) so you really don’t have an edge if you apply early. Also Stanford doesn’t waitlist those they have deferred and for all schools if they’ve already deferred you once, it may be harder to get back into the “Yes” pile.
Just my two cents. I think it’s better to wait and apply RD (not as rushed) and then you get to sit back and wait for all the acceptance to roll in and make your decision. The school you were going to apply early to may not end up being your first choice when May 1st rolls around anyway.</p>
<p>When a student can’t decide which is their number one, typically they apply RD. (Well, technically, if a given college is not explicitly your first choice, then you should not be applying early to it.)</p>
<p>To be honest, you have a year and a half to decide which is your number one. Right now, you should be focusing on exploring each one. I have a feeling that when you’ve done more of that, one of them will naturally become your first choice. Or a different college altogether will.</p>
<p>I would apply to Stanford early. But again, it comes down which one you like more.</p>
<p>So… im looking towards becoming a surgeon, meaning medical school… and therefore, a good premed counselors… I also would like professor accessibility, good living standards, including food, um… friendly atmosphere, not only academic oriented, not as much stress, and student life, such as good athletics to watch, and i would like a lot of research opportunites/ travel abroad.</p>
<p>Well Stanford has all of that! xD Obviously I’m biased towards Stanford, but I have also seen it ranked many times as they #1 undergraduate institution in the country. I don’t know that much about Duke, but I know Stanford and everything you just mentioned it has. (I’m interested in pre-med too and it is GREAT for being premed).
I would greatly recommend visiting both schools. A visit really helps you decide because you get the vibe of the campus and get to meet other students.
I would also recommend not applying early to either and spending time polishing your applications because that is what will maximize your chances of getting in.</p>