<p>My two cents. My son is Duke Class of 2016! We’re very excited about it but he also comes from a high school that does not send very many kids to Duke (we’re in the Boston area). Some of it is because of a lack of interest. Many, many more kids apply to the Ivies and Williams/Amherst/Middlebury than apply to Duke. My son was somewhat unique in that he did not want to stay in the Northeast. Everywhere he was interested in involved a plane trip so costs meant we had to limit the number of schools he visited. At the end of the application process, he got into the schools he visited, he got waitlisted at the ones he didn’t. You’ve already visited Duke. Along with good scores/grades/outside interests/community service, Duke is looking for serious interest. If you do decide to apply ED, well, that shows serious interest. If you don’t go ED, at least get your supplemental application in early enough to request an interview. They want to know they have a chance at getting you and not that you’re applying as a back up for an Ivy. In my son’s case, I think the schools that waitlisted him may have felt like they were back-ups for Duke. Which, yeah, they were so I can’t really blame them for waitlisting him. Good luck!</p>