<p>Duke is definitely my first choice college. I have heard from seniors in my high school who got accepted that I should "keep in touch" with my regional admission officer to get the "edge" over other applicants. Is this statement true? And if I do decide to email the admission officer for Texas, to what extent can I express my desire to attend Duke?</p>
<p>I had one more question. I just finished my junior year at high school and throughout my three years, I have participated in my high school's athletic program (freshman-basketball; sophomore and junior- swimming); however, for my senior year, my schedule is packed as I am also an IB candidate. There is a high possibility that I will make the varsity swim team next year. Should I drop one of my classes (probably biology II IB) to be on the swim team? Will this show consistency with an EC on my application?? </p>
<p>Thanks!
Feel free to post any tips about the Duke admission process!! I really really love this university.</p>
<p>Hmm...</p>
<p>i actually have a few feelings regarding the local admissions officer. mine visited my high school early on in the application process, and i went to the info session along with one other student, even though more applied. there being only two students present was rather advantageous to me, at least, especially in regard to her. she got a chance to get to know us-- who we are, what we want from duke/college/academia, etc. this initial meeting made me more comfortable to email her throughout the process with questions or concerns, without ever feeling overbearing since i had her business card. without meeting her, i might not have gotten in contact with her. i felt that it was such a brown-nosing, un-genuine thing to do and that they could easily see through the "I love Duke" emails their inboxes are littered with. i did that with my biggest reach school and ultimately got deferred and rejected. it felt so fake. email your counselor with a QUESTION (one that cannot easily be answered through the viewbook or admissions website) and preface the question with a little intro "hi my name is ____ from _____ high school in ______. i'm applying ED/RD to Trinity/Pratt and i'd love to attend duke should i be given the opportunity to do so [then the question]" make the emails short. they're busy people, and if they have to read your application telling them how much you want to be at duke, don't force them to read emails about it too.</p>
<p>dont use ib as an excuse not to do other activities. sure, its a lot of work and takes up time, but if youre the quality of student that has hope of getting accepted into duke, then you can surely do several things at once. i do ib, well i did.... i guess im done now, and i also run year round with indoor and outdoor track and cross country. i do plenty of other service activities and clubs too, and i even have a job. i have the highest gpa of our ib diploma class, and the highest projected diploma score. i attribute that somewhat to my involvement in sports, as it helps me keep more focused. im going to duke next year. wooohoooo</p>
<p>bubblesbas, I am not using IB as an excuse not to do other activities; however, at my school we have a limit to the number of classes we can take and what I meant by my post was that my schedule for next year is full; thus, it would be impossible for me to participate in school sports (takes up a class period) unless I drop a class...I was not trying to complain. In fact, I think I am very similar to you in all but one way, I don't have the highest GPA of my IB class...haha.</p>
<p>So do you agree that I should drop a class to continue with school athletics?</p>
<p>oh so you have to do sports during school time.... thats interesting. but anyways, yes, i think you should do whatever it takes to play a sport as duke tends to focus on sports a lot</p>
<p>I suppose it is ok to stay in contact with your regional officer. However, you take the risk of being perceived as overzealous. Make sure your emails or what not contains something pertinent to Duke. The last thing you need is to be labeled as fake.</p>