To chance, or not to chance? Chance (me).

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>I have a friend at Duke who really pushed me into applying (guy made me briefly obsessed about Duke... after a mere 2 hour Facebook chat!). Hopefully adcoms reciprocate my excitement? </p>

<p>Applying to Trinity as an economics major.</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT I (breakdown): 2270: 740CR, 740M, 790W (superscore)</p>

<p>SAT II: 800 US History, 800 Math II, 760 World History</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8 (kind of nervous about this - a number of A-s and a B- in calc 2nd quarter of senior year)</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No ranks or deciles of any sort</p>

<p>AP (place score in parenthesis): US History (5), English Lang. (5), US Gov’t (5), Macroeconomics (5)
Self studied APs: World History (4), European History (5), Psychology (4), Comparative Gov’t (5)</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics B, AP Environmental, AP Calculus AB, AP English Lit., AP Latin, AP Human Geography, Photography Skills, Gym/Health</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, Commended PSAT Scholar, silver medal for National Latin Exam, cum laude certificate for National Latin Exam, and honorable mention for an essay contest hosted by an organization with whom I volunteer</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Human Service Club (Vice President), Latin Honor Society (Vice President), Academic Team (Captain), 3 years of JV Bowling, FBLA (Treasurer; cancelled this year), NHS (economics/history tutor), student rep. on a committee made to improve school performance</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Tutor at Kumon (3 years)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: Hindu rights group volunteer, Hindu Youth Group (in-charge of meals), head teacher for afterschool program chess class</p>

<p>Summer Activities: JSA Princeton (summer after 9th), Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar NJ (10th), Boy’s State (11th), Ivy Scholars at Yale (11th), internship at a prestigious political/business/economics publication on par with Time/Forbes (had a small article published in the print version) (11th)</p>

<p>Essays: CommonApp was memorable, albeit somewhat facetious; Duke optional essay I thought was uniquely taken (letter about school at Duke to my parents), and definitely showed some good research of Duke.</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: From my AP Gov teacher (should be good and I don't think he did any recycling of any sort on it), AP Lang. teacher (she's known to write good LoRs although recycles good chunks of it)</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Good? I mean, don't think it matters much</p>

<p>Additional Rec: my boss from my internship (likely very strong)</p>

<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): New Jersey (rude drivers, pollution, and doesn't help chances... nice state, eh?)
Country (if international applicant): 'Merica
School Type: Run-of-the-mill public
Ethnicity: Asian - Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $120k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Beautiful hair?</p>

2

<p>I think you can do a lot better than Duke with stats like that.</p>

3

<p>Stats like that? A 2270/3.8? I’ve heard of 2300/4.0s getting rejected… </p>

<p>Any other opinions? I feel excited after that comment haha, but I know I shouldn’t be =/</p>

4

<p>haha this Austin character is obviously a ■■■■■ who made an entirely new account just to post that comment (some people need to get a life eh?) </p>

<p>As far as your chances are concerned, they seem decent. Duke is still a reach though as it is for most people. </p>

<p>Good luck. Hope to see you in Durham soon.</p>

5

<p>These chance questions confuse me. The OPs stats are within the published student profile range. To my untrained eye the ECs look fine. Duke will accept 3,000 students that fit the profile and a number far greater then that will fit the profile and be rejected. In the end admission to selective colleges isn’t about being qualified for which there are an abundance of candidates (see 29,000 RD applicants for 3,000 spots), it is about ranking applicants. The person outside of Duke admissions that can define the randomness of those ranking decisions doesn’t exist.</p>

6

<p>@kenyanpride: Yeah, I figured he was a ■■■■■ like 10 minutes after replying haha. And thanks for your kind words; I hope to soon burn my overcoat upon pulling up in Durham! </p>

<p>@tennisforall: I also went through a phase where I hated chance threads. But as a senior, it’s just the anxiety of it all, the anxiety of seeing your work all through high school pass through a once in a lifetime litmus test. Sitting here, thinking about how bad things could end up in late March/early April, a statement like “The OPs stats are within the published student profile range. To my untrained eye the ECs look fine” is beyond relieving to hear. That’s all - just some relief.</p>

7

<p>I’m sorry if I came off as being a ■■■■■. Can you explain to me why? I am new to College Confidential, I’m just figuring things out, how am I a ■■■■■?</p>

8

<p>Duke is not a match/safety for anyone.</p>

9

<p>Theoretically, even Harvard can be a match for someone who has stats that are at or above their averages. However, I completely agree that schools like Duke, Ivies etc. are never ever safeties for anyone (because admissions decisions are never based solely on statistics). Furthermore, while the OP’s scores are very commendable, they would not be considered exceptional by any means. You were branded a ■■■■■ because your opinion about Duke’s selectivity is clearly very misinformed and could be construed as being malicious.</p>

10

<p>duke isnt a match / safety for anyone (its one of my dream schools so i always say high reach on chance threads) but it looks like a low reach / high match for u. best of luck! :slight_smile:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1447554-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1447554-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt; ?</p>

11

<p>

u joined in august and ur new??</p>

12

<p>The ECs look cookie cutter, and the summer programs are the product of a well-off family. (Expensive programs are prestigious universities.) </p>

<p>You have as good a chance as most of Duke’s qualified applicants. And there are a lot…</p>

13

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</p>

<p>First off, the summer programs are not the product of a well-off family (believe me on that). Only two of my summer programs were even pay-to-go - JSA (which was mostly parental help) and IvyScholars (which provides a decent amount of finaid + my accumulated savings from working at Kumon by this point for almost 2 years). Not sure what I was doing with JSA, but IvyScholars is a pretty renowned and selective summer program (I asked the director about this who confirmed about 150/570ish applicants were accepted my year). Sorry if I come off as aggressive here, but I felt the need to clarify that.</p>

14

<p>I joined in August but I haven’t been on since then.</p>

<p>This is the second forum I have posted on.</p>

<p>I didn’t really mean that I am new to CC but rather that I am new to the forum part. I joined the app mostly for the college visits review part.</p>

<p>Duke is obviously a great school. I didn’t mean that your stats are too good for Duke. What I was saying was that many people would love to have stats like yours. It came out wrong.</p>

<p>Regardless, can somebody tell me how I’m a ■■■■■?</p>

15

<p>Everything I could have said about this thread and its users, kenyanpride has already said.</p>

<p>The only thing I would add is that being in USAMO is not cookie-cutter. Research it and look up who/how many people get it.</p>

<p>And AustinDD: </p>

<p>You’re a ■■■■■ because of this statement "I think you can do a lot better than Duke with stats like that. "</p>

<p>No school in the USA is “alot” better than Duke by any objective measure. Duke undergrad is in the top 10. There are only 7 or so schools ranked above Duke and at the undergrad level, the difference is negligible.</p>

16

<p>Haute, I didn’t see that he was engaged in AMC, USAMO, or anything of the sort?</p>

<p>

</p>

17

<p>It is a fact that Duke is a good school.</p>

<p>It is my opinion that there are better schools that offer better education that what some list ranks schools as.</p>

<p>Duke and schools like the ivy-leagues are name-brands. Nice schools? Yes. Are there better schools for less? Definitely.</p>

<p>Just because a list ranks Duke and Ivy-leagues up high, doesn’t mean that there aren’t better colleges suited for other people.</p>

18

<p>Nevermind.</p>

<p>Let me just clarify.</p>

<p>I wasn’t trying to be a ■■■■■. I wasn’t saying anything that should come of as me being a ■■■■■.</p>

<p>Duke is an excellent school and you have an excellent chance with them and you could probably go to most schools in the US. Your stats are very good, and I wish you luck.</p>

<p>Sorry for seeming trolling. I was ignorant to say what I said.</p>

<p>Good luck to all, I apologize.</p>

19

<p>Don’t worry about it. You are entitled to your opinion. Just make sure not to distort facts in the future (there aren’t many schools which are objectively more selective than Duke is). </p>

<p>“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”</p>

20

<p>@AustinDD - The other ■■■■■ indication was your extremely low post count with a strongly opinionated/apparently sarcastic comment. This is usually a solid ■■■■■ indication - although apparently inaccurate in your case.</p>