What EXACTLY makes Duke a "match" for prospective students?

<p>I've noticed a lot of people qualify a school as either a reach, match, or safety. I just want to know what exactly would make Duke a match for a student. Is it their SAT/ACT scores? their GPA, extracurricular activities, or something else? Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>just means that regular people (not adcoms), believe based upon a combination of your gpa, class rank, SAT scores, and extracurricular activities, that you are either likley to be accepted/rejected, or somewhere in between</p>

<p>Duke takes a very holistic approach to someones application, so i doubt duke would be considered a safety for anyone. It truly is a combination of everything unlike some universities you may heard of. If you student really were a match for duke they would place above average on sat/act and gpa from their statistics, have excellent ec's that show passion, awesome essays, and good recs. A match student wouldn't lack in anything.</p>

<p>Being in state helps....I would say it's a match for a few in state people that it would be a low reach if they were out of state (ie a girl i know that's an instate double legacy, 2310 SAT's, NMSF, 2nd/450 in her class, drum major in marching band, captain of academic team etc.</p>

<p>^being instate doesn't really matter, does it?</p>

<p>Actually Duke has a NC quota to fill</p>

<p>As you might imagine, there is no formula for deciding reach, match, and safety schools. My experience of watching my D go through college applications this year, I would describe it this way. If one feels that one would be accepted close to 100% of the time (there are no guarantees), I would call them safeties. My D applied to 2 such schools, and she was accepted to both schools. I would feel that one's academic profile is at around high end of the middle 50% (top 25%) and have reasonable EC's to go along with, I would consider them matches except schools that are ranked highly, such as Duke. I think that top schools (say, top 10 or so) wouldn't be safeties for anyone except a very few. If one's academic profile is at or below 25% (at or below the low end of mid 50%), I would consider those reach schools (obviously, some of those get in, but they usually have hooks - athletes, special talents, URMs, etc.). As I said, top few schools are reach schools for most except an extreme few. My D applied to a few of those schools (her academic profile is above the high end of mid 50% and has decent EC's), but we consider them reach schools including Duke.</p>

<p>I don't think many students are matches at Duke. They routinely do not admit scores of valedictorians and great kids with other accomplishments.</p>

<p>I will pipe up and say that my son at Duke did not expect to be admitted and actually did not get attached to Duke before April of his senior year when he was quite surprised he wasn't waitlisted after all but was In. He was waitlisted at the Reach school he had a big thing for...even though he knew the odds were simply..ODD...random, not in anyone's favor who was not truly unique and fascinating, and he was a couple notches below fascinating as a candidate. Reach schools that have too many wonderfully qualified students applying are really REACHES. And Random. He was no better or worse than anyone who didn't get into Duke or did get into his personal crush college.</p>

<p>In both schools he was in the top quartile, and had very good but not mesmerizing ECs. He wrote really good essays and presented a coherent prediction of what he would contribute while at Duke that has actually come to pass. In fact, his Why Duke essay was unusually good if I say so myself....even though he was lukewarm about Duke at the time.</p>

<p>My best advice is that if you are above the midrange in stats, and you really love Duke..convey what you will do as a member of the Duke Community very clearly. Focus on who you are as a person not so much on perfect scores. I really don't know why my son was admitted...but he has lived out his Why Duke essay and I suspect his essay mattered. </p>

<p>My other best advice to you is for you to attach to your true match colleges. My son would have been proud to attend three other schools that admitted him that are less selective and in some ways, had a hard time saying goodbye to those options when Duke suddenly invited him in. This is a good outcome..to respect all your colleges and to visualize yourself being fulfilled at all of them. As much as we appreciate what Duke has meant to our son, he would have been equally gung ho at his match colleges and probably grown up with a great education from them as well. </p>

<p>I realize the admissions staff can't possibly enjoy tracking/watching all the kids as they "actualize" and take advantage of all that Duke offers but if they could it would greatly add to their job satisfaction. Our son's high school dreams have come true at Duke in a big way and he has had superb teachers and many intimate small classroom experiences along with all the joys of a larger research college.</p>

<p>We have a second son applying next year. I hope he will also be open-hearted in his admissions search, and cope well with disappointment and also with surprises.</p>

<p>So my big advice..be open-hearted in your application. Realize that you are going to be attending a great college with excellent faculty next fall somewhere and give every one of the schools your utmost respect.</p>

<p>^some good advice :)</p>