<p>I recently got an email that said if you send your app in before December 10th, you can get an interview. I've read on CC that people have gotten interviews even when they submitted after this date though, so does anyone know if they're strict about this deadline?</p>
<p>I finished my essays but I want to reread them tomorrow with fresh eyes before I send them in.
Will it be counted against me? And do you think they'll assume I don't want an interview or something?</p>
<p>I have to imagine that they set deadlines with the notion that they will be enforced. Could you still get one? Sure, but it’s not likely since they said your app needed to be submitted by that deadline.</p>
<p>It seems like a good amount of EDers got them after the deadline, but it definitely is better to make sure your app is good rather than rush it to get an interview. Will you get an interview if you submit it late? I’m not sure, but its not likely. Will you get in if you rush your application and there are a ton of mistakes in your essay? Again, I’m not sure, but I’m guessing that would hurt more than not doing the optional interview.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Good essays > Alumni Interview in this situations</p>
<p>I can peronally attest to this and answer your question. Basically this is all a little game by Duke admissions and if you are able to get an interview at all, you will get on no matter what. I applied ED and they sent the exact email with an October 19th deadline. I was still hesitant about ED for Duke so I waited untill the last minute. Two days later after I pressed submit, I received an email from an alumni asking if I wanted an interiew. I live in Boston which has a lot of Duke grads so this might have been a factor. If you live in a city with many Duke grads, you will most likely get an interview. </p>
<p>Duke did this for ED because they wanted people like me who were hesitant about it to feel pressured and press submit, that way they got our money and an extra app to inflate numbers. The reason they do this with December 10 will be because it is before most students hear back from the EA/ED schools, and since many Duke applicants are elite students that are already applying to other universities, they want their application in before they receive the other schools notification.</p>
<p>If you live somewhere like Montana where there aren’t that many grads,
A: You will already have a low chance to get an interview, and
B: they can claim your application and the fee.</p>
<p>Keep in mind though that this will be RD with a lot more applicants, so it might be harder to get an interview, but by no means is this date strictly enforced. It is not like the application due date in january or the financial aid due date.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the interview “deadline” that they send out is the deadline to submit at least the Duke supplement. You probably don’t need to get your whole application in by then, but they probably wanted to at least be able to open a file for you to basically get a headcount of the numbers they should expect to interview.</p>
<p>Edit: @prepurm: I’m pretty sure that’s your paranoia talking right there. From the Duke admissions website for the Oct 19 and Dec 10 deadlines (ED and RD respectively):</p>
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<p>Nowhere does it say your application have to be complete or have to have paid anything. Just a part of your app or the Duke supplement so that they can open a file for you.</p>
<p>But what is correct is that the deadline has really not meant much in the years past because Duke makes an effort to give everyone an interview. What the deadline is supposedly for is that if they run out of interview slots, they assign them on a first come first serve basis and those that open a file early get first dibs.</p>
<p>to prepurm1216,
i thinks its horrible that you have all these negative things to say about a school you “love” enough to apply ED to. you do not know how duke does things on the inside, and why they do things like they do. you are assuming things that you have NO proof about. you saying these things is disrespectful to a school that i, and many others, would be honored to attend and i would never be caught dead bad mouthing my potential future school. i just don’t get you.</p>
<p>I don’t think prepurm meant any of that in a disrespectful way to the school… He was just being honest. Looking at the many past examples of how strictly enforced the interview deadline is, I think he’s right in his answer to my question.</p>
<p>^There is a difference between being factual and being speculative. Mixing the latter with the former and presenting the result as the truth seems disingenuous. Perhaps it’s how he/she think about the situation, but it is by no means true, as it is clearly stated on the admissions website.</p>
<p>I am talking base on my own experience, but also on my College Councilor’s 38 years of experience at Philips Academy Exeter and as well as a University’s adcom. They do want your file in earlier and that is why they make these dates. I also did not “badmouth” Duke. After reviewing my previous post the worst I said was “little games.” My councior said to not feel pressured to stick to the deadline. Similarly, other school have a December 1 deadline for “scholarship consideration” so that they can get extra apps in before other studentss get into ED schools. My councilor has seen a lot of Elite applicants that got rejected by Ivy’s still be able to apply for Interviews and scholarships after deadlines. Basically, at most, not all school, besides the CSS/FAFSA financial aid deadline and the application dealine, no other dates are STRICTLY enforced.</p>
<p>^This is true. </p>
<p>However, I felt it was important to point out that while there are undoubted “games” that are being played behind the scenes with regard to the admissions process, this deadline is not one. At least, it isn’t the game that you are describing with pumping up application numbers or grabbing application fees. The admissions website clearly states that you do not have to complete your application or turn in a fee by that deadline, merely turn in a supplement. If you later on choose not to complete your application or not pay the fee, then it doesn’t get counted towards the total number of applications. So really, this doesn’t affect the statistics at all.</p>