STEF2098

I am just your average white girl from Ohio.

-School: Public, but not totally crappy
-GPA: 3.96 (unweighted); 4.0+ (weighted, not sure of the exact number)
-ACT: 29
-SAT: 1850 (EW EW EW)
-Ranked 4/310

Classes:
-Taken every AP/Honor/College Credit offered in my school
-Only 3 B's so far in high school
-Earned college credit from
Lorain County Community College (woo!)
University of Findlay
Oberlin College

Other Stuff:
-Honor Roll/High Honor roll all of High School
-Recognized at my school's academic recog. ceremony every year
-Won an Academic "M" award(had a at least a 3.5 GPA thru High School)
-National Honor Society(Inducted as a junior)
-National Honor Roll
-National Honor Society of High School Scholars
-Played Varsity Soccer 3 years (3 Letters, JV 1)
Won the West Shore Conference Sportsmanship Award
Volunteered at a youth soccer camp for 4 years in the summer
Play all year round (winter and spring not thru my school)
-Relay For Life
-United Way Drive Day
-volunteer at my church randomly
-volunteered at a local hospital
-Founder/co-president of French Club
-Started a shoe drive for "souls 4 soles"
-Was offered a summer-long internship at the Cleveland Clinic, but couldn't take it for transportation reasons

-Good recommendations (I think)
French teacher since 8th grade
My English teacher who thinks I'm an essay-writing genius
-Pretty good essay..everyone's thats read it says its sweet!

So, sorry so long, but what do you fellow CCers think??

icy9ff8

Great GPA and outstanding class rank. Low ACT and low SAT I scores for the typical Duke admittee. My best guess is that you may be denied for admission to Duke Univ. due to low standardized test scores & no passionate EC. Also when you portray yourself as "an average white girl from Ohio", you are probably not helping your cause, especially true when the rest of your posted profile lacks any indication of passion for any aspect of your life. Would you want to go to school with you as portrayed in this post? Your application essays and teacher recommendations might have to be your "saving Grace". Try to distinguish yourself by sharing a hidden and admirable desire within you that we haven't yet read about. I don't believe for one second that a person with your stellar academic achievements is an average white girl from Ohio. But, if someone said to me "Okay, then prove that she isn't just an average white girl from Ohio!" I couldn't based on what you have shared about yourself in this post. P.S. Average white girls from Ohio don't get admitted to top ten universities. Another approach, if you don't feel comfortable portraying an interest as a passion, is to be passionate about some aspects of Duke University or your career goals. Good luck!

STEF2098

Well, I definitely focused my essay on soccer (commonapp), and my smaller ones on volunteering. And I didn't put a couple of those little ECs on my App.

Denver_Dunn

Icy--exactly what makes you a qualified Duke admissions officer? Average White Girl from Ohio--people have gotten into Duke with lower standardized test scores. Why? Things like GPA and Extracurriculars. Albiet, I'm no Admissions Officer, but you look pretty strong in these areas.

Madboy121

I agree with Icy for the most part. Although your class rank and GPA are terrific, I'm not sure if those EC's make up for the relatively low standardized test scores. I hope I'm wrong, though, and I wish you all the best. It's just that the college admissions process is insanely unpredictable in this day in age.

icy9ff8

DenverDunn: FYI this is a "chances" thread. Students admitted with standardized test scores well below the 25% are usually recruited athletes and/or URMs.

Denver_Dunn

Well Icy, I suppose its a good thing then that her 29 ACT falls within the 50% median range for Duke, hence she does not fall in the bottom 25%.

icy9ff8

Denver: Where did you get that info.? A 29 ACT is well into the bottom 25% of Duke's SAT equivalent. P.S. You might want to approach CC with a friendlier attitude.

STEF2098

Whoa! Heyy, lets not get in an argument over this! Actually, I put this post up quite some time ago when my "dream" school consisted of a name, and the huge reputation behind those tiny little letters. But, anyways, I reprioritized my college list..I did some homework, so to say. Hehe, my new "dream" school is actually Wake Forest University, they have great programs and a quite rigorous workload, more on my level. I'm hoping and praying for an acceptance letter!

Denver_Dunn

Stef--good for you, Wake Forest is an excellent choice.

Icy--this is the last thing I'm going to say.

First, the 29 figure comes directly from Duke's website:

"We do not report average SAT or ACT scores. But we can tell you the middle 50 percent range of our admitted students last year scored between 690 and 770 on the SAT Verbal/Critical Reading Test, between 690 and 800 on the SAT Math Test, and between 680 and 770 on the SAT Writing Test. That means 25 percent of them scored below the lowest part of the range while 25 percent scored above the top part of the range. The equivalent range on the ACT is 29 to 34."

Additionally, I posted my comment in response to what I felt was a certain degree of nastiness that you poured into your response to Stef's original post(ie "your posted profile lacks any indication of passion for any aspect of your life". and "P.S. Average white girls from Ohio don't get admitted to top ten universities"...these lines do not seem particularly friendly--doctor heal thyself) . I am not an unfriendly person, however, I feel that your response was condascending and I felt bad for Stef that she had to endure such criticism from a total stranger in a public forum.

I think that threads such as these allow two things to happen. A) People who know they will get in post their stats in a public place to get an ego stroking or B) People end up getting their feelings hurt. That being said, I do not know you or what kind of person you are, and if I misconstrued your meaning, I apologize.

ceo1207

"I think that threads such as these allow two things to happen. A) People who know they will get in post their stats in a public place to get an ego stroking or B) People end up getting their feelings hurt."

couldn't have said this better myself!! All these "chance me's," especially those people with straight 800s on every part of their SAT and ECs along the lines of "I tutor Bill Gates's son in computer science" get really discouraging to those who don't think they measure up.

To everyone else- please remember that test scores are not everything!! I was just admitted to Duke, and my scores are fine, but not spectacular. What I think got me in was my community service and leadership. hope this is encouraging!

STEF2098

Soo, I know this is in the wrong forum now, but do you guys think I could get into Wake?

jct30

I'd say so. Their acceptance is pretty high - 43% - although I suspect thats because it is easier for in-staters to get in. Here's the key for you, though: Whenever a school is of Wake's caliber but has such a high acceptance rate, it usually means they have a harder time getting their accepted students to come. For instance, although Duke is in the top ten, it has to accept almost twice as many students as its peers to fill its class...and that's because so many of the students it accepts also get into HYPS. So when I asked my college counselor about Wake, she indicated I could get in easily, but only if I committed. Did you tell them that they were your first choice?

STEF2098

No, I didn't. Do you think it's too late now? And, if it isn't, how should I go about doing that? (without sounding desperate)

Mondo

I think your chances for Wake are relatively good.
If your Math + Critical Reading scores are greater than 1300, I'd say you are in. If not.. then Wake would be a reach.

I'm not sure about Duke though.
From my experience, I know that Duke looks more favorably on high SAT/low GPA than low SAT/high GPA applicants actually.
However, if you wrote an extremely passionate and non-generic Why Duke essay, that could help you.. but EC's are not so great.

Good luck.