<p>Hi i am a student from Alaska
1)For people that got in, what was your act score?
2)I have a 30 act compostie score (34-english 32-math 31 english 24-science) I know my score is pretty low.the next act is in february, and it says on their website that they'll accept score from that date. should I study for it and retake it?
3)do AP scores matter in admission? I have a 5 in Ap chem and 4 in AP history. </p>
<p>4)Do extracuriccular activities matter? like varsity letters in swimming and cross country skiing? Also All state solo vocals and choir accompanist. And jazz band.</p>
<p>I realize Duke is a hell of a reach for me, but collegeboard says average act at duke is 30-34, so I thought I just might have a chance. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>I would retake it if you think you can do better. Your extracurricular activities will boost your chances of being admitted. Being from Alaska will also undoubtedly help you in your quest to gain admission to Duke. The fact that you have taken rigorous classes will help, however, the admissions committee probably won’t pay too much attention to your AP scores (you can get AP credit at Duke though).</p>
<p>One of the things I’ve never seen written about is how exactly Duke views the ACT. They don’t superscore but state they take the highest subscore and highest composite. By example if you have a high composite of 32 with 35 in math and science, 30 in english and 32 in reading do they view you below Pratt’s 33-35 range or take into account your strength in math and science. Never seen this addressed.</p>
<p>I would very much like to know how they view the ACT. I did considerably better on the ACT than I did on the SAT (though I still did well on the SAT too). I ended up sending them both in .</p>
<p>@kenyanpride - I challenge your “undoubtedly” affirming OP’s living in Alaska. Duke’s Common Data Set states that “State of Residence” is Not Considered. If OP has a unique story such as riding a dog sled or paddling a boat to school every day, then it would help to be from Alaska. However, just another applicant from Anchorage would be looked at the same as any small city. Unless you are Trajan Langdon or Carlos Boozer.</p>
<p>Duke has a student from every state and will continue to into the distant future. If you look at the distribution of students by demographics, race, sex, international there is total consistency year over year which means they have to have multiple layers of goals by subgroup including state of residency no matter what is stated for both Pratt and Trinity. Whether being from Alaska is an advantage depends on the quality of applicants from Alaska in your year and who is already attending from Alaska in the classes above you. That doesn’t mean you will get in if you are not qualified but if the stars line up it could very well give you an edge.</p>
<p>lol i don’t think anyone rides a dog sled to school, even in Alaska. Thanks for not sugar coating it though, i’d much rather get a more straight answer than vague encouragement. I think I’ll apply, and retake the act in february. Hopefully I can get my science up(and actually get to finish the section) and bring up my composite score. not that I’m expecting to get in, anyways</p>
<p>Duke did not have any students from Montana matriculate as part of the class of 2016 (although there is at least one person from Montana as an upperclassmen). Guttentag specifically said if you know students from Montana, to encourage them to apply. Basically, schools like to say “we have students from all 50 states,” so they want at least one student from each state. But they don’t really care if it’s only 1 person from Wyoming vs. 5. If there are few qualified applicants from Alaska in your year, though, it could theoretically help as they want to accept at least four and hope one matriculates. But being from Alaska isn’t like a sure fire way to get a huge advantage. Good luck.</p>
<p>Bluedog - so I’m not going crazy! At our info session in the fall, I was pretty sure the adcom had said that 49 states were represented at Duke, Montana being the one not represented. But the map on the Profile of the Class of 2016 shows 1 from Montana. I’ve been wondering if I heard wrong. Thanks for the explanation! </p>
<p>I can’t help but think that if my son had his same stats and was from Montana, he’d have a better chance than being from NJ. However, the other side of the coin is that our public high school is highly regarded as well as rigorous. AP’s can start as early as Freshman year and there are plenty of them! I know kids aren’t penalized per se for their school not offering a super rigorous curriculum, but it must be a boon for kids who take the rigorous schedule and then still do very well in terms of grades. And to be able to have demonstrated many 5’s on AP tests taken before the app deadline I would also think would help, even though AP scores aren’t any kind of official criteria. </p>
<p>Chilly - do you mean with good grades and stats, or in lieu of?</p>
<p>Well, the three things you mentioned would be noticed, but I suspect noticed even more when in conjunction with good grades and stats! I’ll go out on a limb here from random things I’ve just heard - nothing solid or proven - but that Trinity would be a better bet for a more holistic view of the app. I’ve heard that Pratt is more about numbers, but I don’t know if that is slightly more, or a lot more…</p>
<p>It’s going to be so embarrassing if I get deferred… T_T Haha, honestly, ALL of my friends, relatives, coworkers, etc. know that I applied ED Duke and that it’s my 1st choice.</p>
<p>I know how you feel Rahul! Even though I’ve only told about 2 people in my school that I applied to Duke ED, everyone pretty much knows and is expecting me to get in since I’m the valedictorian. I would hate to get wait listed/rejected. Looking through past threads, I start to think I have a good shot until I see an extremely well qualified applicant wait listed/rejected and I realize how random this can be!</p>
<p>Yeah most people don’t know what it takes to get into a school like Duke. They know I have a 4.0 and 34 ACT and think I can get into any college easily. I wish that was the truth, it would make things a whole lot easier.</p>
<p>There are 100,000 public high schools and 35,000 private high schools and only 30,000 students that will be accepted into a top 20 school. It isn’t that a 4.0 and 34 ACT isn’t outstanding because it is top 3%. But the top 3% is over 125,000 students. There are just a lot of extremely gifted people out there.</p>
Basically, schools like to say “we have students from all 50 states,” so they want at least one student from each state. But they don’t really care if it’s only 1 person from Wyoming vs. 5. If there are few qualified applicants from Alaska in your year, though, it could theoretically help as they want to accept at least four and hope one matriculates. But being from Alaska isn’t like a sure fire way to get a huge advantage. Good luck.</p>