<p>GPA: 4.0/4.0 (weighted school only gives this)
SAT I: 2120 superscore (800W, 680M, 640CR)
SAT II: 760 US 730 Lit
ACT: 30: 32,29,32,33 (best from each section and best single composite)
EXTRACURRICULARS: 4 years of basically a bunch of meaningful ECs, just like everyone else. However I have been diving for years now and is my most stand out thing. I also brought a charity organization that does open water swims for cancer research to a local pool so children can participate. I founded a team that has raised over $10,000.
RECs: One really good recommendation from a teacher that moderates a Leadership organization I do since i was a freshman. We also went to florida together on an international leadership retreat. Also went to Italy on a cultural exchange trip, basically we are bros and he knows me pretty well. Other one from a teacher I had twice who likes me well enough to write the rec.
Essay: essay’s for each school are unique and demonstrate interest. Common App essay is about my beginnings in diving and how i broke free from the shadow of my legendary swimmer brother and became a diving beast. I also have a bunch of other rewards, but for all intents and purposes assume that my other achievements and awards are all up to par with expectations.</p>
<p>What a gimmicky title</p>
<p>Even if your school only gives weighted, it probably sends the transcript, right? Don’t think that Duke will only see 4.0. They will still probably see how many B’s you have, unless your school has weird transcripts.</p>
<p>Of course you can get in. The same can be said for the majority of those that apply.</p>
<p>Pardon me if I’m incorrect, but isn’t weighted GPA out of 6.0? And if not, OP are you saying that you’ve made all A’s? If the latter is true then that’s definitely a good thing. If not…</p>
<p>Also, I personally wouldn’t put too much faith in superscoring. It never seems definitive which schools do it and which schools don’t. And even the ones that do it use various methodologies. Much better if you can just score high in one test sitting in my opinion. That said, an SAT of 2120 and ACT of 30 is still on the lower end of average Duke admits. </p>
<p>I think huehuehue is correct in that Duke and colleges in general place more emphasis on unweighted GPA than weighted. Because uGPA shows how much you can excel no matter what classes you’re in Just because a class is honors or AP doesn’t mean you should get a C.</p>
<p>bloog - you touched on the problem with weighted GPA. Every school weights differently. My kids’ school weights AP classes with only a +0.5 and gives no weight to Honors classes. Some schools (apparently like bloog’s) weight every AP/Honors-track class and give adders of +2.0 or even multipliers of x1.5. Weighted GPA simply means nothing without the context of the school.</p>
<p>OP does not mention anything about class rigor. Duke adcoms make clear that this is usually the most important factor in admissions decisions. Did you take the most demanding classes in all five core subject areas offered by your school? Did you look outside of your school for additional opportunities and challenges?</p>
<p>Rmldad makes a good point about schools’ different weighting systems. The bigger questions are class rank and overall rigor.</p>
<p>What is the highest possible GPA at your school? Also, what is your class rank/percentile?That will mean more to colleges than your GPA, because you could be at a very challenging school where nobody gets a 4.0, or you could be at a school where many kids get 4.0s. You also did not give any info on the rigor of your courses, being in only easy classes with a 4.0 will not get you into Duke, whereas a 3.8 in all of the hardest classes your school offers will give you a better shot. Your ACT is in Duke’s middle 50% of admitted scores, but just to be safe, especially if you are lacking in other areas, you may want to increase your score a little bit, unless retaking the test is out of the question.
Also, what you say are meaningful ECs are probably not very meaningful if everyone else has them. Remember that Duke likes students that make an impact in their school and community. Also remember that race plays a role in admissions as well. If you are a URM, I’d say you have a chance ED(assuming your classes are the most challenging your high school offers, your class rank is at least top 10%) If you are not an URM however, you should try and increase your scores to have at least a decent chance.(still assuming you are taking a challenging course load and are in the top 10% of your class.). Also the whole diving thing may come across as exaggerated if you focus your application around that aspect, and you were not good enough to get noticed by the Duke diving coach. Only focus on the diving aspect if you have won multiple awards, captain of your school team, etc. If you’re a recruited athlete however thats a whole different story.
Overall I’d say Duke is a reach for you with your current stats, I don’t really have enough details to accurately say if Duke is a low/high reach though. You need to make sure you stand out from all the other applicants in your ECs and essay to have a shot at Duke.
Good Luck!</p>
<p>14daltg,</p>
<p>Which school are you applying to? Trinity or Pratt (I’m assuming Trinity since you aced the CR section of the SAT). This is important as each school considers different factors for admissions. </p>
<p>You seem to pretty qualified concerning ECs and your perfect unweighted GPA. However most schools - and Duke is probably one of them - recalculates the classes you took and the grades you earned in them as a new weighted GPA. Posting your course load would be really helpful, as it’s important for Duke to know the rigor of your classes compared to what is available at your school. Also, if a class rank/percentage is given at your school, that would also be really helpful and chancing you. </p>
<p>Lastly, as I’m sure you probably know, your SAT and ACT are a little low for Duke (usually 2150-2200+ and 33+). </p>
<p>Given your current information, I would say Duke is a mid to high reach school for you.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>hey its been a while since i looked at this and i retook the sat and scored a 710 in math and a 670 in cr. the superscore is a 2180 now. and the gpa is unweighted my school does not give the unweighted. my gpa on a 100 scale is a 96.28 and ive always taken ap classes, so i have taken the most rigorous course load.</p>
<p>oh and @pratt2018 i applied to trinity </p>
<p>To add to the weighted-GPA discussion, my school weights so that an AP is 5.0, honors is 4.5, and regular is 4.0. This makes it seem as if the highest GPA possible would be 5.0. However, nobody can take all-AP classes, as some regular are required, and you can’t even take one AP until sophomore year, so the highest GPA possible is…not possible. :/</p>