Chance a Duke Reject for RD Schools [TN Resident, 93.85 UW, 35 Superscore, Top 10%, PPE/PoliSci]

Applying to College
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Demographics: White male, TN, Duke Sibling, full pay, private school

Intended Major(s): PPE if they have it. If not, political science/government, sociology, or maybe history

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 34 ACT, 35 Superscore (36R,36E, 33M, 34S) 2 tests on Common app, 3 for Georgetown
UW/W GPA and Rank: W 4.89/6 UW 93.85, school doesn’t rank but top 10%

Coursework: 9 APs by senior year + 4 High Honors (AP Equivalent)
5s: APUSH, AP Euro
4s: AP Gov, AP Lang
3: AP Bio

Senior Year Course load: AP Calc BC, AP Stat, AP Physics C: Mech, AP French, High Honors English, 2nd Semester Honors Religion (required), College Prep Art (required)

Awards:
National Merit Commended Scholar
Cum Laude Society Inductee (Top 10% of Class)
President’s Volunteer Service Award, Gold
Faculty Sewanee Book Award
Certificate of High Distinction, commended, at John Locke Institute Global Affairs Forum

Extracurriculars:

  • Rep. (9-10), Executive (11), President (12), School Service Organization (8 hrs/wk, 47 wks/yr); Led 68+ service projects; partnered with 26 organizations; founded lower school branch; allocated $6.2K in grants; volunteered 480+ hrs across X.

  • Development Office Intern at Nonprofit (12) (25 hrs/wk, 5 wks/yr); Developed Holiday Card Fundraiser for 547 recipients; expanded Meals on Wheels routes; organized 5 years of tax reports; archived 4 years of media.

  • Programs and Event Intern at separate Nonprofit (11) (12 hrs/wk, 8 wks/yr); Boosted social media reach; planned 5 dinners at X; wrote 120+ donor letters; facilitated HQ move-in; interpreted lease and tax documents.

  • Writer (9-10), Co-Editor-in-Chief (11-12), School Yearbook (5 hrs/wk, 35 wks/yr); Led 20-student team in creating 224-page yearbook; generated/proofed 200+ spreads a year; taught editing to 14 students; envisioned 2 themes.

  • Witness (11-12), Mock Trial (5 hrs/wk, 12 wks/yr); Best Witness at district competition; key role in 5 trials; assisted in deciding case theme; brought snacks to practices; expert in forensic science.

  • Founder/President (12), Ethics Bowl (3 hrs/wk, 12 wks/yr); Led 9 5-member teams in ethical debates; taught philosophy concepts; encouraged discourse; prepared mock cases for regional and national competitions.

  • Georgetown Uni. Global Affairs Forum Attendee, John Locke Institute (12) (42 hrs/wk, 2 wks/yr); Selected via application/interview; attended lectures on politics, economics, law; debated CIA’s role in UKR/RUS war; worked with diverse community.

  • Representative (11), Honor Council (2 hrs/wk, 36 wks/yr); 1 of 2 elected from grade-wide vote; evaluated incidents of academic dishonesty; argued on students’ behalf; ensured fairness/justice in all cases.

  • Wrestling, Varsity Athlete (9-10) (15 hrs/wk, 37 wks/yr); 2x Regional qualifier, 3rd at X, 2x Varsity Letter; cleaned mats pre-practice; club wrestler at X (FR/GR styles).

  • Host/Food Runner/ Busboy (12) (15 hrs/wk, 9 wks/yr); Greeted + seated customers; bussed 26 tables and delivered food to 400+ diners per shift; answered phone; cleaned bathrooms; bought groceries.

Schools:
ED: Duke - Rejected
EA: UNC, UGA (Accepted), SMU, Richmond, UVA, Michigan, State School (Accepted)
RD: Columbia, Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, UPenn, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton

I’m kind of freaking out after the Duke Rejection. I knew it was a crapshoot, but I thought I would be at least deferred. Am I T20 Caliber? My main goal now is Georgetown and maybe Dartmouth. Also, what major does my profile give off? I want to gain any advantage I can.

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You already have some excellent acceptances so congrats! You are a competitive candidate – but as I’m sure you know schools like Gtown and Dartmouth (like Duke) must be considered reaches for any unhooked applicant. It is impossible to chance these schools as there are many more well qualified applicants than spots available. Much will depend on things that cannot or should not be shared on a public forum such as this such as essays, LORs, etc. Good luck.

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Thank you! I needed some reassurance after today. But do you think my choice of major fits? I don’t know if I’m competitive enough for Ivy+ government programs. I was thinking of sociology or history, but I would appreciate any input.

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For most colleges It doesn’t really matter what major you apply for as you are free to switch majors once you start and admissions officers understand that.

All you can do is take your shot with the reaches you are most interested in, give those applications your all, and see how things turn out. You are in good shape already with the acceptances you have in hand.

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Unless you applied to a specific program at any of these schools, your choice of PPE or similar doesn’t matter at all. You’re just in a general “social science” bucket for them - they aren’t organizing or ranking students by specific social science major, since they know so many students will be figuring things out as they go.

Sounds like you already have two very solid options and some reasonable targets on your EA list. Your RD schools are reaches for everyone, but who knows, it only takes one of them to hit, and you’ve done what you can do. Best of luck to you!

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As with other highly qualified college applicants, the quality of your acceptances will depend on the quality and thoughtfulness of your application list.

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You have great credentials. Why do you think they rejected you? Maybe something in the essays?

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Duke admitted 12.8% of ED applicants. IMO is a reach for any unhooked applicant. Duke admits record-low 12.8% of Early Decision applicants to Class of 2029 - The Chronicle

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Just being top 10% is tough for these schools. So many applicants are in the top 10 students period… With so many activities listed, how much substance is there with any given one? These schools don’t want well-rounded, they want a well-rounded class…

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Don’t get discouraged or think there’s an issue with your essays, recommendations…As others have said, the chances are low for any unhooked applicant - even the most highly qualified. Additionally, I have heard of kids that don’t get into a Duke but get into a Princeton, Columbia….

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I’ve heard multiple admissions officers say that a well rounded class will include some well-rounded individuals as well as some individuals who have developed in-depth interests.

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I figured my “spike” was my depth in community service, my top 3 activities. I’m extremely involved in the nonprofit sector in my city, holding 2 internships and communicating with them weekly through my role as the president of my school’s service organization.

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Please remember you are communicating with a student. There is no need to imply a deficiency when schools like Duke with such low acceptance rates must make decisions from a pool of amazing kids. Maybe they needed a “tuba player”….

As an example from my kid’s high school…
One kid got into Stanford but three other students who are at the top of the class got deferred. All three boys who ED’d to Duke got deferred, including a legacy and double legacy, NMSF (perfect PSAT score), perfect ACT, cum laude, and multiple academic awards.

No doubt the OP (and these fantastic kids we know) will land somewhere, but there is so much more nuance to the process than the stats and limited information we can see on CC.

To the OP, you seem to have a very strong application. Keep up the good work! I hope you will continue to share your journey with us. And I hope the information shared above from our school provides some reassurance that it’s doubtful anything in your application is “lacking”. It’s simply institutional priorities to build a class… into which we have no insight.

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You will never know why Duke rejected you…or any other school that does, for that matter.

You already have some fine acceptances. I think you have a very good chance at SMU, and maybe Richmond. The rest of your remaining list is HIGH reaches for almost all applicants…you have what it takes, but so do almost all the other applicants to these reach schools. So just wait and see.

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I can only speculate as to the reason or reasons that Duke admissions rejected your candidacy, but it seems clear why schools would not like your application if it is similar to your profile shared on this website.

I do not want to be too harsh so I suggest that you print out a hard copy of your profile as presented in the opening post in this thread and ask a trusted, experienced professional (not necessarily an educational professional) as to any reason why they might reject you.

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I note in a prior thread, we recommended some other PPE options, such as Rochester, Denison, and so on:

I wonder if you have given any thought to those. Up to you, but it would give you some less reachy RD chances.

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If this is true, you had some bad information going into all of this. Even though you have a Duke connection with terrific test scores, Duke is a reach for everyone that isn’t a recruited athlete or the child of someone incredibly famous. Also, Duke has no shortage of applicants from very rigorous private schools that have higher UW GPAs than you do.

Your profile is terrific, and I still think you will get into at least one very selective school, but you have to be realistic about this goofy process. People you will never meet, with biases & preferences you will never know, are “shaping” a class based on preconceived plans that will never be made clear to you.

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Information on colleges offering the similar major of public policy, which relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation, also appeared in that earlier topic.

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What does this mean? How is this helpful to OP?

Beyond Duke being a reach for all unhooked applicants, I don’t see any glaring issues with what OP wrote in their opening post.

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My two cents is it was totally reasonable for the OP to apply to Duke, but this result just underscores that all such colleges these days get way more highly qualified applicants than they can possibly accept, and so most of their highly qualified applicants will get rejected.

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