AP Courses: AP Calc BC (5), AP Spanish (3), AP World (5), AP Biology (5), AP Lang (5), APUSH (4), AP Stats (5), AP CSP (5), AP Chem, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Lit, AP US Gov, AP Enviornmental
Dual Enrollment (all A’s): Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Ordinary Differential Equations, Probability Theory & Mathematical Statistics (taken unofficially but have a rec letter from college professor to prove it)
Extracurriculars:
research (published; very good) with CSULB professor on modeling markov chains using an R program we created
research (published; good but not great) with TXST professor in pure mathematics
CEO of tutoring business with $10.000+ in profits; hired 5 tutors; reached 20+ clients
Attended selective summer math program (~10-15% acceptance rate) for 2 years, 6 weeks each
President of school Math Team and school Math Club (4 years member, 2 years president)
Started a business that supports veterans of US special forces members; partnered with nonprofit; $5000+ raised; interviews with veterans, etc.
7-10. All unimportant filler activites/clubs, community service etc.
Awards/Honors:
4x AIME Qualifier, 1x AMC12 DHR
Won local research fair
National Hispanic Recognition program
National Merit Commended Student
NHS
Rec Letters:
Math Teacher (11/10) Bio/chem teacher (7/10) councelor (9/10) and college prof (??)
Are you a junior right now? (The Duke ED deadline is long past for Fall 2024 admission)
If you are applying for financial aid, make sure to run Duke’s net price calculator on their website to get cost/affordability estimates. Run the NPCs for all the schools on your list.
I can’t chance you, but you have a strong profile and should be competitive at many schools. Good luck.
You have good numbers, and your reach list generally seems reasonable, although I would be curious why Stanford and UCLA, but not Berkeley, for Math.
I am personally skeptical ED gives a “boost” to every candidate, and Duke specifically tends to defer as many as they accept, implying that normally if they are not sure they would admit you RD anyway, they will more likely defer you, not accept you.
But if Duke is your clear first choice and would be affordable, then it is fine to ED there.
One thing to be aware of is these are all holistic review colleges and they do not necessarily have the exact same priorities. MIT, for example, likes to see people who have done collaborative things, hands on things, and things just for balance/fun. So you might think about how to present that to them. Same with each reach on your list.
I think the fun part will be identifying your target and likely colleges, including assessing whether you want to try to turn your numbers into substantial merit offers.
You are an extremely well qualified and competitive applicant but as with all your colleges listed, UCLA is a Reach school with a 9% admit rate and a 11% admit rate for the College of Letters and Sciences.
They are race blind and test blind so your SAT will only be used for course placement and not for admissions or scholarship consideration.
Definitely obtainable but still a Reach. Good luck and make sure have a some target and safety schools on your list.
You are a very competitive applicant. You have a decent chance at any university.
But Duke, UCLA, HYPSM are still reaches, and you need to make sure that you also apply to safeties.
One issue is budget. You should only apply ED to Duke (or anywhere) if at least one of the following two things are true: (i) You are fine being full pay; (ii) You have run the NPC and the results look affordable to you and to whomever will be paying your bills (which in most cases would be your parents). Applying ED anywhere also takes away the option of considering merit based awards, if you are applying to schools that offer merit based awards.
To me, the fact that you have visited UC Berkeley and found that it is not a good fit for you shows a maturity that is almost as impressive as your superb stats and ECs. Looking for a good fit is exactly the right thing to do.
Adding a safety or two to your list is very important. Also, I agree that you are doing very well.