Chances at Duke?

Roxury
Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:09:16 +0000

I attend an Early College program, where I have dual enrollment in my local community college and high school, where my community college classes count towards my high school credits. We are supposed to graduate with an Associate’s Degree after an extended five years of high school, though I am completing it in four.
I am an in-state applicant
I have no relation to any alumni
I take the highest level courses offered at the college, that being the Calculus sequence and calculus-based General Physics
I have a 4.0 GPA (unweighted)
I am valedictorian of my class


-33 ACT Composite

Score Breakdown: 35 Eng/Mat/Read, 27 Sci, 6 Writing


Quiz Bowl Team all four years of High School
for those who don’t know, this is like a team-version of Jeopardy where you don’t know the categories
Student Government sophomore year (unfortunately I lost freshman and junior year, hopefully I’ll win this upcoming year!)
Outside of school, I have been a competitive piano player since age 8


Also, my teacher/counselor recommendations are likely to be very good, as my counselor and many of my teachers consider to be one of if not the most intelligent and hardworking student they’ve ever had. In addition, I am a good writer and put a lot of thought into my writing, so my student essay will likely (hopefully?) display that.

Not sure if this stuff matters, but I plan on being a Biophysics major and pre-Health student.

Duke has also sent me a letter saying “Students like you are what comprise the talented, engaged, and active student body here at Duke” and requesting that I respond to their e-mail/letter, which I did.

For anyone who goes to Duke or a similarly competitive school (or even if you don’t), what do you think my chances are based off of this information? Anything that I could include in my application to help raise my chances and make me really stand out? Any answer will be greatly appreciated.