<p>My chances don’t seem too well of getting into Duke, especially after my Wustl wait-list notification, so I was wondering if anyone could me his/her opinion about my chances fora Duke acceptance. And sorry for the strong title description, just thought I’d try to get someone’s attention.</p>
<p>SAT: CR 690, M 780, W 770 (2240 total)
SAT II’s: Biology 780, Chem 770, US his 760, Math I 760
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Class Rank: 2nd/180
Race:White
Gender:male
AP’s: USHis 5, Bio 5, Chem 5, Calc BC 5, macroecon 5, Goverment 4
College courses: Multivariable Calc, Microeconomics both A’s
EC’s: 2nd chair All-State Orch, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, State Awards in Music for Saxophone, Piano and Clarinet, Superintendent’s Advisory Committee, Varisty Cross Country, Varsity Tennis, worked in a USDA laboratory, Governer’s Honor’s Program, Titan Ambassadors
Awards: National Merit Commendation, Highest Grade in many of my AP courses, AP Scholar Distinction</p>
<p>OK, I feel bad now about the username, but that still doesn’t change the influence of ethnicity on scholarships and acceptance standards. I only have concern for my own chances as not only as a Caucasian, but also a male in a society that reacts heavily to minority and gender rights.</p>
<p>I’d say considering your profile, your wait-list at WUStL carries very little significance as a signal of your qualifications. </p>
<p>You should keep in mind that these colleges receive a ton of applications every year. There will be some that are exceptionally good and are almost guaranteed admissions. On the flip side, there will be some that are at the other end of the spectrum and are definite reaches. And then the overwhelming majority in between will be good, but won’t exactly stand out very much from the pack (especially at the top schools). For these in apps in the middle, the decision can easily come down to very minor things and other random factors which are not necessarily indicative if your strength as an applicant but rather that space is unfortunately limited and a decision needs to be made. </p>
<p>Long story short, I think your chances for Duke is undiminished. </p>
<p>As a side note, if you think this whole randomness of college admissions to top schools is crazy, you should take a look at med school admissions, in particular the MSTP program. With acceptance rates of around 5% and an abundance of high quality applicants, the randomness of the decisions can get pretty out of hand at some places.</p>
<p>Young African American men die at a rate that is at least 1.5 times the rate of young white and Hispanic men, and almost three times the rate of young Asian men (Fig. 6). While the death rate drops for men ages 25 to 29 for most groups, it continues to rise among African Americans.</p>
<p>The leading causes of death for all young men ages 15-29, regardless of race or ethnicity, are unintentional injury (e.g. car accident, firearm, or drowning), suicide, and homicide. For young African American men, more deaths are caused by homicide than any other cause. Additionally, HIV is the sixth leading cause of death for young African American and Hispanic men, yet for other racial groups, HIV is not among the top 10 causes of death.</p>
<p>I have definitely failed to reconginze the statistical data of our nation within my username, but I still have bad feelings that race could be the value that resolves a dispute over which candidate should be accepted at an intense university such as Duke. There is obvious strides the nation needs to take to releaving race disperities, but why should that way be resolved through college admissions. But then, I must step back for a second because I truly don’t know what it means to be an African American.</p>
<p>Having an education correlates with success, and with success usually comes some form of financial security. What better way to releave race dispersities than to offer minorities an education, something essentially impossible for them only 45 years ago?</p>
<p>That’s just the issue. Most minorities have an education, and usually the ones that wish to apply to an intense university have an education that can be equal to or (or shall I dare say) better than that of a white individual. Where is the disparity there except within a different skin color?</p>
<p>“the ones that wish to apply to an intense university have an education that can be equal to or (or shall I dare say) better than that of a white individual.”</p>
<p>I’m not sure you realize what a small percentage of African American males this represents…You think YOUR odds are bad?</p>
<p>Why don’t you just get back to the subject of your post? Sorry if I took it OT.</p>
<p>While I may not entirely agree with IwishIwereblack, I do know that when it comes down to college admissions, affirmative action plays a huge role. I’m Indian (call me Asian if you will) and if there weren’t quotas at top schools such as Duke and Wustl (to which I also got wait-listed), then 60-70% of such schools would primarily be composed of Asians and therefore, these schools limit the number of Asians and Caucasians that are admitted and increase the number of Hispanic/ African- Americans admissions. Just a thought…no offense to anybody. I say this only because all the brilliant people I know got wait-listed at Washu, but got into MIT and other schools, and happen to be Asian. However, a lot of other students with poor grades and low standardized test scores got into washu. And all of them are black…</p>
<p>You know what might clear the issue of demographic disparity: wages for education. Although this will need a lot of money to fund, I think the money will be returned and some. This incentive to learn would put everyone on the same playing field. If students got the grade or recognition, then they will get more money and better grades; then that works in the opposite direction as well.</p>
<p>I agree. We should adopt an educational system similar to that of most european countries, where higher education would be free as long as students make the required grades in class and on standardized tests as well. that way, we can ensure middle class students aren’t compelled to look towards state schools while students from poor backgrounds are granted the opportunities to top schools with absolutely no family constributions. and don’t say i’m hating because if you were middle class, life just sucks for you :/</p>
<p>Look; I know this is college confidential, and not “world confidential”. I appreciate that for the purposes of college admission, things seem unfair for all sorts of reasons. But in the big picture, I don’t think either of you REALLY want to be Black. The odds of getting this far in the process would be pretty slim.</p>
<p>There are plenty of affirmative action threads. This doesn’t have to be another one.</p>
<p>So if I get waitlisted/rejected, I will probably make somewhat of a scene. However, I will not pull the racial card as “the” reason for getting rejected. At least I have gotten into my safety school. I just have to question sometimes the merit of quotas, especially when they don’t work that well in the economy…</p>
<p>on another note, i love how all of us are so worried about getting into duke.
sorry for that rant guys…i really don’t mean anything bad for any of us…just wishing all of us would get in. GOOD LUCK!!!
if i meet you at duke (fingers crossed), then i’m sure we can all have pretty interesting conversations so i hope to see all of you…FOUR MORE DAYS!!!</p>
<p>if we all get admitted, then we should have a CC admittance party and laugh at how fickle we were.</p>
<p>And in case you didn’t know, I’ve tried changing my username like a hundred times, but CC doesn’t want to let me…At least it inspired a conversation.</p>
<p>AGREED!!!
but seriously though, i just want to GET IN, or getting waitlisted and then getting admitted would be fine as well as long as I find out pretty soon. i just don’t know if i can handle another rejection (i consider washu’s waitlist as a potential rejection)</p>
<p>I just wonder though about this waitlist the year…Although in years past not many have been admitted off this list, I think with the state of the economy people that don’t get the financial aid that they wanted to have when admitted might most likely turn the college down. i’m just saying…this could be the year of those who “wait” to be recognized.</p>
<p>If a university seeks to diversify its student body, then it will naturally select the best from each group. Affirmaitve action is in place to compensate for the atrocities committed against minorites. Just because blacks or hispanics have lower “stats” than asians or whites doesn’t necessarily mean they are not as “brilliant”. </p>
<p>More often than not, SAT scores reflect the amount of time and money spent on them. Asians and whites have the highest average incomes, thus one would expect asians and whites put more money into SAT prep. But what about the inner city blacks and hispanics who are equally as brilliant but simply do not have the resources to prepare like asians and whites? Should we perpetuate them into poverty because the resumes of asians and whites appear better than those of hispanics or blacks? It is only fair, then, to evaluate the different races in their own contexts in order to see who used their available resources most efficiently. The only way to do this is, like I said before, to pick the best from each group.</p>
<p>True, many asians and whites who are rejected may have higher SATs or ECs or whatever than accepted hispanics and blacks, but by no means does it make them more qualified. Moreover, if universities seek to diversify, like all of them clearly state they do, then why should they pick the highest SAT scores or GPAs and congregate that same ‘perfect-score’ attitude when they could add different cultures and ideas and have the best from each side of the world come together in a small place?</p>