Duke 2014 Hopeful

slik_nik
Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:18:51 +0000

@frenchhorngirl:

In regards to demonstrated interest, I’m pretty sure that demonstrated interest plays a VERY MINOR role in the admissions process at Duke, if any at all. I don’t know about you, but I have just been through the 2008-09 admissions process, so I have first-hand knowledge about this. Schools that place an emphasis on demonstrated interest, such as WashU, Rice, Emory, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt, will have a spot on the supplement asking what contact was made with the admissions office (i.e. college visit, interview, high school visit, etc.) and a “Why [insert school name here]” essay. Duke did not have a spot regarding admissions contact, and the “Why Duke?” essay was optional (I didn’t complete it, and I still got in).

Duke is on its way to reach the prestige of HYPSM in the eyes of the average American; Duke only accepted about 17 percent of applicants this year. Sure, still easier to get into Duke than Stanford, but selective enough where demonstrated interest does not need to be a major consideration. There were about 24,000 applicants to Duke this year. Maybe 3-4 years ago they had to take demonstrated interest into account, but not anymore.

BTW, Duke travels with Harvard and Stanford when they host college information sessions (along with UPenn and Georgetown).