@broozi
Never said they cared about Christian schools-my kid does not attend one. Schools & geography matter though. If you do not think Duke has significant amounts of feeder schools that get kids in year after year, while some never get admits you are grossly informed. Much bias in the system. Future applicants: If you see on Naviance that your school has zero history sending top kids to Duke, but has success at other top schools don’t waste your ED on Duke.
Son accepted! Still in shock, to be honest.
Stats: ACT 35, SAT 2 Math 2 800
GPA W 4.3 (not sure unweighted, but using Naviance, his GPA was a little light for past Duke acceptances from his HS which on average they took 4.4 GPA).
9 AP classes (took on line Alg 2 class after freshman year to jump ahead to pre-calc)
Public HS, white male
Triple legacy (Dad undergrad and Fuqua, Mom Fuqua, Uncle undergrad.) Varsity Wrestling Captain (captain of freshman baseball and JV football.
TONS of long term community service organizations - worked in public library children’s dept for 5 summers, President’s Volunteer Service Award 2 years, HOBY ambassador, Best Buddies.
Spent last 2 summers doing academic programs at Georgetown and Montana Learning Center - Lewis and Clark Expedition Program.
Funny, yet insightful essay on how wearing a wrestling singlet strips away (did not use THAT word, lol) facades and allows one to expose (did not use that word either) vulnerabilities which allow engaging and honest sideline discussions and friendships with competitors.
Regarding the High School comment above - I truly believe which HS you go to does matter to many colleges - if only in that the admission’s rep has relationships with the different HS’s in his/her districts and they have a target number of acceptances from each region. My kids’ public high school has not had ONE student accepted to Vanderbilt in 6 years. Yet every year we have students accepted to Harvard, MIT, Duke…why is that??? We have several amazing prep/boarding schools nearby (Christian and non-religious). Those kids are often full pay from wealthy families. Acceptance rate at those HSs is high and Vanderbilt is a safety school for those applicants. So the admission’s rep meets his/her regional quota, easily from those prep schools and no financial aid is needed. Probably a cynical view of admissions, but also explains why Vanderbilt doesn’t even bother to send a rep to our school anymore! Is Duke like that? I can’t say. Duke take 1-2 students every year from our HS.
I also think over the last few years Duke is looking for more involved, sincere community service and I think that is what sealed the deal for my son. It was noted in the Dean’s letter that this class was very community oriented…
Good luck to all. You are all bright students and will find your place, whether Duke or not.
@2022soon I do not agree with your statement, “If you see on Naviance that your school has zero history sending top kids to Duke, but has success at other top schools don’t waste your ED on Duke.” Although we knew it would be difficult, my daughter was accepted to Duke with no hooks as the first student from her public high school in at least 10 years. They have had students accepted to Yale, Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, etc. every year for the past 5 years. Maybe she could have gotten in to those Ivies, but she really wanted Duke for specific programs and opportunities. We are thrilled and so is her guidance department!
Regarding specific high school bias: Recently, the College Board/SAT group has been sending a second score (not available to test takers) that tells whether or not your school has a certain percent with free lunches, if your school is located in a zip code with a low income, or if you live in a zip code with lower income. These all count towards those who are theoretically disadvantaged based on income. If your parents went to college and grad school this counts against you - I am not sure if this is a way to look at parent income or it is just presumed that two highly educated parents is an undue advantage OR if this is just a diversity thing - trying to spread out college education to those families who have historically had less access. So, if you went to a private high school this would probably count against you, if you have educated parents this might work against you (many private school kids), and if you live in a zip code with a high income (more likely to go to private school) this works against you. Either way, I doubt admissions personnel have a bias against individual schools. Instead, these metrics (private school, income within school zip code, income within home’s zip code, parental higher education) all might make it appear there is a bias against particular high schools.
Another high school related metric colleges evaluate is the level of grade inflation at high schools. Does a quarter of your high school senior class have a 4.0 or higher or do only a select few have these grades? Colleges try to account for grade evaluation at your school when looking at applicants.
Son Accepted Pratt (ECE interest)
Tests: 1600 SAT / 800 Math 2 / 790 Chem
GPA 4.0 (uw) - ranked 1 out of under 100
7 APs (mostly taken online, rural public school did not offer)
Strong ECs (including Summer Science Program (SSP) alum) and Recs
No major national awards
Not URM, athletic recruit, or legacy
No interview offered
Just to add another bit of anecdotal evidence to the feeder school debate above, son’s school has never had a Duke admission previously (nor HYPS, MIT, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Northwestern, or UChicago for that matter) – and just one Dartmouth and Cornell admit over 10 years ago. HS guidance office, while helpful, has no connections to regional recruiters for top schools.
I understand the appeal of Naviance and analyzing past HS admit rates at particular schools, but I would not let that data alone rule out applying ED to a school a student is passionate about.
@jans1090 congratulations to your student!! Yes, you are ? right on high schools. Duke ED apps were DOWN this year by 550! High school counselors are catching on to schools that admit from the same NYC high schools EVERY year, but not their high schools. They are encouraging their top kids to apply to schools with a history of accepting. That is a GOOD thing. Knowledge is power. Colleges should not have all of that power. Funny about Vandy because our school has a great track record there and fits the profile you mention. High school’s matters. FYI for any kids at your school who still want Vandy… they take more from their wait list than from RD itself. Why? Because Vandy waitlist guarantees yield and you can be need aware on their wait list. Back to Duke… there are always exceptions and absolutely congratulations to @MontyBurns well deserved and fits the perfect scores Pratt is known to like! I think that Solomon video youtube link is very accurate with Pratt. I love Duke, but future kids please be aware of all the information.
2 Likes
@2022moon - I had read that Vandy takes alot from waitlist - we were planning ED2 there if Duke fell through. What you say makes alot of sense. A good friend of my son’s is applying to Vandy, she will most likely be valedictorian, so it will be interesting to see if she can break through! I will share that info
I Was Accepted Trinity (Pre-Med Bio Intended Major)
Tests: 1520 SAT
SAT II – did not send any scores because they were not high (600s)
GPA 4.71/5.3 - Weighted and 3.9? UW
Ethnicity -White
Gender- Male
School - Private, Classical, Christian, under 40 in graduating senior class
2 APs - Lit and Stats
Strong ECs
-Leadership Program in community
-Summer abroad studying medicine in Belize
-Varsity Swim Captain
-Worship Team Leader
-Varsity Tennis
-Active in Honors Choir - two performances in Carnegie Hall
Major Awards
-Eagle Scout
-National Merit Semi-Finalist
-National Youth Choral Award
-Marine Corp League Good Citizens Award
-Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship recipient
Hooks
-Legacy (father)
-Fluent in German and am currently studying abroad in Germany instead of my senior year on State Department Scholarship
Interwiew
-Strong Interview with head of Alumni Admissions, was a special case so I think it helped
Letters of Rec. - Strong but I don’t think set the application apart
Adding to Convo–
I am the first one in my school’s history to get a Duke acceptance, or any school of Duke’s caliber or higher. Even though my HS is in NC, we have ZERO connections to any top tier schools, exception UNC. I don’t think that just because the schools have no connection to you, you don’t have a chance. I think in some cases the big feeder schools can make it incredibly difficult but in the end it is about fit. I have MULTIPLE friends who are brilliant (way smarter than me) who have PERFECT scores and PERFECT GPAs having done really impressive things like original research, who got flat denies.One of them didn’t show ANY interest in the school and others didn’t have as rounded applications. I think now more than ever stats are a way to keep you OUT of great schools but what gets you IN are the other areas of the application.
@HSeniorAbroad The friends who didn’t get in were likely not kept out because of their great stats - they did not have hooks like you. Legacy, interview with head of alumni admissions hmm…
only doing this becuase i obsessed over these types of things for the past couple of months
Decision: Accepted
State intended major
Public policy
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
1400 accidently got reported
ACT:
32 superscore english 33 math 27 reading 36 science 32
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
3.99uw weighted 4.525
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
23/713 top 3.2%
AP (place score in parenthesis):
human geo (4) u.s goverment (5) u.s history (5) Physics 1 (3) language and composition (5)
Senior Year Course Load:
ap lit, ap stat, ap enviormental science, ap psychology
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
just state level awards for leadership and debate
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
policy debate (captain)
student council (director of student advocacy)
mock trial (captain)
rho kappa
spanish national honors society
sisterhood
Job/Work Experience:
worked at a daycare at a church since 8th grade ( lead childcare coordinator)
Volunteer/Community service:
helped at dog rescue with grants
Summer Activities:
debate camp
work on amazon delivery
student leadership confrences
Essays:
my common app essay was about how sophmore year i had multiple surgeries and growing up with a disability (7/10)
my why duke essay talked about the CMA and research of structural violence and the focus program (8/10) tried to make it specific to me
diveristy essay (9/10) i talked about a protest i didnt attend because I still wasn’t at peace with my racial idenity after loosing my dad
Teacher Recommendation:
from my ap lang teacher didn’t get to read but counciler said it was amazing (9/10)
from my apush teacher always stayed after class and very involved in conversations (8/10) didn’t read either though so could be wrong
Counselor Rec:
council rec (8/10) never read but she knew me better than most councilors and could speak on my struggles and how i delt with them well
Interview: (10/10) went amazing we talked for 2 hours and he said I would be a great match at duke and said I was exactly what they were looking for
Other
State (if domestic applicant): co
Country (if international applicant):
Intended major(s): public policy, sociology
School Type: huge public
Ethnicity: black
Gender: female
Income Bracket: low
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
could be considered first gen my mom just graduated like months ago
urm
Reflection
Strengths: my personality and ambitions defferently came across in my application
i think i had good story elemts, the interview, deep ties in extracurricular
Weaknesses:
act scores, didn’t achieve world peace or cure cancer
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
i just think they saw my drive and belived in me
General Comments:
i was so shocked and so happy and so greatful to be attending #duke2024
@HSeniorAbroad like @Octagon said #1 LEGACY your dad attended Duke so somehow that qualifies you.
2 You interviewed with an Alumni Head (favoritism was shown to you) #3 You applied to Trinity not Pratt, *so your lower stats were ok there for a connected kid. No subject tests, again you applied to Trinity not Pratt. So let’s be clear to future students: This is NOT an example of a high school that never gets them in being dazzled by his app. This is an example of favoritism working around a non connected high school.
@amarie11 Congratulations!! Well deserved. It had to be hard to navigate applying to a school like Duke w/ parents that did not attend college and not having the funds to pay for a dozen tutors prepping you for subject tests or ACT. Good for you and Duke! Best of luck!!! I hope you love it❤️
Nope, totally disagree. As someone who GOES to Duke and was in that situation, I applied ED to Duke and ended up earning a full-ride merit scholarship. Do not listen to this misinformed comment. @2022soon
@broozi please note this is a brand new CC member…
Check in with the NYC schools. Same schools again getting kids into Duke. Again, this comment is just making future students aware. Duke is a fantastic school, but before ED consider the very accurate Pratt/ Trinity Duke Youtube video added to this thread earlier. Consider the schools students at your school are being admitted to and use your ED wisely.
A basic understanding of statistics will help applicants. If your high school has never had an acceptance, while it is of course possible that you will be the first, the odds against you are higher, particularly if unhooked. If those accepted from your school were all hooked, that should be considered in comparing your own odds. Hooked applicants obviously have higher rates of acceptance, so their results may not be predictive of yours.
I think that if your school has little data, prior results can be misleading. In the previous 3 years, there had been 10 applications and only 1 acceptance - a recruited athlete. As a large public school many states away, I wondered if the lack of history with the high school would impact her chances. As it was her clear #1 choice, she decided to ED and was thrilled to be accepted. She is unhooked - but had great stats and I think prepared a compelling application - but I’m biased.
Was anyone on this thread who was rejected receive a request for additional financial information (W2s, 1040) by Duke/IDOC. I ask because I’m confused why information was requested when student was rejected a week later? Does anyone have any insight?
Decision: ACCEPTED
State intended major: Interdisciplinary (Psychology with Musical Theatre Therapy Research)
SAT I (breakdown): NONE
ACT: 35
SAT II: NONE
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): N/A → 98.6 out of 100
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (5), AP Chem (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): NONE
Senior Year Course Load: AP Psych, AP Calc AB, AP Biology, Honors Brit Lit, Honors Econ, Honors French III, Dance IV, CST, World Religions
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMCS, National Latin Summa Cum Laude, National Honor Society
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council (Secretary to Co-Prez), Mock Trial (Secretary to Co-Prez), Pre Med Society (Founding Member), Memorial Sloan Kettering Seminars, Broadway Masterclass, Glee Club, etc…
Job/Work Experience: Camp Counselor at Summer Camp
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer at Summer Camp, Big Onion (weeklong service trip in NYC with women from other states), HourChildren (Tutor to children of incarcerated mothers), Altar Server, Eucharistic Minister
Summer Activities: Camp Counselor at Summer Camp, Travel
Essays:
- Personal Statement: 9/10, I reflected upon my relationship with my older brother who lives in NC, how he has impacted my education and my outlook on life…
- Why Duke?: 8/10, I tried to be creative by describing how excited I was to first drive onto the campus, how kind and eager the students were, and how I would contribute not only to Duke but the entire Durham community. I transitioned into talking about my potential major using past ECs and a particular course/professor at Duke to show how committed I am!
- Diverse Community: 10/10, I took a huge risk with demonstrating how much theatre has impacted my outlook on life, particularly my ethnicity, using lyrics and visuals from my favorite musical to do so!
Teacher Recommendation: - ALGII/TRIG & AP Calc Teacher: Extremely close with her and we have similar lifestyle and educational habits. I trust it was amazing!
- APUSH & AP Psych Teacher: My favorite and closest teacher at school. She cried writing my rec!
- Frosh/Soph History Teacher: Not the closest, but he has always offered high praise of my name.
Counselor Rec: - Not the closest but I gave her an outline of how I view myself. She took that and manipulated it into her rec for me!
Additional Rec: NONE
Interview: - I had the most amazing interviewer! We interviewed in the theatre district which made me comfortable. She completed the certificate that I want to pursue at Duke, so we bonded over that, abroad trips, etc! 10/10!
Other
State (if domestic applicant): NY
School Type: Private, Catholic All Girl School
Ethnicity: Hispanic and White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: N/A
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
- First Generation
Reflection
Strengths: ECs, Essays, and Recs
Weaknesses: Not having subject tests or ACT Writing, no sports
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
I think they saw my genuine love and passion for the university, my dedication to my studies and the proof behind all of such. Passion always shines through!
General Comments:
Congrats to everyone and to those soon to come! I send my love to those who didn’t receive the news they had hoped for, but you never know what may happen!
Hey, does anyone know if/when Duke is mailing out the physical acceptance packages? Has anyone gotten anything in the mail yet?
My son’s physical acceptance package arrived today (Monday, 12/16) via USPS Priority Mail.
Oh, lord. Being a “brand new” CC user (having my account for over a year?) doesn’t mean anything. I know more about the application process because I have been through it with Duke, I go to Duke, and I know others that go to Duke. What you’re saying is nonsense.