<p>Hey Guys,</p>
<p>I applied ED to Duke and it is by far my top choice. Do you know if/how much of an impact region plays in admission at Duke? I am a student applying from KY, and there are only a handful of KY students on Duke’s campus. Will this hurt me or help me in terms of admission chances?</p>
<p>I was actually wondering the same kind of thing! I am from the midwest, by far the most underrepresented region at Duke, (even less then international), and I was curious why. I wasn’t sure if it was because not many kids from the midwest apply, and it gives me a leg up because they want more midwesterners? Or if it was because admission officers don’t look as favorably at midwestern applicants, and their applications just aren’t good. I wonder if anyone knows anything about this</p>
<p>I would think that if your app is good enough to get accepted in general, then it would be beneficial to be from an underrepresented state. I think during our info session on campus, it was mentioned that there are no students (or at least undergrads) from Montana and I got the impression that it would be nice for anyone applying to BE from Montana… Just my thoughts… don’t know what is actually true.</p>
<p>Yes you would have to meet the academic and personal criteria first before regional factors come into play, as my3gr8boyz stated. Things such as race, region, legacy status are secondary factors if not tertiary.</p>
<p>Maybe the Southwest US or the Pacific Northwest would generate a boost, but a Kentucky boost would be very slight at Duke, in my opinion.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that certain Midwestern states are sparsely populated. This means that the college applicant pool of Montana is significantly smaller than that of New York, for example. It makes sense that a state such as Montana might be underrepresented at a competitive school like Duke.</p>
<p>Being from an underrepresented state should not hurt an applicant’s chance of admission. In fact, it may give a small boost to his/her application. Given two “identical” applicants (with respect to GPA, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, etc.), let’s say one from California and the other from Montana, the admissions committee would probably be looking to diversify the incoming freshman class by region and may choose the Montana applicant over the Californian.</p>
<p>@Bartleby007 - That’s exactly what I had planned to say in my previous response, only I was going to compare with NJ (our state, unfortunately!). It could be sort of a tie-breaker thing.</p>
<p>I think something that’s been overlooked is the actual regional reps themselves. IIRC they actually play a big role from start to finish. They read your application, score it, make recommendations regarding auto-admit/reject, and if necessary, also present your file to the committee as well as act as your advocate when your file comes up for discussion. </p>
<p>If anything, I would think that get to know your rep would have a much better return than living in an underrepresented region. I know it’s not always possible or feasible, especially for regions with a lot of applications. But I think reps still do visit high schools in their region and also do touring presentations at college fairs. When I applied I met mine when she dropped by my school and we got to talking. That helped when I later had a question and she remember me which in turn probably helped me stand out a bit more in her mind. </p>
<p>Anyway, just something to consider.</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/Class2016Profile.pdf[/url]”>http://admissions.duke.edu/images/uploads/process/Class2016Profile.pdf</a></p>
<p>If you look at the link above, the thing that I’m trying to figure out is whether underrepresented states have fewer applicants in general or if Duke just accepts a fewer number of applicants from these areas</p>
<p>I have talked with multiple adcoms (including Duke’s) who insist that what state or region an applicant lives in will make no difference in how the application is evaluated. This statement is supported by Duke’s Common Data Set. </p>
<p>They do however point out that an individual applicant’s access to opportunities is considered. Thus, a student who lives in Louisville will have higher expectations than a student from coal country in eastern Kentucky.</p>
<p>They also always emphasize that every admitted student (including athletes and all other hooks) must have demonstrated the ability to succeed academically at Duke regardless of any circumstances.</p>
<p>
@SBR: Although regional reps may play an expanded role (vs. other admissions officers), an out-of-the-way applicant in a sparsely populated state will probably never have the opportunity to meet the Duke regional rep assigned to the region.</p>
<p>At top-tier colleges, someone on the admissions committee will probably serve as “advocate” for each applicant who makes the cut based on numbers (GPA, standardized test scores, etc.). It makes sense that the advocate would be the regional rep…although that is not always the case. Each college may choose to run its admissions committee differently. I do not have any inside knowledge of how Duke’s admissions committee works.</p>
<p>My gut feeling is that…
Being fortunate enough to get “face time” with one’s regional rep probably offers very little (if any) significant advantage in the admissions game. I suppose if the in-person interactions with the rep were VERY positive or VERY negative it could impact the admissions decision. However, the vast majority of applicants probably interact with their regional reps in a cordial manner in a fairly social setting. Very little substantive info about the applicant can be gleaned from such interactions.</p>
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@ndblaze: Both. The former determines the latter.
Any time you spend wringing your hands about whether your KY state residence hurts your chances of admission at Duke is wasted time, in my opinion. Enjoy your senior year at high school. Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst. Line up your applications to other colleges for regular decision in case Duke doesn’t offer an acceptance. :-)</p>
<p>@Bartleby007: I would disagree with your assessment. If you carefully read the Chronicle article on Duke’s new admissions model, it’s clear that the regional admissions officers play a hugely important role:</p>
<p>[University</a> streamlines admissions | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/university-streamlines-admissions]University”>University streamlines admissions - The Chronicle)</p>
<p>In fact, reading between the lines, I would say that given how much the role of the regional adcoms are being emphasized, I would say that any interaction with them would be a good thing provided you don’t screw it up. </p>
<p>Will a good meeting get you in if you aren’t qualified? No. Is it a surefire way to get in even if you are? No. But do I think getting to know them or even being in contact with them help more than being from an underrepresented state or region? Yes. </p>
<p>So in short, I’m not suggesting you go out the hunt these people down. But don’t pass up an opportunity to show your face, introduce yourself, and help them match an application to a face to a context.</p>
<p>SBR took the words right out of my mouth!</p>
<p>
@SBR: It’s funny how two people can read the same document and arrive at different conclusions.</p>
<p>Reading between the lines of the article you shared, I inferred that the Duke regional admissions officers will be empowered to reject applications based on obvious, quantitative measures (GPA, SAT/ACT scores, etc.). “Outside readers” will no longer be the first Duke representative to review an application. This constitutes the most significant change to the Duke admissions process. Now the university won’t be wasting the time/attention/economic resources of their professional readers on applications that clearly don’t make the cut. Essentially, Duke is using regional admissions officers as a “filter” to remove unqualified candidates from the applicant pool as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>It is reasonable to assume that strong candidates and “on the bubble” candidates will make it through the filter. Their application essays will be read by professional “outside” readers, associate directors, and/or the admissions committee itself.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’d characterize the reported change in the Duke admissions process as reason for an applicant to go out of his/her way to meet the regional rep. After all, a Duke regional officer oversees about 1,800 candidates. Think about that number for a second. That’s a staggering number of applicants to manage in the December to March time frame.</p>
<p>I stand by my previous assessment. The only way getting some “face time” with one’s regional rep would have any effect at all on the admissions decision is if the interaction were very positive or very negative. And the chances of having an off-the-charts, spectacularly positive meeting in a social setting with a regional officer…are rather low. That’s just my take on the situation…</p>
<p>Our regional rep put on a presentation in September I attended. I have had face time, I said hello, but she doesn’t know it. I overheard her saying she is an English major and is part of a a capella group. I am all math and science and work hard for people not to think English is my second language. I love tennis and can’t sing a note. Maybe her not knowing who I am is an advantage for me.</p>
<p>You can rationalize the unknown but it will still remain an unknown until mid December.</p>
<p>@Bartleby: What I was referring to is actually this passage by Guttentag:</p>
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<p>I also didn’t say that you should meet with regional reps because of the new changes. It would have had the same effect on either the old or the new. </p>
<p>But the most important point I think that was missed was that this entire thread is to discuss things that are out of our control in the application process and how they may work to our advantage. </p>
<p>Originally the point was to discuss whether being from an underrepresented area may be of benefit. In response to that, my point is that even if the vast majority of interactions with regional reps are unproductive, the chances of having a good one that makes an impression is still much higher than that of deriving substantive benefits from living in an underrepresented region and with the former giving a much bigger boost if one is lucky. So if one is inclined to “play the lottery” so to speak, then one shouldn’t pass up a chance even if the odds look a little bleak. </p>
<p>What I did not mean to imply is that this is a consistently foolproof method to boost one’s application and guarantee admission. But if one is willing to consider the remote possibility that being from Montana helps with getting into Duke, then would it not make sense to also consider the remote (but slightly less improbable) possibility that interacting with a regional rep can sway a power advocate to your side at the adcom meetings?</p>
<p>Edit: in the interest of full disclosure, when I applied and interacted with my regional rep, I was ED, Duke got around 1500 ED applications, and accepted about 500 of us. So odds were definitely in my favor somewhat. Obviously YMMV</p>
<p>
@SBR: Oh, I read that part. That quip from Gutentag is merely “media-spin” characterizing the change in the admissions process as a “positive” one (from the applicant’s perspective). The fact of the matter is that now Duke will no longer guarantee multiple reads of an application prior to issuing a rejection. This makes it likelier that an applicant will be rejected earlier in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Please understand that I am pointing this out not to criticize the change in policy. University admissions committees should be “trimming the fat” in their expenses. After all, Duke and other universities receive tens of thousands of applications every year.
Yup, I got that from your previous post.
FYI, I didn’t interpret your previous posts to mean that meeting the regional rep is a foolproof method of securing an acceptance. My point is that the overall effect of such a meeting on the admissions decision is negligible.</p>
<p>To be honest, your admissions experiences (and mine) are purely anecdotal. The numbers you shared say nothing about the strength of your individual application relative to the overall strength of the ED applicant pool when you applied. To share one more datapoint (so that other readers can appreciate the range of application experiences), I applied regular decision to multiple top-tier schools without any interaction at all with regional admissions officers…and I got in everywhere I applied. 
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<p>@Bartleby007: yes I understand what you were trying to say. What I was trying to say was that since everything discussed in this thread will have negligible overall effect on admissions. If we are going to consider everything and try everything to maximize chances, then leave no stone unturned no matter how trivial or insignificant. </p>
<p>As for why I gave those numbers, I was trying to say that my experiences are significantly different from the current reality of college applications. Thus, my positive interaction with a regional rep may have been more effective when I applied than if I am applying today.</p>
<p>@SBR: Thanks for the discussion. I do appreciate you raising the possibility that getting to know one’s regional admissions rep is a course of action that applicants should consider. Personally, I think that applicants should seek out face-to-face interactions with their regional admissions reps if they have questions regarding application procedures or would like to get more information about the school…not to influence the admissions decision.</p>
<p>@Bartleby007: networking is the rule of the game whether one is applying to college or trying to get a job. There’s nothing wrong with trying to “influence the admissions decision” by putting yourself out there as long as you don’t wander into morally questionable territory.</p>