OP: the most important factor for Duke is your transcript of your in-your-high-school courses. You said about 10 get in to T20s from your school: did you take the hardest courses those 10 usually take, in your high school? How do your grades compare to the typical Top 10-20 kids? Obviously all 10 unhooked who go to T20s are not all the actual top 10 students, as rigor is more important than rank, but your rank(grades) must be in that ballpark. ED legacy is a small boost. The last data I have is from HS class 2021: ED overall rate was 16% that year, Legacy ED was 19%…not that much higher than the overall ED. We know many legacies who have applied to Duke. The vast majority have been denied. The successful ones in ED have always had max rigor in their school, SAT/AP scores around the median(pre-TO figures)or higher, and class rank/GPA that was within the range that UNhooked kids had been admitted for ED in the past(based on Naviance or Scoir for the HS). The only outliers with true boosts have been recruited athletes, which is completely different. We know valedictorians and salutatorians at many different high schools who were legacies who did not get in ED, unknown why but course rigor seemed to be not top for all of them. We also know both non-legacy and legacy Val/top rigor/top everything kids who got in RD from the same schools where ED legacies were denied. Best of luck!
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