<p>Hello! </p>
<p>Duke and Yale are my top choices, although I am honestly leaning toward Duke. I know extracurriculars are important and distinguish students from each other, however, my extracurriculars are not WOW. My questions are: </p>
<p>1.) Do I have a chance at these schools if my test scores and grades are qualified and I have hooks like URM, first gen, and cancer survivor(if that counts?) but not great extras?
2.) Would attatching a resume to my common ap for Duke with smaller volunteer opportunities recorded help my chances? </p>
<p>Honestly, everyone applying to those schools are very smart, so you need to make yourself stand out. I think that a good story about your cancer could possibly show that you were able to do great in school while also dealing with something as major and life threatening as cancer. But both of those school are reaches for everyone, so I would say </p>
<p>Duke: Low reach
Yale: Reach</p>
<p>Hello: I’m a Duke alumni and I conduct alumni interviews for undergrads. Here are my answers</p>
<p>1) Yes absolutely. Test scores and grades are paramount. Everything else is the icing on the cake. Qualified in my mind means that you are at or above the median for ACT/SAT 1. This differs slightly between Pratt and Trinity</p>
<p>2) No - use the Duke supplement to highlight your achievements that aren’t highlighted on the common app</p>
<p>Provide some more context (GPA, ECs, Grades, Course load, rigor, SAT scores) for a more detailed opinion.</p>
<p>@InsideOutTwinkie Thank you very much that eases my mind a bit!
@sgopal2 Could I message you my stats? </p>