One Shot - Duke

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Senior at nationally ranked HS. Interested in Ivies and similarly prestigious schools.</p>

<p>Standardized Testing</p>

<p>SAT: 2300, first-time, single-sitting. 740 M, 760 CR, 800 W, 10 E.
PSAT: 225 (National Merit Semifinalist) </p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
USH: 800
Lit: 710 (lol)
Planning to take Bio; expected score: 800
Planning to take Math II; expected score: 800</p>

<p>APs and IBs:
World History - 5
European History - 5
US History - 5
Calculus AB - 5
English Language - 5
Environmental Science - 5
IB Philosophy SL - 7 (out of 7)</p>

<p>Academics
Top 10% of graduating class.
GPA: 3.8 UW </p>

<p>(Relatively weak freshman and sophomore years. Perfect UW 4.0 junior year despite taking 4 APs and two IB courses. I also took several additional courses in junior year to increase my GPA. </p>

<p>Expecting a perfect 4.0 for the first half of senior year.) </p>

<p>Current courseload:
AP Calc BC
AP Stat
AP Biology
AP Chinese
AP English Literature
AP Microeconomics
Epistemology (IB)</p>

<p>Accolades:
National Merit Semifinalist
National Honor Society member
Various other honor societies (I know these don’t mean too much so I won’t delineate them here).</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Music
Assistant tuba/sousaphone section leader in symphonic and marching band. We have won several competitions, once earning the chance to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York. Also, marching band at my school is a 20 hour/week commitment for the entirety of football season, and symphonic band is a 10 hour/week commitment from December to June.
Co-founder and secretary of Ensemble Club - we travel to local schools and retirement homes to perform classical music. As secretary, I organize rehearsals and find venues.</p>

<p>Tutoring
I mentor inner-city kids on a weekly basis after school. I help them with homework, teach them about good behavior at school, etc.
I have tutored peers at school as part of our school’s math honor society for all four years.
I have had work experience with privately tutoring someone in Algebra II.</p>

<p>Leadership
I am a project manager in a volunteering club at my school. I seek out volunteer opportunities and recruit students from school to participate in these volunteering opportunities.
Assistant tuba/sousaphone section leader (as mentioned above).
Other
Recommendations: Good to great. One teacher sent me a treacly postcard this summer … now if only he could do the same for my recommendation .
Essays: very good; wrote about how I love teaching/tutoring
State: FL
School type: Public; medium (1000)
Gender: Male
Income bracket: middle class
Hooks: holy crap what an upward trend in terms of GPA despite increased courseload and volunteering o.0! Also tutoring is my passion.</p>

2

<p>Turn off the computer. Close the book. Go watch some tv. You’re fine</p>

3

<p>Post-workout bump.</p>

4

<p>Bump again.</p>

5

<p>Bump sat ii</p>

6

<p>Good luck with sat ii. Are you taking them tomorrow? Don’t forget your picture id and admission ticket.</p>

7

<p>Duke is match for you. ur ec’s + sat scores seem like they’re up to the standards provided that your expected scores turn out as you want.</p>

<p>definitely apply ED if you’re set on going there. why bother applying to ivy schools like upenn or columbia when they have similar prestige (if that’s what you’re looking for) and quality of education, but are more difficult to get in.
getting in ED is soooo good. you’ll be so relieved and you won’t have to fuss around with so much later on
gl!</p>

8

<p>Class rank will hurt you at Ivies where most want kids in top 5% and for HYP it is more like the top 1%. Agree you are a match for Duke (defined by me as between 50 - 75% chance of admission) and most other top schools.</p>

9

<p>I’m actually in the top 8% (not that’ll make much of a difference) but thanks for the advice. I’ll ED there. </p>

<p>Also, are multiple teacher recs (like 2) OK? I have two teachers that’ll write extremely strong recs for me (one is almost begging to write one for me).</p>

10

<p>I think many people underestimate how hard it is to get into Duke. I know one girl who was top 5% in her class, 2380 SATs, strong ECs and had alumni affiliation yet she was rejected and my hs is top 200. Since you are EDing, I thibk you will have a good chance in getting in</p>