Rejected from dream school ED

Spencer4life
Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:05:32 +0000

I ended up being flat out rejected from Duke in the ED round and had some questions regarding my future RD applications. Duke was my top choice so I felt as though ED was the way to go based on all the information I could find. I felt pretty confident in my stats (see below) with the exception of my ACT score (33). Due to my commitment to other activities I was not able to take the ACT/SAT after my first attempt until December which wasn’t early enough for the ED round. So Thursday night I received my rejection from Duke and subsequently got my SAT back, a 1540 (750/790). It was a really bittersweet moment as this score may have made a difference in my application. To make things even more complicated my best friend was accepted into Duke which, although awesome, I felt that I had a better application with the exception of the test score I had to submit. I still have many schools I’m applying to: Yale, Vanderbilt, UNC, NC State, Brown, Stanford. Does having a higher test score make a significant difference in my chances? With Duke having a 20% ED acceptance rate this year I’m sort of questioning if I have a chance at an elite school in the RD round, or if there must have been something wrong with my application. I would appreciate any insight into my situation.

Public school, 4.54 W, 3.96 UW, 6/300
Test Scores: ACT (33): 35/31/33/34 SAT: (1540) 750/790
Extracurriculars: Varsity Track/XC (all-state XC, state runner-up track), Eagle Scout, Beta Club, Youth program, a few other smaller clubs and groups
Recommendations: Teacher 1: 10/10 Teacher 2: 8/10, Counselor 5/10: she never really knew me, I have no idea what she could have written Other: 9/10
Demographic: White male