Will Duke overlooking some sub-stellar parts of an application due to special circums

Colleges & Universities Duke University
1

<p>I am applying to Duke early decision, and my one major flaw is my sub stellar gpa. I have a 3.56 unweighed, which is composed of many ap and honors classes. I have a 2310 sat, and gret extra-curiculars, but not as stellar as a gpa.</p>

<p>What doubtless has influenced this(and I talked about in my essays) is that I have a twin brother with learning disabilities, who I have pretty much had to guide step-by-step through high school, which took away a lot of my attention from my academics, leading me to get a pretty good gpa, but not stellar by any means. School does not release class rank, so I am fine in that regard, and my transcript shows a lot of difficult classes. Also has upward trend of grades(3.4 freshman year, 3.62 sophomore, 3.63 junior) So do you think Duke would be more willing to overlook that one flaw in my application due to my twin brother? I am a caucasian male from the Northeast, thanks for any help!</p>

2

<p>Nope. But it would have been a nice thing IF you had gotten top grades IN SPITE of that situation. That’s what the top colleges like, someone who has had some sort of adversity or challenge and still came out tops. There are so many sad stories as to why a person did not do well, include dying siblings, dying parents, near dying yourself. But if you can pull it off even with those issues, it is someothing taken into consideration but it is an expected ususal thing when it is not pulled off. So no. You won’t get any consideration for this.</p>

3

<p>It may be a good essay topic. Just don’t use it as an excuse.</p>