do i have a chance a duke?
I’m a junior in high school right now and I want to go to Duke,l. Duke is very very competitive so if anyone can give me advice or info based on my stats that would be much appreciated! It’s causing me a lot of stress feeling that I haven’t done enough. I am a legacy of Duke bc my mom went there.
My academics are basic. I have a 4.33 gpa right now, but my overall as of now (end of second semester of junior year) is a 4.00 because of the one B I received in chemistry last year. For APs, by the end of senior year, I would have taken all except for 1/2 of a year possible for my school, which is around 4.5/12 ish total offered at my school. (I switched into an AP this year, so it’s .5) my school only has 5 academic periods and APs aren’t available until junior year, and most are extracurriculars and not standard English and History, so a majority is only available as a senior.
this whole section is stressing me out bc nothing i do screams high academic!!
My school doesn’t have any class rankings
I didn’t have access to the PSAT because of my school district, but am planning on taking the SAT and ACT
I have been dancing since 3rd grade, and now do about 25 hours a week, and have been doing 25 hours per week since freshman year. (Before was less just because I was in a lower level).
My school is a public arts high school, which I attended for dance. 10/25 hrs a week comes for, the 2 hours of “art block” I do at school every day.
Every summer since 2018 I have attended a dance summer intensive for 3+ weeks
This year my summer intensive is with American Dance Festival on the Duke Campus! Duke's dance program ( I plan to double major in dance and possibly psychology) is tied with ADF
I am a part of environmental club, and have been since freshman year (and middle school), and was a core member last year. (I can’t anymore bc of my dance schedule)
I have been part of an all girls charity and leadership organization since 6th grade, where every year, 15 hours of philanthropy, 10 hours of meetings, and 15 hours of league are required.
At the end of last year, I took over my sisters “project”, donating period products to homeless shelters, where I fundraise for donations of products, and put together and facilitate other to put together period kits to give away. It actually takes a lot of time organizing so I hope I can make it a strong part of my application.
Last semester I took a non credit ethics class just for me beacsue I wanted to see if ethics and morality was interensting to me (and it is!). Since that was noncredit, I doubt it gibes me anything really.
I'm going to take statistics over the summer at a city college.
I feel that I am doing so much every day, as I am doing how, at school, or dancing from 8am to 9pm everyday, but I still feel like I don’t have even a chance at prestigious schools.
Thank you so much any feedback and guidance on what to do or how I look to prestigious colleges is very much appreciated!
Earn karma by helping others:
3 answers
You have a moderate chance of getting into Duke. I would recommend pursuing more leadership opportunities (president of a club, start an initiative in the community, create an organization, etc.) and diversifying your portfolio overall. It's good that you spend a lot of time with dancing because it shows your passion, but at the same time, there aren't many activities that you do besides this that thousands of students don't already do. You want to ensure that the 10 spots available for extracurricular activities on the CommonApp are filled with different, unique activities that make you stand out.
Aside from extracurriculars, if Duke is your top choice, make sure you apply Early Decision!! Applying early shows your genuine interest in the school and the acceptance rate for the early decision pool is also considerably greater. Also make sure to spend time on your essays instead of waiting until the last minute. Make your essays unique, creative, entertaining to read (tell a story instead of reciting a list of extracurricular activities), and personal to you (this is your chance to connect with admissions officers on a human level). Essays make up for weaknesses in your application.
Also for reference, I got waitlisted from Duke and here are my stats when I applied:
Class Rank: 1/480
GPA (weighted): 4.7 (4.0 unweighted)
SAT: 1490
Extracurriculars: Yale Young Global Scholars Program, Bank of America Student Leader, Started a personal training and clothing business, Student Writer for the New York Times, Created career resources for students, Lieutenant Gov. Key Club, President Spanish Honor Society, VP Mu Alpha Theta, Community Service Clubs (did 100+ hours and won national award), Hosted charity dinners for a humanitarian organization.
(Keep in mind, I applied regular decision and waited until the last possible minute to submit my application. I know of students who did less than I did in high school who got in because they applied ED, so apply ED!! Also, if you don't get in, keep in mind that applying to competitive schools is a game of chance, so make sure you have safety schools.)
I wish you the best of luck and I hope you get into Duke :)
To add to the other answers, I would recommend that you use CollegeVine's chancing engine to determine your odds of admission. The chancing engine will quantify all of the components of your applicant profile to give you an estimate of your chances at getting accepted to Duke. Hope this helps!
You do seem very competitive, but I think your chances of getting admitted is still kind of low. Whether or not it will increase depends on your ACT or SAT score. In all actuality, many students are qualified to get accepted to top tier schools, but they can't admit all of them because they need to keep their competitiveness. The fact that you're a legacy is great and your dancing is a good extracurricular. However, I feel you also have to do well on your essays and your ACT/SAT. Try to avoid getting anything lower than a low A. I'm sure the lack of AP classes will be taken into account. All in all, you have a competitive chance, but so do many other people, so try to stand out with your essays in particular.
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!