Duke University Discussion
Can anyone chance me? I'm new to this site and still trying to figure out the kinks. By the way, my SAT is a 2040, and my ACT is a 33, does it make sense to only submit my ACT as my SAT score isn't as high as my ACT (at any school)? Thanks guys!
yes that makes sense. i would only submit the ACT score.
i'm president of keyclub. vp of national honor society. copy editor of yearbook. 2200 on sat's. 3.7 unweighted gpa. and take all AP's except for Yearbook. Can someone tell me what THEY think my chances are of getting in because i want to apply ED somewhere and if my chances are too low, i dont want to!
can somebody chance me? i just joined the site.. not even sure what that means.. just want to know whether i have a shot of getting in or not
I'm waitlisted as well. It doesn't sound too promising. But it could be anywhere between 1 and 200. I guess we'll have to see..
Waitlisted too. What now? What are the chances of getting in off the waitlist?
well i have 3.95 unweighted, and by the time i graduate, next year, i will have taken 5 APs. Im guessing around a 4.2 weighted by then. How much work do i have to do on the SAT and ACT?
I'm in Wisconsin, so I don't know about your state's average ACT vs. SAT requirements... I got a 28 or 29 on my ACT and never took the SAT, had a 3.6 unweighted GPA, only took two AP classes, but took three AP tests, only passed two of the three enough for credit, and was able to get into all the schools I looked at EASILY. I'm sure you will be a shoo-in regardless of your SAT/ACT scores, just based on your GPAs, but anything above a 25 should get you to where you want to go, unless, y'know, it's Harvard or something... :)
I have the same worries Leb369.... i have a 4.0 and a 34 as well... what can you get involved with to help your chances??
I have a 4.0 gpa UW and 34 on my act ... I'm so worried about not getting in... People keep saying that with my grades and scores that I am bound to get in, but Duke turns away students with 4.0 and 36 every year... I just wish I could know. I guess I'll have to wait until April...
Hey! So, I am a freshman in H.S. I want to be a Doctor and attend duke's undergrad and medical program. What kind of things do I need to have done:GPA, SAT, E.C,ect.? Please send me a response. Thank you very much!
Email: lilbro8818@aim.com...please help me out!
Just some statistics:
12.7 -- percentage of U.S. citizens living below the poverty line in 2004 (37 million people) 8.6 -- percentage of non-Hispanic Caucasians living below the poverty level in 2004 9.8 -- percentage of Asians living below the poverty level in 2004 21.9 -- percentage of Hispanics living below the poverty level in 2004 24.3 -- percentage of Native Americans living below the poverty level in 2004 24.7 -- percentage of African Americans living below the poverty level in 2004
There is a direct correlation between race and low income. And a lot of that is due to the fact of America's mistreatment of URM in the past, which has ultimately put these people in stagnant and rough positions.
The level of education is also not the same everywhere. People that live in poorer, and under-developed neighborhoods have less access to great teachers, classes, and schools that can normally foster the mind of a great student.
As a result, I do not think that giving URM the a form of "advantage" is wrong. Granted, I do think that URM's should work even harder, and other races that have gone through a similar struggle should also be considered in the same way.
And to people who think that URM's can not work hard, and still get into Universities, I can also attest to that and say that that is not completely true either. Many URM's are not aware of the extent to which their race and their struggle could help them in admissions, and they still end up doing poorly and getting caught up in negative communities.
As far as people who get into Ivies more easily because of their race, I can attest to the fact that I have known some brilliant URM's with above 5.0 GPA's and national/international research that are going to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, and UNC this year, amongst others. :D
Im only a sophmore in high school but i have already decided that I want to go to Duke pretty Much more than anything. To anyone who got in, suggestions? Appreciate it. My Gpa is like 3.85 or something like tat and I'm retaking the ACT until I get At least a 32
im going to duke. & now im starting to get really excited :)
for anyone who got into duke, whats your gpa and sat scores?
i will be attending duke university in the fall :)
I hope you get in off the waitlist. you've definitely gotten into some solid schools thus far though so I hope you feel proud of those.
could you add Duke to your college tracker so others next year can see if you were waitlisted then accept or rejected?
I agree with appellative and mind2spare - understanding that we (at least attempt to) provide a probabilistic model is the key to using this site effectively.
However, we have been expecting people to understand that without being explicit about it - and without providing much-needed explanations. So anik, your confusion is partially our fault, and it drives home the point that we need to do a better job of explaining exactly what we think our predictions mean.
Thanks to all 3 of you for your insights.
Wasn't really sure how to interpret the 25.6%, to me, it seemed really low so that's why I said that it was inaccurate.
Really, even if it said 0.1% chance, getting in wouldn't make it inaccurate.
hate having to post this like every other day.
2 things: 1. site claims 81% accuracy for all of its statistics 2. 25.6% is pretty great considering that for regular decision duke's acceptance rate was about 12.6%. (i.e. you had more than double the chance of the regular applicant.)
congratulations on your acceptance!
It's almost exactly the average chance of all Duke applicants (23%) according to their official data from this past year.
Wow, 23.9 % chance? I'm also going to be disappointed on May 29th.
Duke's my first choice and i have a 41.7% Look like im gna be dissapointed
iperception: i got frustrated and you did seem close-minded, whether you really are or not.
my main point is this:
everyone who challenges the identification of race makes the same and fairly predictable arguments. Admissions Offices (of all selective schools) have heard these argument over and over again, yet the question is still on there for, apparently, good reason.
So there is a point to the URM question that either I have made and you refuse to accept, or that neither you or I are aware of.
Yes, I would say that economic or living conditions should be used against race (i know iperception doesnt support this either), until I remember that economic background is very much considered already - more so than URM status.
I like how the person arguing for admissions to take race into consideration is black and the person against it is white. Anyway, despite the fact that I benefit from the current system, I don't really feel it's appropriate to admit an applicant based on their race/income. From what I've seen at my high school, URM students don't try nearly as hard because they know that they can pull the race/income card and get into a decent university no problem, so long as they get mediocre grades and mediocre SAT's. Maybe URM students would work harder and become more competitive if we didn't think that we had such an amazing hook just for being born?
Regardless, it's quite understandable why universities favor race and low income in admissions from a business perspective. Accepting more URM students despite their lower stats will attract more under qualified URM applicants, leading to greater revenue from application fees and a lower acceptance rate when many are ultimately rejected.
Ooh, you're sassy! (:
I think Duke would be fine with admitting "someone who refuses to understand the notion of evaluating an application in the context of the applicant's life circumstances." The applicant's personal opinion of the admissions process is irrelevant to them, no? And an intelligent applicant with a negative opinion of the university's admissions conduct would be sure not to share their opinion. ;) Anyway, as you've stated, they're more concerned with "the whole package," including race, financial income, life story, grades, scores, EC's, etc. As I said in my last post, I think that consideration of both race and income should be disavowed, but I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. :D
Also, what's the point in throwing around statements like "I've been entertaining this ignorance enough now," or implying that the other posters are at best, self-righteous naysayers, and at worst, bigots? All who have responded have done so with an open-mind and have cordially discussed the race/income issue with you. You're the one who's become forwardly hostile over successive posts and has resorted to name-calling. I don't like calling people out, but... c’mon now. Let’s just be mature, accept our differing perspectives, and stop arguing. (:
like I said, make your argument to the Director of Admissions at Duke and see how far you get, see how willing they are to admit someone who refuses to understand the notion of evaluating an application in the context of the applicant's life circumstances.
I feel like I've been entertaining this ignorance enough now. Byzatine12 made respectable points without a sense of self-righteousness. The comments now have become simply close-minded.
That race and personal income are even considered in the admissions process is appalling, in my opinion (and I say this as someone coming from a single-parent family with an income of less than $25,000 per annum!). The admissions committee should not provide advantages to applicants based on their personal income -or rather, lack of it- or their racial identification. Applicants should be considered based on their individual merit –seen through their dedication to their extracurricular activities and the excellence of their transcripts and test scores-, not on their status as an "under-represented minority" or someone who suffered through "financial hardship". Spots at the top universities should be provided to the most qualified applicants, regardless of their financial status or racial identification. To do anything but that is an affront to tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, their hard work throughout the course of their time in high school, and the integrity of America’s higher education system.
you all fail to understand that all of that is considered (race, econs, area of living, etc). You get caught on race because you think it will be more damning. Like I said on stanford's wall, race on its own is not really an advantage anymore.
note: the average hispanic in NY is likely to have the same income as a hispanic in VA, IL, NV, or OR - geography is not a good correlation between different income levels when compared to ethnicity.
Like I said, people fail to understand the full scope colleges consider when it comes to demographics.
Honestly I think you will serve your cause better by not complaining and ripping on URMs and their "advantage" on mychances.net or whatever site. Perhaps you should write a letter to Duke or any other school - see how far you get. They have their reasons. I don't think high school seniors are going to overrule admissions officers who do this for a living - especially when every wave of ORM applicants complain about this year after year.
If do your best on your applications you shouldn't have to worry about this. It should be erroneous. It's like people use this topic to voice their anxiety about admissions. Damn, if you sell yourself well enough you wont have to worry about some URM having an alleged handicap.
either way you look at this, you're profiling, stereotyping, and typecasting people (take your pick).
personally, if i really i was aiming to incorporate people with "stories" pertaining to economic hardships (which, according to what's been stated, that's what colleges are trying to do when recruiting URMs) then I would go for geographical location, which is a more precise way of determining economic standing when compared to ethnicity.
your point about statistics and a person being more than statistics is part of the point i'm trying to make
URMs who get into Duke or wherever with lower 'statistics' (this is where the complaints come from about URM advantages) have more of a story to them. Yes their statistics may be lower, but compared to where they started, the net is equal or even more than ORMs.
They're not factoring race to see who's "smarter" or has more "potential". They factor it in mainly on humanitarian factors. They see a low income (usually) URM and look at his/her parents situation. They see that the parent never had property, wealth, or an education because of some civil inequality in the past. They realize that such circumstances do in fact trickle down to the applicant's life. And they also realize that the same situation can apply to ORMs in financial struggle, these ORMs get the exact same advantage. Its just that everyone wants to focus on the "Race check-box" instead of the "unusual hardship box". The only reason there is a race check box versus the hardship box that would cover the main points of the race box is because there is a direct, precise, and accurate correlation between URMs (black, hispanic, even asian) and hardship historically speaking.
The only thing that makes a URM a URM is that there is a smaller % in the college than there is in the population.
No offense to anyone at all, but if you take a certain number of people from anywhere at all and compare them to the same number of people from random places as well you will find that the two groups are NOT identical. Just because people like everything to fit into neat statstics doesn't mean that they acctually do.
Perhaps it is arrogant and foolish to say, but perhaps URM are URM because for whatever reason a smaller portion of people from them earned the grades and everything else they needed to go to college.
I mean, intellegence isnt given fairly, nothing in life is, im smart, but there are people far smarter than me. Lots in life aren't given fairly either, if you are the president of some major corperations child you can be a complete idiot and get into ivy league colleges because of your parents influence. On the other hand you can be born dirt poor and never have a chance to get into college at all because you were far too busy supporting yourself and your family to go to school.
Both of these situations have happened, are happening, and will happen, there is nothing we can do to change it. But giving URM a better chance to get in isn't going to change that, its not going to change how the cards are dealt. If everyone earned the right to go to college, then perhaps that little race checkbox wouldn't be needed, but then why is it needed now? How does race decide who is smarter and who isnt?
I'm not the best, and i never will be, but still i find something not right when factors that truely have no bearing on who we are, and what we accomplished are taken into account. Its already been proven that race isnt a barrier like it once was, so why do people continue to tred around it like it is?
I'll admit that if this gave me an advantage, rather than a lack of one, i would probally shut up and support it, but that still wouldn't make it right to judge people on factors that cannot have a real bearing on anything about the person.
The only real thing that this seems to do is get colleges money for letting some minority or other get in easier. So why is it that people are so blinded by statistics that they cannot understand that people, even on a whole, cannot be measured with mere statistics, WE ARE MORE THAN THAT.
truer words have never been spoken.
As established by the Supreme Court, it has been declared illegal for 7 years. The situation can be, and is beginning to be, challenged in various courts-notably in Texas. I completely agree. Each individual should be considered on their unique individual attributes, not judged based on such a superficial quality as skin color. Isn't that the point that was originally endorsed to begin with?
byzantine2:
true. and colleges, especially selective ones, do realize that there are non URMs with poor econ backgrounds, which is why they ask applicants to point out if such circumstances apply.
Harvard, Duke etc like saying they have more URMs than Cornell, Yale, etc (just using as examples). When the very selective schools court URMs, prominent alumni tend to give them more donations. Just last year there was an anonymous donation to U-Chicago of $100M; the person said he/she gave it to U-Chicago for courting URMs.
Affirmative Action doesn't exist. AA was a federal program re: URMs in college and the workplace. AA was repealed via law and executive orders in 2001. What we see now are Universities courting URMs and making URM recruitment programs on their own accord.
Admissions people hear complaints about this all the time, but they clearly have legit reasons for doing it since they continue to do it despite some criticism. Nor can it be argued that it's reverse discrimination, at least not legally. Many suits have been filed in state courts and federal courts across the country, they were dismissed.
I understand your opinion and even though family members of mine who work in Admissions explain the point of URM recruitment, I do tend to believe it should now lean more towards economic status versus racial status. But I trust they will adjust as generations progress.
But those assumptions are exactly what you are NOT supposed to assume about people, and if colleges do it then is it any different than affirmative action (which still exists, mind you).
I mean, it may be true that statistically URM have worse conditions than other groups, but then at the same time isn't it also true that there are pleny of people in the other minorities, and the majority, that go through the same, or even worse, conditions. If it was economic they would ask those questions, instead they ask RACE, which make it all the more likely that they are doing exactly what most minorities do not want except for in this one circumstance? Still unfair.
i really dont understand why ethnicity plays such a big role in this (i played around with it, my chances changed dramatically every time) i mean what does race have to do with being able to do well in school? (as a disclaimer, i mean no offense and mean to do no "name calling" rather i am just questioning the practice of taking race into account, as it is known to be)
only 20% but im a high school sophomore, i still got time =)
man i only got a 49% chance at duke. dats so nerve racking...