Predict DS's chances at these schools

[Anonymous]

Duke is a tough one, they really have some schools, both public and private, they prefer. If your high school is sending one or two UNHOOKED kids to Duke each year, odds are better than most are predicting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous
UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED 👎
Vanderbilt 👎
UVA possible esp ED
VT likey
W&M likely
UNC 👎
Mich 👎
Wisc likely
UGA unlikely

Rigor seems fine. Sat is fine

Awards missing (academic in school award means very little)

Ecs are very mediocre and will add very little

Why would kid consider schools with such varying student population numbers? Such different experiences

Without the list of AP's taken along with the list of AP's offered at the school but not taken by this student, you cannot determine rigor the way the college will. This process has been detailed by AO's on blogs for years as well as in the 2018 book Who Gets In and Why. The rigor-race has amped up since then, due to parental pressure more kids are let into honors or AP, making the number of AP or the weighted GPA irrelevant without context.
Ivy+ schools are not subtle at information sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves with coursework in every area, especially the areas they do not plan to study and/or feel weaker in. Multiple said almost the exact same phrase in tours from 2022-2024 when we toured all over with both of ours.

This student, with the two 4s and two 5s on AP so far, is not likely a top-20 contender unless the 4s were notoriously difficult and/or rare APs for a 10th grader. The AP scoring was shifted in 2024 such that quite a large group gets 4 or higher. 4 is the new 3 for most AP tests. Top schools only accept 5s and have been that way since 2021, even before the change in AP score distribution.
Most APs offered to 10th graders are easy and should be easy 5s for a student who is T20/ivy level.

9 aps thru junior year likely means in fcps:

Ap world his (yes)
Ap comp sci (no)
Ap csp (yes)
Ap lang (yes)
Ap gov or us his (yes)
Ap math (no if precal, yes if calc ab and then bc)
Ap env sci (no)
Ap other Science (yes)

So prob 7/10 are considered rigorous

About a third of our school does 7 to 9 of these 9 by the end of 11th. The top group has BC, APUSH, APLiterature, APChem, APPhys1 plus might have APPhysC or AP Bio by the end of 11th, plus some easy ones(World, Lang are done in 10th) These are the students on track to get into ivy+ types if the grades are high.
AP Lang and AP world are not considered rigorous at our school. They let over half the grade take them.

At most fcps’ ap world history is considered “most rigorous” if taken on 10th. Esp bc at many fcps high schools, ap offerings through 10th, ap offerings are fairly limited.

OP here and APs are fairly limited before 11th at our school. We don’t have class rank but I wonder if his counselor would give him an unofficial estimate.

I held a little back on ECs to not make him identifiable but this thread is pretty discouraging.

Most have said uva ed is a decent shot. That’s not discouraging, is it?

I think UVA EA should be fine. He’s in-state. Perhaps save the ED for UMich?

[Anonymous]

OP: you’ve gotten some great advice here and I don’t really think there’s anything else anyone can say. I would expand your list. There are schools that will value your kid more than Duke and Vanderbilt.

Your kid should also try to improve their profile to be more competitive and memorable:

- Get a summer internship at library of congress or similar federal library/museum. Tie job into Americas 250th & history.

- Write AP capstone on related 250th offshoot topic tied to niche interest.

- get LOR from both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’ve gotten some great advice here and I don’t really think there’s anything else anyone can say. I would expand your list. There are schools that will value your kid more than Duke and Vanderbilt.

Your kid should also try to improve their profile to be more competitive and memorable:

- Get a summer internship at library of congress or similar federal library/museum. Tie job into Americas 250th & history.

- Write AP capstone on related 250th offshoot topic tied to niche interest.

- get LOR from both.

This is really excellent advice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous
UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED 👎
Vanderbilt 👎
UVA possible esp ED
VT likey
W&M likely
UNC 👎
Mich 👎
Wisc likely
UGA unlikely

Rigor seems fine. Sat is fine

Awards missing (academic in school award means very little)

Ecs are very mediocre and will add very little

Why would kid consider schools with such varying student population numbers? Such different experiences

Without the list of AP's taken along with the list of AP's offered at the school but not taken by this student, you cannot determine rigor the way the college will. This process has been detailed by AO's on blogs for years as well as in the 2018 book Who Gets In and Why. The rigor-race has amped up since then, due to parental pressure more kids are let into honors or AP, making the number of AP or the weighted GPA irrelevant without context.
Ivy+ schools are not subtle at information sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves with coursework in every area, especially the areas they do not plan to study and/or feel weaker in. Multiple said almost the exact same phrase in tours from 2022-2024 when we toured all over with both of ours.

This student, with the two 4s and two 5s on AP so far, is not likely a top-20 contender unless the 4s were notoriously difficult and/or rare APs for a 10th grader. The AP scoring was shifted in 2024 such that quite a large group gets 4 or higher. 4 is the new 3 for most AP tests. Top schools only accept 5s and have been that way since 2021, even before the change in AP score distribution.
Most APs offered to 10th graders are easy and should be easy 5s for a student who is T20/ivy level.

9 aps thru junior year likely means in fcps:

Ap world his (yes)
Ap comp sci (no)
Ap csp (yes)
Ap lang (yes)
Ap gov or us his (yes)
Ap math (no if precal, yes if calc ab and then bc)
Ap env sci (no)
Ap other Science (yes)

So prob 7/10 are considered rigorous

About a third of our school does 7 to 9 of these 9 by the end of 11th. The top group has BC, APUSH, APLiterature, APChem, APPhys1 plus might have APPhysC or AP Bio by the end of 11th, plus some easy ones(World, Lang are done in 10th) These are the students on track to get into ivy+ types if the grades are high.
AP Lang and AP world are not considered rigorous at our school. They let over half the grade take them.

At most fcps’ ap world history is considered “most rigorous” if taken on 10th. Esp bc at many fcps high schools, ap offerings through 10th, ap offerings are fairly limited.

OP here and APs are fairly limited before 11th at our school. We don’t have class rank but I wonder if his counselor would give him an unofficial estimate.

I held a little back on ECs to not make him identifiable but this thread is pretty discouraging.

Most have said uva ed is a decent shot. That’s not discouraging, is it?

He would love to go to UVA. He just isn’t sure about EDing there and never seeing if he could have gotten into Duke. He accepts Duke is a long shot (maybe not as long as it actually is but he knows it is a high reach for everyone) but he also knows that ED at Duke would be the only possibility. He was feeling he would be in with UVA EA. Our HS does well at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous
UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED 👎
Vanderbilt 👎
UVA possible esp ED
VT likey
W&M likely
UNC 👎
Mich 👎
Wisc likely
UGA unlikely

Rigor seems fine. Sat is fine

Awards missing (academic in school award means very little)

Ecs are very mediocre and will add very little

Why would kid consider schools with such varying student population numbers? Such different experiences

Without the list of AP's taken along with the list of AP's offered at the school but not taken by this student, you cannot determine rigor the way the college will. This process has been detailed by AO's on blogs for years as well as in the 2018 book Who Gets In and Why. The rigor-race has amped up since then, due to parental pressure more kids are let into honors or AP, making the number of AP or the weighted GPA irrelevant without context.
Ivy+ schools are not subtle at information sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves with coursework in every area, especially the areas they do not plan to study and/or feel weaker in. Multiple said almost the exact same phrase in tours from 2022-2024 when we toured all over with both of ours.

This student, with the two 4s and two 5s on AP so far, is not likely a top-20 contender unless the 4s were notoriously difficult and/or rare APs for a 10th grader. The AP scoring was shifted in 2024 such that quite a large group gets 4 or higher. 4 is the new 3 for most AP tests. Top schools only accept 5s and have been that way since 2021, even before the change in AP score distribution.
Most APs offered to 10th graders are easy and should be easy 5s for a student who is T20/ivy level.

9 aps thru junior year likely means in fcps:

Ap world his (yes)
Ap comp sci (no)
Ap csp (yes)
Ap lang (yes)
Ap gov or us his (yes)
Ap math (no if precal, yes if calc ab and then bc)
Ap env sci (no)
Ap other Science (yes)

So prob 7/10 are considered rigorous

About a third of our school does 7 to 9 of these 9 by the end of 11th. The top group has BC, APUSH, APLiterature, APChem, APPhys1 plus might have APPhysC or AP Bio by the end of 11th, plus some easy ones(World, Lang are done in 10th) These are the students on track to get into ivy+ types if the grades are high.
AP Lang and AP world are not considered rigorous at our school. They let over half the grade take them.

At most fcps’ ap world history is considered “most rigorous” if taken on 10th. Esp bc at many fcps high schools, ap offerings through 10th, ap offerings are fairly limited.

OP here and APs are fairly limited before 11th at our school. We don’t have class rank but I wonder if his counselor would give him an unofficial estimate.

I held a little back on ECs to not make him identifiable but this thread is pretty discouraging.

Most have said uva ed is a decent shot. That’s not discouraging, is it?

He would love to go to UVA. He just isn’t sure about EDing there and never seeing if he could have gotten into Duke. He accepts Duke is a long shot (maybe not as long as it actually is but he knows it is a high reach for everyone) but he also knows that ED at Duke would be the only possibility. He was feeling he would be in with UVA EA. Our HS does well at UVA.

I know a few kids who insisted on Duke ED and it really messed up their admissions entirely. It’s very unlikely for unhooked kids. What happens if he doesn’t get Duke ED and then misses out on UVA EA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’ve gotten some great advice here and I don’t really think there’s anything else anyone can say. I would expand your list. There are schools that will value your kid more than Duke and Vanderbilt.

Your kid should also try to improve their profile to be more competitive and memorable:

- Get a summer internship at library of congress or similar federal library/museum. Tie job into Americas 250th & history.

- Write AP capstone on related 250th offshoot topic tied to niche interest.

- get LOR from both.

This is really excellent advice!

Volunteer/work as a museum docent

[Anonymous]

NO!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’ve gotten some great advice here and I don’t really think there’s anything else anyone can say. I would expand your list. There are schools that will value your kid more than Duke and Vanderbilt.

Your kid should also try to improve their profile to be more competitive and memorable:

- Get a summer internship at library of congress or similar federal library/museum. Tie job into Americas 250th & history.

- Write AP capstone on related 250th offshoot topic tied to niche interest.

- get LOR from both.

This is really excellent advice!

- how is this good advice? Do you know what it would take to get an internship at the Library of Congress or the like (in almost late April)? We have no idea if kid is in AP Capstone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous
UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED 👎
Vanderbilt 👎
UVA possible esp ED
VT likey
W&M likely
UNC 👎
Mich 👎
Wisc likely
UGA unlikely

Rigor seems fine. Sat is fine

Awards missing (academic in school award means very little)

Ecs are very mediocre and will add very little

Why would kid consider schools with such varying student population numbers? Such different experiences

Without the list of AP's taken along with the list of AP's offered at the school but not taken by this student, you cannot determine rigor the way the college will. This process has been detailed by AO's on blogs for years as well as in the 2018 book Who Gets In and Why. The rigor-race has amped up since then, due to parental pressure more kids are let into honors or AP, making the number of AP or the weighted GPA irrelevant without context.
Ivy+ schools are not subtle at information sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves with coursework in every area, especially the areas they do not plan to study and/or feel weaker in. Multiple said almost the exact same phrase in tours from 2022-2024 when we toured all over with both of ours.

This student, with the two 4s and two 5s on AP so far, is not likely a top-20 contender unless the 4s were notoriously difficult and/or rare APs for a 10th grader. The AP scoring was shifted in 2024 such that quite a large group gets 4 or higher. 4 is the new 3 for most AP tests. Top schools only accept 5s and have been that way since 2021, even before the change in AP score distribution.
Most APs offered to 10th graders are easy and should be easy 5s for a student who is T20/ivy level.

9 aps thru junior year likely means in fcps:

Ap world his (yes)
Ap comp sci (no)
Ap csp (yes)
Ap lang (yes)
Ap gov or us his (yes)
Ap math (no if precal, yes if calc ab and then bc)
Ap env sci (no)
Ap other Science (yes)

So prob 7/10 are considered rigorous

About a third of our school does 7 to 9 of these 9 by the end of 11th. The top group has BC, APUSH, APLiterature, APChem, APPhys1 plus might have APPhysC or AP Bio by the end of 11th, plus some easy ones(World, Lang are done in 10th) These are the students on track to get into ivy+ types if the grades are high.
AP Lang and AP world are not considered rigorous at our school. They let over half the grade take them.

At most fcps’ ap world history is considered “most rigorous” if taken on 10th. Esp bc at many fcps high schools, ap offerings through 10th, ap offerings are fairly limited.

OP here and APs are fairly limited before 11th at our school. We don’t have class rank but I wonder if his counselor would give him an unofficial estimate.

I held a little back on ECs to not make him identifiable but this thread is pretty discouraging.

Most have said uva ed is a decent shot. That’s not discouraging, is it?

He would love to go to UVA. He just isn’t sure about EDing there and never seeing if he could have gotten into Duke. He accepts Duke is a long shot (maybe not as long as it actually is but he knows it is a high reach for everyone) but he also knows that ED at Duke would be the only possibility. He was feeling he would be in with UVA EA. Our HS does well at UVA.

EA at uva will completely depend on how they stack up in their school against their peers. Where the gpa falls and what the rigor of courses is compared to classmates. Be sure all five cores all four years with basically all As. Don’t be discouraged. He will get into a very good school. Duke, UNC and Mich are tough admits for everyone. There are a zillion kids with top stats out there. Find a way to stand out. Add some ECs that align w major and be sure some leadership. He will end up in a great place. It’s a long process and sometimes you have to embrace the pivot but they usually land where they are supposed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous
UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED 👎
Vanderbilt 👎
UVA possible esp ED
VT likey
W&M likely
UNC 👎
Mich 👎
Wisc likely
UGA unlikely

Rigor seems fine. Sat is fine

Awards missing (academic in school award means very little)

Ecs are very mediocre and will add very little

Why would kid consider schools with such varying student population numbers? Such different experiences

Without the list of AP's taken along with the list of AP's offered at the school but not taken by this student, you cannot determine rigor the way the college will. This process has been detailed by AO's on blogs for years as well as in the 2018 book Who Gets In and Why. The rigor-race has amped up since then, due to parental pressure more kids are let into honors or AP, making the number of AP or the weighted GPA irrelevant without context.
Ivy+ schools are not subtle at information sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves with coursework in every area, especially the areas they do not plan to study and/or feel weaker in. Multiple said almost the exact same phrase in tours from 2022-2024 when we toured all over with both of ours.

This student, with the two 4s and two 5s on AP so far, is not likely a top-20 contender unless the 4s were notoriously difficult and/or rare APs for a 10th grader. The AP scoring was shifted in 2024 such that quite a large group gets 4 or higher. 4 is the new 3 for most AP tests. Top schools only accept 5s and have been that way since 2021, even before the change in AP score distribution.
Most APs offered to 10th graders are easy and should be easy 5s for a student who is T20/ivy level.

9 aps thru junior year likely means in fcps:

Ap world his (yes)
Ap comp sci (no)
Ap csp (yes)
Ap lang (yes)
Ap gov or us his (yes)
Ap math (no if precal, yes if calc ab and then bc)
Ap env sci (no)
Ap other Science (yes)

So prob 7/10 are considered rigorous

About a third of our school does 7 to 9 of these 9 by the end of 11th. The top group has BC, APUSH, APLiterature, APChem, APPhys1 plus might have APPhysC or AP Bio by the end of 11th, plus some easy ones(World, Lang are done in 10th) These are the students on track to get into ivy+ types if the grades are high.
AP Lang and AP world are not considered rigorous at our school. They let over half the grade take them.

At most fcps’ ap world history is considered “most rigorous” if taken on 10th. Esp bc at many fcps high schools, ap offerings through 10th, ap offerings are fairly limited.

OP here and APs are fairly limited before 11th at our school. We don’t have class rank but I wonder if his counselor would give him an unofficial estimate.

I held a little back on ECs to not make him identifiable but this thread is pretty discouraging.

Most have said uva ed is a decent shot. That’s not discouraging, is it?

He would love to go to UVA. He just isn’t sure about EDing there and never seeing if he could have gotten into Duke. He accepts Duke is a long shot (maybe not as long as it actually is but he knows it is a high reach for everyone) but he also knows that ED at Duke would be the only possibility. He was feeling he would be in with UVA EA. Our HS does well at UVA.

We are in a somewhat similar situation with a "standard strong" kid who is debating whether to ED to a high reach school she loves, or play it safe(r) and ED somewhere more attainable. We are impressing on her that if she goes with the first option, she needs to be comfortable ending up at Pitt or another safety or maybe/hopefully target. There can be a cost to playing the game this way even if it's frustrating. But if a kid loves a school and will always wonder what if, that's important too IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anonymous
UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED 👎
Vanderbilt 👎
UVA possible esp ED
VT likey
W&M likely
UNC 👎
Mich 👎
Wisc likely
UGA unlikely

Rigor seems fine. Sat is fine

Awards missing (academic in school award means very little)

Ecs are very mediocre and will add very little

Why would kid consider schools with such varying student population numbers? Such different experiences

Without the list of AP's taken along with the list of AP's offered at the school but not taken by this student, you cannot determine rigor the way the college will. This process has been detailed by AO's on blogs for years as well as in the 2018 book Who Gets In and Why. The rigor-race has amped up since then, due to parental pressure more kids are let into honors or AP, making the number of AP or the weighted GPA irrelevant without context.
Ivy+ schools are not subtle at information sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves with coursework in every area, especially the areas they do not plan to study and/or feel weaker in. Multiple said almost the exact same phrase in tours from 2022-2024 when we toured all over with both of ours.

This student, with the two 4s and two 5s on AP so far, is not likely a top-20 contender unless the 4s were notoriously difficult and/or rare APs for a 10th grader. The AP scoring was shifted in 2024 such that quite a large group gets 4 or higher. 4 is the new 3 for most AP tests. Top schools only accept 5s and have been that way since 2021, even before the change in AP score distribution.
Most APs offered to 10th graders are easy and should be easy 5s for a student who is T20/ivy level.

9 aps thru junior year likely means in fcps:

Ap world his (yes)
Ap comp sci (no)
Ap csp (yes)
Ap lang (yes)
Ap gov or us his (yes)
Ap math (no if precal, yes if calc ab and then bc)
Ap env sci (no)
Ap other Science (yes)

So prob 7/10 are considered rigorous

About a third of our school does 7 to 9 of these 9 by the end of 11th. The top group has BC, APUSH, APLiterature, APChem, APPhys1 plus might have APPhysC or AP Bio by the end of 11th, plus some easy ones(World, Lang are done in 10th) These are the students on track to get into ivy+ types if the grades are high.
AP Lang and AP world are not considered rigorous at our school. They let over half the grade take them.

At most fcps’ ap world history is considered “most rigorous” if taken on 10th. Esp bc at many fcps high schools, ap offerings through 10th, ap offerings are fairly limited.

OP here and APs are fairly limited before 11th at our school. We don’t have class rank but I wonder if his counselor would give him an unofficial estimate.

I held a little back on ECs to not make him identifiable but this thread is pretty discouraging.

Most have said uva ed is a decent shot. That’s not discouraging, is it?

He would love to go to UVA. He just isn’t sure about EDing there and never seeing if he could have gotten into Duke. He accepts Duke is a long shot (maybe not as long as it actually is but he knows it is a high reach for everyone) but he also knows that ED at Duke would be the only possibility. He was feeling he would be in with UVA EA. Our HS does well at UVA.

We are in a somewhat similar situation with a "standard strong" kid who is debating whether to ED to a high reach school she loves, or play it safe(r) and ED somewhere more attainable. We are impressing on her that if she goes with the first option, she needs to be comfortable ending up at Pitt or another safety or maybe/hopefully target. There can be a cost to playing the game this way even if it's frustrating. But if a kid loves a school and will always wonder what if, that's important too IMO.

Absolutely! We just went through this. My kid decided to ED at a school he had a good chance of getting in RD. However his brother was WL there and in higher ranked schools. He dug deep and decided to take his best shot with ED and was accepted. When the EA and RD releases came around he definitely had some curiosity pains. But now that we are almost to May he is thankful for his decision and really got to enjoy admitted student day to feel at home there vs trying to make a decision. While he will probably wonder about certain schools here and there, he seems to have definitely made the right choice -and it’s made senior year so much less stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMC FCPS Public. 3.95/4.5 GPA, 1520 SAT one sitting, will take again, one varsity sport, lots of volunteer work, PT summer job, VP of an academic club 3 years, tutoring. An academic department award in 10th. 9 APs through 11th, scheduled for 6 in 12th. 10th grade AP exams - 2 5s, 2 4s.

Duke ED
Vanderbilt
UVA
VT
W&M
UNC
Mich
Wisc
UGA

I would think he has a shot at all of them, especially if he can boost his already-high SAT a little. If he really wants Duke, he should ED Duke. The selection process seems to me quite unfathomable, but I would think he has a better chance than many. My friend's daughter got into Duke a couple of years ago with a similar profile (slightly higher SAT, fewer APs) because they loved her essay, so ... who knows? She took the SAT four times, and it kept going up. Good luck! I hope he lands somewhere that works out well for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’ve gotten some great advice here and I don’t really think there’s anything else anyone can say. I would expand your list. There are schools that will value your kid more than Duke and Vanderbilt.

Your kid should also try to improve their profile to be more competitive and memorable:

- Get a summer internship at library of congress or similar federal library/museum. Tie job into Americas 250th & history.

- Write AP capstone on related 250th offshoot topic tied to niche interest.

- get LOR from both.

This is really excellent advice!

This is really great advice. I am PP with a kid rejected by Duke RD after ED deferral. Being econ major was an issue, I think. Duke recently did loosed that their priorities are humanities and interpretive social sciences.

https://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-chronicle-admissions-officers-discuss-enrollment-targets-challenges-in-arts-and-sciences-council-diversity-artificial-intelligence-transfers-academics-20260410

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’ve gotten some great advice here and I don’t really think there’s anything else anyone can say. I would expand your list. There are schools that will value your kid more than Duke and Vanderbilt.

Your kid should also try to improve their profile to be more competitive and memorable:

- Get a summer internship at library of congress or similar federal library/museum. Tie job into Americas 250th & history.

- Write AP capstone on related 250th offshoot topic tied to niche interest.

- get LOR from both.

This is really excellent advice!

This is really great advice. I am PP with a kid rejected by Duke RD after ED deferral. Being econ major was an issue, I think. Duke recently did loosed that their priorities are humanities and interpretive social sciences.

https://dukechronicle.com/article/duke-chronicle-admissions-officers-discuss-enrollment-targets-challenges-in-arts-and-sciences-council-diversity-artificial-intelligence-transfers-academics-20260410

*disclosed.