Why Was My Son Deferred from Duke ED?

[Anonymous]

Your son sounds fantastic - but, as I tell my kid, there are 10,000 other fantastic kids also applying. I also think the DMV is more saturated with those kids than most other areas, and these schools are also looking for geographic diversity.

I'm curious what scholarship your son received already from UNC? I was under the impression that they have disclosed financial aid awards, but no merit scholarships yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not looking for sympathy but any insight would be appreciated. My son was told he would be a good candidate for Ivy League/Duke by his school counselor and applied ED to Duke with a 36 ACT, near-perfect GPA, all 5s and 4s on AP exams, two sport athlete and captain of one sport, student body president, editor in chief of school newspaper, head student liaison for arts nonprofit, a summer internship with a congressman, leadership volunteering position at library with book preservation and restoration experience, good awards, etc. My son had multiple people look over his essays, including the optional ones (academic experience and agreements/disagreements prompts) and he received good feedback. We figured maybe there was something else wrong with his application (maybe a recommendation letter was unexpectedly weak) or that he should’ve gone for another school he liked that would be a bit easier to be accepted like Cornell or Johns Hopkins, but over the past few days he was accepted to UNC Chapel Hill with a full scholarship, USC with scholarship pending, and UMich all out of state. He’s still disappointed about Duke but the UNC scholarship is very enticing and he’s still in the running for Duke, although we’re not sure about the chances of being accepted after a deferral. Inputs are welcome!

Because there are 100 kids JUST LIKE YOURS applying for 3-4 spots at a school like Duke. It has no bearing or reflection of your kid. None.

[Anonymous]

Not many of our kids get a summer with a congressman. Why not apply to a military academy? Used to be a congressional internship was the way into West Point and the Naval Academy

[Anonymous]

Sounds like he as great options with UNC, USC, Michigan. Good luck on Duke but I'm sure there are many who wish they were in his (current) shoes.

I'm sure you just needed to vent - but of course nobody knows why he was deferred and everyone knows that even perfect scores with ECs guarantees any given school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like he as great options with UNC, USC, Michigan. Good luck on Duke but I'm sure there are many who wish they were in his (current) shoes.

I'm sure you just needed to vent - but of course nobody knows why he was deferred and everyone knows that even perfect scores with ECs is no guarantee for any given school.

[Anonymous]

1. All of the schools you mentioned (UNC, Duke, MI and USC) are essentially lottery schools, esp for out of state. For every accepted student offer they make, there are 10,000, if not more, equally qualified candidates. Your son won the lottery at the other 3 schools.

2. Duke prefers legacy students. I only have anecdotal evidence for this, but I am aware of a dozen (maybe a few more) legacy students getting in to Duke over the past 8 years of my 3 kids applying to various colleges, plus knowing about their peers, plus 2 relatives in other states. The only ones who have gotten in are legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because when thousands of qualified kids apply, decisions become arbitrary. Duke also favors certain high schools.

I see, we’ve had Duke acceptances before but it’s quite uncommon for us

[Anonymous]

Duke prioritizes legacies and donor kids (esp. siblings of current students) for ED in addition to obv. athletic recruits.

Sometimes seems like they prefer certain HS (not as obvious as UNC though so your kid should be very proud to be a Tar Heel)

Pratt is easier admit for girls, Trinity easier for boys

My kid was deferred and went through the whole act with updates, calls to regional admissions rep, prestigious awards etc. didn’t seem to matter

Kid just wasn’t what they were looking for as evidenced by rejection in RD

Sorry but sounds like your kid has great options

[Anonymous]

What full ride has been announced to UNC? Morehead is not out yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t understand why a parent would provide so much identifying information about their child on here.

I did not try to reveal his identity, I think only people who know him in real life would be able to identify him from this information

[Anonymous]

He sounds like the thousands of great kids who apply there, especially if he’s white. Congrats on UNC though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Duke is overrated. Your kid will do fine no matter where he attends.

We do not feel Duke is overrated and would still love an acceptance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not looking for sympathy but any insight would be appreciated. My son was told he would be a good candidate for Ivy League/Duke by his school counselor and applied ED to Duke with a 36 ACT, near-perfect GPA, all 5s and 4s on AP exams, two sport athlete and captain of one sport, student body president, editor in chief of school newspaper, head student liaison for arts nonprofit, a summer internship with a congressman, leadership volunteering position at library with book preservation and restoration experience, good awards, etc. My son had multiple people look over his essays, including the optional ones (academic experience and agreements/disagreements prompts) and he received good feedback. We figured maybe there was something else wrong with his application (maybe a recommendation letter was unexpectedly weak) or that he should’ve gone for another school he liked that would be a bit easier to be accepted like Cornell or Johns Hopkins, but over the past few days he was accepted to UNC Chapel Hill with a full scholarship, USC with scholarship pending, and UMich all out of state. He’s still disappointed about Duke but the UNC scholarship is very enticing and he’s still in the running for Duke, although we’re not sure about the chances of being accepted after a deferral. Inputs are welcome!

Who knows for sure? But is there anything authentic about him? All of that stuff seems pre-packaged for a college app.

He’s very self-driven. We stopped checking his grades and helping him by middle school because he always did things on his own and teachers loved him, so I can’t speak on his behalf there. We encourage him to do what interests him

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not looking for sympathy but any insight would be appreciated. My son was told he would be a good candidate for Ivy League/Duke by his school counselor and applied ED to Duke with a 36 ACT, near-perfect GPA, all 5s and 4s on AP exams, two sport athlete and captain of one sport, student body president, editor in chief of school newspaper, head student liaison for arts nonprofit, a summer internship with a congressman, leadership volunteering position at library with book preservation and restoration experience, good awards, etc. My son had multiple people look over his essays, including the optional ones (academic experience and agreements/disagreements prompts) and he received good feedback. We figured maybe there was something else wrong with his application (maybe a recommendation letter was unexpectedly weak) or that he should’ve gone for another school he liked that would be a bit easier to be accepted like Cornell or Johns Hopkins, but over the past few days he was accepted to UNC Chapel Hill with a full scholarship, USC with scholarship pending, and UMich all out of state. He’s still disappointed about Duke but the UNC scholarship is very enticing and he’s still in the running for Duke, although we’re not sure about the chances of being accepted after a deferral. Inputs are welcome!

Take the UNC scholarship. He will probably enjoy college better there than at Duke, and I don’t think Duke is bad at all.

The UNC scholarship is definitely awesome. We told him we’ll pay for him to go where he wants though and Duke is his dream

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Action stations, OP. If Duke is one of those unis that accept additional information from students, then your son has to write a LOCI (letter of continued interest) to express his desire to attend Duke over all his other choices, explain what it is about Duke that he prefers over those others, and add new data, such as first semester grades, and whatever other accomplishments he's had recently.

That’s a good point, he will definitely be sending a LOCI. He was planning to wait until he hears back from certain awards and scholarships so he can update them and express his continued interest simultaneously.