Why Was My Son Deferred from Duke ED?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your son sounds amazing so congrats on the great options so far! But you have to remember Duke has like a 4% acceptance rate and that includes the hundreds of athletes, legacies, and big donors who have a backdoor into Duke each year. People like Jamie Dimon, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. are notorious for having paid large sums in the past to get their kids into Duke, so you can expect similar situations happened this year too. Also Duke is known to take deferrals seriously unlike some other schools so your son still has a decent chance!

DP. Any links for the bolded? I had never heard that before.

NP but some quick googling got me: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2012/11/jamie-dimon-tom-brady-hang-in-there
https://www.businessinsider.com/2008/7/jamie-dimon-gave-away-1-8-million-more-than-you-made-last-year?amp

Also Seinfeld was all over the news for like 5 months because media kept spotting him at Duke games, and it’s no coincidence his kids go there. Dimon and Seinfeld probably spent hundreds of thousands if not millions to buy the acceptances, most of it not publicized or made common knowledge

Is it possible Seinfeld’s and Dimon’s kids got in on academic merit? It’s not a guarantee that they had to buy their way in

Sasha went to Brearley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your son sounds amazing so congrats on the great options so far! But you have to remember Duke has like a 4% acceptance rate and that includes the hundreds of athletes, legacies, and big donors who have a backdoor into Duke each year. People like Jamie Dimon, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. are notorious for having paid large sums in the past to get their kids into Duke, so you can expect similar situations happened this year too. Also Duke is known to take deferrals seriously unlike some other schools so your son still has a decent chance!

DP. Any links for the bolded? I had never heard that before.

Not the PP. I don't have a link, but I know pretty much first hand about one of the individuals listed here as well as another not listed, but in the same cohort.

Without naming names, did they get in on merit or was there something else at play?

[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!

We’ll the only thing you’re missing is a true understanding of statistics, specifically odds and probability.

[Anonymous]

If he is coming from a public school, it might be one that Duke does not ever take many kids from OP. Could that be the case?

[Anonymous]

I think Duke always has an eye to fundraising, sees the benefit of having children of powerful people and celebrities. Being Jerry Seinfeld’s kid is a pretty good hook. Much more so than being Aunt Becky’s kid. I don’t think it is unique in this way (development cases as opposed to existing big donors), but it is quite successful.

[Anonymous]

Duke thinks your son will have a better option and not going to enroll.
They just don’t want to be second choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Duke thinks your son will have a better option and not going to enroll.
They just don’t want to be second choice.

Her son applied ED...your comment makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your son sounds amazing so congrats on the great options so far! But you have to remember Duke has like a 4% acceptance rate and that includes the hundreds of athletes, legacies, and big donors who have a backdoor into Duke each year. People like Jamie Dimon, Jerry Seinfeld, etc. are notorious for having paid large sums in the past to get their kids into Duke, so you can expect similar situations happened this year too. Also Duke is known to take deferrals seriously unlike some other schools so your son still has a decent chance!

DP. Any links for the bolded? I had never heard that before.

NP but some quick googling got me: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2012/11/jamie-dimon-tom-brady-hang-in-there
https://www.businessinsider.com/2008/7/jamie-dimon-gave-away-1-8-million-more-than-you-made-last-year?amp

Also Seinfeld was all over the news for like 5 months because media kept spotting him at Duke games, and it’s no coincidence his kids go there. Dimon and Seinfeld probably spent hundreds of thousands if not millions to buy the acceptances, most of it not publicized or made common knowledge

But no proof of that. Neither of those links provided any proof either. I think it's irresponsible to spread misinformation like that, don't you?

Celebrities have kids at all the top schools. It is a hook. Rob Lowe’s kids went to Stanford, so did Garth Brook’s daughter. Katie Couric’s kids went to Yale. Sarah Jessica Parker’s kid and Michael Douglas’ kids are at Brown. Gwynth’s daughter is at Vanderbilt. I could go on and on.

[Anonymous]

Even with stats like his it’s a dart toss. Congratulations on some excellent options - he sounds like an impressive young man and I’m sure he’ll be successful wherever he goes.

If he has any interest in grad school please encourage him to take advantage of the full ride to UNC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That was my thought. And, how much work did he actually do as time-wise it would be impossible to have all those A's, three sports, volunteer at least weekly for the non-profit and library, etc. I wonder if some of that looks fake at some point.

Me too! Can you give details on how he managed all of these leadership positions? Two sports AND editor in chief of newspaper? AND student body president? What time did he go to bed, and wake up, and how did he manage to keep his grades in all his classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That was my thought. And, how much work did he actually do as time-wise it would be impossible to have all those A's, three sports, volunteer at least weekly for the non-profit and library, etc. I wonder if some of that looks fake at some point.

I would love to know what time he went to bed - if at all with this kind of work load.

Me too! Can you give details on how he managed all of these leadership positions? Two sports AND editor in chief of newspaper? AND student body president? What time did he go to bed, and wake up, and how did he manage to keep his grades in all his classes?

[Anonymous]

Me too! Can you give details on how he managed all of these leadership positions? Two sports AND editor in chief of newspaper? AND student body president? What time did he go to bed, and wake up, and how did he manage to keep his grades in all his classes?

NP, but also have a DC with high GPA/test scores, two varsity sports, and tons of ECs (elected class officer, EIC of paper, president of two clubs that have regular meetings, summer job, etc.). My DC gets home from school around 6 pm, eats dinner, wastes time or sleeps for 30 minutes, studies/plays on phone for 4 hours, deals with any newspaper issues/drafts articles and goes to bed between 12:30 -1 am. Gets up at 6:45 am. On weekends sleeps until 11 at least, then works a few hours on Saturday and 6-8 hours on Sunday. Usually hangs out with friends Friday and/or Saturday night. It’s a terrible schedule, and I’m sure DC will feel like college is a break due to the amount of free time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Me too! Can you give details on how he managed all of these leadership positions? Two sports AND editor in chief of newspaper? AND student body president? What time did he go to bed, and wake up, and how did he manage to keep his grades in all his classes?

NP, but also have a DC with high GPA/test scores, two varsity sports, and tons of ECs (elected class officer, EIC of paper, president of two clubs that have regular meetings, summer job, etc.). My DC gets home from school around 6 pm, eats dinner, wastes time or sleeps for 30 minutes, studies/plays on phone for 4 hours, deals with any newspaper issues/drafts articles and goes to bed between 12:30 -1 am. Gets up at 6:45 am. On weekends sleeps until 11 at least, then works a few hours on Saturday and 6-8 hours on Sunday. Usually hangs out with friends Friday and/or Saturday night. It’s a terrible schedule, and I’m sure DC will feel like college is a break due to the amount of free time.

NP. No college is worth that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because Duke filled its quota of students like your son for their ED admits.

And many of them are also legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he a white male from this area? If so, he's a dime a dozen. It's a bummer but it sounds like he has a lot of good choices.

Yes we are white but our son is adopted and is ethnically Chinese

Oh dear. Asian male is as bad or worse than white male.