Duke University Admissions: Does having a strong interest in literary criticism help or hurt?

[Anonymous]

Yes of course. Do not divulge this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course. Do not divulge this.

Yes of course it helps or yes of course it hurts?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What 16/17yo has been interested "for years" in literary criticism?

It's called "enjoying reading." Some teens aren't terminally online.

I'm the PP who asked. I have one teenager who reads obsessively (no fiction, only a certain period of American history.) I've never heard of a teenager who has been passionate about literary criticism for years. Or an adult for that matter. And I'm an academic. So it sounded like a parental fantasy. Either way I doubt it makes a meaningful difference in an application to a school as competitive as Duke.

I am an alum - a double major in history and Econ. I agree with the statement above. It is simply a difficult school to get into and a strategy of pursuing a niche interesting likely won’t be compelling. I might add that I obtained admission to the history honors program and it was incredibly rigorous. That experience changed my life and future endeavors very manageable. My suggestion is to be open to majors and interests.

Is the history honors program just writing a senior thesis? I can't imagine a school like Duke would have a whole separate department/classes for "honors" students.

+1

I’m an alum and I’ve never heard anything about admissions to a particular department, let alone an honors program.

You’re either admitted to Trinity A&S or the Engineering school. There are definitely merit scholarships (AB Duke etc.) that come with or soon after admittance.

And there are departmental honors at graduation. My friend did a history thesis and graduated with departmental honors. But no upfront Duke admissions to an “honors program”.

100% Correct. Alum with a current student , in history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 16/17yo has been interested "for years" in literary criticism?

It's called "enjoying reading." Some teens aren't terminally online.

I'm the PP who asked. I have one teenager who reads obsessively (no fiction, only a certain period of American history.) I've never heard of a teenager who has been passionate about literary criticism for years. Or an adult for that matter. And I'm an academic. So it sounded like a parental fantasy. Either way I doubt it makes a meaningful difference in an application to a school as competitive as Duke.

I am an alum - a double major in history and Econ. I agree with the statement above. It is simply a difficult school to get into and a strategy of pursuing a niche interesting likely won’t be compelling. I might add that I obtained admission to the history honors program and it was incredibly rigorous. That experience changed my life and future endeavors very manageable. My suggestion is to be open to majors and interests.

Is the history honors program just writing a senior thesis? I can't imagine a school like Duke would have a whole separate department/classes for "honors" students.

+1

I’m an alum and I’ve never heard anything about admissions to a particular department, let alone an honors program.

You’re either admitted to Trinity A&S or the Engineering school. There are definitely merit scholarships (AB Duke etc.) that come with or soon after admittance.

And there are departmental honors at graduation. My friend did a history thesis and graduated with departmental honors. But no upfront Duke admissions to an “honors program”.

100% Correct. Alum with a current student , in history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 16/17yo has been interested "for years" in literary criticism?

It's called "enjoying reading." Some teens aren't terminally online.

I'm the PP who asked. I have one teenager who reads obsessively (no fiction, only a certain period of American history.) I've never heard of a teenager who has been passionate about literary criticism for years. Or an adult for that matter. And I'm an academic. So it sounded like a parental fantasy. Either way I doubt it makes a meaningful difference in an application to a school as competitive as Duke.

Wait, you're an academic and you can't readily identify an adult who is passionate about literary criticism?

Not this PP. But I am the PP with a grad degree in English and I know many academics/scholars ... and I don't know anyone "passionate about literary criticism." Passionate about literature? Yes. Lit crit? No, lol. Those people surely exist, but you can spend a life in academia and not meet one.

Your average republican upperclass finance bro will claim to be steeped in lit crit, that is Harold Bloom and his anti-wokies nonsense.

What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DC is about to go to Duke in fall. DC applied ED which we believe made a difference. DC also had activities that showed interest in the area they interred to study (stem). I do think this helped. Know your dc is interested in different field but hopes this helps. I think demonstrated interest can really help
a student and distinguish from others. Good
Luck to your DC!

Say hi to the Seinfelds.

Doesn't Bruce Springsteen's daughter go there also? In terms of VIPS, I knew a lot of the NYC banking elite have been sending their kids to Duke for the last few decades, along with the family that invented M&Ms (I think). But in terms of self-made people, I think Duke has one of the most impressive alumni lists of any university I know. A lot of "wow, I didn't realize *he* went to Duke."

Seinfeld's kids, Springstreet kids or spoiled rich brats of NYC banking elite attending Duke does not mean much because we all know how those kids got in. If Seinfeld or Springstreet went there that is more noteworthy. Can you name a few of these "wow" people, except for a couple I dont see anyone that amazing that attended the school for undergrad.

Jeff Zients, Liddy Dole, Adam Silver, Judy Woodruff, David Rubenstein, Ken Jeong, Retta, JB Pritzker all come to mind as pretty well known former Duke undergrads.

My personal favorite. Smart and talented in multiple disciplines. (Was pre-med at Duke a few years ahead of me and then earned his MD at UNC.)

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is about to go to Duke in fall. DC applied ED which we believe made a difference. DC also had activities that showed interest in the area they interred to study (stem). I do think this helped. Know your dc is interested in different field but hopes this helps. I think demonstrated interest can really help
a student and distinguish from others. Good
Luck to your DC!

Say hi to the Seinfelds.

Doesn't Bruce Springsteen's daughter go there also? In terms of VIPS, I knew a lot of the NYC banking elite have been sending their kids to Duke for the last few decades, along with the family that invented M&Ms (I think). But in terms of self-made people, I think Duke has one of the most impressive alumni lists of any university I know. A lot of "wow, I didn't realize *he* went to Duke."

Seinfeld's kids, Springstreet kids or spoiled rich brats of NYC banking elite attending Duke does not mean much because we all know how those kids got in. If Seinfeld or Springstreet went there that is more noteworthy. Can you name a few of these "wow" people, except for a couple I dont see anyone that amazing that attended the school for undergrad.

Jeff Zients, Liddy Dole, Adam Silver, Judy Woodruff, David Rubenstein, Ken Jeong, Retta, JB Pritzker all come to mind as pretty well known former Duke undergrads.

Couple more famous people (not children of famous people/politicians/ royalty) off the top of my head; not a good list but I'll let someone else maker a better list. Musician/rapper Mike Posner(!), The former President of Chile (can't remember his name). Acclaimed indian documentary filmaker Dhruv Dhawan. That journalist whose name I can't remember but wrote about things like that lady who did the silicon valley fraud. The CEO of Apple whose name I can't remember but went there only for business school I think; Melinda Gates went for ug and business school though I wouldn't call her a wow person. Sheikha Al Thani (sp?) (Qatar royalty so not self-made obviously but big in the art world). that guy on Dynasty, that guy on Desperate Housewives. British actor Jared Harris. That actress on Days of Our Lives. That other actress who was in literally everything but I can't remember right now. That other actress who played a lesbian on that tv show. That CIA lady. A bunch of alumni are famous scholars or intellectuals or scientists but that doesn't count since this is DCUM. A bunch of politicians/governors/etc but I can't remember politicians names.