Help DS Decide: Duke ED or Harvard/Princeton REA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: Your son has outstanding qualifications.

It may help to look at the freshmen retention rates of elite universities. I will list all National Universities and SLACs with a retention rate of 96% or higher followed by retention rates of schools that are of interest to your son.

99%--MIT & Chicago

98%--Duke, Northwestern, & Notre Dame (Northeastern in Boston as well)

97%--Brown, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Rice, UCLA, UCal-Berkeley, U Florida, Michigan, U Penn, Virginia, & Vanderbilt. (SLACs USMA at West Point, USNA--Annapolis, and Wash & Lee.)

96%--Stanford, Georgetown, UNC, Texas, Villanova, & WashUStL. (SLACs Amherst College, Williams College, Harvey Mudd, and Wellesley College.)

95%--University of Maryland-College Park.

94%--Princeton University & College of William & Mary.

92%--Harvard.

90%--Yale & Fordham.

How is retention rate relevant to OP's question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid unsure or are you unsure? It sounds like your son wants Duke.

Not OP, but I think the parents are unsure because OP said "We're unsure if he should be limiting himself to just one choice by doing early decision, or if he should keep his options more open."

That's true, but in response to the question "Are you worried that Duke isn't as prestigious as Princeton or Harvard?" OP's response was "I think subconsciously yes. It's his choice but since his sophomore year he told us he wanted to get into Harvard or Princeton, so I think that's been my mindset for him as well. But ever since we visited Duke last month and he started liking it more than Harvard and Princeton, it was a bit of a surprise. However, I'm now seeing that Duke is more than prestigious enough and would not hold him back in any way. It's also entirely possible that he does not even get into Duke ED since it's such a competitive school, so I was also perhaps being presumptuous anyways."

To me it seems like OP's son has been indicating he's aiming for Harvard or Princeton, but after a recent visit to Duke he decided Duke is actually his top choice. It seems like the son knows what his top choice is, and OP hasn't quite gotten on the same page as his son yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: Your son has outstanding qualifications.

It may help to look at the freshmen retention rates of elite universities. I will list all National Universities and SLACs with a retention rate of 96% or higher followed by retention rates of schools that are of interest to your son.

99%--MIT & Chicago

98%--Duke, Northwestern, & Notre Dame (Northeastern in Boston as well)

97%--Brown, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Rice, UCLA, UCal-Berkeley, U Florida, Michigan, U Penn, Virginia, & Vanderbilt. (SLACs USMA at West Point, USNA--Annapolis, and Wash & Lee.)

96%--Stanford, Georgetown, UNC, Texas, Villanova, & WashUStL. (SLACs Amherst College, Williams College, Harvey Mudd, and Wellesley College.)

95%--University of Maryland-College Park.

94%--Princeton University & College of William & Mary.

92%--Harvard.

90%--Yale & Fordham.

How is retention rate relevant to OP's question?

+1 what was the point of including this, how will it help OP? Is it your way of indicating Duke is better or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your kid unsure or are you unsure? It sounds like your son wants Duke.

Thank you for pointing that out, I think you're right that I was the one with more hesitation. He's been saying he wants to ED to Duke shortly after we visited last month, but I've been a bit reluctant to let Harvard go since that was his goal for years before that. But given how admissions are, not even Duke ED is a guarantee anyways, and it's his top choice so I'm happy if he goes for it.

[Anonymous]

Your DS is a strong candidate for any school. Think it this way, if he were offered acceptance by Harvard, Princeton and Duke, which one would he choose to attend? That should be the answer to where he should go for the SCEA or ED. Otherwise, he will always have that regret that he didn't try what he wanted the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: Your son has outstanding qualifications.

It may help to look at the freshmen retention rates of elite universities. I will list all National Universities and SLACs with a retention rate of 96% or higher followed by retention rates of schools that are of interest to your son.

99%--MIT & Chicago

98%--Duke, Northwestern, & Notre Dame (Northeastern in Boston as well)

97%--Brown, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Rice, UCLA, UCal-Berkeley, U Florida, Michigan, U Penn, Virginia, & Vanderbilt. (SLACs USMA at West Point, USNA--Annapolis, and Wash & Lee.)

96%--Stanford, Georgetown, UNC, Texas, Villanova, & WashUStL. (SLACs Amherst College, Williams College, Harvey Mudd, and Wellesley College.)

95%--University of Maryland-College Park.

94%--Princeton University & College of William & Mary.

92%--Harvard.

90%--Yale & Fordham.

The USNews retention rate above is misleading because it includes a year 2020-2021 that was at the height of the pandemic. Look at the two years before the pandemic, like the one below, that gives more accurate picture.

https://www.newsweek.com/colleges-highest-retention-rates-mit-yale-stanford-1617739

Yale, for example, has 99% freshman retention rate and was one of the highest.

[Anonymous]

Duke is awesome. Go ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Duke is awesome. Go ED.

+1 I’m not the biggest fan of the Blue Devils but I can’t deny that academically and for overall experience it’s really one of the top handful of schools out there. I only see the value of a Duke degree going up in the future as well so you might as well get your kid in if you can afford it comfortably.

[Anonymous]

I don't know what you guys are smoking but Duke is statistically nearly as as much of a lottery as Harvard and Princeton- in fact more of one from certain schools. They don't like Sidwell for some reason. Duke does favor legacies in ED. Our kids are at a Big 3 school and we saw kids with the exact same stats as the OP's son getting rejected from HYPSM AND Duke and Northwestern. This kid seems like average supersmart kid- a dime a dozen in the DMV. And unless I missed something and the EC's are SUPER SUPER unique or the kid is URM/first gen which was not mentioned, all 3 are a crap shoot and it's ridiculous to try to game this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you guys are smoking but Duke is statistically nearly as as much of a lottery as Harvard and Princeton- in fact more of one from certain schools. They don't like Sidwell for some reason. Duke does favor legacies in ED. Our kids are at a Big 3 school and we saw kids with the exact same stats as the OP's son getting rejected from HYPSM AND Duke and Northwestern. This kid seems like average supersmart kid- a dime a dozen in the DMV. And unless I missed something and the EC's are SUPER SUPER unique or the kid is URM/first gen which was not mentioned, all 3 are a crap shoot and it's ridiculous to try to game this.

I think most agree with this, and op’s son is applying early decision at Duke because it’s his first choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you guys are smoking but Duke is statistically nearly as as much of a lottery as Harvard and Princeton- in fact more of one from certain schools. They don't like Sidwell for some reason. Duke does favor legacies in ED. Our kids are at a Big 3 school and we saw kids with the exact same stats as the OP's son getting rejected from HYPSM AND Duke and Northwestern. This kid seems like average supersmart kid- a dime a dozen in the DMV. And unless I missed something and the EC's are SUPER SUPER unique or the kid is URM/first gen which was not mentioned, all 3 are a crap shoot and it's ridiculous to try to game this.

Duke binding ED has got to be an easier path to a December yes decision than Harvard/Princeton, merely by the fact that you’re not competing against any of the high-stats gunners who are in the H/P EA pool. The H/P EA route so often results in deferral and then perhaps a fruitless wait list. And H/P are going out of their way to prove that their EA admit pool is not very privileged/white, if that applies to the OP. Maybe Duke isn’t as aggressive in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Your DS should take a look at what UChicago offers. Weather isn’t good, but the academic offerings might match him well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you guys are smoking but Duke is statistically nearly as as much of a lottery as Harvard and Princeton- in fact more of one from certain schools. They don't like Sidwell for some reason. Duke does favor legacies in ED. Our kids are at a Big 3 school and we saw kids with the exact same stats as the OP's son getting rejected from HYPSM AND Duke and Northwestern. This kid seems like average supersmart kid- a dime a dozen in the DMV. And unless I missed something and the EC's are SUPER SUPER unique or the kid is URM/first gen which was not mentioned, all 3 are a crap shoot and it's ridiculous to try to game this.

Have to agree with the part about Duke having feeder schools. My child is at a T3 equivalent in another city and the have only gotten 3 kids into Duke in the past five years or so and all are recruited athletes. Acceptance rates to H/Y/P are definitely notably. higher from our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what you guys are smoking but Duke is statistically nearly as as much of a lottery as Harvard and Princeton- in fact more of one from certain schools. They don't like Sidwell for some reason. Duke does favor legacies in ED. Our kids are at a Big 3 school and we saw kids with the exact same stats as the OP's son getting rejected from HYPSM AND Duke and Northwestern. This kid seems like average supersmart kid- a dime a dozen in the DMV. And unless I missed something and the EC's are SUPER SUPER unique or the kid is URM/first gen which was not mentioned, all 3 are a crap shoot and it's ridiculous to try to game this.

Thanks for sharing. Our son hasn’t had a get get into Duke in many years, although I’m not sure if any of the applicants were early decision. Is there a chance Duke really does not like DS’s high school?

I would say DS’s ECs are more what you would consider generic but I believe his awards are pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DS should take a look at what UChicago offers. Weather isn’t good, but the academic offerings might match him well.

We looked briefly at UChicago but my son is not a fan of the school. Quite frankly there's at least 10 schools he would choose over UChicago if given the option, so it's unlikely he will even apply. Thanks for the suggestion though!