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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What 16/17yo has been interested "for years" in literary criticism?[/quote]
It's called "enjoying reading." Some teens aren't terminally online. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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”. [/quote]

100% Correct. Alum with a current student , in history.[/quote]

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