I’m a junior in high school and I’m focusing on colleges a lot. Duke is, as of now, my dream school. Do you think the following criteria could get me into Duke?
-Applying Early decision
-Legacy; my Father went to Duke Law School
-Will run track for Duke if my times allow me to (I honestly don’t know what kind of times it takes to run there)
-Final unweighted GPA upon ED application will be between 3.55-3.65, final weighted will be between 4.0-4.1
-10 Honors classes taken, 6 AP taken (all 4′s and 5′s, and one 3 on the tests)
-Senior class president
-Founder and President of Philosophy Club
-Founder and President of Pyschology/Sociology Club
-President of Politics Club
-Diversity Club member- went on school trip to Canada, and hosted a student from Canada for two weeks
-Debate Club member
-"Friends of the Orphans" Club member- went on week long mission trip to an orphanage in Mexico during spring break
-225 Hours Community Service completed upon graduation (of 125 required for graduation)
-Attended two summer academic programs, one at Arizona State freshman year, one at Duke Jr. year
-Took Psychology 101 as a Junior over the summer at a local community college, passed with an A
-Varsity Track for school (two years JV, two years Varsity) -One year JV football
-Run club track during the summer and off season (Track Athlete Year Round)- went to USATF Junior Olympics Nationals for 110m hurdles
-Very, very good recommendations
-Graduated Summa *** Laude from a prep school in Arizona
Could all of this distract them from my low GPA? I am not sure what my SAT scores will be, but I presume they will be somewhere between 2000-2250 total
How persuaded by legacy is Duke?
Most detailed answer gets ten points
Thank you!
About 90 per cent of admitted students are in the top ten per cent of their high school class. The 25th to 75 percentile of the SAT scores of admitted students are between 1920 and 2290.
Few universities give legacies to children of graduate and professional school alumni and Duke is not one of them to my knowledge.
Duke appears to be more interested in class ranking than GPA as it requests that class rank, rather than GPA, be used on http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com from which the other statistics in this answer are also taken.

#1 by ownpool on January 13, 2011 - 11:27 am
Quote
About 90 per cent of admitted students are in the top ten per cent of their high school class. The 25th to 75 percentile of the SAT scores of admitted students are between 1920 and 2290.
Few universities give legacies to children of graduate and professional school alumni and Duke is not one of them to my knowledge.
Duke appears to be more interested in class ranking than GPA as it requests that class rank, rather than GPA, be used on http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com from which the other statistics in this answer are also taken.
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