If you were recently rejected by Duke, you aren’t alone. Duke receives well over 50,000 applications annually, and the overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only 4.8%. The Early Decision acceptance rate has plummeted, too, in recent years, and was only 12.8% for the Class of 2029 — that is lower than a number of Ivy League schools!
Getting into Duke in through any type of application now requires truly exceptional grades and scores. The middle 50% of accepted students in recent years have SAT scores in the 1510-1560 range, and strong ACT scores are over a 34. Simply having these scores doesn’t guarantee that your application will even be seriously considered, though. So many strong students are applying to Duke that the way that you present yourself through activities, recommendations, and writing has never been more important. Of course, it’s too late to change your activities and you don’t control what your recommenders say, so really it all comes down to the writing and there is work to be done. That’s where we can help.
Below, we break down the four steps that you need to be taking starting today to turn the disappointing Duke decision into a dream acceptance in the Regular Decision or EDII round.
We help students bounce back from disappointing early decisions. Learn how.
We like to break the post-ED rejection process down into four steps, but don’t think about them as a linear process. Be willing to be flexible, to try new things, and to be open to new ideas to achieve your best possible results.
Step One: Take a Break
First, you need to slow down. Seriously. You have gone through a pretty unpleasant experience with the Duke rejection, and you need to rest and recharge before pushing forward for strong results. So, make yourself a bowl of something sweet or salty. Curl up with a book or turn on a show you’ve been waiting to binge. Unplug from your phone for a weekend and go on a walk with a good friend or a friendly dog. Let’s be clear: this isn’t wasted time. It’s a necessary recharge.
Being kind to yourself is good for you, and it’s also good for your work. You will do your best writing and make your best decisions from a place of balance and rest. So, give yourself some time before you get back to work. When you’re ready, it’s time to strategize.
Step Two: Strategize
Once you are feeling good, it’s time to come up with a plan. Yes, you had an idea of how your college process would go — but it probably didn’t include a Duke rejection. You didn’t make assumptions, of course, but you were operating with an optimism that you wouldn’t really need the rest of your list. Or, at least, you’d be grappling with a deferral. This means that your college list is due for a fresh look and a critical eye.
If you have an Early Action acceptance under your belt, then you may not have to change much about your college list. You have somewhere to go in the fall, and now it’s just about getting options. If you didn’t receive an acceptance in the Early Action cycle, though, or didn’t apply anywhere EA, then you absolutely must broaden and deepen your college list. Your list needs to be broader, encompassing a wider range of schools geographically, in size, and in structure. Your list also needs to be deeper, with schools that offer a range of likelihoods of admission based on your grades and scores, and based on their acceptance rates.
If your grades are nearly perfect and your scores are nearly perfect, that didn’t make Duke a shoo-in and it doesn’t make any other schools at the tippy-top of the collegiate mountain a safety either. In this world of cut-throat admissions, no school with an acceptance rate under 10% is ever something that you can count on until you are in. So, you need balance. Aim for 3-4 true safety, or foundation, schools, 3-4 targets, and 2-3 reaches.
You should also seriously consider applying to a near-reach dream school Early Decision II. Not many schools offer ED II, but there are some exceptional options. This can be a powerful tool for a boosted chance at an acceptance.
Once you have your list, it’s time to write.
Step Three: Essays
If you put a ton of effort into your Duke application and were hoping to reuse that work for your RD and EDII application, we have bad news. Now, we can’t say that your writing is bad. But we do know that it could be better. If you have the scores and grades for Duke, it was something else in your application that didn’t work. Most probably, your writing. We’re not even saying that you’re a bad writer. You could be an exceptional writer, but the stories you told — and the way you told them — didn’t click with the application readers.
One of the things that we’ve learned in over a decade of crafting college essays is the power of the right story, in the right place. It’s not just about being impressive, but about connecting with the reader on a level that makes them want to accept you and get a coffee after you move onto campus.
Remember, application readers for highly selective schools are looking for reasons to say no. They have to reject so many students for each student they accept that they really need to buzz through applications. The applications that get serious consideration make them pause, and the applications that make them say “yes” make them feel something.
So, it is time to start writing with this goal in mind. Instead of obsessing over impressing, focus on connecting.
Step Four: Ask For Help
The last step is the most difficult for many of our students. When you are a high achiever who is confident about your work, it can be tough to admit that you are operating outside of your field of expertise. But you haven’t applied to college before, and there isn’t much time for a learning curve with only a few weeks before RD and EDII applications are due. Now is the moment, then, to call in help.
Your best friend or sibling do not fit the bill for offering expert advice. Neither do most parents, or even teachers. College admissions is its own monster, so getting guidance on strong writing can be helpful but won’t necessarily be tuned to the nuances of what it takes to get into a top school. Instead, we’re (understandably) biased towards working with a true college expert to craft applications that make readers look for reasons to say yes.
Getting into a dream school after a rejection from Duke isn’t rocket science, but it isn’t simple either. It takes strategy, care, and confidence. So, let’s start.
An ED rejection is disappointing, but it isn’t the end of the world. Learn more.