Duke

[Yonvan]

Newy,

Would you mind elaborating on the QOL for someone who knows next to nothing about Duke?

[TDPookie1]

It's kind of funny, because I seriously doubt that anyone on this board who has been accepted to any of Duke, Michigan or GULC (with the exception of some of the GULC PT folk) is going to end up there.

agree, for the most part.  duke isn't much of a consideration now, but michigan still is.  so is USC, because of financial aid potential (and staying in LA).  but in general, the people hearing back this early were probably auto-accepts to have heard so quickly, which implies that they'll have options higher up in the rankings, and most will take those options.

[GULCbound]

that's mostly because the people accepted thus far were auto-admits... thus making them the creme de la creme at UMich/Gtown/Duke and obviously qualified for other T14's like HYS...

I am, however, definitely going to Georgetown. I applied ED, so that's one reason why, and my sh*tty GPA would have precluded me from admission at a lot of other T14's anyways...

[AMB22]

Pookie: Do you really think hearing early from Duke is a good sign? I kind of thought so but I balance it in my mind with the fact that not hearing from Mich and Gtown is a bad sign. I kind of wonder if my Duke optional essays and modified PS helped me a lot and my Michigan essay hurt me.

It's kind of funny, because I seriously doubt that anyone on this board who has been accepted to any of Duke, Michigan or GULC (with the exception of some of the GULC PT folk) is going to end up there.

agree, for the most part.  duke isn't much of a consideration now, but michigan still is.  so is USC, because of financial aid potential (and staying in LA).  but in general, the people hearing back this early were probably auto-accepts to have heard so quickly, which implies that they'll have options higher up in the rankings, and most will take those options.

[newy]

Newy,

Would you mind elaborating on the QOL for someone who knows next to nothing about Duke?

I know next to next to nothing about Duke, but I do know that the tri-cities area has really low housing costs, is economically booming, and (IMO) I'd rather live somewhere where parking is no big thing than live in NYC where having a car is out of the question.  FWIW, I'm from a super-small town (<10k people) in the middle of nowhere, so anything bigger than 100k people is almost overwhelmingly large to me.  I also think that buying a home in R/D/CH would be a great investment, and my bf will be working in biotech/pharmaceuticals, so the area is perfect for him.

Edit: The same things ring true for me about Stanford (except for the low housing costs part), but the QOL is great there and it wouldn't be a cross-country move for me.  That would be a tough choice, primarily resting on tuition/scholarships (plus I have a huge crush on the Cardinal).

[Yonvan]

AMB22,

I think that's a very good sign that you heard early from Duke. These optional essays are giving me fits. So far, of the schools that I applied to and got accepted to (GULC), neither had optional essays, while for the ones that I haven't heard from (UMich/Duke), both did have optional essays which I maybe didn't spend enough time on. I'm really wondering if I just had some GLARING problems in my optionals that will keep me out of those schools.

IMHO, and this is just my personal hunch, GULC notification was based on the little extra note that the Dean wrote on your letter. I say this because I got in at the same time as three other friends, and we all had the same note about DC internships. Kind of funny. You probably haven't heard from GULC because your pile is in Andy's "IN" Box, waiting to be "personalized."
Uncertainty is just no fun.

Pookie: Do you really think hearing early from Duke is a good sign? I kind of thought so but I balance it in my mind with the fact that not hearing from Mich and Gtown is a bad sign. I kind of wonder if my Duke optional essays and modified PS helped me a lot and my Michigan essay hurt me.

[TDPookie1]

Pookie: Do you really think hearing early from Duke is a good sign? I kind of thought so but I balance it in my mind with the fact that not hearing from Mich and Gtown is a bad sign. I kind of wonder if my Duke optional essays and modified PS helped me a lot and my Michigan essay hurt me.

It's kind of funny, because I seriously doubt that anyone on this board who has been accepted to any of Duke, Michigan or GULC (with the exception of some of the GULC PT folk) is going to end up there.

agree, for the most part.  duke isn't much of a consideration now, but michigan still is.  so is USC, because of financial aid potential (and staying in LA).  but in general, the people hearing back this early were probably auto-accepts to have heard so quickly, which implies that they'll have options higher up in the rankings, and most will take those options.

i think it's a good sign.  what's their EA "hear by" date?  you heard before that, in the first round of accepts.  you applied super early and/or were an easy admit for them.  either way, i think it's a sign of good things to come.  if you have been more borderline, you would have heard later or been rolled into the regular pool, i think.  and if i'm wrong, hey, you got into a top 10 school!    can't complain about that.

[AMB22]

Yeah thats the way I rationalize it in my head--that if Duke is the worst I do I'll still be content. Its weird though the more involved I get in thinking about everything the higher I raise my expectations. Like when I started studying for the LSAT I was like "I'll be so happy if I hit 165" but by the end I was pissed with my actual score. And about a week ago I thought as long as I got into one T14 I'd be thrilled but now I'm still hoping for Chicago or Penn.

Pookie: Do you really think hearing early from Duke is a good sign? I kind of thought so but I balance it in my mind with the fact that not hearing from Mich and Gtown is a bad sign. I kind of wonder if my Duke optional essays and modified PS helped me a lot and my Michigan essay hurt me.

It's kind of funny, because I seriously doubt that anyone on this board who has been accepted to any of Duke, Michigan or GULC (with the exception of some of the GULC PT folk) is going to end up there.

agree, for the most part.  duke isn't much of a consideration now, but michigan still is.  so is USC, because of financial aid potential (and staying in LA).  but in general, the people hearing back this early were probably auto-accepts to have heard so quickly, which implies that they'll have options higher up in the rankings, and most will take those options.

i think it's a good sign.  what's their EA "hear by" date?  you heard before that, in the first round of accepts.  you applied super early and/or were an easy admit for them.  either way, i think it's a sign of good things to come.  if you have been more borderline, you would have heard later or been rolled into the regular pool, i think.  and if i'm wrong, hey, you got into a top 10 school!    can't complain about that.

[TDPookie1]

the thing that's tough about both chicago and penn is their small class size, about 200 each.  i don't remember duke's, but michigan is larger (than penn), gtown is huge.  i'm thinking if duke, then gtown.  but not necessarily michigan, just based on duke.

[Bamaboy]

FYI: on LSN, no rejections last year until January, but it looks like some people got deferred in December

I checked too, though I thought they had to send out some rejections in December for EA, unless they didnt have that last year. I can't imagine they defer any non accept just so they can tell you later (like I think they would tell a 3.0/155 EA applicant in Dec).

Either way, from what I can tell no school seems to send out rejections this early and at the same time as accepts. If you were rejected I think they would wait and mail it out Dec 15th. My guess is that you are in.

Duke's website explains that they do not reject anyone from the EA pool.  They only defer you to the regular decision pool if you are not accepted.  While this does not preclude them from rejecting you the next day, I think it means they have to send you notice of you being deferred first.  So, until then, you have not been rejected.  The whole date of being notified is being overanalyzed.  If you look at G-town, people who applied earlier were notified earlier.  Check on LSN when other people's files were complete compared to yours.  It would be pretty amazing if Duke had every EA applicant considered this early and had let everyone who was accepted already know it.