Duke University is an elite, private liberal arts university located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke consistently rates in the top 10 on US News and World Reports’ rankings, earning the #7 spot in the 2024 publication. Their middle 50% of SAT is 1490-1570 with the ACT ranging from 34-35. Their acceptance rate is around 6% with around 1700 students per undergraduate class. On the plus side, applying Early Decision has historically resulted in admissions rates in the high teens. In 2024 that climbed to 21%. If you’ve dreamed of being a Blue Devil, Early Decision will maximize your chances of getting in. Duke’s most popular majors include Economics, Biology, Computer Science, and Public Policy. Pratt School of Engineering ranks as a top 20 engineering program. It goes without saying that you’ll need an elite academic record to be competitive in the admissions process.

Application Process

Duke’s application has some unique aspects that applicants will have to invest a lot of time to build a strong case for the Admissions Office. Most students from the US will use the Common App with the typical Personal Statement Essay as well as three 250-word supplemental essays. The first is your conventional “Why Us?” essay which you can learn more about here. For the final two, Duke asks you to choose between five prompts that we’ll briefly summarize as: your perspective, your intellectual experience, beliefs & values, being different, or your orientation/identity/expression. One relatively new edition is that they have an optional GLIMPSE video where you can record a 60-90 second video to tell your story in a different format.

Financial Aid

On the financial side, Duke’s sticker price is in line with other elite universities, with tuition running around $67K and room & board at $19K, resulting in a total price of around $85K per year. Duke does have a need-blind admissions policy, meaning that your family’s finances won’t come into play in an admissions decision, and they do meet 100% of demonstrated need. If the intricacies of financial aid policy are confusing to you, here’s another blog post that explains many of the key terms: Financial Aid Newsletter. On the plus side, Duke has a robust endowment and, unlike the Ivy League, offers merit-based financial aid. For family incomes below $110K per year, Duke estimates around a $20K per year bill to the family. If you reside in the Carolinas, you may be eligible for a full tuition grant if your family income is $150K or less. You can run the numbers to approximate your expected financial commitment here.

Campus Culture

Duke has a unique campus atmosphere with a strong Greek culture, passionate sports fanbase, and ample on-campus housing and food options. All of Duke’s freshmen (even the highly recruited basketball players) live on Duke’s East Campus, which is a short 10-minute bus ride from West Campus, where the upperclassmen and majority of classes are held. Duke students say that they love living on East Campus since it creates a distinct place where the Freshmen class bonds. On top of that, Duke boasts an incredible basketball team where students are willing to camp out for weeks to earn tickets to face their rivals, the University of North Carolina, in the historic Cameron Indoor Stadium. Greek life defines much of the social culture, but they have been recently pushed off campus by administration. Students also highly rate the Last Day of Classes (LDOC) concert that is held every year and has featured headliners like Ludacris, Kendrick Lamar, and Steve Aoki over the years.

Location & Culture

Around 280K people live in Durham, which is located smack-dab in the middle of North Carolina, about a 5-hour drive south of Washington DC and 6 hours northeast from Atlanta. Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up an academically elite “Research Triangle” which rates as the highest concentration of PhD’s per capita in the country. Historically Duke has had a complicated relationship with the City of Durham, particularly due to the socio-economic disparity between the two, but tensions have improved over the past decade. The collapse of the North Carolina tobacco industry in the mid-to-late 20^th century hurt the city’s development, but recently there’s been a substantial level of investment to revitalize the city center and there are several nice coffee shops, gastropubs, and the like that have moved in.

Conclusion

Duke University is a fantastic fit for someone who’s looking for an elite university with the Southern culture and mild climate of North Carolina. If you’d like to learn more, head to Duke Admissions to schedule a virtual or on-campus visit!