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LaShae Brown

Mr.Taylor

Honors English 1

27 September 2019

Duke University

I became interested in Duke years when I visited, with the goal of becoming a

pediatrician. Duke University has one of the highest-ranked medical schools in the country. I

visited a year ago for the first time. Another factor that drew me to the school from the visit was

the large academic buildings, the huge chapel and the beautiful gardens all around campus.

Duke is a private university located in Durham, NC. The university offers over 100

programs, 53 majors,52 minors and 23 certificates (Duke University Acceptance Rate &

Admissions Statistics). There are a lot of different combinations of programs to encourage

success. The degree I would like is a Doctor of Medicine (M.D) degree. Duke is ranked the #10

university in the country and they have a 95% graduation rate (2020 Rankings). This makes

Duke a school that a lot of people want to go to and it is highly regarded. The acceptance rate is

10.8% and the average GPA for acceptance is 4.08, the average SAT score of a Duke student is

1485 but the SAT score has to be higher than 1390 to be considered (Duke SAT Scores and

GPA). Getting accepted into Duke is very challenging because the SAT score, GPA, and the

acceptance rate make it a competitive school to get accepted into.

There are many extracurricular activities, clubs and other social opportunities to get

involved at Duke. Some of the fraternities are Alpha Epsilon Pi, Kappa Alpha Order and Psi

Upsilon and a few sororities are Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Delta Pi and Delta Delta Delta are at
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Duke (Fraternity & Sorority Life). There are clubs and organizations at Duke, such as the black

student alliance, which is a group that promotes academic achievements and wants to remove all

social barriers, other clubs are the Duke Student Government and duke South Asian Students

Association ( Organizations). Most of the organizations on the website are volunteer groups or

groups to help inclusivity, all to better the Duke community and the community in general. Duke

also offers sports teams such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, baseball, football and more. (Duke

Sports).There are some social traditions at Duke like tenting to buy tickets for the UNC vs Duke

rivalry game and tailgating for football games are social traditions, there are weddings held at the

Duke Chapel sometimes as well.

The university costs $58,198 for tuition for the average undergraduate student. (Cost).

The tuition is not including the other fees that you have to pay, so I would need a scholarship or

some kind of financial aid to afford going there. Room and board cost $17,000 plus, books,

supplies, and personal expenses are also apart of the total cost and that costs $3,410 (Cost).

Which is one of the other fees added onto what you pay just for tuition. The estimated total cost

is $ 78,608 before financial aid is applied for an undergraduate student(Cost). Most of the

students do not pay the full cost for the university due to financial aid and scholarship. One

example of a scholarship is Clarks Scholar Program for students that show academic and

leadership potential and there are a lot of other ones too(Cost). There are a lot of opportunities to

make education more affordable at Duke University.

Duke will benefit my future because it would give many opportunities for internships and

other introductions into the medical field. Also going there would give me an education that will

help me succeed in trying to be a pediatrician. The university is highly ranked nationally for
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research in their pediatric departments. Duke also gives students in the pediatric department of

their medical school a chance to do a clerkship and actually interact with patients, which will

prepare students for the real workforce (Duke Pediatrics).

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Works Cited

“ Duke University Acceptance Rate & Admissions Statistics.” Toptier

Admissions, 26 September 2019,

https://www.toptieradmissions.com/resources/college-admissions-statistics/duke-universi

ty-class-of-2023-acceptance-rates/​.

“ Duke SAT Scores and GPA.” Prep Scholar, 26 September 2019,

​https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/Duke-SAT-scores-GPA​.

“Fraternity & Sorority Life.” Duke Student Affairs, 26 September 2019,

https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/greek/about-us/duke-greek-history​.

“Cost.” Duke Financial Aid, 26 September 2019,

​https://financialaid.duke.edu/undergraduate-applicants/cost​.

“ 2020 Rankings.” Best Colleges, 26 September 2019,

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/duke-university-2920​.

“ Organizations.” Duke Groups, 26 September 2019,​https://dukegroups.com/organizations​.

“ Duke Sports.” Official Athletics, 26 September 2019, ​https://goduke.com/​.

“ Duke Pediatrics.” Duke University School Of Medicine, 26 September 2019,

​https://pediatrics.duke.edu/​.