Duke Admissions Consultant
What Makes Duke University So Special?
Duke University is a private university located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke was founded by Methodists and Quakers in 1838. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James Buchanan Duke established The Duke Endowment, at which time the institution changed its name to honor his deceased father, Washington Duke. The main campus—designed largely by famed architect Julian Abele—incorporates Gothic architecture with the 210-foot Duke Chapel at the campus' center and highest point of elevation.
Duke Quick Facts
Location: Durham, North Carolina
Year Founded: 1838
US News Ranking: 12
Application Deadline: December 20
Must receive SAT/ACT scores by: January 4
2021 Admissions Acceptance Rate: 9.06%
Total applications received (2021): 34,406
Duke is the seventh-wealthiest private university in America with $11.4 billion in cash and investments in the fiscal year 2014.
Though Duke University can trace its founding to tobacco money, the school’s official policy on smoking doesn’t even permit smoking within 10 feet of residential buildings and dining facilities and it’s completely banned on the campus of the medical center.
The basketball team is renowned for having won five NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships, most recently in 2015. The only Ivy League school to have the most appearances in the NCAA Tournament is Penn.
Prompts for Duke's 2017-18 Undergrad Supplemental Essays
The following question is required for Engineering applicants.
• If you are applying to the Pratt School of Engineering as either a first-year or transfer applicant, please discuss why you want to study engineering and why you would like to study at Duke. (150 words maximum)
The following question is required for Arts & Sciences applicants.
• If you are applying to the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences as either a first-year or transfer applicant, please discuss why you consider Duke a good match for you. Is there something particular about Duke that attracts you? (150 words maximum)
The following questions are optional for all applicants to Duke University.
• Duke University seeks a talented, engaged student body that embodies the wide range of human experience; we believe that the diversity of our students makes our community stronger. If you'd like to share a perspective you bring or experiences you've had to help us understand you better—perhaps related to a community you belong to or your family or cultural background—we encourage you to do so. Real people are reading your application, and we want to do our best to understand and appreciate the real people applying to Duke. (250 words maximum)
• Duke’s commitment to diversity and inclusion includes gender identity and sexual orientation. If you would like to share with us more about either and have not done so elsewhere in the application, we invite you to do so here.
Duke's Programs Ranked
Business School: #12 (USNews)
Law School: #10 (USNews)
Medical School: #3 (USNews)
Political Science Department: #15 (USNews)
Undergrad Engineering: #24 (USNews)
Biological Sciences Department: #10 (USNews)
