I got into Duke almost 30 years ago ( class of 98 ). I had 1360 SAT. No AP classes in 11'th grade, but 4 AP's in 12'th grade. Had no stand out results from any EC's. Did sports, but had no EC's that demonstrated "leadership" or "people skills". GPA was good, but I was perhaps top 5 in a class of 50 students. I shot gunned the application process and got into a few more T20 schools.

Fast forward 15 years and my cousin got into Duke. He had perfect SATs and was homeschooled. Apart from his perfect SAT, I don't recall anything great about his application. His EC's were probably worse than mine, in that no sports or anything. Definitely nothing that demonstrated "leadership" or "people skills".

Now my niece applied Early decision this year. She has 1460 SAT and around half dozen AP's in 11'th and 12'th total. She has EC's in sports but like myself, no stand out results. Among the three of us she is the most "well rounded". But she too lacks any EC's that demonstrate "leadership" or "people skills".

Given the history, I would think her chances would have been good at Duke. But sadly she got rejected last week. Wondering what has changed in 15-30 years? I've googled it but not sure I agree that it is all due to more people applying. When I applied 30 years ago I used the common application for Duke.