Good grades, high SAT scores and a well-rounded high school experience will help you get into Duke.
But so will proximity.
In a highly selective admission year, only 21 percent of the more than 19,300 applicants to the Class of 2010 were accepted. Although only 1,677-or about 9 percent-of the applicants were from North or South Carolina, 36 percent of Carolina applicants gained acceptance.
"[The students] bring a particular cultural diversity to the University and often bring a good deal of loyalty to the University because of their regional locus," Provost Peter Lange said.
According to the undergraduate admissions website, 14 percent of this year's freshman class is from North Carolina. But 14 percent is also from New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts combined.
Another 11 percent comes from 13 western states, including California, Colorado and Arizona.
But the University doesn't try to hide the skewed distribution or keep the statistics a secret. It proudly proclaims that it gives special consideration to students from the Carolinas, traditionally reserving at least 15 percent of spots in each class for those students.
James B. Duke signed the Indenture of Trust in 1924 to create the University and established the Duke Endowment with $40 million.
He made specific provisions that the money be distributed within the Carolinas for a number of purposes, one of which was to to further the education of students from the two states.
"Duke was put here for a reason," Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said. "The biggest advantage we give is obviously to kids from North Carolina and South Carolina."
The University's support of students from its own state is comparable, however, to that of other institutions.
Seventeen percent of the Class of 2010 at the University of Pennsylvania is from the state-slightly more than Duke's 14 percent of freshmen from North Carolina.
But on the other hand, only 10 percent of Stanford University's Class of 2010 consists of California residents, even though nearly half its applicant pool-41 percent-was from the state.
About 16 percent of the undergraduate enrollment at Vanderbilt University as of Fall 2005 consisted of Tennessee residents, according to the school's admissions website.
Of the University's six full-tuition merit scholarships, two-the Benjamin N. Duke Leadership Scholars Program and the Trinity Scholarship-are designated specifically for residents of North and South Carolina.
"If you go back to the indenture that Mr. Duke signed to form the University and was part of the will, he designated that 'X' amount of the proceeds of his endowment must go to people of North and South Carolina," said Barbara Wise, administrative coordinator and assistant director of the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows.
Wise added that approximately 27 percent of the approximately 225 students receiving full-tuition scholarships are from North or South Carolina.
"It's an important part of the University to have that diversity and to always be meeting the needs of North and South Carolina," Wise said.
Students from the Carolinas are also eligible for four other, smaller merit scholarships, including the Carolina Honors Scholarship and the North Carolina Writing Scholarship.
Seven other types of scholarships are also awarded to students from specific regions of North Carolina on the basis of merit or financial need.
Wise added that most of the scholarships allotted for residents of the Carolinas are designated as such by the donors, who are alumni or friends of the University.
In addition, every state resident who is a full-time student receives an annual North Carolina Legislative Tuition Grant of at least $1,800, based on the availability of funds. The 2006-2007 sum was $1,900.
Though Duke has transitioned from a regional school that catered to southern students to an institution of international acclaim, Lange said it likely will not change its policies about admitting students from the Carolinas.
"Duke supports students in North Carolina and South Carolina directly from the original indenture from Mr. Duke," he said. "Given the origins, we are not likely to change it."
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