Duke admitted 1,953 high school seniors to the Class of 2029 through its Regular Decision admissions cycle, according to Kathy Phillips, associate dean in the Undergraduate Admissions Office.
The University received a record-high 53,223 Regular Decision applications, bringing the cycle’s acceptance rate to an all-time low of 3.67%, down from 4.1% last year. Of the recent batch of acceptees, 220 were originally deferred in the Early Decision round.
In December, Duke admitted a record-low 12.8% of Early Decision applicants to the Class of 2029, with 849 students earning binding admission to the University. This brings Duke’s overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 to 4.8%.
Of those admitted in the Regular Decision round, 1,552 were accepted into the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and 401 to the Pratt School of Engineering, marking a slight increase in Pratt acceptees and dip in Trinity acceptees from last year’s Regular Decision cycle. About 51.3% are female and 48.7% are male, which Phillips noted does not account for the small number of students identifying as nonbinary.
Phillips did not respond to The Chronicle’s request for the racial demographics of admitted students.
This year’s applicant class also featured a higher number of high school seniors from North and South Carolina in comparison to recent admissions cycles. Phillips attributed the increase to the Carolinas Financial Aid Initiative, which provides students from North and South Carolina with full-tuition scholarships if their total family income is less than $150,000.
Phillips also highlighted that the University has continued its “efforts to attract and admit more students who [it] anticipate[s] will be eligible for Pell Grants.” She did not respond to The Chronicle's request for the number of admitted students who qualify to receive Pell Grants.
A September 2023 New York Times Magazine article called out Duke for its low percentage of Pell Grant-eligible and middle-income students in comparison to 11 other academically elite institutions. That number has doubled from the Class of 2026 to 22% in the Class of 2028.
This admissions cycle marks the fifth year that the University is conducting undergraduate admissions test-optional and the second year since it stopped giving numerical ratings to essays and standardized testing scores. Though essays are still considered in the admissions process, they no longer receive a score due to the rise of generative artificial intelligence and college admissions consultants.
“As we move into our April admitted student yield programs, we look forward to continuing our partnership with Student Affairs, the Office of Undergraduate Education, Financial Aid and the Duke community as a whole in showcasing the transformative nature of the Duke experience,” Phillips wrote.
Admissions decisions will be released March 31 at 7 p.m.
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Abby Spiller is a Trinity junior and editor-in-chief of The Chronicle's 120th volume.