As blue confetti streamed down the screens of Duke’s most recent batch of accepted students, some high school seniors could barely get past the word “congratulations” before celebrating their feat.
Carol Qin, a senior at Dulwich College Beijing, burst into tears before even reading her letter. Having been deferred by Duke during the Early Decision cycle, Qin said she “didn’t really have much hope for Duke.” However, with the University remaining her top choice, she held out until Tuesday, becoming one of the 220 deferred applicants to be accepted into their dream school.
“It really was [a] full-circle moment of opening [the] last school and seeing the confetti,” Qin said, noting that Duke was both the first and last decision letter she opened over the course of the admissions cycle.
She committed to Duke just 10 minutes later.
Another 1,952 of Duke’s 53,223 Regular Decision applicants also secured their spot in the Class of 2029, which saw a record-low acceptance rate of 3.67%. The admits join the 849 Early Decision applicants who saw blue confetti fall down their screens in December.
For Elinora Baker who applied Regular Decision, everything seemed “up in the air” before she opened her Duke admissions letter.
When the Bangor, Maine, native learned that she got into Duke, she described being in “pure shock.”
From hearing her mom scream of excitement to being surprised by her family friends who came over bearing Duke sweatshirts, she described the moment as “really special.”
“It was the perfect ending to a stressful admissions process,” Baker said. “… I feel very grateful that I get this opportunity.”
Although Baker said she is still weighing her options, she looks forward to attending Blue Devil Days for admitted students.
Meanwhile, Early Decision acceptee Arjun Desai from Shreveport, Louisiana, recalled having to do a double take to confirm that he was accepted — celebrating upon just seeing the confetti.
“I screamed a bit and hugged my family,” he said. “I was just ecstatic.”
Desai shared that he was “both overjoyed and relieved” upon receiving his acceptance, since at that point, he had yet to start writing his application essays for other universities — having put “all [his] eggs … in the Duke basket.”
He added that Duke was his dream school because of the sports scene and academic rigor, which for him “blended [a] work hard [and] play hard mentality.” Desai’s experience visiting campus his junior year of high school further convinced him that the University was the perfect fit.
“Whenever I stepped foot on campus, I was like, ‘this is definitely the place for me,’” Desai said. “… It was a little drizzly, way overcast and kind of chilly. And I was like, ‘if I like it like this, I feel like I could like it on any day.’”
Erin Yuan, who hails from Dallas, was also accepted in the Early Decision cycle. Though she has not visited campus before, she ultimately decided to apply to Duke because the work-life balance appealed to her.
She further reminisced about her parents’ excitement when she opened her admissions letter.
“My mom didn't even hug me. She just started crying. She was inconsolable,” Yuan said.
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Lucas Lin is a Trinity sophomore and a university news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.