Duke offers the opportunity to write one or two optional essays. You should write two. Why? Because. It’s an opportunity. In a world where AI and an oversupply of applicants and criminally insane acceptance rates are the status quo, you need to seize every possible opportunity available. So, for starters, answer two.

Optional Essays - We want to emphasize that the following questions are optional. Feel free to answer one or two if you believe that doing so will add something meaningful that is not already shared elsewhere in your application. Five optional questions are available – a maximum of 2 can be selected.

Optional Essay 1 - We believe a wide range of viewpoints, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to maintaining Duke as a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community.

Dangerous. If you make a claim about why you think the circumstances of your upbringing, your life thus far, your influences, etc. make you different, unique, and special, and… there are dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of others who have more or less the same circumstances, and offer the same point of view, or worse, a much more interesting point of view, you will seem–by comparison–weak. The wrong way to attack this question is to focus on features of your life, your influences, your circumstances, and make claims about how those things make you see the world the way you see the world. This is likely to fall into that horrific trap explained above.

A better way to make it known that you offer a different perspective is through contrast, which can be achieved in one of two ways:

Option 1 - Contrast to Peers

If you can see how your peers synthesize things, how they respond to situations, how they approach problems, how they react to others, and events, and you can detect big or small differences in how *you* respond, and as far as you can tell, the source of those differences can be traced to something particular about your upbringing, influences, aspects of your identity, etc. now we may have something. Oftentimes, the most powerful insights in cases like this, manifest in small things, small differences. Bigger differences are more typically tied to differences more aligned with personality differences rather than differences in cultural or environmental inputs. All of which is to say, you’re likely to get more mileage out of noticing subtle ways in which you perceive and process things, rather than flagrant ones.

What are some examples? How did a friend respond to a situation? When did you notice you might have responded differently? Can you trace back the source of that to something specific? The influence of aspects of your cultural background? A quirky set of grandparents? The circumstances of your home life? Socioeconomic? Interpersonal dynamics of your family? Physical? Geographic? Religious? Etc. Now that you’ve traced a possible source, where else does this manifest? What are other examples that showcase the impact this had on you, through contrast between your response to certain stimuli compared to others experiencing and reacting to the same stimuli?

Option 2 - Contrast to Self

The other version of this might be to notice an evolution in your own perspective, behavior, attitude, temperament, etc. And, same as above, you can trace that change to something tied to all those potential factors (religion, family members, friends, unusual circumstances, really anything). If you walk us through the way you used to be, and compare to the way you are now, and then explain the way in which one of these influencing factors contributed to that shaping, we can see for ourselves the impact, and how you grew. Same as above, you’ll want to then point out other ways in which you noticed the mark of this influence, in other arenas.

Optional Essay 2 - Tell us about an experience in the past year or two that reflects your imagination, creativity, or intellect.

The trick with this question (and this is going to be incredibly, incredibly hard for reasons we’ll explain in a second) is to not be impressed by whatever it is you’re choosing to write about. Now, the paradoxical nature of this question is, if you’re choosing to write about something here, it stands to reason that at some level, you’re proud of it enough in some ways, no? So then how to tackle this Gordian knot?

Well, here’s one potential way to keep you out of trouble. If instead of thinking about some feature of your imagination, creativity, or intellect as being ‘awesome’ or ‘unusually cool’ or ‘next-level bruh!’ etc., move away from assigning that kind of good/bad valence to it, and instead regard it simply as … different or distinct from someone else. If the focus is more like here’s what makes my imagination, creativity, or intellect distinct (from my peer group), we the readers are more likely to be intrigued or impressed by it, versus if the implied suggestion is accompanied by a sense of ‘and this why I’m so pleased about this fact.’

Make sense? Traffic only in ‘this makes me a little different from my peers, or, ‘the typical teen’’ and you’ll end up on sturdier ground.

To drive this point home, it will often be useful to draw a contrast between some kind of ‘expected’ or ‘status quo’ version of whatever it is, before introducing your version. We need to buy the status quo as the expected version, by the way, otherwise your ‘unique’ version won’t land the way you want.

1. Establish the Status Quo. Describe the situation/experience and posit as best you can what a typical/expected response might look like.
2. Now explain what your version looked like, and highlight the differences. For now, just focus on the ‘what.’
3. Now, finally, see if you can do some analysis on the page here and take a stab at explaining why your version deviates from the norm, is different, unique, unusual, etc. Resist passing judgment (and/or being proud of this fact, simply remark on the potential explanations).
4. Where does it go from here? What might await this person (you) given these traits? See if you can extrapolate a bit and throw it into the future. This will also help us understand why you think these traits are significant/meaningful. Again, not ‘good’ necessarily, but noteworthy. This is a subtle distinction so be careful!

Optional Essay 3 - We believe there is benefit in sharing or questioning our beliefs or values; who do you agree with on the big important things, or who do you have your most interesting disagreements with? What are you agreeing or disagreeing about?

Of all the questions so far, this is by far the most interesting one. Not that anyone invited us to rate Duke’s questions (!), but, we’re doing it anyway, wahoo! Mostly because there’s meat on the bone here, and a much better opportunity for you to say something that is likely to reveal something neat and interesting (and distinct!) about what you’re made of.

If Duke were interested in your hot take on a topic (whether popular or unpopular), they’d have asked directly. Instead, they’re asking (intriguingly) about people with whom you tend to agree, or disagree. Underlying this is an unwritten question: why this person? Also notice that for the ‘disagree’ variation, they specified with whom do you have your most ‘interesting disagreements’ with?

An alternate way of asking this question, and cutting to the real nub of it is “Whose mind intrigues you and why?” Whether you tend to agree with this person or disagree with this person (on the big, important things), the noteworthy aspect of this is ‘the person’ not the subject matter. In a world with social media, it is (regrettably) all too easy to find someone who agrees with you, or disagrees with you, on the big important things. There’s no shortage of it. In fact, let’s pursue this, to make a point. Imagine issuing a cogent argument for … one of the big topics of the day, say on YouTube. Imagine you spent months preparing the most hard-hitting analysis and persuasive case imaginable, a video that’s 60 minutes long. A real meaty piece. Now (sigh), imagine the comments section.

Imagine user #1 replied simply with a ‘smiley face.’
And then imagine user #2 replies with something so horrific and negative and mean-spirited and snarky and childish and worthless…

With these two examples, we have both (1) someone who agrees with you! (smiley face dude), as well as (2) someone who disagrees with you (the person who said unbelievably offensive and personal and unhelpfully dumb things).

We are not interested in either of these folks, and nor should you be. It would be disappointing, in fact, if you paid much attention to either.

In order to get to something searing, and interesting, some combination of ‘the person you choose’ or ‘your rationale for choosing that person’ must be surprising in some way. Probably, the most effective ‘choice’ here is someone you know and interact with, rather than a public figure who has no real means of challenging or interacting with you. If you go the ‘well-known figure’ route, you will likely need to choose a controversial figure as someone you agree with on big things, or, choose someone who everyone else agrees with also, but for very different reasons. Absent either of those, you’re better off choosing someone in your orbit, whom you’ve had spirited debates and discussions with, and you can explain to us what it is about that other person, that draws you in to wanting to have these discussions. Remember, we’re not that interested in the discussions themselves.

1. What is it about the way this person thinks that means something to you?
2. How does this person challenge you?
3. What is responsible for it? Something about that person’s circumstances, experiences, background that plays a part?
4. If you agree with this person, what is it about this person’s approach that means something more than another person with the same belief?
5. If you disagree with this person, what is it that draws you into wanting to have the debate? Are you interested in winning always? Or do you find yourself benefitting from the exchange because this person is able to push you to sharpen your own thinking, or even offer something that strengthens your beliefs?

Optional Essay 4 - Duke’s commitment to inclusion and belonging includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Feel free to share with us more about how your identity in this context has meaning for you as an individual or as a member of a community.

Not a whole lot to advise here other than to suggest that we’ve seen our share of stories dealing with deeply personal themes like this, and the strongest ones are the most earnest, and sincerely conveyed. If that sounds incredibly pat, it turns out to be a lot harder than it sounds. Here’s one interesting trick. Think of a person who gets you like no one else in the world. Someone who hears you, sees you, knows you better than you know yourself. Write an essay, and reveal some thoughts that may surprise *that* person in some ways. If you attempt that, you are likely to engage the part of your brain’s writing center that is at its most sincere!

Optional Essay 5 - We recognize that not fully “fitting in” a community or place can sometimes be difficult. Duke values the effort, resilience, and independence that may require. Feel free to share with us circumstances where something about you is different and how that’s influenced your experiences or identity.

The setup here is great, Duke invokes killer qualities like ‘effort’ and ‘resilience’ and ‘independence’ as it pertains to being on the wrong side of ‘fitting in.’ Then (with respect) they kind of … dropped the ball a bit by posing a question that feels a bit too open-ended, and may entice you to take your eye off those earlier ‘suggested themes’ that could be rich themes to mine. Rather than answer open-endedly, about a way in which you’re different, we’d recommend (even if just for a first draft) attempt to bring that theme, but couched in a story where you had to summon something, do something that wasn’t easy, go against the current, learn or develop resilience, independence, and the true meaning of effort.

Start with establishing the thing that made you feel like an outsider. But rather than leap straight into your grievances, sell us what it was about the ‘group’ you wanted to be a part of in the first place. What was it that attracted you it, and make you want to be a part of it? Assuming you didn’t expect being made to feel like an outsider, why did you feel like you might have had more in common than perhaps others felt? Now, let’s get into the ‘not fitting in phase’ and what that made you realize about what aspects of you were either truly different or perceived as being different. And now, take us through what you did. Take us through your thoughts. Your initial reactions. Even the irrational ones. Then walk us through the dialogue where you reconciled all these complicated thoughts and emotions, of having a sense of your identity, having an expectation of fitting in, receiving the feedback that others may not be as accepting of you on whatever basis, and what you did to forge a path forward. You don’t need much in the way of fancy footwork after that. What we want to see if the mechanics of how you navigated these complicated elements. Therein lies the coolest possible insight into what makes you different, and what makes you you.

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)

When a high school student announces a potential major (career path, even), it is often the case that “things will change once college starts.” In fact, it’s generally assumed. Kinda like “Hey six-year-old, cool that you wanna be an astronaut, but I won’t hold it against you if somehow, things should go a different way.” The one exception to this might be the kid who knows he’s gonna pursue engineering. Why? Because you kinda can’t decide to pursue this one late in the game. Engineering is such that if you’ve wandered this way and that for two years into a wide variety of liberal arts courses, you will find it difficult if not impossible to decide at THAT stage to begin a focus in engineering. Why? Because the requirements are so… many, that you need to focus from the very beginning. Day 1, pile it on, let’s go. And you need to stay on that train all the way through.

So, the question then becomes… how could you possibly be so sure of this at such an early age?

• Scenario 1 – The typical (real) reason is that your parents have given you no other choice. If this feels like you, you may not wanna hide from it. You may wanna declare it outright that this is exactly how it STARTED. But, you’ll wanna prove that somehow along the way, you flirted with the idea of other things, or hated it initially and now love it–something, anything, to suggest that now this passion is YOUR OWN.
• Scenario 2 – Or, it’s the opposite. Your parents had zero influence, and you came to this realization on your own. That’s easier. Simply, walk us through it.

(If you’re a transfer student, you might have a cool “Hey I started here, but whoa Nelly have I had a change in heart, and engineering is now what I wanna do, and boy is Duke’s version of this the ONLY thing that attracts me for XY and Z reasons.” A turn like that can make for a great story.)

In either case, the most helpful way to FRAME an interest in Engineering is to project into the future a bit, and sell us a vision you have for yourself, either accomplishing something very specific (building electric self-driving flying cars!), OR, being involved in a very specific PROCESS that might not have a narrowly defined outcome. Either way, describe what aspects motivate you, and why. Then, you can link it back to why ENGINEERING feels like the smartest and best way for you to engage with that goal. (A neat twist is to engage with the idea that there might be OTHER avenues to pursue that could tickle that itch, whether through entrepreneurship, or some other way, but that ENGINEERING is something you connect with more. Explain why.)

Now, the harder part. You can study engineering just about anywhere. What is it about Duke’s program (or Duke itself) that you feel will bring out a BETTER VERSION of you as an engineer? Or will lead to an improved likelihood of your future success, given the specific goals you’ve identified? Assume you’re gonna be able to succeed anywhere, at any school’s engineering program, some way, somehow. (We hope that’s true.) Now, imagine the version that passes through DUKE’S program in particular. What does this version have that others don’t? Or what aspects connect better with specific aspects of your learning style, or skills, or future plans? If your reasoning can be applied to a different program at a different school, you haven’t dug deep enough. This is hard, folks. You need to have researched Duke closely to be able to answer this credibly.

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)

This used to be a fairly standard question in supplements, but less so in recent years – adcoms get bored too! So, the “why are you attracted to ME” question. It seems like two questions (why is Duke a good match, and also, what about Duke attracts you), but really it’s one question: Why will the combo of YOU + DUKE be better than the combo of YOU + ANYWHERE ELSE? That’s it.

Here’s a cool trick. Imagine you get accepted to Stanford, and Harvard, and Yale, and Princeton, and Duke. Try to come up with reasons why you might REJECT all those admits, in favor of Duke. What would be your reasoning for saying no to schools that are not only in Duke’s peer group, but arguably higher up on the totem pole? This approach forces you to assume SOME version of success through those other programs. But, is there a chance that the version that passes through Duke has something positive that the others don’t? Something unique to Duke that connects with YOU in particular? Why might the combo of You + Duke lead to sparks that no other combo could produce? In order to make this argument, you need to find examples of things that can’t be applied equally to another program. Imagine saying “I choose Duke because there I’ll be able to take college courses!” Um, awesome? Except, you can do that anywhere and that’s therefore not a compelling reason, right?

Think about “matches,” not the pyro kind, the connection-between-two-things kind. Usually, a good match is mutually beneficial. Owning a bird is GREAT for the owner, great match! But… awful for the bird, who now lives in a cage? You wouldn’t necessarily call this a great match. If both needed EACH OTHER, however, and both provided the things needed BY each other, now we’re getting somewhere…

What is it you think Duke needs? What seems to be characteristic of their students? What direction does the school seem to be going in? What do they seem to be all about? And why, therefore, do you feel like you would be able to build on aspects of that in a way that’s beneficial to Duke? Are you prepared to ARGUE this convincingly? You’ll need specificity.

Now flip it. What is it that YOU NEED from a school? Lay this out in a general sense. Here’s what I’m looking for in an IDEAL PROGRAM. Now explain WHY you’re looking for those things. What’s gonna happen when you GET all that? What’s the “chemical reaction”? What results from it? Cool, sold.

Now connect the two, and explain how you both benefit, making it a good match. This is not easy folks. Most applicants (undergrad, MBA, you name it) get this wrong on the first attempt. In 150 words, you don’t have too much room, so you’ll need to cut to the chase VERY quickly. Here’s one way to approach it:

1. What is it you need from a school? Explain WHY these things will help you flourish. Prove it. Sell us. [50-75 words]
2. Explain how Duke fulfills this better than anyone. Specific things about Duke that either no other school has, or are better versions than another program’s. Connect each thing to something specific about you (and how will flourish, precisely). [50-75 words]
3. Finally, take a crack at what you believe Duke is looking for, what will benefit DUKE the most, and make a case for why YOU (better than others, or in a way no one else can fulfill) are the ideal guy. [A few sentences only.] [25-50 words]

You can also read through our team’s analysis of the rest of Duke’s application essays.

Learn more and explore each step of Duke’s undergraduate application process here.