The Blue Devils of Duke University are devils in name only. Students who graduate from Duke are prepared to further wisdom and human happiness around the world, often becoming doctors, teachers, and technological innovators.
If you’re reading this, chances are, you’re thinking about applying to Duke University. But Duke is pretty competitive. In 2024, almost 52,000 students applied, and only 1,732 were admitted.
Don’t panic just yet—you’ve got HelloCollege on your side. We’ll take a look at each of Duke’s supplemental essays, helping you brainstorm and organize your thoughts so that you can write an excellent essay worthy of admission.
What Are the Duke Supplemental Essays?
While Duke has only one required supplemental essay, the application has an optional supplemental essay that we, well, recommend you write. While writing extra essays doesn’t guarantee an edge over other applicants, putting in more effort on this application can show admissions readers that you’re a serious, competitive applicant. It also gives you the chance to talk more about your interests and goals, which can help admissions readers get to know you better to determine if you’re a great fit for Duke.
Let’s take a look at the Duke supplemental essays:
Required Duke Supplemental Essay
What is your impression of Duke as a university and community, and why do you believe it is a good match for your goals, values, and interests? If there is something specific that attracts you to our academic offerings in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering, or to our co-curricular opportunities, feel free to include that, too. (250 word limit)
Optional Duke Supplemental Essay
We want to emphasize that the following questions are optional. We invite you to answer one of the four if you believe that doing so will add something meaningful that is not already addressed elsewhere in your application. (250 word limit)
- We believe a wide range of viewpoints and experiences is essential to maintaining Duke’s vibrant living and learning community. Please share anything in this context that might help us better understand you and your potential contributions to Duke.
- Meaningful dialogue often involves respectful disagreement. Provide an example of a difference of opinion you’ve had with someone you care about. What did you learn from it?
- What’s the last thing that you’ve been really excited about?
- Duke recently launched an initiative “to bring together Duke experts across all disciplines who are advancing AI research, addressing the most pressing ethical challenges posed by AI, and shaping the future of AI in the classroom.” Tell us about a situation when you would or would not choose to use AI (when possible and permitted). What shapes your thinking?
How to Write the Duke Supplemental Essays
We’ll break down each of the Duke supplemental essays together, giving you the strategies to write the best essays for each of them.
Writing the Required Duke Supplemental Essay
What is your impression of Duke as a university and community, and why do you believe it is a good match for your goals, values, and interests? If there is something specific that attracts you to our academic offerings in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering, or to our co-curricular opportunities, feel free to include that, too. (250 word limit)
Like most colleges and universities, Duke University is interested in knowing why students want to study at the famed Durham institution. Duke’s required supplemental essay asks applicants to identify their impression of Duke and explain why they believe the University is a good match for their “goals, values, and interests.”
Right away, there are two parts to this prompt that students must address: 1) Why Duke? and 2) Why me?
Why Duke?
“Why Duke?” is a question you should already be asking yourself. Why do you want to spend the next four years at Duke University? If your answer is, “because it’s a good school,” you need to do a little more brainstorming.
It’s okay if you don’t know at first; many schools have a good reputation. But to be a competitive applicant, you have to research what the school has to offer you. Programs, classes, professors, and industry connections—all these things make a school worth attending.
Duke University is a large institution and home to ten schools and colleges, including Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and Pratt School of Engineering. If you’re interested in entering one of these programs, it’s important to discuss what elements of the program interest you. Applicants will sometimes reference attending Duke as a whole without realizing that it’s better to be program-specific.
Even though many students will automatically enter Trinity College as liberal arts students, it’s important to add detail to your essay to show that you’re knowledgeable about the ins and outs of Duke. A competitive applicant is focused, well-read, and references specific aspects of Duke that complement their long- and short-term goals.
Why Me?
It’s not enough to mention the beautiful campus and school spirit; Duke specifically wants to know how the University’s values align with your own values. So, what do you value?
Researching Duke’s many opportunities begins with you: What are you interested in? If you know you want to become a doctor, you should start exploring Duke’s biology program and undergraduate research opportunities. If you’re interested in the humanities, check out the program page and see what Duke alumni have done since graduating.
Similarly, what are your goals? If you want to pursue a graduate degree, that’ll definitely shape your undergraduate education. Want to expand your horizons? Explore interdisciplinary classes at Duke, or maybe even study abroad with one of their many exchange programs.
It can help to make a list of your values, goals, and beliefs. After you’ve identified these things, explore Duke’s website or social media pages to learn more about Duke’s values. See if you can find any similarities and then write about them.
Writing the Optional Duke Supplemental Essay
As previously mentioned, this second of the Duke supplemental essays is completely optional, but we still recommend that students write it. Even if you’re not a strong writer, making a concerted effort to answer Duke’s recommended supplemental essay will show admissions readers that you’re serious about Duke.
The prompt begins by stating that applicants can choose to write about one of the four questions provided. The prompt also instructs applicants to write about something meaningful “not already addressed elsewhere.”
This is a great reminder that admissions readers will already have access to your list of activities and academic transcripts. While you can certainly write about leadership activities and classes you’ve taken, it’s important to remember that this essay should seek to show the reader why the topic you’ve chosen to write about is meaningful to you. Don’t tell them something they already know—seek to introduce something new about you.
It’s important to note that you only have to answer one of the questions for this prompt. One choice isn’t better than the others, but there may be a choice that is better for you than all the others. Let’s break down each option.
Choice 1
We believe a wide range of viewpoints and experiences is essential to maintaining Duke’s vibrant living and learning community. Please share anything in this context that might help us better understand you and your potential contributions to Duke.
Much like the required prompt, this question asks applicants to dig deep to discover who they are and what they actually want to get out of a Duke education. Start with a simple brainstorming question: Which communities am I a part of? A community can be anything, from a family to a small town, even a chess club. A community is built through several people coming together to share common interests.
As you reflect on your communities, start to whittle down your options until you’re left with the idea that you are a) excited about and b) can write the most about. While this essay only has a 250-word limit, it doesn’t make sense to write about one semester of art club when you’ve been volunteering in your small town community for ten years.
And before you use up all your words writing about every hour you’ve spent volunteering, remember that this question encourages you to reflect on how your experiences will help you impact Duke’s community. Since you’ve already answered the required prompt, you don’t have to spend too many words writing about Duke, but chances are, Duke has a similar community to the one you’re writing about, so it makes sense to mention how your love of community service will translate easily to Duke’s mission to serve the Durham community and beyond.
If there’s no community you feel part of, you’re in luck: there are three more options to choose from for Duke’s recommended supplemental essay.
Choice 2
Meaningful dialogue often involves respectful disagreement. Provide an example of a difference of opinion you’ve had with someone you care about. What did you learn from it?
This choice is pretty straightforward, though not many applicants will have this kind of experience. If you have had an experience where you’ve had a respectful disagreement, then this is a great choice for you.
Open with a scene of the disagreement. Give some details, and more importantly, show, don’t just tell. After you’ve set the scene, make sure to reflect on everything you’ve learned from the situation. What lessons from this experience will you bring with you into the future? How have you grown and matured since this experience?
If you’ve only ever agreed with everyone you’ve ever met, chances are, this choice isn’t the one. But! We still have two more options for this recommended supplemental essay.
Choice 3
What’s the last thing that you’ve been really excited about?
While last night’s dinner may have been exciting, it doesn’t necessarily make for a good essay. What this essay seeks to discover is what excites you intellectually. Maybe it’s biology, but it could also be art. Hobbies can be a great topic for this essay because they can shed light on another side of you that isn’t present anywhere else in your application.
With these essays, it can actually benefit applicants to write about something not on their resume, as it presents a holistic view of the applicant; students are expected to thrive outside the classroom, too.
Think about your passions but also something that surprised you recently. Were you studying for an exam and learned something new and interesting? Or maybe you finally nailed that dance move you and your friends had been practicing. For this essay, introduce the topic and then reflect on why it made you excited: Why did this become meaningful?
If there isn’t a lot of excitement in your life, however, perhaps you want to try your hand at the fourth, and final, choice.
Choice 4
Duke recently launched an initiative “to bring together Duke experts across all disciplines who are advancing AI research, addressing the most pressing ethical challenges posed by AI, and shaping the future of AI in the classroom.” Tell us about a situation when you would or would not choose to use AI (when possible and permitted). What shapes your thinking?
This is a relatively new question for Duke. As AI becomes more prevalent in our society, schools are developing policies and rethinking their approach to Artificial Intelligence.
While you should not use AI to write your Duke supplemental essays, this question asks you to reflect on your AI use, imagining a situation where you would or would not use AI, and why.
It doesn’t really matter whether you choose to defend or criticize AI. What matters is that you elaborate and reflect on your stance. Explore the ethical implications of using AI, contemplating the risks and rewards.
While it may help you to do a little bit of research for this question, it’s important to use critical thinking and formulate your own opinion on AI usage. Admissions readers are interested in learning more about how you think and navigate challenges through this question. It may also help you to create an outline before writing this essay to help you organize your argument.
Conclusion
Duke University’s high standards may seem daunting, but they’re not impossible to meet. With good preparation, strategy, and initiative, you can write excellent Duke supplemental essays, increasing your chances of becoming a Blue Devil.
Looking for more help with your supplemental essays, scholarship search, or college list? Our expert counselors and experienced college essay coaches can help. Schedule your free consultation with HelloCollege today for personalized guidance every step of the way.
