Predict Duke Football Victories

[throatybeard]

SI just picked us to go 0-12.

They have VT over BC in the ACCCG.

[johnb]

I blocked FDA's posts a few years ago, but then I found that my bulletin board reading was so much less interesting. I'm tempted to ask him to consider following a different school since he seems to want us to be an LSU/Harvard hybrid that doesn't actually exist in the real world, or to point out that the best intramural football and basketball players at Duke could probably make the Harvard teams so that many of those recruited "athletes" at Harvard wouldn't be considered athletes at Duke, or to ask if he is serious if he thinks that Harvard is really filled with good ol' boys and girls whose intellectual curiosity does not interfere with brunch and whose souls are embued with a jolly sense of friendly mediocrity?

I do agree, however, that Duke has changed its admissions emphasis in the past decade. From what I read in the alumni magazine a couple of years ago, the school is trying to select an increasingly focused group of students at the expense of well-rounded but unexceptional students. This would mean searching for students like kid A (who's a star) and rejecting student B, who may be a soccer captain in the top 10% of his class but who simply isn't outstanding. Further, Duke gets 8000 applications/ year from Kid B (made up statistic), and there wouldn't be room for all of the nice guys who apply. Duke also turns down half the valedictorians who apply. Twenty years ago, Duke might have shied away from Kid A because it's likely he'd go to an Ivy League school, but Duke now believes that any student is potentially willing to come to Duke and doesn't try to game the system (much). By the way, HYP have been using those admissions criteria for decades (the gentleman's C Yalie from St. Grottlesex is history), at least partly because they had ready-made peer groups into which these "geeks" could fit in, while Duke had a significant chunk of FDA's who might just make them feel uncomfortable. The tide has turned, and Duke ain't going back...

[Bluedawg]

Here is the record of the Duke University Blue Devils football team in this millennium:

2006: 0-11!
2005: 1-10
2004: 2-9
2003: 4-8
2002: 2-10
2001: 0-11!
2000: 0-11!

Actually the 21st century did not start until 2001.

[Bluedawg]

Your post is in the proper forum. IMO, Duke will win four or five games this year. We should win against UConn, Northwestern, Navy, WFU, & UNC.

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

I agree with those and will throw ina very close game at Miami.

[mapei]

The only way Duke beats Miami in football is if Tim Donaghy works the game.

[Indoor66]

The only way Duke beats Miami in football is if Tim Donaghy works the game.

All due respect, but a weak shot...

[wxyz]

...

I do agree, however, that Duke has changed its admissions emphasis in the past decade. From what I read in the alumni magazine a couple of years ago, the school is trying to select an increasingly focused group of students at the expense of well-rounded but unexceptional students. This would mean searching for students like kid A (who's a star) and rejecting student B, who may be a soccer captain in the top 10% of his class but who simply isn't outstanding. Further, Duke gets 8000 applications/ year from Kid B (made up statistic), and there wouldn't be room for all of the nice guys who apply. Duke also turns down half the valedictorians who apply. ...

The above might have been true three years ago, but it is not the case today. Admissions Director Guttentag has said of the class entering in 2007 that they are better than previous classes in "extracurricular activities" and "diversity". The Pres speaks of the importance of finding students wishing "engagement", which seems to mean students wishing to go on field trips outside the US. There is a new university-sponsored competition on using the web site Facebook in the classroom, as a follow up to the use of iPods. No one in the central admin speaks of a focus on any aspect of academics as a goal, or even a good idea, since they say that what is special about Duke is its athletics and variety of extracurricular activities. I do not think they think that academic accomplishment has value any more, as a Duke objective.

This is not a joke -- it is the serious direction of the undergrad program.

[johnb]

I do not think they think that academic accomplishment has value any more, as a Duke objective.

The Brodhead group might advertise facebook and ipods, but is there any evidence that they are dumbing down admissions? Surely these very academic people don't think football watching is an important undergraduate extracurricular?

[formerdukeathlete]

The Brodhead group might advertise facebook and ipods, but is there any evidence that they are dumbing down admissions? Surely these very academic people don't think football watching is an important undergraduate extracurricular?

Harvard undergrads - 20% are on varsity teams. Each coach of a varsity team has x number of slots each year for student athletes. Football was 35 slots a year (greater than the NCAA limit for scholarship athletes). Most students I have know who were recruited by Harvard for athletics, including a family member of mine, were 1300 + boards and at least top 10% of the class at a public high school.

Duke undergrads - 10% are on varsity teams. Each coach may offer input in the admissions process. It was that for non-rev. athletes the admissions office wanted at least 1200 = boards and at least top 10% of the class at a public high school.

Harvard admits a much smaller percentage of other students applying. With respect to these students, legacies, benefactor children, minorities receive preferences. And, with respect to all others, someone with high 1400s may stand a better chance of being admitted than someone with high 1500s provided the high 1400s has more going for them such as working in high school, taking the time to do student government, participating on varsity sports programs (even if not recruited for this). If this is where Duke is heading vis a vis the policy announced above by the other poster, then this is something in the right direction. Admit students who will tend take advantage of the many facets of student life offered at Duke (by virtue of their taking advantage of the many facets of student life in high school).