Duke University announced Monday that it has accepted 849 applicants to the Class of 2029 through Early Decision out of 6,627 applications, amounting to a 12.81% ED acceptance rate.

The Early Decision pool marked the largest ED pool in Duke’s history (breaking last year’s record!), and the ED admission rate shattered the previous benchmark as the lowest in history.

This victorious year for Duke comes as many other elite schools of its caliber have struggled with horrific controversies surrounding campus antisemitism. Did Duke manage to scoop up many of the students — including the Jewish students, in particular — scared away from other schools by terrible PR and repression of free speech? It’s entirely possible. 

Indeed, with Jerry Seinfeld’s commencement address in symbolic solidarity with Jewish students on Duke’s campus, Duke could be emerging as a haven for Jewish students just as many (but not all!) Ivy League schools turn their back on this community.

Let’s take a closer look at the Duke admitted ED pool for the Class of 2029!

Duke University Early Decision Statistics Over 5+ Years

This year’s 12.81% Early Decision admission rate for Duke compares to a 12.92% ED admission rate for the Class of 2028, a 16.39% ED admission rate for the Class of 2027, and a 21.3% ED admission rate for the Class of 2026, which highlights the Blue Devils’ trajectory towards unprecedented competitiveness. 

The number of ED applications for the Class of 2029 represented a slight increase from the prior year, which also happened to be record-setting. Excluding the last two cycles, the last time a record-setting ED pool was reported for this North Carolina school was for admission to the Class of 2025 when 5,036 students made binding commitments to Duke.

To further put this year’s historic figures for Duke in perspective, below are Duke’s Early Decision admissions statistics over the last nine years:

Duke Class Year	Number of Early Decision Applications	Number of Early Decision Acceptances	Early Decision Acceptance Rate
Class of 2029	6,627	849	12.81%
Class of 2028	6,240	806	12.92%
Class of 2027	4,880	800	16.39%
Class of 2026	4,015	855	21.30%
Class of 2025	5,036	840	16.70%
Class of 2024	4,280	887	21%
Class of 2023	4,852	882	18%
Class of 2022	4,090	875	21.39%
Class of 2021	3,516	861	24.49%

Breakdown of the Duke Class of 2029 Early Decision Admits

Duke’s got Carolina in its mind! Of the 849 successful Duke Early Decision applicants, 148 of them hail from the Carolinas, which reflects Duke’s recent initiative to encourage students from the Carolinas to enroll with more robust financial aid incentives.

113 students were admitted to Duke through the QuestBridge National College Match program, a non-profit that helps promising students from low-income families apply to top universities, signaling that Duke has continued toward increasing socioeconomic diversity on campus.

According to The Chronicle, “Beyond the Carolinas, the largest portion of Early Decision admits hail from New York, California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas. About 7% of admitted students are international, according to their citizenship, and 8% are international according to where the student attended high school. Outside of the United States, the most represented nations are China, the United Kingdom, Canada, India and Brazil.”

55% of this cohort identify as female, while 15.43% are first-generation college students, and 24.38% are Pell Grant-eligible, representing leaps and bounds for Duke regarding campus diversity. While we do not yet know the racial demographics of this cohort, Ivy Coach will be the first to report them once they are released in the federally mandated Common Data Set.

672 new students were admitted through the Early Decision plan to enroll in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, and 177 were admitted to the Pratt School of Engineering. Duke did not disclose how many students submitted test scores under their test-optional admissions policy.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance Moving Forward for Deferred or Denied Duke Applicants

Congratulations to Ivy Coach’s students who earned admission to Duke’s Class of 2029 in the Early Decision round — it marked yet another perfect sweep (you all got in!). If you were deferred or denied admission to Duke’s Class of 2029, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form. We’ll be in touch to outline our go-forward services: a PostMortem for denied candidates and a PostMortem followed by assistance with crafting a powerful Letter of Continued Interest to Duke for deferred candidates with the help of former Duke admissions officer, Ivy Coach’s Bethany Hewett.