Duke University announced Thursday that it has accepted 806 applicants to the Class of 2028 through Early Decision out of 6,240 applications, amounting to a 12.92% ED acceptance rate.

The Early Decision pool marked the largest ED pool in Duke’s history (by leaps and bounds!), and the ED admission rate shattered the previous benchmark as the lowest in history.

Duke University Early Decision Statistics Over 5+ Years

This year’s 12.92% Early Decision admission rate for Duke compares to a 16.39% ED admission rate for the Class of 2027, a 21.3% ED admission rate for the Class of 2026, and a 16.7% ED admission rate for the Class of 2025. 

The number of ED applications for the Class of 2028 represented a 28% increase from the prior year, and Duke’s highest number of ED applicants by more than 1,000. The previous record ED pool was set for 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 eight years:

Duke Class Year	Number of Early Decision Applications	Number of Early Decision Acceptances	Early Decision Acceptance Rate
Class of 2028	6,240	806	12.92%
Class of 2027	4,880	800	16.39%
Class of 2026	4,015	855	21.3%
Class of 2025	5,036	840	16.7%
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 2028 Early Decision Admits

Duke’s got Carolina in its mind! Of the 806 successful Duke Early Decision applicants, 145 of them hail from the Carolinas (Duke looks out for its own — 121 are from North Carolina and 24 from South Carolina!), an increase of 25% from last year, Duke said.

97 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, almost twice as many as last year.

“That increase is another representation of our commitment to expanding access to a Duke education and strengthening the economic diversity of our student body while maintaining the highest standards of academic excellence,” said Provost Alec Gallimore in a Duke press release about the Class of 2028.

International students amount to 8% of the Early Decision admits. 54% identify as female. 13% will be the first in their families to attend college. 625 of the new students admitted through Early Decision plan to enroll in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and 181 in the Pratt School of Engineering.

35% of admitted students did not submit test scores — a figure we at Ivy Coach salute Duke for sharing since too few elite schools keep their test-optional figures close to the vest.

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 2028 in the Early Decision round. If you were deferred or denied admission to Duke’s Class of 2028, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and 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.