Is Duke harder to get into than William & Mary?

Yes. Duke is generally harder to get into than William & Mary.

Both schools are selective, but Duke sits in a more nationally competitive admissions tier, with a very large applicant pool and especially intense competition for unhooked applicants. William & Mary is also challenging, particularly for out-of-state students, but it is usually not considered as difficult to enter as Duke.

For a student comparing them in simple terms, Duke tends to attract more applicants with top-end academic records from across the country and internationally, and its admissions process is highly compressed at the top. Strong grades and scores that make someone a realistic William & Mary applicant may still leave Duke as a significant reach.

William & Mary fits students looking for a rigorous public university with a strong undergraduate focus, especially those who value a more traditional academic environment. Its selectivity is real, and residency matters more there because as a public school it gives a meaningful advantage to Virginia students.

Duke is the tougher admit for students aiming at elite private universities with broad national name recognition, major research resources, and a more high-intensity applicant pool. So if the question is simply which school is harder to get into overall, the answer is Duke.