<p>I received no financial aid from any. would it be dumb to pass up yale for duke or even dartmouth? I am thinking of doing pre med.</p>
<p>Such a hard choice! I’m jealous of your opportunities. I think any school will be great. I would consider which school will give you the highest GPA since you want to go to med school. Also consider what percentage of students are accepted to medical schools</p>
<p>Yale Yale Yale</p>
<p>Well i hear ivy leagues have grade inflation, though there is a lot more competition. As of right now i think it is between Yale and Duke simply because of Dartmouth’s isolation and snowy weather. My mom is convinced that it would be stupid to choose duke over yale. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>First of all don’t believe rumors and rely on hearsay to make informed decisions.
Second, it’s not STUPID given your pre-med aspirations, but why do you want to go to Duke? </p>
<p>I would choose Yale hands down, but its not like Duke is North Carolina State, it is an OUTSTANDING university.</p>
<p>Well i did hear that from yale students when i visited last week so i consider that pretty dependable. I feel like Duke has a more spirited, social atmosphere that i can relate to while also being able to suit my medical goals. It also isnt in the middle of new haven with a cop car at every corner. </p>
<p>Why would you choose yale so easily? I don’t want to choose it just because it is harder to get into and has a better reputation.</p>
<p>It sounds like to me you have already made your decision.</p>
<p>haha dont get me wrong i love yale. I just thought that duke needed a little more recognition before people blindly suggested yale like they always do. People at yale are all very witty, intellectual, and happy. They have a strong sense of community and are unbelievably focused on the undergraduates. when i visited i had dinner with the dean of undergraduate affairs and a history teacher, all in the house of another dean. Not to mention the resources, residential colleges, and connections it offers.</p>
<p>I don’t think any of us can tell you which school to go to. It’s something that you have to decide on your own.</p>
<p>Duke is very undergraduate focused as well. I’m having lunch with my Economics professor tomorrow actually. Duke really encourages student-professor interaction and offers each undergraduate an opportunity to have two fully-paid meals with faculty members at a very nice dining location on campus. I would say they are both equally good at sending students to medical school so I don’t think you have to worry too much about that.</p>
<p>If you’re the very social type that likes sports (watching/playing), then I think Duke would be a better fit for you. If you are the more intellectual, quirky type, then Yale might be the better choice. Duke is more professional/sporty but Yale is more intellectual/quirky. Keep in mind though, all you need is a close group of friends to initiate an intellectual conversation but it requires a certain type of student culture to have a thriving social scene and Yale can’t replicate Duke’s strong D1 athletic tradition with the most successful college basketball team in the modern era.</p>
<p>Duke sounds like a better fit for you but Yale is too prestigious to not at least think twice about so you have a tough decision to make. I’m a Duke senior so PM me if you have any questions about the university (academic, social, career services, athletic, etc.).</p>
<p>“I just thought that duke needed a little more recognition before people blindly suggested yale like they always do.”</p>
<p>There is a reason people blindly suggest Yale. It’s YALE.</p>
<p>Duke in a heart beat. </p>
<p>Yale is a great school. But Duke is Duke. </p>
<p>Things have changed for most people when it comes to perception about automatically falling all over oneself to get an Ivy Education. The smart money realizes if a school like Stanford or Duke is an option the choice is easy.</p>
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<p>It is wrong to imply that Yale does not have a thriving social scene. It most certainly does, including fraternities/sororities and active local bar/dance clubs, if that is what you are looking for.</p>
<p>With regard to athletic tradition, Duke can’t beat Yale’s historic football rivalry with Harvard, which is a huge annual event, and Yale’s successful D1 hockey team was ranked #1 in the NCAA this year.</p>
<p>^ I agree. At duke i think you will get the college experience but also you will get a phenomenal education. You will be able to have accessible professors instead of a TA. grad schools are well aware of the grade inflation at Ivy Leagues so I think a slightly lower gpa at duke will look just as good</p>
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<p>Nope. Professional schools care only about gpa+test scores. Yale has a mean gpa just under 3.6. Between the two, it’s a no-brainer for an aspiring premed (unless the OP is a big basketball fan).</p>
<p>Yale has one of the most “spirited” and “social” campus culture of any top schools. And it’s phenomenal for sending its grads to med school (90+% success rate). I don’t see how you can go wrong with it.</p>
<p>If you’re a highly career oriented person and you fancy working in Wall Street as a top executive or as an investment banker or management consultant, then Dartmouth seems to be the logical choice. If you intend to pursue grad studies, med school or law, or you picture yourself working in government agencies or White House, Yale is the obvious choice. </p>
<p>Personally, I’d go for Yale, though I’d rather be a banker than a lawyer.</p>
<p>RML I would say both are about equally good in graduate placement or business. Both of them will offer a great education, although Dartmouth will offer a more intimate one.</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP is considering Dartmouth anymore.</p>
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Are you serious? You can’t possibly compare Harvard-Yale to Duke-UNC, which most would agree is the best rivalry in all of college sports. I’m sure the 300 year tradition is nice but it’s not a substitute for the passion that consistent athletic success brings like in the case of Duke and UNC, Basketball runs in the lifeblood of the student bodies of both these schools.</p>
<p>The OP can’t really make a bad choice here. A nice dilemma to have!:)</p>
<p>I can only speak for Duke and Yale here.</p>
<p>As you can tell by my location, I chose Yale over Duke. I did like Duke a whole lot, and I would have been perfectly happy there, but the scales were tipped in Yale’s favor for me. Here’s why:</p>
<p>Yale’s community seems to be a lot more tight-knit as a whole. I saw a whole lot more interaction between different races at Yale than at Duke. There was so much diversity within the cultural groups even though they were geared towards a specific ethnicity, the lunch tables were very rarely composed of one race, the parties at the cultural houses were extremely diverse instead of the monoracial parties I went to at Duke, etc. I think that’s a product of the common spirit at Yale. Yale also does have a great social scene. The residential colleges give a lot of space in the suites for parties/get togethers and also larger spaces for bigger events. There are also frat parties, Toad’s, the cultural houses, etc. And the New York social scene is only an hour and ~15 minutes away (only $28 roundtrip) if you get bored of Yale one weekend. You’ll probably find more super wild and crazy parties at Duke (there’s a stronger Greek presence, if you’re into that), but Yalies do party pretty hard too. Yale doesn’t have a super basketball team like Duke, but intramural sports are really big (I’m really into them), and the hockey team was on top for a while. Hockey isn’t as big as basketball in American popular culture, but if Yale’s hockey team continues its success, I can see a big sports-based spirit forming there too. But Yale has plenty of spirit already without huge DI sports.</p>
<p>Yale also seems to pamper its students more. The huge endowment definitely helps. The residential colleges definitely beat Duke housing, and there’s a ridiculous amount of funding easily available at Yale for activities, study abroad, etc. The amount of people who have gotten to go abroad totally on Yale’s dime is crazy. That was definitely a big draw for me. The numerous advisors available are also a part of the pampering. As for premed (I’m also looking into going into that field), Yale has like a 95% med school placement rate, and Yale’s science programs are really strong and only getting stronger. If you go by graduate school rankings (which is the best I can find), Yale is stronger in the sciences. Yale is also known for its undergraduate focus, so you won’t be stuck with TAs. Even in labs, the professor is there to supervise/help out. Research is also extremely easy to get into.</p>
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<p>I’d say Durham isn’t any better than New Haven. Neither are the prettiest or safest of cities, but at least New Haven has some legitimately amazing food, and New York and Boston are only two hours away (actually much less for New York). Durham just has Raleigh, which isn’t that amazing, and there’s no nearby city that can match New York/Boston. </p>
<p>So, that’s basically why I went for Yale. I tried to give you a legitimate answer instead of just going on prestige. Sorry for the tl;dr. You have some great choices, so I’m sure you’ll be happy wherever you choose.</p>