AB Duke Scholarship vs. Yale/Stanford/Ivys?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>Hello all!</p>

<p>I recently found out that I was an AB Duke Scholar finalist. While of course I don't know that I will ultimately receive the scholarship after interviews, I was just wondering whether it is worth taking such an amazing offer over the likes of Yale, Stanford, and other Ivys? </p>

<p>To make it clear, my parents can afford Yale with the estimate I got from the FA, although I know my parents could still benefit greatly if I took a possible full ride offer from Duke since Yale was still somewhere above 22K a year. </p>

<p>What are your thoughts? I will visit Duke for the Finalist weekend, but I have already visited Yale for the YES-W (STEM weekend for likely admits), and it was truly amazing. Actually, I was nearly sold on Yale until I got the full ride offer from Duke University. </p>

<p>I know AB Duke covers all expenses, but asides from full rides, what are the other benefits it offers? Is it as prestigious as say Yale? Are the summer opportunities at AB Duke (such as the 6 week Oxford Program) worth it over attending Yale (or other Ivys?). I am asking this because colleges like Yale also offer great study abroad programs just as AB Duke does as well. </p>

<p>Ultimately I know that I have to weigh the benefits and disads on my own, but I would also love to hear from what you guys have to say!</p>

<p>I wish everyone all the best!</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>terminatorp</p>

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<p>I think Duke has been losing to Harvard and Yale - In 2013, only 8 accepted and 23 were offered. Most of the years they have not been able to get the 15 students they hoped to be a AB Scholar</p>

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<p>I had a child pick Stanford over AB Duke last year and it was a very difficult decision! If I remember correctly, the only schools that students chose to go to last year instead of Duke with an AB were Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and MIT</p>

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<p>@alicejohnson - are you an AB Duke administrator ? How can you make the statement that this year Duke has focused on offering scholarships to middle class students ? This is merit aid not financial aid. Applicants class status has no bearing on the selection. The yield is around 65 to 75% for AB Duke. That is why they make more offers than the 15 scholarships available. and alternates are chosen. The fact of the matter is AB Duke loses consistently to the HYPS. It is all in the Chronicle.</p>

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<p>It is a further fact that we are talking about less than 1% of the entering class and this has more or less no bearing on the overall quality of Duke’s entering class or the educational opportunities on offer in Durham. I’m always delighted for the extraordinary kids who get this opportunity, but I’m hard pressed to lose sleep over what they decide to do with it. </p>

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<p>@terminatorp: To begin, my sincere congratulations on your outstanding achievements; obviously, you have excellent alternatives and – candidly – you simply cannot make a poor choice. I would respectfully offer a few succinct thoughts for your consideration:
a) I strongly suspect you may wish to attend graduate and/or professional school in a few years. Perhaps the family resources preserved, due to a possible A. B. Duke (or similar) award, might finance that MD, JD, MBA, or PhD (as well as your living expenses during those years).
b) Duke, Yale, and their few peers are all exceptional undergraduate schools, all will probably offer more intellectual and academic resources and fulfillment than any “twenty something” can fully capitalize upon, and all have superb stature, alumni networks and so forth. Some individuals will endlessly debate relative reputations within this VERY small group of stellar universities; however, I believe that misses the overriding point. Specifically, no postgraduate school, employer, colleague, governmental body, associate, etc. will ever dismiss or denigrate a baccalaureate degree from any of these institutions. In fact, such a degree will be an enduring, lifelong distinction.
c) With this said, these first-tier universities (and their companion liberal arts colleges, for that matter) have substantial differences, certainly more “culturally” than scholastically. Therefore – and this is my critical point – ascertaining your optimal “fit” is likely far more essential than ceaseless debate regarding Duke, versus Yale, versus Dartmouth, versus Stanford (and so forth). Accordingly – based on your visits – a firsthand, personal feel for each university, its faculties, its resources, its students, its facilities, its mores, its institutional values and attitudes, and its aggregate community may well be your most valuable decision metric. There simply is no substitute for your personal observations and your informed assessment of cultural, intellectual, and academic “fit.”</p>

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<p>deleted</p>

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<p>Congrats @terminatorp . Personally, I would prefer to reduce burden on the family and use the resources for Grad/Med school etc. But this is a choice you have to make. At least from the past CC discussions there was one case ( @medman ) of AB Duke scholar who transferred out of Duke to Georgetown. Not statistically relevant except for the guy who didn’t like duke and chose to transfer. Hopefully, this will not happen to you. It is hard for anyone on CC to tell if you are going to like Duke over Yale. @toptier nailed it in his comments.</p>

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<p>@terminatorp, congratulations! While I’m not an AB, I know a few (and one or two are some of my best friends), and above and beyond all else, they’re an absolutely exceptional bunch who do really awesome, amazing things on campus. Since it seems like financial considerations aren’t at the forefront of this decision, I’d encourage you to think about fit. Come to finalist weekend and try to get a feel for what Duke is like, and compare that to YES-W. There’s an incredible energy here at Duke (with incredibly passionate, driven individuals) that I love, and there’s so much more to us than the ‘Greek/sports-centered’ popular image of us.</p>

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<p>LOL. CC is a better place because of the efforts of the non-duke student @alicejohnson who knows just about everything about Duke including the anti-duke trolls. What will we do if there is no alicejohnson to set the record straight!</p>

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<p>@ivytired Seriously, does @alicejohnson actually go to Duke or not? I really wonder.</p>

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<p>Does anybody know what are the chances if you are chosen as an alternate for this prestigious AB Duke scholarship ? I know they make more than 15 offers usually around 21 to make a yield of 15. But if you are chosen as an alternate will you still get it if let’s say only 18 accept and 3 decline or do the alternates get selected only if the yield from the original offer is less than 15. Thanks</p>

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<p>@papertiger: I do not know the detailed selection procedures nor can I cite specific probabilities. However, I can provide a single, relevant experience. I have a close friend, with whom I served on the Duke Alumni Association’s Board and Executive Committee for six years. His son received an A. B. Duke as an alternate, matriculated at Duke, and absolutely thrived throughout his undergraduate years. Therefore, some alternates become ABD scholars, with all the attendant benefits and privileges. </p>

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<p>I’ll def go where I get scholarships . </p>

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<p>@TopTier - Thank you. Can you please tell me which year he got selected as an alternate ? I have the stats from previous years ( from Duke Chronicle) of how many were offered and how many joined eventually. Trying to make some sort of correlation and gauge my chances. Did your friends son get the AB Duke scholarship Before or After May 1st. any information will be most helpful. Thanks</p>

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<p>@papertiger: He was selected in 2006, entering Trinity the following August. Unfortunately, I cannot be absolutely certain regarding the date on which he was notified, but it was surely in late-April or very early-May. Were I forced to guess, I’d say the last week, or perhaps ten days, of April, 2006. </p>

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<p>@papertiger2014 Were you at the finalist weekend at Duke this year?? I think we might have met each other haha…message me :)</p>

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<p>Hey,</p>

<p>Not sure if you’ve decided yet, but I know kids who’ve turned down Yale and other ivies for state school full rides, it depends on your financial situation. I feel that a full ride to Duke would be a huge, huge opportunity. But visit and if you like warm weather, and basketball too, maybe that will decide for you! Duke academics, especially in biomedical and medical fields, is world class.</p>

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<p>In case anyone is wondering, I recently did indeed commit to Duke University as an AB Scholar :slight_smile: After much thought, I have decided that this is the best fit for me. I turned down offers from Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Upenn, Cornell, Brown, and Rice w/top merit scholarship. </p>

<p>I would like to make it very clear though, that it’s not ONLY the full ride which makes the AB Scholars program so compelling. It’s the fact that it’s actually a program which is a background support for you throughout your 4 years at Duke. Your fellow scholars of older and younger years are part of a sort of “family” which you will continuously be in touch with. Attending finalist week helped me “feel” this atmosphere, and I totally loved it!</p>

<p>I made my decision to commit to Duke after visiting all my top schools, which was Yale (I went to YES-W), Columbia (Science Research Fellow’s weekend), and Stanford. All of these schools gave me likely letters, and paid for my travel to visit their campuses, so this was as “personal” as these schools could get. I loved Stanford’s and Yale’s campuses (didn’t like Columbia’s city-centered campus), but attending the admit weekends showed me the different environment I’d get at Duke. </p>

<p>Duke’s campus is filled with brilliant students pretty much at the same caliber at Stanford or Yale, but the Scholars program helps you intermingle with the best of the best, and ultimately, have a small, close community to mix with. You can have all this while being a part of the larger and amazing Duke community. </p>

<p>Going more specifically into Duke’s AB Scholars program benefits, I feel that WHATEVER you want to do, you CAN do it. Money isn’t an issue at all. They give you $5,000 to use over your undergraduate career, but many people I’ve heard have went over than money without any problems, just by requesting more funding. As an AB at Duke, the advisors make it VERY clear that money is available, all you need is an idea or a plan. </p>

<p>Ultimately, after weighing all the benefits of the program , I feel that the AB Scholars program is very compelling, and MANY have turned HYP, and other schools down for it. Last year’s low yield rate was merely an anomaly (I saw a thread on CC that alleged that the program was losing it’s appeal due to it), as past yield rate have been quite high. This year so far (there’s still about 2 days until May 1st, so this may increase) there has been 16 AB Scholars who have accepted the AB Duke including myself, out of I think 23 offers. Pretty much all of the AB Scholars have turned down top Ivy league schools to take the scholarship. I know a few of the AB’s got REALLY good financial aid from the Ivy schools they got accepted to as well but still chose the AB, showing that they accepted also based on the program’s benefits, not only financial. Past AB Scholars have almost always gone to top grad schools, like Harvard, MIT, or Yale, so you get the best of both worlds!</p>

<p>Sorry for this long post, but I wrote this so anyone in the future who might have any questions could use this as a resource perhaps! I remember when I got the AB Scholar finalist notification and was searching for more info, I was slightly frustrated at the lack of followup from people asking about the scholarship on the CC forums :wink: If anyone has any questions concerning the AB Scholars, or why I made my decision, please feel free to message me!</p>

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<p>Congratulations!</p>