<p>Duke is one of the best schools in the nation, and this scholarship is undoubtebly very prestigious. You would be saving lots of money and be going through a great program at Duke (with the research opportunities and study abroad). Most likely you'll be extremely successful in the future.</p>
<p>However, Harvard is a once in a lifetime opportunity. How many people can say they got into Harvard? The majority of people will never be able to go there. If it were me, I would choose Harvard. Nevertheless, it's your choice and you'll prob do extremely well both places.</p>
<p>I made that statement because it's clear that many (surely not ALL - just<em>forget</em>me comes to mind) suggest H mostly for dubious, easy to say but hard to ground, reasons. "Harvard is a great opportunity", "Harvard has great resources", "Harvard is better for an international career". </p>
<p>The last point, to me, is especially dubious. It is unlikely that anyone with just an undergraduate degree will advance significantly in an "international career". The Duke scholarship will place into graduate schools just as easily as the Harvard undergraduate degree. </p>
<p>In fact, I might suppose (I can't prove this, but nobody can really disprove it either), that in terms of graduate school admissions, you might be better off with Duke. Duke is highly respected and represented at all prestigious graduate schools in any field. You will be a (recognized) big fish in a decent sized pond, and I think you will find more opportunities to really distinguish yourself at Duke. And IMHO, distinguishing yourself at Duke will be a ticket to some highly competitive grad schools. </p>
<p>Hard choice, though, I admit. Turning down a high prestige school is a lot harder to those who actually have to do the turning down!</p>
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You will be a (recognized) big fish in a decent sized pond, and I think you will find more opportunities to really distinguish yourself at Duke.
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<p>Does that mean that at Harvard the OP would be only average? What does this imply about the quality of the students at Duke vs. Harvard? of education more generally?</p>
<p>Everyone, thanks so much for your input... you guys helped me organize my thoughts and keep my mind clear.</p>
<p>I'm going to Duke, and I officially sent in my letter to them today accepting the AB. Apparently, this wasn't news to anybody at my school except myself though, haha. I honestly couldn't be any happier right now. :)</p>
<p>"Just as a point of reference, a significant number of people in my class (at least 3-5) turned down the Robertson Scholarship at Duke to attend Harvard."</p>
<p>The Robertson Scholarship is not nearly as prestigious as the AB Duke and does not offer the same benefits. Robertson gives full tuition only at Duke and a semester at UNC. AB Duke offers full tuition + all living expenses paid + research stipend at Oxford. Oxford>>>UNC as well as the other clear research benefits. You can't equate the two scholarships. Also, if you are going by prestige/name, AB is considered by far the most prestigious scholarship at Duke by potential grad schools, etc. ABs disproportionately win Rhodes scholarships for example (although that trend has changed somewhat recently; it used to be that only AB Scholars won them from Duke). Is it because ABs are incredibly more intelligent and driven than their peers? Maybe. But most likely it is because these very intelligent students are offered such great research opportunities that the AB Scholarship afford. This coupling leads to great achievements quite frequently.</p>
<p>"The Duke scholarship will place into graduate schools just as easily as the Harvard undergraduate degree." </p>
<p>Baloney!!!! As a medical student, I can tell you that medical schools couldn't care less about whether the applicant had some undergraduate scholarship or other. I've never even heard of the "AB scholarhip" and most med schools probably haven't either, except maybe Duke. What medical schools do care about is the GPA, which is usually weighed based on what undegrad school the applicant went to.</p>
<p>"And IMHO, distinguishing yourself at Duke will be a ticket to some highly competitive grad schools."</p>
<p>Continuing with your very flawed reasoning, why don't you tell everybody to go to a state school? It will be free or close to free, and hey, with your abilities, you won't have to make much of an effort to come out at the top of the class, whereas at Duke, you will still have to work pretty hard to "distinguish yourself". </p>
<p>Purely for the purpose of medical school admissions, a 4.0 GPA from a state school will beat a 3.6 GPA from Duke anytime. Just remember that.</p>
<p>"Contrary to what people have said, I dont believe that you will EVER regret your decision!"</p>
<p>Life is about taking risks and taking on new challenges. Those to stick to what they feel safe and comfortable with may stand an excellent chance of achieving their original goals, but somewhere down the road, they may come to wonder if they could've accomplished more if they had taken more chances. Just a thought.</p>
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Wall Street Journal has done a study of placement in top law, medical, and business schools. Harvard sent 358 students, more than 1/5 of its class, in the top 5 grad schools. Duke by comparison sent only 139 students although its class size is almost the same.
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<p>For someone who is in the top 1 percent of Duke admits, it may be easier to place in the top 100 of Duke than the top 350 of Harvard. WSJ may be measuring the strength of the incoming students more than the effect of the school attended on the students of any given level.</p>
<p>The above numbers really paint two different pictures. For the very top graduate programs (top 2 law schools, top 2 med schools, etc) that are much harder to get into than Harvard undergraduate admission, Harvard will place students at many times the rate of Duke. Further down the list, Duke will enroll at a respectable fraction of the Harvard rate, something like 50 to 70 percent. These average out to the overall 7 to 3 advantage seen for Harvard, but it means that if you are willing to go to the number 4,5, or 6 professional school then it's not much of a disadvantage to go to Duke.</p>
<p>The advantage of Harvard should be somewhat stronger measured by admission than matriculation. The Duke student may have less of a choice than the Harvard student as to which of number 4,5,6 to attend, if neither get into the very top schools.</p>