<p>Okay. At the moment, I am personally leaning towards Brown. However, my parents are firmly convinced that Brown would be a terrible school to attend because it's "poor" and are arguing that if 1) I go to medical school in the future, I have a better chance at Duke and 2) if I don't go to medical school, a science degree from Brown will get me no where compared to a Duke degree. Bleh. 'Tis rather stressful.</p>
<p>I thought that Brown's open curriculum, laid back atmosphere (not to mention higher average GPA) and expanding science programs would be a strength whereas Duke's tendency to "weed out" pre-med students, jock-y/greek-y atmosphere (personal preference, here) would be a negative.</p>
<p>But of course, that is still just my general perception...and it does seem like Brown's senior acceptance rate (81% for 2008) is slightly lower than Duke's (84.5% for 2007). At the same time, I feel that a 3.5% difference isn't that large of a difference, especially given the disparity in stress level and preference of atmosphere. </p>
<p>Any help either way? As you all probably know...we '13ers need to decide within two days!!! yikes. </p>
<p>3.5% isn’t a huge difference, and in any case the overall number (which is 70% for Duke after a couple VERY bad years) is what matters. Strength of science department doesn’t matter in med school admissions, since premed classes are all introductory classes anyway. It might matter a little for job-seeking; not sure.</p>
<p>Duke does not weed out in the least, however; actually, on net, people pour into the premed track.</p>
<p>You can tell I’m biased towards Duke, but this is not a big deal.</p>
<p>Duke undergraduates have the advantage of being able to conduct research in many interdisciplinary fields, including at the medical school (one of the best in the nation). Also, every year, 10-20 Duke undergrads decide they like Duke and want to stay for med school - it’s great to have that option available. </p>
<p>I don’t think Duke “weeds out” pre-meds. I think many of college freshmen have heard of the professions as careers (doctors, lawyers, etc) but aren’t as familiar with other career paths, so when their parents say “what do you want to do for the rest of your life”, they naturally choose “doctor” or “lawyer”. Also, the classes at Duke are much more challenging than your typical high school class, and some pre-meds aren’t prepared to/don’t know how to study. I doubt that is unique to Duke.</p>
<p>I didn’t find Duke to be “jock-y” or “greek-y”. With 6,000 undergraduates, I think it’s hard to generalize that broadly. My classmates were among the most interesting and intellectually intense people I’ve ever met.</p>
<p>Brown is a great school, too, and you should be happy to have the choice.</p>
<p>I transferred from Duke to Brown. I’m a pre-med and Brown certainly is the right choice. Nearly 90% of Brown students get into med school and the professors are really great. It isn’t competitive and you have the freedom to take whatever you like. Duke was awful when it comes to being an undergraduate.</p>
<p>I’m glad you found a good fit for college. Where did you get the 90 percent statistic from? That sounds… a little high. I actually had to pick between Brown and WUSTL.</p>
<p>I actually wanted to go to Brown at first, but WUSTL was a good 10k less expensive for me and I did not want to give up the opportunity to reap the benefits that WUSTL has to offer, including a world class hospital and medical school right next door. They are both great schools for pre-med, why do you think Brown would be conclusively better? Also, are you a college student? No offense, but your post came off to me as something a high schooler would write.</p>