<p>Hippo,
Perhaps I should make myself more clear (i.e. not let you put words in my mouth):
The comment that I am responding to is
It is immediately obvious that there is something wrong with this post.
It lacks warrant! By what measure, objective or subjective, is Duke better? Carin fails to answer this basic question. I provide two examples of possible measures, neither of which corroborate Carin’s claim. I never contend that these are the only measures, nor do I argue that these are the best measures. I humbly admit that the data are old, so there’s no point in using flaming rhetoric (“ancient study… is laughable”) to criticize it. I even go as far as to imply these measures may in fact not be indicative of quality.
The point is that Carin needs some justification before making bold statements like that. To be fair, Jaddua’s “Psh, Brown > Duke” comment fails for the same reasons. If you go after anyone, it should be them. It’s fine to debate the relative merits of the different possible measures, but only if that’s the issue at hand (i.e. if I claim that the only legitimate ranking would be by acceptance rates). </p>
<p>Now as for the other issues you bring up:
- “Duke outranks Brown in nearly every field they have in common (including neuroscience)”: By whose ranking or what measure?
On the graduate level? I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting a PhD yet… I want a solid undergraduate education with great teachers. Throw in an open curriculum, and my choice is made. That said, others may feel differently, and this is perfectly alright. As floatingriver says,
- “honestly, has a much nicer campus”: Sorry, I (as well as many others I’m sure) don’t really like neo-gothic architecture… This is an irrelevant point.
- “I think you’d be hard-pressed indeed to find a scrap of evidence that Brown is in any way, shape, or form superior to Duke.” Hard-pressed? I already did it in (1). Open curriculum. I’m going to be careful and make it clear that kids choose colleges based on fit. For me, Brown’s curriculum was a big plus over all the other top schools. For others, Columbia’s core was the way to go. In any case, this is a matter of where the individual student fits.
- “has equally good graduate/professional placement… The two are peers.” I think we’ve come to some agreement here. Going back to (3), I emphasize that while I find Brown’s open curriculum to be the factor that makes it better than its peers, I do not claim that everyone must see it this way. Some may be attracted to Duke for its higher endowment. Brown has been a great fit for me, while Duke probably would not have been. This is not to say that there aren’t students for whom Duke is the best fit. </p>
<p>Overall message I’m trying to get across:
-It’s good to justify your arguments. Claims without warrants are meaningless.
-Take the wise words of floatingriver seriously.
-I don’t know why you’re trying to be so rude to me (I hope you didn’t perceive me as being rude at all because that was not my intention), but in any case, if you go to Duke / got in to Duke, then congratulations because you’re going to get a great education.
-I <3 Brown :)</p>