<p>These schools are like night and day. One is a city school in one of the most exciting cities in the world, and one is suburban. One in the northeast, one in the south. One has a lot of school spirit and sports teams, one does not. Can anyone share views on academics and prestige? They both have similar rankings however Columbia was more than twice as hard to get into.</p>
<p>I am making this choice too. It will be easier if Duke is giving me the full tuition scholarship I'm a finalist for...</p>
<p>If not, I think I will choose Columbia because of its LOCATION and for something different (I live 20 minutes away from Duke)</p>
<p>A friend of mine chose a full ride at Duke over a half ride at Harvard and admissions to many other top schools. It has a strong science and engineering program comparable to Columbia (probably stronger on the research end, but with less brand name value), good-but-not-great graduate schools, and is at least in a town rather than the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Prestige-wise, Duke will win out marginally if you're working or living in the South, and Columbia will win out substantially if you're in the northeast or (to a lesser extent) the rest of the country. In this context, "winning" means professional respect, the presumption of competence, the value of alumni connections, the competition for top jobs, and ability to get into top grad or professional schools.</p>
<p>Columbia wins substantially on any liberal-arts field.</p>
<p>The Duke social scene is based around "hook-ups". Go Google some recent articles on it, I think Rolling Stone or somebody did a big feature recently. Columbia's social scene definitely balances drinking with responsibilities in a more balanced fashion.</p>
<p>Columbia is in a city where, while violent crime is a rarity these days, theft is common and you need to lock up everything. Duke, much less so. Columbia is (let's be honest) a little cramped for space, dorms are liveable and in some cases luxurious but never enormously spacious. I know little about Duke dorms, but other than the fact that not nearly as many freshmen get singles, I have to assume they're nicer. Of course, you also get city benefits with that tradeoff.</p>
<p>Most of this will depend on:</p>
<p>1) What you think of the South, and whether you'd like to live there for college and/or after graduation
2) What particular disciplines you'd like to study
3) Whether you like cities</p>
<p>I'd take Columbia.</p>
<p>(Duke+Columbia)/2 = Penn, if you want to straddle the difference as I did</p>
<p>
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other than the fact that not nearly as many freshmen get singles
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Actually, it's extremely easy to get a single as a freshman. Sophomores, however, are not allowed to apply for singles due to limited space on West. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>
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Columbia wins substantially on any liberal-arts field.
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Not true for Classics or English. :D</p>
<p>I agree with the vast difference in locations. It's worth pointing out that 25% of Duke grads end up in NYC, though, and another 25% end up in DC.</p>