@SugarlessCandy we need to know about your daughter. We need to know more other than she is in the top 10 students and she has a high test score. Does she want Greek life? Does she want a big school? Smaller school? Is she interested in standing on line or camping out for tickets to attend a game? Does she want a campus where there is a lot going on all the time or is she happier when things are quiet? What is she interested in academically? Does she hate cold weather? Does she feel comfortable in sweats and sneakers or does she like to wear a cute little dress and sandals to school sometimes? Does she have a possible major? Is she very active in her HS?
All of these schools are outstanding. Its the “little” things that will determine whether it fits your daughter. We can’t say that school X is “rah rah” while school Y has a bunch of political activists. Why not? Because there are kids at a "rah rah school who never attend a game and are still very happy there. And there are kids at school Y who are very involved in politics and some who are not.
We need to know your daughters personality, what she does in HS, what she says she is looking for in a school, etc.
Once you narrow it down you should visit if possible. Often that “ah ha” moment comes once you are actually on the campus.
You could have a look at online student reviews of each university. Although they probably do not represent the average student’s opinion at any given school, if you see similar complaints over and over, you might want to investigate those issues (if they matter to you). Just bear in mind that the most disgruntled people may be the ones most motivated to post a review.
Or check out the forums for each of these schools. Few if any CC posters have a personal connection to all 4.
Gut reactions:
Duke: Beautiful if you like gothic-style buildings; might be creepy if you don’t. Large # of NY/NJ students might seem abrasive if you aren’t used to them. No businesses adjacent to main campus…no “let’s walk 2 minutes to a coffee shop/bar/restaurant.” Freshmen might get tired of taking bus to main campus. Basketball tradition can’t be beat.
Vanderbilt: if you like country music, would be Heaven; if you don’t, not as good but still not a deal breaker. Nice campus–not wild about giant medical complex in middle though. Nice variety of shops & restaurants adjacent to campus.
Northwestern: More nerdy than jock-ish (not nearly to the extent of U Chicago, but don’t go here expecting it to be typical Big 10 school with a ton of folks who were very athletic in high school). Quarter system makes double majoring easy. Unlike some elites on quarter system, normal class load is 4 per term. The cold & wind is for real. Having huge lake right there is special & fabulous. Pretty campus. Having mass transit & nice town just a few blocks away gives it great appeal to those who want both a cozy small city & a bustling big city.
Duke has separate campuses, with freshmen housed on Duke East. The campus is beautiful, but if your dau is interested, say, in ingineering, there may be some limitations. Vandy also set up. A freshman campus area, but it isnt as separate from the rest of campus the way Dueke east and west are. Vandy feels preppy, IMO, but that may have changed. DS visited many campuses. Fell instantly in live with Rice and the residential college system. Was fine with the small size (some are not). He love, LOVED it.
I think a lot of people would agree that Duke and NW are overall stronger than Vanderbilt, Rice both for undergrad and as entire universities. That said the differences are rather slim.
Vanderbilt’s “separate campus” for freshmen is literally across the street from the rest of the campus, and is arguably the prettiest part of the campus, so it’s quite different from Duke’s freshmen campus.
Trying to make distinctions about academic quality among these 4 is really pointless…Like saying “this car can go 178 mph, those 2 can go 176, & that one over there, hah, only 175.” The differences in location, weather, etc., are significant; academic quality–you can go anywhere from any of them.
I attended Duke and hated my time there. It struck me as fratty, aggressively pre-professional in its ethos, and generally anti-intellectual. In the decades since I graduated, Duke has compensated for the latter quality by hiring a very “radical” (i.e., postmodern leftist) humanities faculty, but that modification has simply produced a fratty, pre-professional university with an absurdly incongruous leftist appendage that functions along the lines of a medieval Catholic indulgence, purchasing progressive “merit” to paper over the Wall Street vibe of the institution as a whole.
My daughter attends Rice and likes it very much. The campus is beautiful, Houston is a multicultural city that is a global hub for energy and medicine (e.g., the MD Anderson Cancer Center), and the school combines some of the best features of a research university and a liberal arts college. A native of SoCal, she finds the general vibe at Rice very California-like–i.e., students are intelligent and hard-working, but also laid-back and relaxed.
She visited Vanderbilt but did not find it appealing. I have no personal experience with or connections to Northwestern.
Of course, what one person dislikes, another might love. Thus if you want to join a frat and you dream of getting a post-college gig as an investment banking analyst, then Duke might be the best choice. If you are interested in journalism or regard four distinct seasons as a sine qua non of a “real” college experience, then Northwestern gets the nod. If you love country music, want to revel in an atmosphere of Southern “old money,” or aspire to a BA in “Human and Organizational Development,” then Vandy is the place. All four schools have fine reputations, and each is capable of equipping you to succeed in a range of personal and professional endeavors.
Not sure “most would agree” that Duke or NWern are any better than Vandy or Rice. Not sure what data supports that contention. If you care about the size of the school and the access of the faculty, that can have an impact on your decision.