<p>So I am kind of new to this site but it seems like a lot of you could give me advice on my problem :)</p>
<p>I was all set on going to Duke and was more excited than ever....however soon after, I was notified I had been invited to the Robertson Scholars Weekend at UNC. I traveled and toured around and had my interviews, but I was still set on Duke because I never imagined I would be chosen. Late last week I received the news that I had indeed been chosen as a scholar for UNC and although I was very excited I was left more confused than ever.</p>
<p>Should I take the Robertson offer and go to UNC or should I go to the school I have fallen in love with (Duke!) although I am not receiving any sort of financial assistance whatsoever. </p>
<p>Any advice would be extremely appreciated! Is being a Robertson Scholar something prestigious in the grad school world? or would a Duke degree be more beneficial?</p>
<p>If you are Robertson, you spend half of your time at Duke anyway. IDK if it’s still this way but I think it’s alternating semesters between Duke and UNC. </p>
<p>Personally, if I were given this choice, I’d pick the Robertson. No cost education + half of it at Duke. But to each his own.</p>
<p>Congratulations on the Robertson, however, I don’t think you get 1/2 the time at Duke. I think it’s more like a semester, maybe a year. I say you should decide how the finances work out for your family. UNC is still a reasonably good school, and I’m sure you’ll like it there as well.</p>
<p>As a Robertson, you will spend second semester of your Sophomore year at Duke.
You’ll get funded summers for service projects and great faculty mentoring.</p>
<p>I say take it, especially since you want to go to grad school (why saddle yourself with 250k of undergrad debt?).</p>
<p>Don’t worry about having fallen in love with Duke - UNC is absolutely gorgeous as well. You’ll love it and will be hating Duke basketball soon enough. ;)</p>
<p>I was in a very similar situation … Duke sent me a LL long ago, so I was certain I’d be going to Duke … but I was invited to interview for the Maryland version of the Robertson and received a full ride scholarship, … after much thought, I going with the $$ … Duke is great, … but it’s NOT over $130K better … I could really use that money for Grad/prof school …</p>
<p>Time to remove the emotion from it. Yes, the Robertson is huge. No, Duke isn’t worth full cost when you’ve got the Robertson at UNC. IMO, it’ll be hard to find any viable rationalization for Duke at this point.</p>
<p>Even without the perks of the Robertson, I don’t think Duke is worth $200,000 more than UNC-Chapel Hill. And even if you were getting great financial aid from Duke, I’d still argue that the UNC Robertson is a far bigger opportunity than Duke is alone.</p>
<p>If you’re planning to go to grad school, why not see if your parents might be willing to save some of the money they were going to be spending on Duke and put it towards grad school or other opportunities? $200k is a lot of money saved that you or your family could use for other things.</p>
<p>Of course, with the Robertson you’ll also be a Duke student. You can even go to Duke basketball games if you want to, take an unlimited number of classes at Duke, even live there for a semester.</p>
<p>Any resource you can get as a Duke student – e.g. access to a professor or access to the Duke alumni association – you can also get as a UNC Robertson. And for free.</p>
<p>If I were in your shoes, I would take the Robertson and go to Duke for grad school… I think you will have a good shot as long as you do well at UNC.</p>
<p>I’m going to Duke, but if I were in your position, I would take the Robertson. Duke is awesome, but UNC is a great school too, and the full ride, along all the opportunities afforded to Robertson scholars, definitely outweigh Duke’s advantages. Also, I’m assuming that grad schools recognize the prestige of the Robertson, although I don’t know this for a fact.</p>