<p>Hello College Confidential!
So I've narrowed down my college options for next year to Cornell and Duke
I want to consider the following:
school spirit, gay friendliness (and gay dating scene), level of difficulty (grade inflation/deflation), pre-med success, Spanish department</p>
<p>What do you think is better in which category, and why?
Thanks everyone for your help :)</p>
<p>Cornell ranks as 4.5 out of 5 on the campus climate index:
[Campus</a> Pride: Find Your Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Friendly College or University](<a href=“http://www.campusclimateindex.org/search/default.aspx?Status=Edit]Campus”>http://www.campusclimateindex.org/search/default.aspx?Status=Edit)
Duke, on the other hand, is not included in the index.</p>
<p>I considered both Cornell and Duke (among other schools) when I chose where to go, I would have taken Cornell over Duke. I felt that the LGBT at Cornell was better than that at Duke. However, I have a number of friends at Duke that say the LGBT presence at Duke is excellent. </p>
<p>Duke, on the other hand, has higher grade inflation. Cornell is known for being quite difficult.</p>
<p>
Duke
<a href=“http://prehealth.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/Table-1-Acceptance-patterns-20092.pdf[/url]”>http://prehealth.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/Table-1-Acceptance-patterns-20092.pdf</a></p>
<p>Cornell
<a href=“Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University;
<p>
Depends on what you’re looking for. Duke has more of the rah-rah, athletic school spirit with fanatically loyal students/alums. I’m sure Cornell alums are also quite loyal. </p>
<p>
Both have good Spanish departments. Cornell is better for languages and linguistics in general. </p>
<p>
I got precisely the opposite impression. In fact, although I liked Cornell quite a lot, that was ultimately what scratched it off my list. Most of the people I talked to seemed unhappy with the LGB scene at Cornell, which they described as welcoming but small; it was common for people to be closeted. I visited more recently for grad admissions and inferred that things haven’t changed much. (The graduate group, at least, had pretty much disintegrated.) Ithaca nearby has a better gay scene, admittedly.</p>
<p>As recently as five or six years ago, Duke was not a terribly good option for LGB students. While Duke has long been gay-friendly, the critical mass of students simply wasn’t there. That has rapidly changed in the last few years, however. Duke’s LGBT center is one of the largest and nicest in the country (only Penn’s is larger, I believe), with an awesome and devoted staff. LGBT student groups have proliferated on campus, even in the divinity school. The LGB population at Duke has absolutely exploded recently and is now one of the largest among universities of comparable size. There are openly gay students in frats, student government, religious organizations, sports teams, and pretty much every other facet of student life. UNC down the road has an even larger LGB population, and the two schools host an annual conference in the spring that draws gay students from all over the south. Additionally, Duke and Durham are annually host to NC Pride and the NC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Duke’s newest advance in LGB life is gender-blind housing, which is in the process of expanding across campus; in contrast, Cornell’s gender neutral housing (which limited opposite sex students to the same suite rather than the same room) has recently been eliminated.</p>
<p>
That is on the list of priorities for administrators at Duke; I am confident that it will score rather well when they complete the assessment.</p>
<p>In the meanwhile, Duke scored 18/20 in The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, which considered things like resource centers for LGBT students, LGBT courses, support for trans students transitioning, LGBT social events, etc. Only 5 top 30 universities (Berkeley, Penn, Princeton, UCLA, USC) scored higher, with another 3 (Michigan, Stanford, Tufts) on par.</p>
<p>
In 2006, [url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/cornell.html]Cornell[/url”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/cornell.html]Cornell[/url</a>] had an average GPA of 3.36, and [url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Duke.html]Duke[/url”>Duke University]Duke[/url</a>] had an average GPA of 3.42. While Cornell has many different colleges, it is pure speculation that Cornell CAS is more rigorous than Duke Trinity.</p>
<p>If you want pre-med success, Duke is notably better for pre-med and on the whole less competitive.</p>