Dartmouth or Duke

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Hey, I was recently accepted to both Duke and Dartmouth, and I love them both. This is an extremely difficult decision, and I need help.
So, I'll say what my pros & cons are for the schools and hopefully you guys can help me decide which is best for me.</p>

<p>Location: Dartmouth wins barely, because it's farther away from home, and it's located in a town rather than Duke's urbanness. But Duke's not terrible because it's isolated from Durham.</p>

<p>Nature: Equal. Dartmouth has ski slopes, woods, etc... while Duke has its forest. Theyre both pretty amazing in this aspect.</p>

<p>Architecture: Duke. lol.</p>

<p>Strength in major: Equal. I feel like they're both pretty strong in economics/business.</p>

<p>Size: Duke. I feel it's big enough...and small enough for me.</p>

<p>Undergraduate Focus: Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Prestige: Basically equal.</p>

<p>Activities/Clubs/Interests: Equal. They both have a lot I'd like to do.</p>

<p>Financial Aid: Duke's is slightly better.</p>

<p>Some unique aspects about Dartmouth: </p>

<p>The D-Plan: Helps with internships.....but I feel like it hurts with social interaction among students.</p>

<p>Dartmouth Outing Club: The best thing ever. Excited for the first year trip if I go.</p>

<p>Study Abroad: I've always wanted to, and I know almost everyone at Dartmouth goes....but I'll be on nearly full financail aid so... I don't know if I'd have the money to go.</p>

<p>Some unique aspects about Duke: </p>

<p>Sports: I'm a sports fanatic.</p>

<p>Research: If I decide to go into science, Duke is better.</p>

<p>Weather: I love warmth.</p>

<p>The Focus Program: Sounds amazing.</p>

<p>Students seem really friendly TBH.</p>

<p>Cons about Dartmouth: </p>

<p>Cold: yeah.</p>

<p>Fratty: not sure if pro or con to be honest.</p>

<p>Less Diverse.</p>

<p>Cons about Duke:</p>

<p>Bad Surrounding Area:</p>

<p>Fratty: Again, not sure if it's a pro or a con.</p>

<p>so yeah, I need help deciding for undergraduate economics/business.</p>

2

<p>Alavondrice – first congratulations for your accomplishments and having two great schools to choose from! I am a Duke grad, the father of a current Duke sophomore, and the father of an incoming freshman at Dartmouth Class of 2016, so I think I have a pretty good perspective. I’ll start off by saying that both schools are great institutions and you can’t really go wrong in your choice. Econ/Finance are strengths of both schools and both have great recruiting pipelines to Wall Street and the major consulting firms (maybe Dartmouth’s is a bit better??). Dartmouth has a very strong reputation for an intimate learning environment where undergraduate learning is the focus (one of the big reasons my son chose it). Duke’s environment has a bigger, and perhaps less intimate feel of a larger research institution.</p>

<p>From a social perspective Duke (30+% join frats) and Dartmouth (60+% join frats) both have very strong Greek environments. I believe they are significantly different though. At Duke, the frats are not in off-campus houses, but instead each are allocated sections of dorms. Duke is going through some significant change next year – moving to a residential housing system that will include many more non-greek houses, as well as for the first time in Duke’s history, providing housing for sororities. You should definitely look into the housing changes at Duke. There are many articles on this in the Duke Chronicle [House</a> model to concentrate living groups | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/house-model-concentrate-living-groups]House”>http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/house-model-concentrate-living-groups) ). While both schools have very strong Greek life, my sense is that it is very different. At Duke, the fraternities are a bit more closed to non-affiliated students at their parties. Everything I hear about Dartmouth is that all frats are open to everyone, and non-greek students feel very welcome everywhere. Much of the social life at Duke has transitioned from being almost exclusively on-campus (when I was there 20+ yrs ago and the drinking age was 19) and has moved off-campus to bars. I don’t think there is much, if any, of an off-campus bar scene in Hanover, and much of the fraternity social life exists in the frat basements.</p>

<p>Big differences in weather, obviously. At Duke, you will be in shorts and flip-flops by March. So, if warmth is important to you, well…there you go. My discussions with Dartmouth students indicate that you get very used to the cold and it’s almost a bonding experience in itself. If you are the outdoor type, then Dartmouth is clearly better – lots to do in all seasons in the surrounding mountains. While Duke’s surrounding forests are beautiful, there are no nearby ski slopes or mountains, although it’s only a 2 hr drive the beach.
Sports and school spirit are a huge part of the Duke experience if that is important to you. I will say that, from an outsiders perspective, Dartmouth is one of the only schools I’ve visited outside of Duke where students just absolutely love being there – and this turns into a strong lifelong bond as an alumnus at both schools.</p>

<p>Good luck with your choice. The best advice I can offer is to visit both Dimensions and Blue Devil days…talk to students and faculty, get a feel for both places, and go with your gut feeling!</p>

3

<p>I’m also deciding between Dartmouth and Duke. </p>

<p>That response helped a lot, dukedad. Thank you. Going to both “Blue Devil Days” as well as “Dimensions” should hopefully help me arrive at my answer.</p>

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<p>Axel - also check out the response to this same question by Dukeshama on the Duke CC site - she writes better than me:-)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1318939-duke-dartmouth.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1318939-duke-dartmouth.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thank you so much, dukedad!! The terrible thing for me is… I’m sporty AND outdoorsy, so I really don’t know which one to pick, haha. Also, the frat life really balances itself out:: Dartmouth has more, but it’s inclusive. Duke has less, but it’s exclusive. </p>

<p>I really think this one’s coming down to the admitted students days.</p>

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<p>@Alavondrice - I’m very curious to know what was your call in the end? I’m a similar boat as you. Any help will be much appreciated!! :)</p>

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<p>I think you have a slightly outdated perception of Durham. It is now a perfectly pleasant small city with several great restaurants and a thriving music scene. Dartmouth is significantly more fratty than Duke is, and also has a more homogenous student population by virtue of its small size. Duke arguably has more lay prestige, and undoubtedly has more school spirit (not sure whether or not those things are important to you). Just go with the school you feel more comfortable at.</p>

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<p>To counter that darthvadar is stating - Dartmouth has a higher percentage in frats but the frats are much more inclusive that at other schools. All parties and houses are open to everyone, in fact frats want as many people as possible to come to their events. And Dartmouth I’d argue is not homogenous at all and while it doesn’t have “sports” spirit it has incredible “school spirit”. Students, frankly, love Dartmouth. I’d also argue that Duke, while better known because of its sports teams, doesn’t have better "prestige’. In fact I’d argue the opposite.</p>

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<p>I don’t see how Duke can be less prestigious when it is ranked higher by every credible publication, however, you are as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. Dartmouth is undoubtedly a great school and I have a lot of respect for it. The OP really can’t go wrong.</p>

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<p>Both are great places to get an undergraduate education. You have to decide which is more important: warm weather, competitive athletics, and the benefits that come from attending a stronger research university or smaller class sizes, a bucolic New England setting, and whatever residue one gets in Boston/NYC high society from attending an “Ivy League” school.</p>

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<p>Two other points to add:

  1. Think about the calendar of the two schools - Duke is semester based, where you will take 4 or 5 classes over a longer stretch of time and Dartmouth is the D-Plan where you will typically take 3 classes over 10 weeks, so the pacing of the material and shifting from subject to subject will be different at both schools. Think through which you like better.
  2. Global scale networks - Duke has become a powerbrand worldwide with DukeEngage and its science and engineering research. Dartmouth is also amazing with its alumni network, but dig through the info on this if global assignments in your future are important to you.</p>
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<p>@sahp2kids - great info! just to clarify, do you mean that Dartmouth’s brand name worldwide isn’t comparable to Duke’s? And do you mean that Dartmouth students have to actively seek out the alum networks to secure global assignments? thanks :)</p>

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<p>laymen - at this level both schools are global brands so not exactly that - my personal take is that Duke with Engage & Focus programs has identified how to get you abroad - in the classroom, as a volunteer on a civic engagement project, service opportunities, etc. Dartmouth definitely has students going abroad b/c of the shorter terms and more chances to work into the schedule. Just that it appears outwardly anyway that the global focus is language intensive learning or something to further the future finance/Wall Street career. Not sure how “engaged” globally for service/volunteer work. Slightly nuanced direction of both global brands, IMHO.</p>

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<p>@sahp2kids - ah i see, thanks for your help!</p>

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<p>Saph2kids - it seems like you don’t know Dartmouth too well. Dartmouth is #1 at sending its students to the peace corps. Its Tucker foundation - [The</a> William Jewett Tucker Foundation](<a href=“Home | The William Jewett Tucker Center”>Home | The William Jewett Tucker Center) provides scores of funded non-profit opportunities for study. In many majors there are funded thesis research programs, for example I did my thesis research in anthro in the Pacific, and it was a fully funded scholarship that most thesis majors had access to([The</a> Claire Garber Goodman Fund](<a href=“Home | Department of Anthropology”>Home | Department of Anthropology)).</p>

<p>Dartmouth does provide incredible language study abroad majors (LSAs) but also provides deep academic experiences across the board ([Programs>List</a> All>Off-Campus Programs](<a href=“http://ocp-prod.dartmouth.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ListAll]Programs>List”>http://ocp-prod.dartmouth.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ListAll)). From Philosophy in Edinburgh, to Anthro in Auckland, to Film in LA, Dartmouth gets you there.</p>

<p>Then there are other programs such as the global business bridge program (geared for cross-discipline learning at Oxford). </p>

<p>To knock Dartmouth on International access or perspective is to not understand Dartmouth at all. It is a core part of the institution, and to my knowledge no other school gets even close at getting their students around the world in such a meaningful way.</p>

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<p>An article in today’s campus newspaper, The Dartmouth, on the efforts of the college to boost its image better covers what I was trying to articulate regarding the “global presence” issue.</p>

<p>GLOBAL PRESENCE
In anticipation of Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary in 2019, former College President Jim Yong Kim initiated the strategic planning process in 2009 to advance the College’s mission, improve its standing in the U.S. and the world and guarantee the caliber of a Dartmouth education. Nine working groups, composed of administrators, faculty and staff, released reports on March 9.
Global Dartmouth, a Strategic Planning working committee, evaluated Dartmouth’s reputation at the international level and made recommendations to improve its standing as a leader in higher education abroad.
The group recommended that the College require every undergraduate students have at least one “significant global experience” to graduate, create “hubs” in cities around the world for international programming and called for the renaming of Dartmouth College to Dartmouth University for international audiences.
“In French, ‘college’ means junior high school,” said Lynn Higgins, associate dean of faculty for international studies and a member of the Global Dartmouth working group. “In France, I have to refer to Dartmouth as a university or otherwise people misunderstand what our college is. It’s just a translation problem.”
Dartmouth’s international influence hinges on both providing global opportunities to students, like foreign study programs, and promoting the faculty’s international accomplishments.
“Dartmouth’s global activities are not as well known as the accomplishments merit,” Higgins said. “I think we need to be more visible.”</p>

<p>Also, peace corps is generally a post-graduation opportunity to my understanding so not sure how that applies with respect to definition of global brand.</p>

<p>Anyhow, Dartmouth is an incredible school in a sweet spot as a LAC with a lovely campus that is perfect for many as I encouraged someone in another thread to give their admitted student a chance to discover first-hand rather than dismiss the school given its current campus controversy.</p>

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<p>Current duke freshman here who is likely to transfer to Dartmouth, so just to address one of your pros for Duke- be very careful about the focus program. I did one and everyone I talked to agreed that it was the biggest waste of time and money. We learned random things totally irrelevant to the topic or any career we might want and the topics had no relation to each other. The prof went so far as to request that we tell the dept how much we ‘loved’ the class because he didn’t want it to be cancelled-the dept even felt it was useless. However, during blue devil days, these same classmates were praising the focus program and when I asked them why they were misleading freshman they said it was bc they wanted them to choose duke. I feel that I was misled multiple times when I was a perspective freshman and this led to me making the big mistake of picking duke. I’m not saying definitely choose Dartmouth but be very careful about what you are told. Duke is a great for certain types of people but I met a significant number of students who also felt misled and like they did not fit. </p>

<p>I would be happy to talk more over pm if you would like. Good luck! :)</p>

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<p>Which focus cluster was this? I’ve heard phenomenal things about most of them from current freshmen. As a rising first year, I’m sorry to hear that you did not fit in at Duke. However, I don’t think it’s appropriate to question the integrity of your peers. Just because you did not enjoy the focus program does not mean that they are obliged to share your viewpoint. As someone who chose Duke over Princeton, I’m just offering my two cents on the issue.</p>

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<p>just for privacy i would be happy to talk more over message about the particulars of my focus program because they were really small groups of people</p>

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<p>@ned could you share what made you apply to transfer from Duke to Dartmouth? Pm is fine too. Thanks!</p>