if you could choose one which would you choose and why? what are the differences and which do you like better?
This is the equivalent to asking the difference between chocolate vs. vanilla vs. strawberry.
One person may prefer one, while another prefers a different one.
So it should not matter one bit which I like better. What matter is what you like better.
Now, if you have specific questions/issues for which you would like to hear a comparison, then think carefully and formulate an actual question.
Similar in prestige, academic quality and rigor, and admissions selectivity. Otherwise very different:
- Research university with strong graduate schools and the prestige that comes from having two nobel prize winning faculty members in the last four years versus what is in essence a large LAC that is recognized for having outstanding teaching faculty.
- Gothic Wonderland in a beautiful 7,000 acre wooded campus next to a revitalized industrial-age Southern town with more mild weather versus beautiful bucolic New England Town with skiing nearby.
- One of the strongest and broadest athletic programs in the country (Football is currently borderline top 25 and Basketball were 2015 National Champs) with strong school pride versus middle of the road Ivy League athletics.
- 6,500 undergrads with a more diverse social life versus 4,000 undergrads and a predominantly frat-centric social life.
You really can’t go wrong, it just depends on what you want in a college experience.
Both my children, who are current students, chose Duke in part because they felt the frat culture was far less present than at Dartmouth.
I love Duke. Great sports, beautiful weather, and solid social life.
duke has better local job prospects if you want to stay in the area.
the research triangle…raleigh,durham, chapel hill etc…are hot hot hot (not in a weather way)
Duke - better research, larger, arguably more diverse, better weather, less rural, less intimate, more name recognition, more Nobel laureates, larger endowment, RTP
Dartmouth - undergrad focus, more insular, maybe more homogenous, more fratty, more intimate, Ivy cache, more Rhodes scholars, larger endowment per capita, Hanover
I’d pick Duke.
Parchment data: 76% choose Duke, 24% choose Dartmouth
(http://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Duke+University&with=Dartmouth+College)
Duke. Duke. Duke.
Duke hands down. Duke has the whole package-academics, beautiful campus, nice weather, and great sports program with strong school spirit. Dartmouth has cold, cold weather for a great part of the academic year and is remote.