<p>Duke is, after all, one of the most elite schools in the nation. In your experience, do people usually acknowledge this? Many people I know simply think Duke is just like any other school that is great at basketball, but I'm from Missouri so who knows what the people here are thinking.</p>
<p>Anecdote: When I told my GC (my GC!!) that I got accepted to Duke she said..."wow, I think that's like...even more prestigious than Arkansas." smile and nod, smile and nod. Needless to say, I'm from a small town, public school.</p>
<p>haha....the smile and nod method is my all-time favorite! Yeah, uneducated people typically don't realize Duke is that strong. Also, older folks don't think of it as being that strong b/c it's doesn't have the history of the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, etc. It shot up in prestige in the mid-late 80s for some reason. But educated individuals do know the quality of the institution that is Duke. And those will be the people giving you jobs, accepting you for grad school, etc. No worries! :) But if you're looking for shock value by saying where you go to school (as Harvard students like to say, "dropping the H bomb"), you won't get it from nearly as many people by attending Duke. But if you choose your college based on how much it will impress some random joe off the street, you need to re-assess your priorities. Just keep smiling and nodding!</p>
<p>My friend's mom attended Duke is the early 70s (and is from Chicago area) and apparently when she told them where they went to school, people would routinely ask her, "do you mean Drake?" She was like, "uh, no, DUKE." But, as of late (as in the last 20+ years), it has been circulated around the country that Duke has a good athletic and academic program. ;)</p>
<p>"Uncle Terry" (Sanford) really put an emphasis in nationalizing and internationalizing the school; the presidents that followed (Brodie and Keohane) continued that trend and did a lot to both "get the word out" and bring in some top-performing faculty to recruit top-performing students. Also, it's helped that some pretty stellar money raising and money managing people have been associated with Duke the past decades so the increase in available money has helped with construction of facilities that help a great deal with the aforementioned recruitment.</p>
<p>I must say I am more than pleased with the "value added" to my degree since it was obtained :)</p>
<p>like bluedog said, Duke is very well regarded by the people who matter, like the employers in NYC or the grad school adcoms. The normal people on the streets? Not so much. Only few schools that will 'wow' strangers in the streets are HYPM and sometimes Stanford.</p>
<p>to be honest with you, once you get to a place like duke, you are going to wish it were less well known. in the real world, it's all about making people like you, and 95% of the people you talk to aren't going to have graduated from the crazy elite schools. a lot of them are turned off when they here you graduated from a place like duke and you will have to convince them that you aren't an elitist prick. if they are part of the 5% that went to a school like duke, they're going to know how good it is and that will be that.</p>
<p>disclaimer...I thought about putting this in the original post, but I opted not to because I hoped people would just answer the question. (as some of you have. thanks!)</p>
<p>I wouldn't go to Duke or any other school because of what other people think. If I were that into prestige I would have looked to the Ivy league. However, I didn't apply to a single Ivy league school, despite one of my friends at Harvard encouraging me to do so. I was just wondering if people around the country were as ignorant as they are in Missouri about great schools and especially Duke because of its basketball. In addition, I've actually heard Duke is a haven for many people qualified for the Ivy league but who are willing to sacrifice prestige for a great social scene.</p>
<p>Thanks again to all who've answered my original question!</p>
<p>You know - when I first read this I though you said when you told your GF :-D So when I read wolf's post I thought, "That's kinda mean - why feel sorry for his girlfriend?" </p>
<p>Yeah, I'm from California and while some people know it's a good school, like teachers and "high achieving" students, I don't think they consider it as elite as it probably is in other places. For the most part people are like, oh yeah, Duke.. what's that known for again? That guidance counselor thing is awful though, my GC is probably equally bad but I never really talk to her so I guess it's OK. </p>
<p>But I guess I like that, because people flip out when students at my school get in at Stanford/Harvard, because we get about one of those a year, and like, last year a student went to Harvard and my principal worked it into like 3 different school ceremonies somehow... possibly also made an announcement about it, I felt so for bad for the guy. So I think I prefer people not really knowing about the school to say, freaking out and showering me with praise.</p>
<p>oh wow, over here, duke is famous. of course, my school prefers chapel hill because it's easier to get into. idk, where i am, duke does get its recognition for being an elite school.</p>
<p>I didn't realize that students at my school were unaware of the prestige of Duke, until someone (falsely) informed me that Duke was on the same level as G.W and UCSB?!?!.. I made them go online and research Duke haha.</p>
<p>This thread has made me want to conduct an experiment:</p>
<p>I want to ask as many adults as possible to name all of the Ivy League schools. In RI, Duke's viewed for the most part as an elite university, probably at the Ivy League level, so I'm betting that more people will say Duke and leave out schools like UPenn or Cornell.</p>
<p>I'm glad to see the DukeEgr93 is pleased at the increased value of his degree(s)... it will be useful if he ever decides to leave :-)</p>
<p>a point that most people are missing is that Duke is well known by the people that matter - the best companies, the best grad schools, etc. Sure you have to prove yourself once hired or admitted, but thats when the over-nighters during ugrad pay dividends (atleast that's what I tell myself at 6:25AM)</p>