I think Duke is pretty well represented in Silicon Valley. Actually, double majoring in Pratt is quite easy if you choose two Pratt majors – they basically just change the requirements to take more intro/intermediate level courses and fewer electives for each and the total course requirement is almost identical. If you choose a Trinity major as your second, though, certainly that requires more planning. It’s pretty popular to double major overall at Duke and I knew many who did Biomedical Engineering and Economics (finance is a minor only) and got great opportunities coming out of that. I did biomedical engineering major with a Trinity minor pretty easily. There are even a few crazy people who TRIPLE major in engineering (and graduate in four years), so it can be done. Comp sci + econ/poli sci shouldn’t be a problem honestly – it will just severely reduce the number of electives you can take which is the potential downside, but is doable in four years certainly. Having AP credits coming in would be advised though or else overloading/summer school might be required to get it done in 4 years (might have to overload a semester or two regardless, but I don’t know the curriculum requirements on those majors THAT well. You can find them on their dept websites).
I’d say Duke, Dartmouth, and Penn are pretty comparable though in your criteria. I’d go based on where you think the student would be happiest. Good luck.
Harvey Mudd is also a top choice for us. But its courses are demanding. It seems that most students do not pursue a double degree. We visited Harvey Mudd and CMC in spring. Unfortunately, we only visited 5Cs in Claremont. (We live in Silicon Valley). In retrospect, we should have visited east coast schools. So the ED choice can be more informed. My daughter does well in STEM, but does not want to have a pure STEM education. She likes to work on a career combing STEM + business/Liberal art knowledge.
I don’t get the approach of applying ED when your daughter has no idea right now which school she prefers. ED is binding, and it’s generally best suited for those who are 100% clear that they are willing to commit to a school (and who are not critically dependent on the financial aid package from that school meeting their expectations). Having no idea which of several schools is the best fit doesn’t sound like a great basis for applying ED.
A couple of thoughts:
Double majors at all 3 schools you list are fairly straightforward.
Penn also has the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, which is a dual degree program (you get 2 degrees, rather than 1 degree listing 2 majors) between Wharton the School of Engineering. Computer Science at Penn falls under SEAS, and is a popular major for Jerome Fisher Students. Finance and Management are both popular Wharton concentrations (though Economics and Political Science are majors in the College of Arts and Sciences). It's a small, highly prestigious and extremely competitive program (about 5% admission rate), that attempts to integrate applied science/engineering and economics/business, which tons of research, professional and entrepreneurial opportunities; the most common dilemma accepted students have is choosing between Jerome Fisher and Stanford. It's the kind of program that might be worth applying ED if your daughter appears qualified, and feels like the program is a perfect fit for what she wants.
Actually, double majoring in Pratt is quite easy if you choose two Pratt majors – they basically just change the requirements to take more intro/intermediate level courses and fewer electives for each and the total course requirement is almost identical. If you choose a Trinity major as your second, though, certainly that requires more planning. It’s pretty popular to double major overall at Duke and I knew many who did Biomedical Engineering and Economics (finance is a minor only) and got great opportunities coming out of that. I did biomedical engineering major with a Trinity minor pretty easily. There are even a few crazy people who TRIPLE major in engineering (and graduate in four years), so it can be done. Comp sci + econ/poli sci shouldn’t be a problem honestly – it will just severely reduce the number of electives you can take which is the potential downside, but is doable in four years certainly. Having AP credits coming in would be advised though or else overloading/summer school might be required to get it done in 4 years (might have to overload a semester or two regardless, but I don’t know the curriculum requirements on those majors THAT well. You can find them on their dept websites).