<p>I'm currently trying to decide between Duke and Columbia. I'm a biomedical engineering major, but I'm interested in business or law for grad school and so I really want to get a more well-rounded education and take lots of humanities courses. I'm not really familiar with how these two schools are ranked, except that Duke isn't an ivy league, but it has a better bioengineering program. </p>
<p>The things I'm most concerned about are the internship/research opportunities and student life at the two schools. It seems like Columbia would have more internship opportunities since it's in New York, but I don't know how easy it is to actually obtain an internship position, especially in something business/law related if im an engineering major. Is there opportunity for interning around the Durham area? Another thing is that to me Duke seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but because of that there seems to be a much better sense of community and school spirit on campus. I love NY, but I heard it's kind of difficult to meet new people and there really isnt a sense of community at Columbia. </p>
<p>I would love ANY kind of input on internships/student life or just anything about the two schools. Thanks guys!!!</p>
<p>Raliegh is the capital of North Carolina. It is very close to Duke. The area Duke is in is know as the Research Triangle. There is innovation and technology everywhere around there. Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>I live in NYC. I actually got a research internship at Columbia once. The whole experience was unpleasant, so be wary that my views may be prejudiced. anyway, my research mentor hardly ever spoke to me since the initial interview, most of the time a grad student worked with me, writing up protocols and instructing me on use of lab equipment. however, the grad student expected a lot of me (a high school student) and became impatient each time i made an experimental error. afterward a year, i was basically advised by them to leave the lab. i left, and got another internship at nyu, which was much more friendly, and ended up winning an intel prize.</p>
<p>If internship is your major concern, go to Columbia. It has more internship opportunities. My sister is in Duke and she likes it there. BEAUTIFUL campus. If you can handle the city, go to Columbia. At least Columbia has campus. Nyu has NO campus. It's true that it's hard to meet new people in colleges located in cities. But I don't think that'll be a problem if you have at least one true friend. Both schools are great, so congrats!</p>
<p>Yeah, I've heard research opportunities at Columbia haven't been so hot (so surprising) while at Duke they're amazing. </p>
<p>I'm not sure how the Engineering school at Columbia works out with then being able to take humanties courses... at Duke, you have to take some, but engineering programs tend to be very prescribed courses of study. However, I'd say the majority of engineers at Duke that I know do ultimately go onto either business or law school, for some reason. I only know of a handful who actually plan on going into some engineering field.</p>
<p>If you're BME at Duke, it's very common to then get a second major in economics which makes you poised for solid business internships and careers further down the road.</p>
<p>While Columbia is in the greatest city of the world (I'm a biased New Yorker) and you'll have everything at your fingertips-- if you're planning on doing research, being an engineer and still taking humanities courses, you probably won't have any time during the academic year to hold down a fairly rigorous internship at a law firm or financial house. Which means that you'll do that internship over the summer, so Duke will give you just as good a shot of that fancy internship as Columbia.</p>
<p>I mean, meeting people at Columbia may not be as easy as at Duke, but not as hard as say.. NYU. There's a campus, freshmen generally live in the same dorms, there's still a campus social life (even though my favorite bar EVER is closing and I think with that Columbia's social life will lag just a bit), but I've never thought the camraderie was like that at Duke. </p>
<p>It's a personal preference. I personally didn't go to Columbia because I needed a change of pace... but if I weren't from NY, I'd understand how hard this decision is!</p>
<p>Be aware that as a Duke student, you would most certainly be doing an internship, and it would most likely be in NYC anyway.</p>
<p>Your freshman year, your classes will introduce with, "Tell us your name, your hometown, and something interesting about yourself."</p>
<p>By the time you get to be a senior, you will be asked, "Tell us your name, your hometown, and what area you did your summer internship in." (At least in econ classes.)</p>
<p>Duke has a career center which explicitly makes itself available for these sorts of things - getting our kids a well-rounded, pre-professional education is extremely important to us. You have all kinds of extraordinary, national databases at your fingertips.</p>
<p>I concur with the above posters. The numerous opportunities to do research and get internships are one of the strengths that Duke really exploits. If you're interested in science, labs around campus are always looking for assistants and professors are very willing to work with undergrads in independent projects and engaging them in their own research projects. Internships are also easy to get from what I've seen and heard from other students - there are large recruitment events for Duke undergrads geared specifically at summer internships.
Also, since all of Dukes grad/professional schools are next to each other and share facilities with the undergrad programs, pursuing cross-disciplinary research interests is very easy. I've also seen from listservs professors in the law school looking for students to help them which seems like an awesome opportunity to get immersed in a legal setting.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it's difficult to balance an internship, do really well at school, and have a life. I mean, I could do it... but I wouldn't really want to. Personally, by not doing an internship during the year, I would be itching to do something absolutely AMAZING during my summer, which is really important for grad school. On the other hand, if I had done an internship over the school year, I'd want to relax a little more during break. That's just me, though. I couldn't hold down a job and do all my extracurriculars and do well at school concurrently in high school, so I probably couldn't do an internship year-round.</p>