<p>Slipper, my D loves it at JHU, but JHU is not for everyone. </p>
<p>What's to love: the academics, the climate, things to do in B-more (inner Harbor, Walters museum, Orioles games), easy access to BWI, very cheap and easy access to DC. She likes to be around serious students. Many would not like this. They would rather be in a more relaxed environment where the work hard aspects are strongly balanced with playing and partying hard. My D doesn't drink and is socially mature. She spends time with a number of close friends. I don't believe any of them spend much time in their rooms. Certainly not drinking, or playing video games. My D also appreciates the JHU culture. Someone said that JHU treats its undergrads as if they were grad students. That is not entirely true, but JHU does seem to allow the UG's a lot of freedom and opportunities.</p>
<p>I think a certain type could like JHU, just as this person would like Chicago. I would say a majority of students would prefer a little more of a carefree environment.</p>
<p>frankie38 - Cornell is a "weak ivy?" What a profound statement. Duke isn't even an ivy. </p>
<p>thethoughtprocess - nope. Though they are great schools, there are thousands upon thousands of brilliant students here in the northeast schools. They dont see the point if there are equally good students within a day's drive. Why spend the money to travel to Caltech, when MIT is significantly closer. Same goes true for Cornell and Duke.</p>
<p>Gomestar, Duke and JHU don't need to be Ivies. Thats just a name of an athletic conference - of course, they are all top notch schools. But if Ivy League was synonmyous to "schools with top students" then it wouldn't just be 8 schools. The Duke and JHU undergrad student bodies are just as competetive as many Ive League counterparts.</p>
<p>Just use SAT Scores as a gauge for some Ivies and schools that aren't "even" ivies, using 25 to 75 percentiles:
Brown - 1330 - 1530
Columbia - 1330 - 1530
Cornell - 1290 - 1480
Dartmouth - 1350 - 1550
Duke - 1380 - 1550
JHU - 1290 - 1500
U of Penn - 1340 - 1520</p>
<p>As you can see, JHU and Duke are comparable to the entire Ivy league, and notice which school has the lowest median scores out of the ones I listed? Maybe your parents, who are recruiters, don't find if worth visiting schools out of the Northeast. That doesn't mean the most competetive students in the country shouldn't choose schools like Duke or JHU because they are outside of the NE, as it is clear from the stats above that they do.</p>
<p>A note, however, that Cornell engineering is probably the best out of the schools I've listed... I guess its the arts and sciences that weigh it down. For a potential engineer, just using SAT scores is not a good idea. So, what I've tried to show is...Cornell being a "weak" Ivy (which it is, statistically) doesn't matter, nor does it matter if Duke or JHU aren't in the Ivy League. What really matters is where competetive students decide to attend. </p>
<p>And the fact that one company only recruits in the Northeast shouldn't be influential at all...considering there are 499 other countries in the Fortune 500 lol - ask me how i figured that out.</p>
<p>I, unlike 99% of the people on this board, know what an ivy league school really is. No need to explain it to me. I was showing our beloved frankie what a retarded statement he made calling cornell the weakest ivy, when in fact the ivy league wasn't meant to include academcis. I was assuming that he was talking only about academics. </p>
<p>In retrospect, Cornell is far form the 'weakest ivy.' After all, our lax team is among the best in the country as well as hockey. The rest of our sports are usually up there too. A weak ivy would in reality be a school with a poor sports program. </p>
<p>I figure if somebody is going to compare Duke to ivy league schools, they should look at the NCAA website rather than Princeton Review. </p>
<p>"And the fact that one company only recruits in the Northeast shouldn't be influential at all...considering there are 499 other countries in the Fortune 500 lol - ask me how i figured that out."</p>
<p>how DID you figure that out??? 500 - 2 parents = 498. My only point was if you were looking at work in the NYC, Boston or northeast area, Cornell would probably have more hookups. That not to say that duke doesn't, but Cornell carries a stronger reputation based on my experience of living in the northeast.</p>