<ol>
<li>The name is up there because of basketball (and now lacrosse). It is excellent in the sciences, but I feel bad for your brilliant science and engineering students who have to put up with the culture of rich, white, druggie losers.</li>
<li>The gothic architecture is a really cheap 1920's knock off of Princeton (which admittedly is a 1890's knock off of Oxford, though not so cheap)</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want a good school in the south, go to Davidson.</p>
<p>cincinnatus, really. i think you're better off with your mouth (or fingers) shut. there is no point arguing against duke's prestige. no matter what you say about duke, duke was is will be awesome. just visit it. you will know</p>
<p>So someone, I won't say who, is posting under my name. That's what I get for not logging out and letting others use my computer.</p>
<p>The real Cincinnatus has no beef with Duke.</p>
<p>Just wanted to set the record straight, as I'm new on here. Now time to issue a beat down.....</p>
<p>Actually, I must confess I'm a little disappointed in the new rankings. Seems to me like they've upped the value of the admissions process, which I've always thought was a poor way to rank schools.</p>
<p>Maybe they should break down the rankings: excellence in admissions/recruiting (admissions percentage, yield), excellence in procedural education (good faculty, freshman retention, etc.), and excellence in future prospects (job placement, graduate school admissions).</p>
<p>I would add to Elephant's post that "it's up there" because of
3. Its ability to teach grammar and punctuation, and also because
4. It's an awesome university with strong, nationally and internationally competitive programs.</p>