<p>I got taken off the waitlist for Duke University today, so now I have to decide in the next two weeks whether to go to Duke or Carnegie Mellon. I visited CMU but haven't visited Duke before (and I don't think I'll have a chance since it is a 10+ hour drive from my home, and I don't have time to do that as school is still in session, and I can't afford to miss much school). I had been planning to go to the school of comp sci at carnegie mellon, but I'm not sure if I would major in comp sci or engr. or physics or math at duke, so I really don't know at this point. However, can anybody give me any advice or recommendations (i.e. which school i should go to, why i should go to CMU over Duke, why I should go to DUke over CMU, other factors, etc.)</p>
<p>if you were able to visit duke you'd find the decision to be a lot easier.</p>
<p>CMU is definitely a solid academic school but duke offers an experience that is, in my opinion, far superior. talk to some students and really reflect on this opportunity.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your major only takes up about 1/3 of the classes you will take, so do not make the choice purely on your major. After all, you may decide computer science isn't for you after all. What is much more important is the overall feel of the university. Do you mind cold weather, or would you rather have the balmy weather at Duke? Do you prefer the science/math orientation of CMU or the liberal arts focus at Duke? Do you see yourself participating in an intramural sport or writing for one of the nation's best college newspapers? Go to Duke. Do you see yourself exploring a major city with all it offers? Go to CMU. These small, seemingly unimportant details are what make your college experience so memorable.</p>
<p>are you getting financial adi from duke? waitlist kids normally don't get much aid, if any, and no merit scholarships. if you go to Duke you might end up paying for college for a long time...</p>
are you getting financial adi from duke? waitlist kids normally don't get much aid, if any, and no merit scholarships. if you go to Duke you might end up paying for college for a long time...
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<p>Thank you for all of your responses!</p>
<p>They are sending me a packet tomorrow so I should receive the financial aid info within the next few days. Duke supposedly meets 100% of financial need. I hardly got any aid from carnegie, so if duke somehow did give me more aid that might be a deciding factor (or course, if they gave me less that might be a deciding factor too).</p>
<p>ur so lucky, i really wanted to go to duke :-P haha but the more i find out about CMU the more i find out that is great too. still wish i got duke tho!</p>
<p>Dude, everyone is pushing you to Duke.
Uhmm, so, I'd say come to CMU!
Haha, jk. I would think major is an important thing, because since there's a required minor, their suggested course sequence is like, more CS courses first, more minor courses later. So if you decide after like the first year to change majors, or later, you just wasted a bunch of credits on CS.
It's also, from what I can tell, hard. Like, uber CS concentrated. But you could always double major like apparently a lot of people do.</p>
<p>Yea it's cold (something I REALLY don't like), but it is a nice campus (from what I can remember) and when I asked this girl why she chose to go to CMU SCS, she said the support system is AMAZING. And you can always find help.</p>
<p>Lol, there you go. Classic one-sided view.
Good luck in your choice!
If you do decide to come to CMU, I might see you in classes!!</p>
<p>Stick with CMU if you care about academics in CS and engineering. Duke has a higher overall rank and a better social scene, but it's just not that great for CS and engineering. CMU is considered top notch for CS, and it's near the top for engineering if you want to switch to that. There will be plenty of opportunities to explore things like math and physics within the requirements for majoring in CS.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on whether you care more about a social experience or a hardcore, challenging education. Not that you can't get both at both schools, but I'd say CMU will push you more toward the academic side while Duke is more like a party/sports school. </p>
<p>Of course, cost might be the most important consideration in the end.</p>
<p>Be careful about overgeneralizing there. CMU has great academics, but Duke does too. Duke didn't get one of the highest professional school placement rates in the nation (considerably higher than CMU, I might add) by having party students. I wouldn't say Duke is any worse in work hard, play hard than Northwestern or Dartmouth. I understand what you're trying to say, though- I believe Duke does have more of a reputation for socializing than CMU does. Then again, socializing and making connections is one main reason many people go to top colleges.</p>
<p>"Duke didn't get one of the highest professional school placement rates in the nation (considerably higher than CMU, I might add) by having party students."</p>
<p>Would you mind backing that statement up with a link or explaining further? I have no doubt Duke does extremely well with professional school placement. There are a lot of pre-meds and pre-laws at Duke, there aren't a lot at CMU.</p>
<p>But check CMU career services and you will find CMU grads go to the best schools for MBA's, med, law, engineering etc etc so where does "considerably higher" come from?</p>
<p>(you want 04-05 post grad survey results)
listed by school, and then by major. Lots of good stuff here....where CMU grads are hired, salaries, and where they go to grad/professional school.</p>
<p>Although I've seen this before, it never hurts to look through it again (I didn't know this was what you were referring to.)</p>
<p>I agree, CMU sends grads to some great schools, but particularly for med schools, it seems that they send very few students to med schools (a large part of the reason is probably the lack of interest in pre-med at a predominantly engineering/CS school?) Anyhow, I couldn't help but notice the very few prospective med students the how very few get in to the very prestigious med programs. I e-mailed Renee Starek, a career consultant at CMU, who forwarded my question to Dr. Amy Burkert, the director of HPP (Health Professions Program). Basically, my e-mail includes questions about the number of pre-med students, med school placement, etc. I have not yet received an e-mail from Dr. Burkery but am hoping for one soon--though I may e-mail here again, since it's been almost a week with no response (just in case she did not get the e-mail by chance?) Thanks!</p>
<p>Like you, I have similar interests. I have considered majoring in Computer Science, Electrical/Comp Engineering, and Physics. (Also mathematics.) </p>
<p>I ended up choosing CMU, SCS. In the end my decision was based on the following factors:
* 135 students, 125 faculty
* An overhwelming opportunity to do research as an undergraduate
* A variety of fields of research combinging interests in mathematics, engineering, physics
* Extremely respected in the field</p>
<p>Of course, for physics and mathematics, Im not sure how CMU MCS is, but I assume that it is good. I would say that if you are fairly sure you will end up doing something in CS or Engineering (even if it will be connected to physics or math), definitely CMU is the way to go...</p>
<p>KRabble, you have to totally re-think your idea of "prestigious" when it comes to medical schools (trust me on this one ;)).</p>
<p>Top med schools like Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford are virtually impossible to get into unless you've ALREADY almost cured cancer, but even here CMU kids do get into some of these schools. Acceptance rates at those schools are often in the 5% range, sometimes even less (2.9% at Stanford!), rarely above 10%, and most applicants have 3.8 AND high MCATs. And you're only talking about maybe 100 or 200 in a class so the top 10 med schools only take let's say 1500 kids a year total, which isn't much given the huge # of premeds coming out of college, grad schools, jobs (career changes) etc.</p>
<p>I can tell you a school like UMDNJ (a bargain for NJ residents) is filled with ivy and top school grads who are happy to be there. Also anecdotally my dermatologist friend for example was telling me recently he had 3.7 gpa at Pitt undergrad and wanted Pitt med but couldn't even manage an interview there before being rejected. He went to a D.O. school. He makes obscene GOBS of money (and is happy!). </p>
<p>Pitt med is ranked in the top 20 and has an 8.7% acceptance rate...guaranteed once again it has its share of Harvard and Princeton kids. Some other acceptance rates of schools you might not think are prestigious: Boston U 4.7%, Tufts 7.0%, Wake Forest 4.7%, UCDavis 4.9%, UCincinnati 11.5%, Ohio State 10.8%, SUNY Stony Brook 10.5%----you get my point.</p>
<p>So when I look at where CMU grads go to med school it is very impressive.</p>