<p>I was hoping the community could help me make the right decision. So I just got off the waiting list at Duke and now I am faced with the difficult task of choosing between Duke and Cornell. I was set on going to Cornell; the food is excellent, excellent undergraduate opportunities, lots of frats, diverse population. But how about Duke?</p>
<p>Does anyone happen to know Duke's med acceptance rate for the pre-meds that actually make it and apply? Does Duke keep data regarding undergraduates that matriculate into med school based on GPA and MCATs? (Cornell does this; if so where can i find this data?) Are there easy and accessible research opportunities and volunteer opportunities at Duke? Is there gpa inflation at Duke? Is it "easier" to get a higher GPA at duke than at Cornell for a pre-med/biology major?</p>
<p>How is the food at Duke? What about the dorms? Wireless internet access? Is there a limited amount of Internet per month? (Cornell is 10gigs a month) Is it warm all year round? (Big factor because I hate the cold at Cornell)</p>
<p>Last thing: I heard that Duke is heavily segregated and not as diverse as the other top notch schools. Asians and whites tend to hang out in their own groups; is this true? First comes academics but social life is very important to me too. I would like to go to a very accepting and friendly school where I can be truly happy.</p>
<p>One of my friends who attended Duke for the first year felt the same way as you described it. True, he came from a pretty diverse highschool from the northeast so he was used to making friends and having a funtime with people of different ethic groups. I would call him average but when he arrived at Duke, he felt the same way you had described it, the whites and asians were cohesive and together. Jocks and sports athletes hang together in their own groups. He mentioned that the blacks were in their own groups too and everything was heavily segregated and he didn't like that. He transferred to UPenn his sophmore year.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Go Cornell. Don't betray the school that accepted you right away.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>lol, I say screw other schools' feelings and pick the one you think is right for you! Many groups do form somewhat based on race but they are not exclusive of other races. I am friends with many Asians who mostly hang out with Asians (I'm white). This means that even though it may seem that groups are race-based, they won't exclude you from a group just because of your race. </p>
<p>I found Duke to be very accepting and friendly, for the most part, there are a lot of rich elitist dbags out there but they don't matter and aren't the majority of the school!</p>
<p>you're gonna have to take the same pre-med requirements at both schools like organic chem, etc. You DON'T have to major in biology, or biochemistry or something like that for medical school; you can major in anything you want, as long as you have the GPA. I'm attending Rice in the fall and they have a 90% acceptance rate to med school, so I would imagine Duke and Cornell are around the same. As far as research, I visited Duke, and even though I'm not pre-med, I saw that there would definitely be a lot of opportunities for medical research. Dont know about Cornell. Duke is going to have snow in the winter, but obviously not as much as upstate New York. Athletics is about the same: Duke is good in basketball, sucks in everything else (except lacrosse), Cornell is good in hockey. Social scene: Both have frats, although Duke probably has a better social scene, although it is less integrated than Cornell might be. Can't go wrong, but I'd pick Duke. Why would you go to Cornell if you hate and can't stand the cold...upstate New York is one of the dreariest and coldest places in the Lower 48.</p>
<p>Lol, if you think self-segregation is only prevalent at Duke, then you really need to open your eyes. I've been to cornell, and trust me, the problem's just as bad there. You'll find that people tend to stick to others with similar backgrounds anywhere you go- in other words, it's not necessarily a unique problem to duke.</p>
<p>As for the Duke sucks at everything besides Basketball and lacrosses comment, do your research man! We don't <em>suck</em> at anything besides football. (and that might change next year, fingers crossed) For example our womens golf team has dominated the sport for the last few years. (didn't win this year though) Other teams are pretty good as well. (though the one's that are most fun to watch are probably basketball and lacrosse)</p>
<p>Just want to back up what SirGecko said. To say that Duke and Cornell's athletic programs are equivalent is bordering on absurdity. Duke routinely finishes in the top ten in the nation in the Director's Cup (an aggregate of a school's sports finishes). They are currently in 10th while Cornell is in 72nd! And athletics is the same? What? Also, Duke basketball gets a lot more national exposure than Cornell hockey (mostly because basketball is followed more closely than hockey). Duke fields teams that have been in the top ten in the nation in recent years in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's lacrosse, field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's cross country, and men's and women's soccer. Cornell has only hockey and lacrosse. Athletics definitely plays a bigger role in Duke's students lives than at Cornell. The weather in North Carolina is extremely mild. It typically snows once or twice in the winter about an inch or two and all the North Carolinians freak out. It's nothing like upstate New York and doesn't get nearly as cold or for as long. It's warm March - October generally. Sometimes it hits in the 70s in January randomly, but it's more in the 40s. The self-segregation thing happens everywhere and isn't unique to Duke. I probably have more Asian friends than white ones (I'm white). Both are great for pre-med. Both are known to not have that much grade inflation in the sciences compared to many other schools, so if you do well, you will get into a good med school. Good luck!</p>
<p>You really download 10 gigs a month? haha. There is a limit, but it is pretty high - not sure the exact number. Look at oit.duke.edu. I know one person who got an e-mail telling them they went over the upload limit once, which is lower than the dl limit I assume. I think it was something like 20 gigs. Don't know why anybody would need to upload so much in a month. I hear the Cornell food on campus is better - but it should be since there is not much of an off campus. At least Duke isn't in the middle of nowhere ;) (although Durham isn't the greatest either).</p>
<p>Duke and Cornell social life are both pretty good and you should be fine either place. Cornell is a lot larger, so that may be a positive or a negative depending on what you're looking for (13,500 undergrads vs. 6,000).</p>
<p>I posted the med school stats awhile back; check out my list of past posts. Basically, 85-90% of people who apply to med school from Duke each year get in (and this is out of all people who apply, Duke doesn't prevent people from applying or limit that stat to certain GPA or MCAT cut-offs). Of the people who don't get in, the average GPA is ~3.3 overall/3.0 in the sciences, which is quite low.</p>
<p>It sounds like Duke is a much better fit for what you want out of a school. I wouldn't really worry about the "self-segregation" thing; I think that issue is blown up around Duke just because it is in the South and has somewhat of an elitist reputation. In reality, if you are an open-minded kid who enjoys diversity (which it sounds like you are) you will have no problem making and keeping friends of all different backgrounds. I just graduated and I would say that a majority of my friends weren't white. Also, as someone who has visited a number of friends going to schools up north, I can tell you Duke is not at all unique in this regard.</p>
<p>In terms of research opportunities, they are excellent at Duke. The weather is infinitely better at Duke than in Ithaca, and the social scene is (so I hear) better than Cornell's as well. You will also find the quality of students on average to be stronger at Duke. As for the diversity of Duke compared to other top schools, it is actually one of the most diverse, so I don't really know where you got that information from. The incoming class last year was about 10% black, 7% hispanic, and ~30% Asian so that is almost half non-white, compared to other schools (like Harvard and Yale) which have about 40% non-white (usually ~9% black, 7% hispanic, and 20% Asian). I believe the only top-10 school that is more diverse than Duke is Stanford.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have other questions but, given your description of what you're seeking, I really see no reason why you would stay with Cornell over Duke (by the way, choosing to stay at a school out of some sense of "loyalty" is pretty silly in the long run, so I would ignore post #2). Obviously I am biased, as I chose Duke over Cornell (the bigger decision was Duke vs. Columbia/Princeton, and I actually never visited Cornell) so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I hope you choose Duke.</p>
<p>thanks for all the wonderful responses; can anyone provide a schedule that pre-meds generally take? (the schedule that i guess the career office would encourage?) is it recommended to place out of intro bio clases with AP bio credit because this a class that "weeds" out pre-meds? what about intro chem? also; having taken calc 3 and diff. equations in high school and calc BC, should i start with advanced math at duke? or easier math like calc I since theoretically I would do better in calc I and thus have a higher GPA?</p>
<p>olympia-
I'm in a similar situation with math (except instead of calc 3, i took linear). Lots of my friends did this, and when they went to duke, they told me that it'd probably actually be better to skip out on calc I and II. Math 32 apparently is really, really difficult, and while the upper level courses are challenging, they are much more rewarding than getting a low B in calc II.</p>
<p>if you took calc 3/diff eq in high school, i'd say go straight for math 103. yes it is notorious for being an extremely difficult class (as is math 32) but math 32 covers a lot of really tedious details about integrals you've probably forgotten (and dont want to remember) if you've had calc 3 already. </p>
<p>math 103 at duke essentially followed the multivariable calc class i took in hs, so you will have an upperhand in the class and should do well provided you work hard.</p>
<p>I would go to Duke unless you want to be an engineer. I didn't read anything besides your title. That means pre-med/pre-law/pre-business - go to Duke. Its more fun too.</p>
<p>I had to make a very similar decision--I was choosing between Duke, Dartmouth, Cornell, and a guaranteed medical program at UIC. I ended up choosing Duke because I thought it was the best for pre-med. I don't remember the exact numbers now, but the average MCAT score was higher at Duke than at Cornell. A lot of premed students go onto amazing med schools such as hopkins, harvard, upenn, yale etc. And of course Duke itself. That's the other thing, you're right next to a world-renowned medical school and hospital and you can get excellent research opportunities there.</p>
<p>My one concern is the grading. I've heard that a lot of the intro classes are used to weed people out, and that most of the pre-med core classes get curved to a C (or somewhere around there). Is that true? How hard is it to get an A? What are the stats for most med school applicants from Duke. Do med schools recognize that it seems very hard to earn good grades from Duke? Atm, I'm really scared : ((</p>
<p>Science classes generally curve to a B- being the average.</p>
<p>Oh and med schools generally do recognize that Duke is harder than most schools. Some will also take into consideration your major. (so for example one of the hardest majors at Duke is BME and that might get you a look with a slightly lower GPA than say a dance major; but not at all schools) That said a 3.0 from Duke is still not necessarily better than a 4.0 from bumsville university. (even though it might be harder to get.)</p>
<p>Oh and I believe the average GPA of Duke students accepted to medical school is like a 3.4-3.5? (and those not accepted is like a 3.2-3.3) I just know its a lot lower than the national average. (3.7 right now I think)</p>