Duke or Northwestern?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

Hey guys,

I realize these might be getting annoying, but I’m so torn between these two schools and would love some outside input. I’ve lived in the suburbs of Chicago my whole life so I’m a huge Chicago sports fan and I absolutely love the city. My older brother attended Northwestern (he’s about 8 years older than me) so I grew up loving the university from a nonacademic perspective. I’m planning on majoring in BME and possibly doing premed but I’m prepared to change my mind as I go into college and develop my interests. I definitely want to try my hand at research as an undergrad and I think both universities give me the opportunity to do that. The cold isn’t too much of a factor for me since I’ve lived here my whole life, but the weather in Durham definitely doesn’t hurt. As I said before, I’m a huge sports fan and being a part of the Cameron crazies would be insanely exciting. I’ve visited both schools and I love both of the campuses and the student bodies, although I got the impression that Northwestern has a more diverse student body whereas Duke held a more homogeneous, Southern, kinda preppy vibe. Durham has gotten a bad rep from some of the things I read online, but it wasn’t a bad place to be, although Evanston/Chicago are much nicer. I want to study abroad and Duke engineerers have a very high rate of doing that, although I’m sure I could make it work at NU. I was more impressed with Pratt’s engineering facilities than McCormick’s, but I like how Northwestern starts engineering students off with design courses right off the bat, whereas at Duke, Pratt students have don’t have a design course until senior year. Pratt seems to have a verh structured course load that doesn’t vary much from student to student, whereas NU’s quarter system would give me more of an opportunity to explore classes(although the quarter system sounds very stressful). Duke is very highly ranked in BME and I’m getting the sense that Duke has slightly more prestige from when I tell people what schools I’m choosing between, although a slight difference in prestige doesn’t necessarily carry that much weight for me personally. I’m not that much into the party scene and I want to be around other students that are both relaxed/easy going and passionate about what they’re doing. I’d appreciate any type of input/experience that you guys can offer. Thanks!

2

I used to live in Chicago, so I know the attraction to the beautiful Evanston campus at Nwestern. However keep in mind that Northwestern’s med schools is located downtown, very var from Evanston. So any of the BME you will be doing will have less clinical focus.

Duke on the other hand has its BME majors get input from clinical faculty at Duke Med (which is on the same campus). Also if you change your mind and decide premed, then there is no better research opportunity than having a hospital right across the street from where you are taking classes.

Imagine yourself in the middle of February with the bone chilling wind coming across the lake and the temperature reaches -20 F with wind chill. Where would you rather be ? Chicago or Durham? The cold Chicago winters can get old after a while. Being near the lake is nice in the spring/summer time, but not so nice really during the middle of winter.

3

I was in a similar situation as you – I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and was interested in BME. In fact, Evanston was the place I’d hang out in high school since it was so close to me. I ended up choosing Duke for a variety of reasons, including weather, campus, school spirit, semester vs. quarter system, and academic fit. I attended Northwestern courses on campus prior to attending college and also conducted research with a Northwestern medical school professor over a summer (a Northwestern student joined me 5 weeks after I started…they get out late!) on top of spending probably hundreds of hours in Evanston, so I think I have a fairly good exposure to both campuses. (I graduated from Duke in BME and also conducted research as an undergrad there as well).

While Evanston may be a nicer city than Durham in a vacuum, I think Durham actually is a better setting to attend college personally. It is more reasonably priced, caters to the college crowd (can actually get into bars under 21), short weekend getaways to the mountains and the ocean, surprisingly good food scene, sprawling beautiful campus but with easy access to all you could want, and much better weather. You may not think weather makes a difference and are “used to the cold” – but I was too and I LOVED the campus vibe that resulted from the great temperatures. It just allows people to be more social, do more activities, participate in sports, and have more fun. I really think it enhanced my college experience. You’re in school during the fall, winter, and spring, and Evanston/Chicago hibernates during the winter and isn’t nearly as fun. The summer is where it’s at, but students leave then. The wind chill in Chicago (which I experienced this morning…) is 32 degrees! In late April…boooo. Durham is getting up to 77 tomorrow, quite a difference for having BBQs, frisbee on the quad, etc.

Also, while being close to Chicago in theory is awesome, based on my conversations with undergrad Northwestern students, they rarely actually go into the city so in practice it doesn’t add all that much. The vast majority of your time is spent on campus in college, so a beautiful vibrant campus is, in my opinion, much more important than the city it is located. Duke BME is also top notch, so you can’t beat the professors, research, and students that you will be immersed with in that program. Lastly, I felt my Northwestern friends who more constantly stressed because they always had exams because of the quarter system – shorter timeframes for classes and they don’t get out until June, putting them at a slight disadvantage on the job hunt, I found. (Some like the quarter system, I personally find it very unappealing).

But the thing that stood out to me about Duke was the school spirit and pride in the university. Duke has a contingent that is southern and preppy as you state, but that is by no means the predominant type or dominating in any way. The top 6 states of undergrads that attend Duke are California, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida, so that’s a pretty diverse group and the only southern one in that is North Carolina. I had friends from all over the country and world with varied backgrounds and interests (just visiting a Duke friend of mine in Hong Kong, my sophomore year roommate was from Japan). I would not call the Duke student body homogenous in the least, but I’ll certainly admit that the preppies certainly have a presence, but you won’t feel out of place at all if you’re not preppy. I think Duke and Northwestern are similarly diverse, with Northwestern probably having more Midwesterners and Duke having more Easterners.

Here are links to my previous comments on Duke vs. Northwestern, although many were regarding different majors than BME, so may not by fully applicable:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/14261610/#Comment_14261610
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/13338114/#Comment_13338114
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/15749101/#Comment_15749101
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17208897/#Comment_17208897

4

CONGRATULATIONS on these two superb acceptances; they are both truly excellent schools, they have so much in common, they provide splendid resources (of all sorts) to undergraduates, and they will serve your immediate and long-term needs exceptionally well. However, @rjc996, I respectfully suggest your concept of Duke’s homogeneity (preppy, Southern) is stereotypically-based, not factual. Actually, knowing both universities well, I believe Northwestern – not Duke – is less decidedly less diverse. This isn’t worthy of extensive debate, however, I honestly suggest you’re mistaken in this assessment.