<p>Both are excellent schools and it comes down to personal preference. For me, what really turned me off about Northwestern was the quarter system/crazy academic calendar (as well as the fact that the campus is five minutes from my house!). Others might be okay with or even prefer the quarter system, but starting in mid-September and getting out in mid-June sounds terrible to me as opposed to Duke’s starting at the end of August and getting out at the very end of April. All my friends at Northwestern seem to have midterms all the time because the terms are so much shorter - now, as I said, you would definitely get used to it and you might like it, but I personally found the system unappealing. Probably not the single most important thing to consider, but one of many. I worked at a Northwestern lab full-time during a summer starting at the beginning of May, and a Northwestern student didn’t join me until 7 weeks later! Definitely get the first crack at the summer jobs when you get out so earlier. I know a lot about both schools, so if you have specific questions, feel free to ask. </p>
<p>I’d agree with rjkofnovi and Sam Lee that Evanston is a much better college town than Durham. But there are far worse locations than Durham and there is plenty to do on and off campus at Duke. It’s not like you’re in the middle of nowhere. But if being near a very big city is important to you, Evanston might be a better fit since Chicago is so convenient. Duke has the triangle, which has over a million people, but it’s certainly no Chicago. Charlotte, DC, Atlanta, etc. aren’t terrible drives, but not nearly as convenient.</p>
<p>You might say people get used to the cold, but most don’t grow to like it. Don’t get me wrong; I love Chicago, but the cold winters suck. This January it didn’t get above zero degrees F for like 10 consecutive days. The wind chill was -20 for a considerable time. I only left my apartment when absolutely necessary, it’s miserable. 20s or 30s with a few inches of snow I can deal with, but negative 5 with a foot of snow gets old. The past two winters in Chicago have been terrible, but the winter before that was relatively mild. This summer in Chicago has also been cold (finally nice in September!); July was coldest in history with only like 3 days above 80 and it was the 8th wettest summer on record. North Carolina weather >>> Chicago weather. Might not be important to you, but it makes you more active, doing activities, getting out of your room/library, people are more out and about, and leads to a more exciting experience. Although if you want an excuse to stay in and study, you might like the cold and snow! I’m not saying Northwestern students are hermits (far from it); just that in my personal opinion, the weather of Duke is a more significant advantage than Northwestern being in a better city. </p>
<p>And Duke basketball >>> all Northwestern sports combined (coming from somebody who has attended both athletic team events extensively). I think Duke students have more pride in the university than Northwestern (mostly because of the basketball team; Northwestern remains the only BCS conference team to NEVER make the NCAA basketball tourny; although Northwestern football is clearly better than Duke’s, but the experience doesn’t even come close to rivaling Duke basketball), which leads to a happier student body. Northwestern certainly isn’t bad in this regard, I just think Duke is better. Others can feel free to disagree.</p>
<p>From the academic standpoint, Northwestern music definitely has a better reputation than Duke’s. I’d say applied math and economics are fairly comparable. Northwestern engineering is larger and thus has more departments, but each individual dept is fairly similar, but at Northwestern you’d have more choices. Because of the size of Northwestern’s engineering program, it is more well-known. But if you know you want BME, for example, Duke is one of the best in the country (as is Northwestern). Overall, from an academic standpoint, Duke probably has a big more “prestige” and it slightly harder to get into it, if you’re into that, but Northwestern certainly is one of the best in the country and choosing based on that would be stupid, IMO.</p>
<p>Both campuses are beautiful. Northwestern along Lake Michigan, Duke’s sprawling greens and gothic architecture. Duke’s campus is more beautiful in my opinion, although Northwestern allows very easy accessibility to downtown Evanston while Duke is more segregated and thus is more inconvenient. Duke is also a lot larger and I think the facilities are nicer. (Although I haven’t gone in many of Northwestern’s buildings in the past few years).</p>
<p>Upon graduation, more Duke students go to the Northeast than Northwestern grads, while more Northwestern grads go to the midwest. Duke grads go to NYC, DC, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, LA, in great numbers. Northwestern has a lot more connections in Chicago, obviously, and is more midwestern. But with both having good national reputations, you could really go anywhere you want; just that they’ll be more recruiters for those particular cities at Duke than Northwestern, while employers target Northwestern students more for their midwest offices.</p>
<p>In the end, you should visit both campuses and see what fits you the best. If you don’t want to visit unless you get in, then just apply to both and see what happens. Both are great and you can’t go wrong; it comes down to personal preference. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>