<p>I live about 20 minutes from Philadelphia, and have always liked Penn. Duke was the same story once I visited. These are by far my top two schools, and I plan on applying ED to one of them. I want to apply to the school that will be less hard for me to get into as they really are so close in preference for me. In short. Which school do you think is less hard to get into early? </p>
<p>Penn has a slightly higher ED acceptance rate. Especially if you are a PA resident.</p>
<p>However, you should visit both and decide which one is better for you.</p>
<p>I like the same two schools (plus UVA and Vandy) and am struggling with the same choice as to ED. Penn has a slightly larger class so I think that’s why it might be easier to ED there, but it is so hard to know.</p>
<p>Actually, both Duke and Penn had the same Early Decision acceptance rate for the Class of 2018: 25%. Also, while being a Philadelphia resident is a bit of an admissions hook at Penn, I’m fairly certain that being a Pennsylvania resident is not (at least as far as I’ve always heard and understood). The bottom line is that both schools are quite comparable in terms of admissions selectivity, both for ED and generally.</p>
<p>@mrbananas: As you know, these two excellent universities have great similarities, specifically including their full-range of admissions statistics. Therefore, I’d suggest you focus on the differences, which probably are NOT things intellectual/academic or future career/professional. Rather, which institution’s “cultural fit” are YOU more likely to embrace? To illustrate, you’ve seen the campuses and the cities, where would YOU more like to spend the next four years? Similarly, which school’s “spirit” seems more attractive to YOU. In addition – and I appreciate that this is even more-difficult – did one undergraduate student body have greater appeal to YOU? Finally, would YOU prefer to watch basketball, at Cameron or at the Palestra 
? This list could be far more extensive, but I know you get the idea. My recommendation is simple: Penn and Duke are outstanding universities and it is VERY unlikely that the superb opportunities they offer – in the broadest sense – will appreciably differ. However, “cultural fit” is entirely individual; for that reason, it might reasonably be decisive in your ED selection. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>Schools are similar academically. I’d consider all of the other factors that will go into you next four years where the schools do have differences such as …where you want to live (do like urban or not), does one student body seem to be a better fit, do you want big time sports (Duke basketball) , do you have a preference as to the size of the school (Duke is a bit smaller) etc… You can’t make a bad choice.</p>
<p>I think in your case, the choice should probably boil down to: would I prefer to stay close to home and see my parents/family frequently (say, most weekends), or would I prefer to go away to an entirely new environment and setting for my young adult years? Neither answer is inherently right or wrong, but that’s probably the starkest distinction for you right now.</p>
<p>^^I don’t think that staying close to home means you necessarily will see family most weekends. After a long search, my S’s favorite and best fit college turned out to be only 20 minutes from our house. We had an honest conversation before he sent in the deposit. He made it clear that he wanted to live on campus and have the full college experience. He promised not to use home as a crutch and not to come home to have laundry done etc., to As parents we promised never to pop by “when we were in the neighborhood” or to expect him home other than for school vacations. With few exceptions, he just came home for school vacations (maybe once a year we met in NYC for dinner and a show or something and one year he surprised me and came up for my birthday) He also experienced the city in a very different way as a student than he did as a suburban HS student. Being close was helpful at times like when his computer died I could drive down with an old laptop to use until his was fixed etc,. When I went to Penn years (and years) ago two of my suite-mates grew up close to Phila. and had a similar positive experience (also with non-intrusive parents). When my S went to grad school halfway across the country he came to appreciate how fast it was to get home during school as an undergrad!</p>
<p>Consider for which you could write a better supplement. I don’t know much about Duke but for Penn the supplement is extremely important as it gives them an idea of how you would in the school. Also as a pennsylvania resident, you will definitely be at an advantage at Penn. But if you are undecided I would reccoment not applying ED rather, apply RD and make your decision then,</p>
<p>^ ^ ^ ^
“Also as a pennsylvania resident, you will definitely be at an advantage at Penn.”</p>
<p>Is this accurate? I have never understood this to be true for the University of Pennsylvania, although it obviously is correct for Penn State (however, they are VERY different institutions). </p>
<p>^^^^I agree, I don’t think being a PA resident gives an applicant any particular advantage at Penn. It is an Ivy League school, not a state school.</p>
<p>I thought the same, but I tried to research it to find out for sure. </p>
<p>Penn doesn’t claim that there is any advantage, but looking at scatterplots on collegedata of admitted/denied students, the average GPA and SAT for Pa. residents <em>do</em> seem to be a <em>little</em> lower than for others. The sample is not random, verified accurate, or very large, either (self-reported, for classes of 2015-2019, n=32 “in state” [5 ED, 27 RD] and n=305 “out of state” [68 ED, 237 RD]).</p>
<p>I’ve read a few things that tend to support your research, FCCDAD; however, I don’t believe it’s an “officially sanctioned” advantage, as it would be at many public universities. Rather, perhaps local familiarity and Penn “connections.” Further, the stuff I’ve read suggests more of a metropolitan Philadelphia informal advantage than a Pennsylvania-wide one. </p>
<p>They are both ok</p>
<p>@mrsbananas69: Thank you; what a rousing – and well justified – endorsement. The last time I checked, both Penn and Duke resided solidly within the top-ten of America’s National Research Universities (in most rankings). I’m relieved to learn that meets your criteria for “ok.”
</p>
<p>I wonder if Penn appears to accept local residents at a higher rate with lower scores for the same reason that WashU appears to do the same thing with St. Louis residents - faculty kids. It’s kind of the ultimate hook and WashU would rather educate the locals than shell out 50% of tuition to another school, so they admit them. If Penn offers faculty a similar deal, it could throw the stats off, while the average non-faculty kid wouldn’t have any easier time than anybody else.</p>
<p>Philadelphia residents likely have an edge. Penn still offers a number of Mayor’s scholarships to Philly residents. The scholarships were created years ago in 1910 as Penn agreed to offer Philadelphia residents scholarships in exchange for land provided by the city. A city ordinance in 1977 reaffirmed some 125 yearly scholarships to Philadelphia students. It was many years ago, but I still have my letter from Frank Rizzo.
Good luck. You cannot go wrong with either Duke or Penn.</p>
<p>I think that what @MrMom62 is saying makes sense. The HYPSM school in our community takes a very large number of local kids. But when you look at who these kids are, you see that faculty kids comprise a large percentage.</p>