<p>What about Duke and U Chicago?</p>
<p>CNI: as with all things, it depends on the person :)</p>
<p>How would WashU compare to a place like Duke or Cornell?</p>
<p>duke and Cornell > WashU.</p>
<p>Except - what if you like the Midwest? Or really like WashU's outreach programs? Or really want an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences? Or Jewish, Islamic, & Near Eastern Studies? Or the fact that they won</a> their national basketball tournament?</p>
<p>I just don't think ">" can be applied much globally is all...</p>
<p>my friend is a recruited athlete and chose duke over princeton</p>
<p>You'd need hundreds pages of text to cover every little facet of a school, so I'm just trying to give what I believe are the "better" schools. I mean, I don't doubt that Wash U is better than Duke at some stuff, but overall, if I had to pick a school, I'd go with Duke.</p>
<p>CNI - I think that's a much better way - saying what you'd pick and maybe why to help folks that are choosing. For this site to really serve as a resource for folks who are in the position of choosing where to look, where to apply, and where to go if they get in multiple places, I think more personalized or detailed information would go a long way. My opinion only, 'course, but being opinionated is what the interweb is all about :D</p>
<p>BedHead: How come that Brown is your favorite Ivy if Princeton is your location?</p>
<p>hey, i may have a slightly biased opinion, as i chose brown over duke last year.
i came from a school in the northeast, and whenever i mentioned i was choosing between duke and brown, the typical reponse i got was, 'why would you choose an southern athlete school over an Ivy League?'. clearly, duke is not just 'a southern athlete school', but that sentiment has a kernel of truth. Over the past 100 years, duke has not been known for its selectivity, prestige, grad. school placement, wall street placement, or any of the typical associations you'd make with an ivy league. though duke, especially over the last couple years, has been making huge strides into research, which seems to be trickling into the undergrad. quality, i chose brown because 1.) like other ivy leagues, it has a already commanding name that's really useful when wall street firms come knocking at the door and 2.) the demographics are much more integrated, and, for lack of better words, 'cultured'.
that's primarily the main dilemma you'll get with choosing between duke and an ivy league. i'd choose every ivy league over duke because i was turned off at the fact that the campus was so segregated and the fact that it was so isolated.
positives about duke? An absolutely stunning campus, great athletics, incredible weather, and the research triangle is developing into a research powerhouse. Duke is hands down the best school in the south, but overall, I was more comfortable and impressed with the student bodies at brown, dartmouth and columbia. </p>
<p>just my two cents...</p>
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duke has not been known for its selectivity, prestige, grad. school placement, wall street placement
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brown because 1.) like other ivy leagues, it has a already commanding name that's really useful when wall street firms come knocking at the door
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<p>Lol you have go to be kidding me.</p>
<p>I've had multiple Wall Street internships, and I have numerous resume books from various bulge bracket investment banks, and Duke is actually more represented than Brown at the major banks.</p>
<p>Duke is and has been a target of the Wall Street investment banks. If you do not believe, you are welcome to call HR.</p>
<p>Not known for its grad placement?</p>
<p>Unless #6 is a poor position, it's fair to say perhaps these people do not know what they were talking about.</p>
<p>I have yet to meet any informed individuals that did not associate Duke with excellent Wall Street placement or grad placement.</p>
<p>To be fair, shaqdaddy did say "over the past 100 years." I'm sure Duke's 1908 placement record isn't quite what it is now, so on average... ;) </p>
<p>Given
the demographics are much more integrated, and, for lack of better words, 'cultured'.
however, I do, of course, wish shaqdaddy had not been at a loss for words. I'm not on board with "cultured" as a distinguishing characteristic between the schools' student bodies. To each their own, however.</p>
<p>As an aside, here's a working</a> link for the document cited above. It's yet another list where numbers can....mean many different things.</p>
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i'd choose every ivy league over duke because i was turned off at the fact that the campus was so segregated and the fact that it was so isolated.
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<p>If you get turned off by an isolated campus, I don't think you would pick Dartmouth over Duke IMO.</p>
<p>And why should Wall Street Placement (Duke is at least equal to brown) be so important? What about overall job placement?</p>
<p>For the WSJ article, does anyone know if that is the year after graduation or within a few years of graduation? i feel like that makes a difference, if just a small one</p>
<p>I think it includes alumni of any year since it mentions, at least for Duke, "Students do well here but may take their time; only 25% of graduates here go immediately to a professional school" My guess is that it is the total number of alumni attending their select schools at a given time - regardless of class size - divided by the number of students in a particular class.</p>
<p>Again, just to reiterate other people's posts, it's all personal preference and there isn't a clear correct choice. They're all great. I personally chose Duke over Penn and Columbia. I liked the athletics aspect of Duke and felt that the student body was more united because they felt more pride in their school (largely due to the success of the basketball team). Also, Columbia I felt is more independent thinkers who like to do things more on their own and didn't have as "homey" of a feel. To be honest, as a junior in high school visiting the campus, living in New York City also intimidated me a bit, although by now, I'd be cool with it. But the students seemed very different and Duke felt more comfortable to me. Other people would absolutely love the opportunity to live in NYC in college and would come to a different conclusion than me.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Duke's social life is most similar to Dartmouth and Penn. I think Penn is the #1 private school applied to by Duke students (this is just from personal experience, not any conclusive study) - I know TONS of people who applied to both, and I think they attract similar people. Penn was as close #2 for me. :)</p>
<p>The only Ivy I would pick over Duke is Princeton - and even that is contingent on my Duke visit (and of course, whether or not I get into Princeton, haha).</p>
<p>Concerning segregation:
I've heard a lot about "self-segregation" at Duke. Now, this isn't something malicious, but I think it should be the goal of a good school to try and make students extremely comfortable around one another, transcending the factors that tend to make students clump together: race, socioeconomics, sexuality, etc, etc.</p>
<p>I have personally NEVER have had a close Black friend. I think I've only had two African-American students in my classes throughout high school, and there is somewhere around 20 at my school of 3,000 students.
I honestly can't wait for some diversity on campus, and "self-segregation" be damned I plan to ignore these virtual barriers.</p>
<p>As a Duke alum I think I should make a few comments. First of all, there is no question that Duke is excellent academically, not only in their undergraduate studies, but their graduate schools as well.. Most of my friends who graduated from Duke are successful in many different fields. All of the schools you mantioned are great schools. But it is true what they say about "hype."</p>
<p>Yes, it was great going to Duke (I was a chemistry major,)and people are impressed when I tell them that I went there. However, until I visited other campuses, I did not see what I was missing. The town of Durham held absolutely no interest for any of the students, at least not in the 4 years I attended. My friend's daughter says the same thing, and she is a sophomore there now. </p>
<p>If you want to be at a school that is almost totally self-contained, then Duke is for you. If you want exciting nightlife--and some students do--then it would be better to look for a school in a better college town, like NYC or Boston.</p>
<p>We sometimes went to party in Chapel Hill or took a rare trip to the beach, but other than that, it is , I felt, extremely isolated.</p>
<p>Duke has the best football program in the nation, that's why Duke over the Ivy's</p>