Duke or the others?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>So I have a question about where I should apply early. My four favorites are BROWN, GEORGETOWN, UVA, and DUKE. I can’t decide which I should apply to early. My goal is to find a favorite and apply early to it. If I can’t narrow it down I will apply to Georgetown (and maybe another couple EA schools) early because it is EA, and the others RD. I want to find a favorite though because if an ED school is actually my favorite then I will have a better shot early. Please give me some info on Duke and what you guys think it is like compared to these places.</p>

<p>I know the stats and I don’t care which ranks higher on this or that list of the country’s best colleges. I have been to the campuses and know just how beautiful they all are. I want to know what it is like to be at the schools and what you guys think of them. I care about student life, the experience, and the preparation for after college. I want to have fun, make great friends, learn a lot, be involved in school spirit, party, work hard, etc. </p>

<p>If you guys could give me any sort of input on the schools and your experiences with them that may help me out. I know it ultimately comes down to my preference but I thought that you all being the knowledgeable people that you are could shed some light on the four schools. I can get a great education at all four of these schools, where can I have a great college experience?</p>

<p>Any info helps, be biased, be opinionated, be truthful, just help me out.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, I thought maybe adding some info about myself might help, but I don’t really need you guys to tell me the best fit for me, I just want your personal input on the colleges. Either way here is some stuff about me:</p>

<p>-Attend a northeastern prep/boarding school
-Like math and science less than English and history
-Like sports a lot, play for fun. Love Frisbee
-Prefer small classes in which I can be involved
-Don’t want to get lost in a huge confusing place
-Like parties and like to work hard
-Like to take the lead in clubs, class, etc
-Love music (play 4 instruments.) and listening too</p>

<p>Not sure if this helps, but hey, whatever, any input from you guys helps. So is Duke my new favorite?</p>

<p>Thanks,
Mike</p>

2

<p>Academically - Duke, Brown, UVA, Georgetown (Duke and Brown being the top two)</p>

<p>Not sure about the social life at Georgetown, but I'd say Duke ED (though Duke accepts less ED than Brown I think...)</p>

3

<p>pick whichever one you like best.</p>

<p>if you can't decide apply to georgetown EA as its not binding at least. all of the schools will provide an equal level of education.</p>

4

<p>last year for ED
duke accepted 33%
brown accepted 21% ED</p>

<p>they're not directly comparable though in my opinion because duke is a very large school that gives merit aid and brown is smaller and a member of the ivy league (no merit aid)</p>

<p>the schools also enjoy different regional reputations. duke is very well regarded throughout the south where some may not have heard of brown. in the mid-atlantic, new england, and west coast brown is considered to be a cut above duke.</p>

5

<p>Actually Duke and Brown both have about 6000 undergrads, so... yeah, but still maybe not an equal comparison.</p>

<p>Also I hear there is racial tension at Duke? Is this true? How diverse is it? Is everybody considdered equal? Is duke a very conservative or liberal place and how tolerant are the students and faculty?</p>

6

<p>Duke and Brown are really similar...Duke's student body is slightly stronger statistically and is ahead a bit on most rankings, Brown is pretty much even - the merit aid at Duke is for about 30 students, so it really isn't relevant. I don't know much about regional respect, but since Duke does better than Brown on the most popular rankings I'd expect them to have similar levels of prestige.</p>

<p>Duke and Brown are very similar academically, and I'd say better than Georgetown in all but a few areas such as IR...so what field you are looking at should play a role in your decision</p>

7

<p>"In the mid-Atlantic, New England, and West Coast, Brown is considered to be a cut above Duke."</p>

<p>Is this really true? I'm from Western NY, and they seem to be pretty evenly regarded around here...</p>

8

<p>thats probably not true, theres really no reason to think Brown's a cut above Duke so I doubt the general public would think that in any region</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
Also I hear there is racial tension at Duke? Is this true? How diverse is it? Is everybody considdered equal? Is duke a very conservative or liberal place and how tolerant are the students and faculty?

[/quote]

Compared to similar schools, like UNC Chapel Hill, Duke does have a tendency towards self-segragation, but this is not at all the same thing as "racial tension." Duke is diverse in almost all meaings of the word- racially, socioeconomically, academically, and geographically. Although many choose to have close friends of similar backgrounds, Duke students can and do mingle with people of all sorts of backgrounds and ideas. On my hall last year, there were people from all over the United States and several other countries (Italy, Poland, India, Zimbabwe, etc.). Duke is best classified as socially conservative and politically moderate, but you really have a wide range of views. It's impossible to clump professors together, but some departments are much more liberal than others (African/AA Studies, Cul Anth, Literature, Women's Studies).</p>

10

<p>Duke is also apparently filled with liberal bias among some of its professors...just search at the chronicle</p>

11

<p>Liberal bias compared with <em>Brown</em>? Erm...</p>