<p>I’m on this message a bit late, but I do hope you still read what I have to say. Obviously, I’m at Duke, but this question was the biggest dilemma I faced in choosing my college. Early in the application season (Late August), I was approached by the Williams Men’s Soccer Coach. He was interested in having me on the squad and offered to make Williams my home. Now, please bar any idea that my academics were in anyway suffering as I did get accepted to Duke without a hint at being recruited. Thus sprang the single biggest decision I ever had to make because as anyone knows, you choose a college not for the next four years, but the next forty. </p>
<p>I was a self-labelled “Econ/PoliSci” guy with a hankering for art history, so not quite up your alley. For the sake of others reading this and to be as complete as possible, I’ll elaborate on how those stack up. Both have excellent Economics programs, but Duke likely has better job placement (I don’t have any support for this, however). Though I didn’t know at the time, Duke is home to some of the foremost political scientists in the nation, second only to Stanford. In addition to having the newly elected President of the American Political Science Association at Duke, a politically-charged history (Sanford’s bid for presidency, charting the Hunt Commission–Duke professors MADE superdelegates) gives Duke the edge here. In the art field, despite having revitalized their art program and having the Nasher Museum of Art, the juggernaut that is Williams College Art cannot be denied. </p>
<p>In your particular case, for BME, I’d say Duke is a better fit. While Williams research is very student-oriented, the main reason behind that is the complete lack of other people wanting to do research (Townies aren’t about the jump in the lab, and Williams’ only next door neighbor is a golf course). Sure, between Duke and UNC Chapel Hill, there is a lot more competition, and it makes it harder to get a position. Ask yourself though, is that a bad thing? Finally, with the proximity of the schools and the resources of each, there are more opportunities to be had for research along a the more diverse selection. The edge goes to Duke.</p>
<p>There are many other ways to split hairs, but basic concerns are school history, school pride, sports, different extracurriculars, size of the school, campus, weather and social life. </p>
<p>Both have rich school history and a ton of school pride. Make no mistake, any Williams alum will be as proud of their college as any Dukie. </p>
<p>Duke wins on the sports front, even if Williams holds well in the NESCAC and DIII overall. </p>
<p>Opportunities for fun and novel extracurricular activities are pretty even. It’s place in nature makes Williams a fantastic spot for hiking and camping, and the college does take advantage of this. The only issue is that November-April all of that is covered in snow, while at Duke anything below 30 degrees is considered a hostile environment (so Williams is limited in that sense). However, the Williams 4-1-4 schedule allows for kids to come back to school and basically be at college but with less responsibility and accountability. Duke has that, but during the summer. Study Abroad–as I hope everyone in the world will one day realize–is all about red tape and leveraging. To say that any school has a better abroad program than another takes a LOT to prove since every top school just sends students anyway. I know, I know, there’s one sharp stick from Williams shouting from the hill top about their WC-only programs. Let’s play a round of poker: Wiliams bets the Williams-Mystic Program; Duke matches with the Duke Marine Biology Lab in Beaufort. Williams raises with Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford; Duke calls with the Duke-LSE Programme. Both show their cards, and it turns out that Duke also has the entire Duke Engage program, Duke in NYC, and Duke in Florence/Paris/Munich/Madrid(?). That’s why you don’t try to walk the table with low pairs. </p>
<p>The size of the school also plays a large role in what school has more diverse extracurriculars. Williams is a tiny school–don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The entire college is marginally larger than the first-year class at Duke, and just over a tenth of the size of Chapel Hill’s freshman class. Some people say this is a good thing. I disagree highly. The way I see it is that you can always limit your circle, but once you’ve hit the circle’s limit, then you can’t go further. NO ONE at Duke knows everyone at the school. No one knows their entire class, I’m pretty sure. Williams? Everyone knows everyone. 500 first-year students is the size of an average public school. 2000 first-year students? Probably a few high schools in California, but otherwise, it’s much bigger than what most people have experienced. Here’s my warning: once every person in your class knows you at Williams, then everyone in your class KNOWS you at Williams. They know your reputation and rumors about you, or they know that you have a great smile, rugged good looks, and like to call girls within 24 hours after the first date. Either way, it’s hard to change and even harder to blend in. Duke isn’t so drama-prone because there is a large number of students from around the world who have different interests. This means that there are a myriad of clubs you can join and opportunities to meet amazing new people everyday and still not know all the awesome people walking around you on campus. You can always make a big school small, but you can’t make a small school big. Advantage Duke.</p>
<p>Both campuses are gorgeous. The town around Williams is mundane but has an humble, understated appeal. Duke is more urban, which gives you more variety with which to spice up your night life. Nonetheless, with urban environments come a higher cost of living and, for the kid walking down the side alley at night, a mugging or two. With Chapel Hill just a bus ride away, I cannot say that you’ll run out of things to do after you close the books for the night at Duke.</p>
<p>For weather, the first thing that Duke guarantees you is a tan. Williams fulfills a promise that encompasses more winter jackets and exchanges form-fitting sundresses for the soft caress of flannel. I can’t see what there isn’t to love about North Carolina weather. I like to ski, you say? Well, I’m on the Ski/Snowboard team at Duke. We’ll talk about it when you get here.</p>
<p>Finally, social life. The equation of cold weather plus smart kids renders lots of partying and binge drinking. Don’t believe me? Look at Middlebury, Dartmouth, Cornell. All three schools boast that they have fantastic social lives and throw “crazy parties”. This isn’t to say that warm-weather schools don’t have fun. We do. But a very different kind of fun. You know those nights in high school where there was a blizzard/storm and your parents wouldn’t let you out of the house? You had no homework and nothing to do, so you settled down a watched a movie or something similarly benign. College is like that too, except your parents are your two buddies and you guys forgot the DVD player. That’s right, a bunch of hormone-infused young adults are in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and nowhere to go, so they drink. That’s fun, but essentially, it’s drinking to be drunk. Duke never has those issues because there is always something to do, even if it’s at worst golfing or going to a heated ACC rival match in Cameron. Sure we party, and we party hard, but we drink to feel relaxed and to enjoy ourselves, not because there’s nothing else to do.</p>
<p>After you rationalize it all as I have above, with nothing else added in, Duke does come out on top. But I will make no pretense that I have broken down each school with equal knowledge of both and have provided you with a completely objective shake-down. I just tried my best to tell you how I made my decision.</p>
<p>I’ve written a lot here. I do hope you read it all, but I know most won’t which is why I broke this up all so nicely. Either way, both are great schools and you will make the school of choice your home, and you will love it immensely. </p>
<p>}—The Blue Devil—{</p>