First of all congrats. As a Duke alum I admit that both schools are virtually identical in terms of career prospects and prestige.
But here are a couple of points:
Most people in the US would have a hard time naming any Ivy League schools apart from Harvard and Yale. I really find it hard to believe that in your country someone would know the difference between U Penn and Penn State U. You shouldn’t go to a school based purely on name recognition.
Have you visited both campuses? Walking around 30th street area of Philly late at night can be a bit scary, esp for a foreigner. Philly is a lot more urban than Durham, which may be good or bad depending upon how you look at it.
@sgopal2 I have not visited any of the campuses and won’t be able to either. But looking at the curriculum and prospective majors, I can say that I have decided to go with Duke.
As for the additional obnoxious comments about Penn/Penn State and 30th street station lemme say it again…
People very rarely confuse Penn and Penn State. Except apparently on college confidential where people are obsessed with the possibility of that happening… but realtalk: americans and those abroad know exactly what Penn is… And no, it’s not a “bit scary” walking around the 30th street area of Philly late at night. Joe Biden’s granddaughter and Donald Trump’s daughter both go to Penn. I doubt either family would have shipped their kid somewhere dangerous. Penn and Drexel have also invested literally billions of dollars to the area, transforming it into one of the most thriving urban centers in the country. The 1980s called and it wants your outdated vision of the area around Penn back. Like any urban environment, one must be aware of their surroundings when they aren’t on campus. However, aside from being a generally sentient human being who looks both ways before crossing the street, you don’t need any extra street smarts in Philly that you wouldn’t need in New York, London, or Hong Kong.
And with that- i’ve said what must be said. Enjoy Duke
Yeah, the same people who confuse Penn and Penn State would be the same people who mistake duke to be a state school just because we have prominent sports. Those that matter will know.
The lay public often does not make a distinction between Penn and Penn State. That is one of the reasons why Penn has stopped calling itself “UPenn”.
Directors at Goldman Sachs, adcoms at Harvard Med and professors at Cambridge know the difference between Penn and Penn State. Your neighbor or aunt might not.
Here is a quote from Penn’s president (in case you think I’m making this up):
http://www.thedp.com/article/2015/04/penn-global-brand-recognition
“Throughout her world travels, Gutmann has noticed that Penn has developed a stronger international reputation and is not deterred by the fact that the University is still sometimes confused with Penn State.”
Of course, it makes little sense to focus on what lay people think. I’m sure a certain percentage of the population thinks that the Leland Stanford Junior University is a community college (“junior university”) but that never stopped anyone from attending Stanford
No one mistakes Duke for a state school simply because it’s named “Duke”. I have never heard of a state school with a name like that. Also, the commentators on TV always talk about how Duke is a very prestigious private university so that helps avoid confusion.
@Nerdychica you are so incredibly off base that it’s actually laughable. Penn has ALWAYS called itself Penn and UPenn is a much more recent creation that some people have adopted. In terms of Penn’s 260ish year history, it has only just started calling itself UPenn. At other points in Penn’s history it was also known as U of P or U of Penn. But it has ALWAYS been referred to as Penn. Vintage sweaters say Penn. Vintage pennants say Penn. Inscriptions on our Ivy Stones (stones we place around campus every year on Ivy Day), say Penn.
Furthermore, you literally know nothing about being a Penn student so I recommend you stop posting about it. Again, lay people DO know Penn. I would know because I am a Penn grad who has the unimaginably glorious privilege of being able to tell people I went to Penn when they ask me where I attended school. 99/100 people know that I mean the Ivy League college. Once in a while, they think I mean Penn State and then, guess what? I simply correct them because it’s not a big deal!
And the article you reference FULLY supports what I’ve been saying. Penn has developed a stronger international reputation though the university is still ~SOMETIMES~ confused with Penn State. Which is exactly what I’ve been saying.
And while I’m at it, my argument about Rhodes Scholars doesn’t translate well to your argument about Duke’s lack of Nobel affiliates. At no point in Duke’s history were its professors and graduates not hoping for Nobel Prizes. In contrast, there are entire decades in Penn’s history during which no students even applied for a Rhodes Scholarship.
Duke is an outstanding school and it doesn’t need you to make weird, inaccurate, and disparaging comments about the Ivies to make that true.
Yeah, I only quoted your president in a 2015 article from the Daily Pennsylvanian. Please show some respect. I am very familiar with Penn and even interviewed at the school fairly recently. My best friend from high school is a M&T alum.
Here’s another article from the Pennsylvanian for you to peruse (it was written by a student who currently attends your esteemed alma mater):
“I am more than pleased having wound up at Penn, and in my first year, circulating as a freshman and taking stock of other new arrivals , I noticed a puzzling and troubling attitude. There was a serious resentment at Penn’s comparative lack of recognition present among some I encountered. True, the painfully generic “University of Pennsylvania” invites regular confusion with a far less glamorous state school.”
JUST TO BE CLEAR: I’m NOT saying that all (or even most) lay people associate Penn with Penn State. Some do and it has been something that Penn has grappled with for a long time. To pretend it doesn’t happen is ludicrous. I’m NOT saying it’s particularly important. I’m NOT saying that students shouldn’t pick Penn because of it!
Do me a favor. Don’t distort what I’m saying. Also, please be more cordial in the future. We can disagree politely.
Yeah- you quoted Penn's President saying the exact same thing I've been saying but you brought her words up in refutation of my comments. So, I imagine you can understand why you're still wrong? You see how disagreeing with your assertions is different from distorting what you're saying, right? I hope...?
That article you're citing is about Penn's relative lack of name recognition compared to places like Harvard and Princeton--- which it does indeed have. I can show you ten more articles from the DP that have the same complaint because, as I've mentioned maybe a thousand times, it's true! I don't know how many times you want me to say what I've been saying this whole time: Penn is sometimes confused with Penn State! That article corroborates that. Not that it was ever a point of contention since I've been saying that since my first post about this... but perhaps now you'll let it go? Because I still live life as a Penn grad who does a ton of traveling and who very rarely has had Penn confused for Penn State, anywhere. It's just not a huge issue for 99% of the interactions one has...But please, don't let reality stop you from posting about it again
Solid attempt at tone policing. Hope your interview at Penn State went well-- I mean UPenn! Silly me...
Can we just end this conversation by saying that both Duke and Penn are outstanding schools and that there is absolutely no need for one to disparage the other??
I think we’re pretty much on the same page. I’m trying to be as accommodating and considerate as possible but the other poster appears to have a unique understanding of how dialogue works. None of this is even particularly relevant anymore. The OP has made his/her decision. It is the right one in my estimation. Penn is a fabulous university (I can definitely see myself going to graduate school there) but this particular poster appears to be a bit of a curmudgeon. That’s perfectly alright. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.
I know it has been said but can’t help but point out that there is complete misinformation going on by @NerdyChica regarding the CAS vs wharton recruiting opportunities and it is indicative of someone who knows little to nothing about Penn. If a recruiter is willin to recruit a DUke or Columbia Econ person over a Wharton person what makes you think they wouldn’t recruit a Penn Econ person over a Wharton person? ( btw Penn Econ is ranked higher than Duke and Columbia Econ in all rankings). Recruiters like applicants from non traditional ( non -business) backgrounds because they bring a different perspective and way of thinking about problems. The good thing with Penn Econ and CAS in general is that students can take as many Wharton classes as they want and have greater technical knowledge and also have access to more recruiting opportunities since Penn is the number 2 target college for business recruiting after Harvard ( some say they are equivalent in this area).
Also the parchment split is like 48-52 for Duke and even the actual website says it is not statistically significant ( it is not in red-green color). Considering that Duke is essentially the only really elite school in the south whereas Penn has to compete with 7 other ivies plus MIT and several top LACs in the northeast, puts this comparison into perspective.
Penn =
Ivy League,
easy access to NYC, Philly, DC, Boston, etc
Wall St connections
large city setting (Philly)
don’t really need a car (which is HUGE, btw)
WAY easier to get a job than Duke
Internationally renowned
Duke =
Southern and laid back
Harvard of the south
Great sports environment (BBall and Lacrosse)
@NerdyChica There are many other rankings that place Penn above Duke in terms of ROI, salaries, reputation, qauality etc. The schools are pretty comparable. What you are saying proves the point I initially made, if recruiters are willing to hire Duke econ kids (which they do because Duke has very good employment stats) then why on earth wouldnt they hire Econ kids from an Ivy league university with a higher ranked econ department and probably better knowledge of finance due to access to wharton classes and resources? they actually do, and a lot. In any case the employent statistics prove that.
