<p>I am currently applying to college specifically UC's and CSU's. Recently, my counselor told me about the opportunity and chances that I have to be accepted by Duke through Early Decision. I have until tonight or tomorrow to fully make up my mind.</p>
<p>Counselors, mentors, and peers have told to not worry about the atmosphere because it is a great academic and athletic school. They work with UNC and NC state so it is an alive atmosphere which is what I would like.</p>
<p>As for financially, I have ran the calculator from Duke and an estimate was that I would be getting ~45k in scholarships, grants, aide etc which is phenomenal compared to the price of UC's and CSU's. </p>
<p>The reason why I am hesitant is because I live and California and I would have to travel across the nation to attend this school. However, Duke is an amazing school and I have the opportunity to possibly go there and I don't want to regret not applying in the future. I don't know what to do. I'm just nervous of doing ED because it is binding. On the side note, I am interested in medical school but as for college and what I want to do I don't have a definite answer...</p>
<p>I have no experience with Duke, and I’m still a high school student as well so wait for other people to post some advice as well… but in my opinion if you have the opportunity of receiving that much aid and you like the the atmosphere of the school then apply early. If you don’t get in there, you can always fallback on the UCs (which in themselves are great universities), and no matter what anyone tells you, it’s easier to get into Duke if you apply early.</p>
<p>Also even though you don’t know what you want to do undergrad yet, Duke is strong in a variety of areas so you won’t find a problem with anything you decide to do there. On the other hand, if you knew for a fact that you wanted to do CS or Electrical engineering or something, I would say that it would be better to go to the UCs anyways (as good as Duke may be). </p>
<p>Again, I’m inexperienced for the most part with both schools, so wait for other posts as well.</p>
<p>Definitely consider finances. But as a first-year at Duke, there’s no where else I’d rather be. I love the intellectual engagement at Duke and the focus on a liberal-arts atmosphere. There’s a wonderful school spirit here that I love. I’m loving my time at Duke, and the people I’ve met, and I would strongly urge you to consider applying ED. </p>
<p>If you have specific questions or would like to talk more, feel free to reach out via PM.</p>
<p>Re: stress, I would say call tomorrow and ask if you can switch an ED app to RD later on if you change your mind before decisions come out-- this way, you could complete the application and take some more time to think about the situation.</p>
<p>How do the net prices of Duke and the UCs and CSUs compare according to the net price calculators? Subtract only financial aid grants, not loans, from the list price to get the net price.</p>
<p>Remember, ED is for a school that is your clear first choice, and you need to be comfortable making the matriculation decision without being able to compare its financial aid offer with that of any other school.</p>
<p>Duke does have a heavy fraternity and sorority presence (29% of men in fraternities, 42% of women in sororities). If fraternities and sororities are a significant positive or negative for you, that may be a consideration (fraternities and sororities are present at most UCs and CSUs, but a far smaller percentage of students belongs in them).</p>
<p>Considering your hesitancy I wouldn’t apply ED, but would still apply RD. If your counselor thinks you have a really good shot ED you will be competitive RD as well. If I were you I wouldn’t want to risk regretting the decision to do ED later when being legally forced to go after you are accepted. What if you learn something that you really don’t like about the school. I personally believe it is risky to do ED in a non statistical respect when the school is not a clear cut number 1 choice.</p>
<p>“If I were you I wouldn’t want to risk regretting the decision to do ED later when being legally forced to go after you are accepted.”</p>
<p>There are no legal issues; you cannot be forced to attend. If an ED financial aid offer is insufficient to support attendance, you decline it and apply elsewhere RD.</p>
<p>That is true. The reason why I want to decide today is so that I can send my CSS profile for priority and hopefully find out the financial aide package around the same time if I were to be accepted. </p>
<p>Yes, I won’t know if I like it or not but for me I won’t know if I like it or not until I actually experience it. </p>
<p>I feel like the pros seem to be outweighing the cons. I am just not certain where I would want to go but this is a great opportunity for me. </p>
<p>Thank you for the responses guys, I appreciate the tips.</p>