<p>I realize that these are two REALLY different schools...but I can honestly find near equal amounts of pros and cons for each</p>
<p>I am very uncertain about my career plans; as of right now, I want to do pre-med. I applied for engineering (chemical engineering @ caltech, BME @ duke), and i might keep that major because engineering is a very useful major (incase I change my career plans halfway). </p>
<p>So how would you compare their pre-med programs?</p>
<p>Just a few of my thoughts:</p>
<p>I'm not quite sure I feel comfortable about Durham....what would you guys say about the city?
However Duke just seems more well-rounded, especially with humanities...I do want to become fluent in French and maybe other languages too...</p>
<p>I'm really concerned about Caltech's curriculum....apparently it's really hard?
But I'm a girl, so I'm thinking that as a girl at Caltech, I'll have a greater advantage with resources and research opportunities (feel free to support/refute this)</p>
<p>I sort of feel like I'm choosing between two extremes...I feel as though Caltech's social scene isn't enough, yet I think Duke's party scene is a bit too much.</p>
<p>I have not visited the campuses yet; I will in the next 2 weeks. I know it will come down to whether I feel like it's a good fit or not, but I appreciate any input! Thanks!</p>
<p>well they definitely are completely different. for me personally i would chose duke without a second thought, but then again i never had any interest in even applying to Caltech or MIT (they strike me as having very similar atmospheres). i wouldn’t worry about durham because with the university there’s plenty of stuff to do and there’s restaurants and such close by so you don’t really need to go into durham all that much. but obviously both are good academic institutions and i would say it comes down to what type of environment you want because the personalities of the two schools are completely different</p>
<p>I can’t really answer your question directly, but I’ll give a few points on what I do know. First, Durham is indeed not the best college town. However, as gapin’it said, it’s really not that big of deal. Campus is extremely safe as long as you’re not stupid about the kind of situations you put yourself in, but this goes for any city. Plus, no matter where you go you’ll want to stay on campus most of the time because that’s where your board plan works (for the most part). Also, Durham as a community is thriving in the arts and just opened a fabulous new performing arts centers: DPAC. It’s not all bad, but the fact the students don’t go off campus often also creates a nice sense of community on campus.</p>
<p>Also, you mentioned that you’ve heard that Caltech’s curriculum is hard. I’ll just say that if you do Pratt BME, don’t expect ANYTHING close to easy. It is doable, though.</p>
<p>Finally, Duke is generally strong in the Humanities. It’s also nice that Pratt students can transfer into Trinity at any time if they want, and can take any Trinity courses that they want (so long as pre-reqs and such are covered, of course). However, Duke languages are really bad. French and Spanish are especially deplorable, so don’t put that in the “pros” column for Duke.</p>