@warblersrule I should credit @Mastadon with posting that link before me. I agree that the Life article is fascinating for the intersection of somewhat pop cultural interpretations with now rarely available statistics. Without the segmentation inherent to current media, I’d think that the article was influential at its time. For a thread with some well-received comments on the topic, most notably by @Gator88NE, anyone interested can see http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1897982-the-historical-selectivity-of-colleges-by-sat-score-tiers.html#latest.
Even more interesting was the article beneath it.
It stated that when either Richard Nixon or John Kennedy make it to the White House they would have spent between 5 and 20 million dollars on the campaign.
That’s a week of tv ads in New Hampshire now. Lol.
@merc81 Interesting link! Talks about how Harvard was considered to be more “nonconformist” than Yale. That’s unexpected! Also, talks about how Duke is like Yale without vines and Ivy (literal Ivy). Good read.
you seemed happier at duke than Dartmouth <3
The college descriptions in the Life magazine article are priceless. Don’t miss Amherst, Antioch, NYU & Swarthmore.
For example: Describes Swarthmore as: “The right place for the academically gifted who want no social life.”
"I just get tired of uninformed posters making comments like “X is obviously better than Y because X is an Ivy”.
Agree, but the posts here are not doing that, saying go to Dartmouth just because it’s an ivy. Saying Duke is better is fine, but denigrating other schools in the process is probably not a great idea.
My daughter just went through a similar process of deciding between Dartmouth and Northwestern. Northwestern gave her a better offer in financial aid (not as great as full ride as you received from Duke) but we eventually chose Dartmouth because she loved the peer admitted students better after visiting the admitted students day.
By saying so, I may still advise your picking Duke in your case. The financial aid difference is simply too great to ignore. We love Dartmouth very much and wish everybody loves it. But there is no question that a Duke full-ride oppotunity shall win. One of my daughter’s friends rejected Harvard by taking the Duke full-ride last year. Hence I feel this should not be a question at all.
Good luck!
Hello everyone! I’ve read all your posts and appreciate all the time and effort you spent crafting your posts and advice. I’ve made a decision and will be attending Duke next fall. Thank you all!
Best of luck at Duke!
@rainreci Another cross-admit picks Duke 
Good luck! Make the most of this incredible opportunity.
By the same metric Duke loses to Cal Poly…
The cross-admit comparison is more or less a pointless metric, except when it does come in handy curing some insecurities (if it doesn’t backfire). Manipulating yield is no more than a part of a school’s admissions game these days. I don’t think Cal Poly is really a better school, nor do I believe any of these people chose Cal Poly because they think Cal Poly is better, but it proves certain points.
Duke is a great school but I would choose Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth and Brown over Duke anytime, not because they’re Ivies. I don’t think any of these schools is substantially better than the others. At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference and maybe how much money these schools are offering.
It likely depends upon where you live. If you live in the northeast/New England world of the old line WASP, prep, yacht clubs, Wall Street, Hamptons, country clubs etc then hands down Dartmouth will have the superior reputation and if you live in the south it’s probably Duke. Out west it’s probably split but others can opine. I am certain though that academically there is zero difference. It’s more a matter of what social aura you are comfortable with. Duke, Chicago, Wash U (all equivalent in my view) are world class universities and ranked higher than some Ivies, but Dartmouth certainly has a significantly higher “it” factor in in the Northeast and will grant you access to many more “places” if you care about those things. Summary = equal Academically but very different Culturally.