Duke vs. Michigan

<p>Actually I just got into Yale from the waitlist...I think I'm going there now.</p>

<p>yale > duke > michigan</p>

<p>congrats. you have an easy decision to make.</p>

<p>Forgiven, it is more like Yale > Duke = Michigan. </p>

<p>rd, congrats on your Yale acceptance. Great university.</p>

<p>Oh Alexandre, do I sense a tinge of regret on your part for rejecting Duke in favor of Michigan when you applied to college back in the day?;)</p>

<p>I think the University of Michigan is a FANTASTIC school and its top graduates can land teriffic jobs in any part of the professional sector(business, med, engineering, etc.) that they desire. However, it's peers academically are more like UVA, UNC-Chapel Hill, UCBerkeley, UCLA, and Wisconsin while Duke's academic peers are Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Stanford. I'm not saying this because I'm biased since there are several threads that are floating around on CC that are discussing the same topic and have arrived at the same consensus.</p>

<p>I have never heard any educated professional(besides yourself hehe), revealed preference study, college ranking, credible news source, etc. place Michigan in the same league as Duke.</p>

<p>i can come upwith a few just on top of my head</p>

<p>gourman report
and
the one that the academia world refers to.. i forgot the exact name.."national something" u know the one that does it by the average of departments.. i know berkeley came first on that one...someone probably could point that out....</p>

<p>Um, I would definitely pick Michigan above Duke. If you look at department rankings, the only schools that have good all-around rankings in every category are Harvard, Michigan, and Berkeley. That's not saying that MIT or Princeton aren't better schools, but they aren't competing in the all-around arena. Duke, however, is and Michigan more times than not beats it.</p>

<p>However, the main reason that I would pick Michigan above Duke is because I personally don't like Duke's environment, but that's all really a matter of personal preference.</p>

<p>Department rankings mean nothing at the undergrad level.</p>

<p>EAD, most educated professionals, corporate recruiters and intellectuals would say that Michigan and Duke are peers. </p>

<p>Slipper, to say that department rankings mean nothing at the undergraduate level is extreme. At the graduate level, it means almost everything. At the undergraduate level, it still means a lot, just not as much as the overall quality of the university. But a university like Michigan, which:</p>

<ul>
<li>is ranked among the top 15 in EVERY field and among the top 10 in most and among the top 5 in many.</li>
<li>has an endowment of $6 billion plus annual revenues from the state exceeding $300 million</li>
<li>has a reputation in the academic and corporate worlds that is rivaled only by a handful of universities</li>
<li>has unbeatable corporate ties to the most exclusive firms around the world</li>
<li>has one of the 5 largest, wealthiest, most influencial and most loyal alumni bodies in the US</li>
</ul>

<p>is bound to be a top university overall.</p>

<p>Graduate rankings base a lot on the professors, mentor ship, facilities, and research...all resources easily accessible by undergraduates at Michigan.</p>

<p>congrats on yale!!! that's really great, and an easy decision :)</p>

<p>UM is an amazing school... but so is duke. You guys just dont get it... its not the school that you go to that gets you into med school.. it is the person. Visit both campus' and figure out what you like better. You have to be happy to do well. Both schools are amazing and have a great reputation... there is absolutely nothing more to be said here.</p>

<p>Very well stated burgler. A university's reputation and excellence will only carry one so far. The bulk of what it takes to succeed depends on the individual, not their university. Duke and Michigan are both at the very top of the food chain where academic reputation is concerned. They both provide students with all the resources they could ever need to succeed, and then some. It is up to the indivudual student to make use of the infinite resources availlable and those fine universities and to leverage the reputation of their alma matter in order to accomplish their goals. That often entails very hard work, sound judgement and a little but of luck.</p>

<p>You guys, there's nothing left to convince me of. I'm going to Yale.</p>

<p>Let this thread R.I.P.</p>

<p>rd, nobody is trying to convince you of anything. Yale IS the right choice. Yale is one of the top 5 universities in the US. FULL STOP! Now that you are going to Yale, I can honestly tell you that Duke over Michigan would have been a mistake. But Yale over Duke or Michigan is perfectly reasonable.</p>

<p>Duke is a great school, I don't see why it would have been a mistake to choose it over Michigan unless Michigan was significantly cheaper. Again, it just depends on what kind of college experience you want to have.</p>