Duke vs. Northwestern

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

I am very happy to have been accepted to both schools regular decision. However, I am now faced with the tough task of deciding between the two schools. I want to pursue either engineering (not sure what kind) or pre-med. I know that both schools have great pre-med programs, while engineering is slightly better at Northwestern. The only problem with Duke is that I was not accepted into its engineering school, instead I was accepted into the college of arts and sciences. I know that I can eventually transfer into the engineering school after one year, but is it really worth it? Also the social scene is not really important to me in either school.

So I guess my questions are:

  1. What school is better for a premed?
  2. What school is better for an engineering student?
  3. Are they both equally recognized?
  4. For someone that is between engineering and premed what school is the better option?
  5. If you were making this choice, what school would you choose?

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

2

Seriously, I think it’s going to be hard to differentiate between these two schools based on the questions you are asking. You can obviously get a fine education at either. The fact that you are not a direct admit to Duke Engineering would be a concern, if I were your parent.

Assuming the cost is similar, your decision should hinge on more intangible factors:

  • Is cold weather a problem for you?
  • Do you want access to a big city? (and no, I do not consider Raleigh a big city)
  • Is the college sports experience important to you?
  • What part of the country are you from? You may find a closer cultural fit in one. Northwestern is full of kids from the large cities of the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, etc.), while Duke tends to have more kids from the East Coast.
3

As far as engineering goes, if you don’t know what engineering you want to get into, Northwestern is probably the better choice because you can’t major in chemical engineering or industrial engineering, for example, at Duke. There are more areas and choices at Northwestern.

4

At Northwestern (not sure if you can do this at Duke or not), you can do both engineering and pre-med. Though that would be really difficult. You could drop one of them at pretty much any time if you decide for one over the other.

5

^ You can do that Duke as well.