<p>So I'm just putting this thought out there and I want to see what current students/people who know a lot about both schools when you look at the following things:</p>
<p>1) From the perspective of the social scene. The Partying scene to the plain sitting in dorm watching a nice movie on a Saturday night. Is Penn or Duke better in the social context?
2) Academics? This is something that confuses me all the time. Because Penn is an Ivy League so it has that prestige but Duke is still really amazing with academics, but which do you guys think (in a specific field maybe) is better?
3) Happiness. This is something that matters to me a lot. Because I want to go to school where the people are friendly, open, kind of liberal and polite. Like they like to have fun and stuff on weekends. Not too competitive. Which one of these schools fits the bill? Of course every school has their small group of stuck-up or arrogant people, but I mean I hope most of the population of undergraduates aren't like that!</p>
<p>:) I would really appreciate it, if someone could give their views of these questions please! I love both schools but can't decide which one ED (both almost have the same acceptance rate of about 31%) so it's hard to decide.</p>
<p>I have started at Duke this year (I’m a sophomore transfer) and my close cousin is starting at Penn this year. From what I’ve seen at Duke and from what my cousin is telling me about Penn, they both seem like very similar schools. The differences that I have discerned is that Penn is an urban campus, whereas Duke is not. Duke also has better athletics, so the Duke students tend to be athletic or interested in athletics. Other than that, they are both very similar, especially on the “work hard… party hard” attitude.</p>
<p>If you compare Penn SEAS to Duke, you basically have the same thing. Wharton, however, is a whole different story. If you get into Wharton, by all means go to Penn. Otherwise, you will have to visit both places. Durham and West Philly are both seedy places, and in my opinion, Duke’s campus is much more beautiful than Penn’s. Besides, you will be so stuck in the ‘‘college bubble’’ that there will only be few times that you will actually venture out of your college. I recommend you apply for both RD and apply to something like Stanford for SCEA. Now, to your questions:
1)Both colleges are very similar. I have a close friend in Penn and we agreed that both schools have a very dynamic social scene. There are those that sit in the common
room to play games and watch movies on the weekends and there are those that go out to party (drinking, dancing, etc). Although, I feel that there are much more of the latter, you will have no trouble finding either.
2)Academic wise, both are prominent, and you will not have trouble finding jobs or being recognized if you attend either. Duke and Penn both are well represented on Wall Street (if that is what you are looking for). Duke also has the 2nd best biomedical engineering major in the US; it sends above 75% (national average is 50%) of its pre-meds to medical school, while others decide to to other things (work for PeaceCorps/help others in a developing country).
3) Almost everyone in Duke that I have met so far has been super nice and welcoming. I don’t know if this changes over time, but the only people we are mean to are our rivals (UNC).</p>
<p>Academic wise, both are solid schools. The only reason Penn is higher on the rankings is because of its famous Wharton. I know someone who has transferred out of Penn simply because Penn devotes too many of its resources to Wharton and, essentially, ignores those in SEAS.</p>
<p>keep in mind, Penn’s campus is urban, like NYU. There are streets between the buildings and it might lose the feel of a campus and feel more like a city.</p>
<p>Ohh okay well I need to look at my SAT scores and my internal grades before finally deciding between the two.</p>
<p>I just have one more question, which one is harder to get into ED? They both have almost the same acceptance rates but then there’s a lot of factors that come in in between, like the fact that Penn is divided into 3 different schools with like 4 other programs. Whereas Duke is only 2 schools. So if I applied ED, which one would it be harder to get into?</p>
<p>I’ve hard Duke, sometimes, is ridiculously difficult to get into. Hardly anyone gets in there.</p>
<p>Also, if someone can compare both of these schools pre-med-wise against Emory? I know it may be hard to compare Penn to Emory, or Duke to Emory, but honestly, is there a huge difference in academics between Penn to Emory or Duke to Emory?? It’s ranked 20th, which, in my opinion, is still really really good!</p>
<p>In terms of premed, Penn is definitely ahead of Duke, and Emory would be a distant third. Consider Georgetown (where I attended undergrad for premed, after transferring from Duke)–the premed acceptance rates to medical school are better than Duke, Penn, and Emory (by far), and the students are more friendly, helpful, and less competitive with each other in terms of the whole admissions process.</p>
<p>So hoyasaxa1, do you think Emory is not good for Pre-Med? And is their pre-med medical school acceptance really that low as compared to other schools? I’ve heard it’s around 48% :S</p>
<p>hoyasaxa1 just lurks on Duke’s thread to put down Duke. I have seen his/her posts and it seems as if he/she just stays here in this forum to put down Duke. Must be a tarheel fan, :p</p>
<p>Duke, Emory, and Penn all provide great opportunities for premeds. They each have nationally recognized hospitals on campus, so it isn’t too difficult to get involved in research, shadowing, or volunteering. Overall though, I do feel Duke and Penn are slightly better academically than Emory.</p>
<p>If you are looking for great pre-med schools, look at Rice. With its location in Houston, Rice is next to the world’s largest medical center (Texas Medical Center) and has ties to Baylor College of Medicine; Rice and BCM have formed a partnership of sorts to offer an 8 year guaranteed medical program (Rice-Baylor Scholars). I spent a year there before coming to Duke (for Duke’s envi sci program… the environmental science program at Rice was too small), and I can tell you that its academics and research opportunities are definitely on par with Duke’s. The only thing is that it is smaller than Duke, which I felt created for a more intimate, community-based environment that very few universities have. Behind Duke, Rice is easily the 2nd best school in the South.</p>
<p>I am not sure that the percentage of premeds accepted to medical school accurately reflects the chances of an incoming freshman to be accepted four years later in medical school. </p>
<p>There are some colleges/universities that dramatically “weed” out individuals in the premed tract and thus reduce the denominator. This can produce a high percentage of seniors accepted.</p>
<p>A better measure may be the gross number of individuals accepted.</p>
<p>I just happen to know the schools well–I was premed at Duke, transferred to Georgetown and went to med school at Hopkins after looking at (among others) Duke, Georgetown, Emory, and Penn’s medical schools. </p>
<p>Emory has far too many people applying to medical school, provides rankings of their students to the medical school admissions offices (class rank), and does not do much to help their students–all of these things, in my opinion, contribute to its terrible medical school acceptance rate (almost the national rate!!). Duke, which also ranks its students applying to medical school (percentile rank among the premedical candidates), has more success than Emory in the admissions processm, and generally sends more of its students to more prestigious medical schools. Penn and Georgetown do not provide distinct ranks in their letters to the admissions office, have much more substantial premedical advising, and send an even larger percentage of their students to the top medical schools (its easier for Georgetown as there are only about 100 premeds per class, not the 200-300+ at Emory, Duke, Penn, etc.). Finally, Georgetown med is much more inclined to take its own premedical students (not just the top students), unlike Penn, Duke, etc. Some schools, such as Stanford, provide little if any guidance–your on your own.</p>
Prove it. I am not affiliated with any of these schools, and I am disinclined to accept the hearsay of someone who shamelessly promotes his own school in an unrelated thread.</p>
<p>Between Penn and Duke, I would choose on fit. If nothing else, Philadelphia and Durham are very different places. I would choose either over Georgetown. Penn and to a slightly lesser extent Duke are significantly stronger than Georgetown and would provide more opportunities to branch out into different areas, especially if you decide not to apply to medical school. Georgetown has long relied on selectivity and a relatively heavy influx of prep school applicants from the MD/DC/NOVA area for success in rankings, but academically it is more mediocre than the other elite universities, even in political science.</p>
<p>First, let me just say that I am at Duke right now. However I visited and stayed at both schools and thought they were both my top choices. After staying at Penn though I realized it was not the school for me. The most exciting thing of the fall is (direct quote from a undergraduate admissions officer) when “we wear our Penn Sweaters and root them on against Princeton at the Penn Princeton game.” Lame. </p>
<p>Philadelphia is a great place and UPenn is a great school. There is no question about it. However being at Duke is the overall college experience and from my friends at UPenn, it’s the place to be because they don’t enjoy UPenn very much. Go Duke!</p>