First, I would not recommend attending a college you’ve not visited so if Amherst is an actual contender make plane ticket reservations today. If you’re not able/willing to to do that – take it off the list and move on.
Between Duke and Penn – I agree with advice to go with your gut and not overthink it. No wrong answer here – where feels right to you? Do the old flip a coin trick and see if you’re immediately happy or sad with what side (college) that wins.
All true. Fewer PhD programs than professional schools (medical, business, law). And yes it is highly recruited by finance/banking/consulting. But I think all 3 probably are.
It really comes down to what you want in the 4 years you are there. And perhaps to support in choosing your path and doing what is needed to successfully embark upon it.
I know little about Penn and Duke in terms of general and career-specific advising or competitive vs collaborative encouragement in/out of the classroom, support for summer and other internships and funding. I know Amherst does well on all those metrics.
But I agree - you really should visit.
@MrClutch007 In terms of quality and opportunities is is a wash but i personally would go with Penn over Duke (actually had to make that choice) for the following reasons:
At the end of the day visit with during admit days and go with your gut!
Amherst is a whole different story. If you want go the LAC route then its easy just go there.
Thank you everyone so much for your input! All of you make valid points that makes it even harder to narrow down my choice haha 
I think first order of business as pointed out by @AlmostThere2018 and @OHMomof2 is for me to either travel to Amherst Massachusetts asap or to take the college off the running. I’ll try my best to do this in the next two weeks.
@JenniferClint I totally agree with your assessment. Just to know I would be matriculating into Penn Arts and Sciences, though I would be able to take some Wharton classes. I knew a good friend of mine whose sister transferred from A&S to Wharton, though I fathom it is quite difficult. Since you and @OHMomof2 seem to know Duke a little more, what do you both think about Duke’s Focus and Engage programs and if they are valuable? I’ve heard high praise for both.
@circuitrider In truth until I visit Amherst (in which it may sway my view) it would be a campus that has lots of activities and some social atmosphere/entertainment nearby. If I could go to a large for a weekend that would be great also. This puts a certain amount of flux into Durham in my mind. Charlotte is nearby (1.5 hours) but imo it doesn’t offer the options like a Philly or Boston in Amherst’s case. Admit days should clear more of this up.
@Penn95 Thank you for your insight! I was thinking quite closely along the lines as you mentioned. Philly just seems to have more to offer overall. For you, how is your experience at Penn and has it met/exceeded the expectations you looked for? I heard the social Ivy is magnificent but sometimes a little lacking in community culture and maybe too geared towards professional schooling and career outcomes.
@privatebanker I appreciate the advice. This past week has had me thankful of being able to have the opportunity to choose between these wonderful colleges and though I wished my instinct would choose one over the others, right now a three sided die would probably be the best solution 
@MrClutch007 I do have an undergraduate degree from Duke but I have also been a student at Penn and I am quite familiar with the school (I don’t like to go into more detail for the sake of preserving my anonymity).
Penn may be marginally higher ranked in a plurality of fields but we should really focus on the fields you are interested in. According to US News, Penn is ranked 6 spots higher for Econ but Duke is ranked 13 spots higher for Biology. These are graduate rankings so take them with a pinch of salt but they speak to the strength of certain departments.
If you are desperate for Ivy cache, you should go to Penn. I would argue that the Ivy label is becoming less important as people are starting to recognize the value of individual institutions. There may have been a time when people would reflexively pick Dartmouth or Brown over a school like Chicago or Northwestern because of the Ivy cache. That is no longer the case.
Duke has a world-class medical school in Singapore and an up-and-coming liberal arts college in China. It is a school with global ambitions (Penn is too but Duke has always been less risk averse than its staid Ivy peers). This willingness to push the boundaries and try new things has always appealed to me.
Taking classes at Wharton is a nice touch and is something that should influence your decision. You will also be competing against Wharton students in the internship/job market. That is also something to consider.
Unfortunately, I did not take advantage of either of those programs. I do know several people who participated in Duke Engage. Most of them had very rewarding experiences in interesting parts of the world. The FOCUS program allows you to take a multidisciplinary approach to understanding a broad topic like “Genetics and Genomics” or “Global Energy”. If you are interested in any of the topics covered, it is probably a great way to learn more about the topic in question (in a small group setting). A program called Bass Connections allows multidisciplinary teams of students to work on real-world problems in a semi-structured setting. It is worth checking out. https://bassconnections.duke.edu
Finally, since Penn95 pitched Penn to you, let me end by listing a few reasons why I’d lean towards Duke as a pre-frosh. 1). Smaller student body - more personal attention; 2). Greater undergraduate focus (think Yale vs Harvard); 3). More resources per capita - nicer facilities on average, etc.
I am partial to Penn and to Philadelphia. I definitely won’t begrudge you for picking Penn. Having said that, you will have your entire life to experience a cool city but it’s going to be hard to recreate the quintessential college experience after you graduate. Let your heart lead the way!
You tagged me about Duke but I don’t know anything about it other than a visit my own senior year (didn’t apply).
As far as Amherst visits, there are two in April, one is a day and one is a weekend. I’m sure you have info on those.
If you are considering IB at all, I think you’d be better off at Duke, as you’d be competing against Wharton kids for spots. I’ve looked at placements from CAS and it doesn’t look like they do that well, and I know there are lots of Econ kids at Penn who would rather be at Wharton, but apply to CAS as it’s easier to get in.
If that’s not a consideration, I think @JenniferClint is correct re, the undergrad experience. H went to Duke undergrad and loved it, had great faculty interactions (still talks about a famous author who taught there at the time who he kept in contact with), switched majors with ease, and loved the sunshine and school spirit. I went to grad school at Penn, so don’t have the undergrad experience to compare. As an adult in my mid/late 20’s, I appreciated the city much more than I think I would have as a young undergrad.
@OHMomof2 I’m sorry, that is my mistake. Yes, I will try to make it to an Amherst day.
@JenniferClint Wow. Thank you for your comprehensive analysis! I would say the central reason behind my tough decision between these two colleges is that they are so similar to each other overall. I don’t think the Ivy prestige sways me at all now, and I agree in 2019 these strong non-Ivies are equal if not more prominent in career outcomes than those colleges. Both you and @havenoidea mentioned the advantage of being able to take Wharton classes but also having intense competition from them. I would agree, but in a sense I feel that recruiting will also trickle down to more opportunities in Penn CAS as a result of the talent in the ever-connected Wharton. I’ll be attending both of the admit days later this month, so I hope a decision can be solidified from my visits. I appreciate all of your insights and I’ll let you all know which college I chose May 1st!
Going back the cities piece of this, a few thoughts.
If you go to Duke don’t think of Charlotte as a relatively nearby big city to visit. Except for a concert perhaps, you’ll never go. Even w/ concerts, you’d be more likely to go to Raleigh.
Besides, Charlotte is not substitute for Philly. It’s new urban and suburban – like Atlanta. Totally different vibe from Philly and if East Coast gritty is what you’re looking for, Chartlotte is not it.
Durham has old tobacco warehouses and early 20th century ‘bones’ in its downtown – much more gritty than Charlotte but also funky and cool. I’ll say it again – Brooklyn of the South.
You’ll be surprised what a bubble college life is for most undergrads and your college experience will be 85% defined by your campus experience.
Keep us posted!
@AlmostThere2018 Thank you for your insight! I do agree that Charlotte isn’t going to be a place I’ll visit often, since I probably won’t have a car my first year in college. I really haven’t been around Durham yet, but from what you’re saying it is, along with Raleigh a vibrant community that satisfies most of the “wants” from a college student. Btw even Chapel Hill is quite nice when I visited UNC. And that’s fine with me To your third point, I would say for Penn the college is basically integrated into Philly, so that bubble college life is going to feel drastically different from this standpoint. The campus experience would be heavily influenced by downtown Philly and all of its unique offerings. I guess this is what admit days are for- to visit and see which lifestyle I prefer. Thanks again and I’ll definitely keep you all updated!
@MrClutch007 : Absolutely no wrong decision between Penn & Duke for undergraduate study. Nevertheless, if you pick Penn (other than for Wharton), I would encourage you to rethink your decision.
@havenoidea said
I did my undergrad at Penn and I think this is not true. Penn CAS still does very well for business recruiting compared to other ivies/elites. Comparison with Wharton is apples to oranges because Wharton is a very self-selected group, everyone at Wharton is aiming for these jobs. CAS is also more self-selected than the equivalent majors at other ivies and elites. A lot of CAS students who discover their interest in business later on (after freshmen or sophomores) end up transferring to Wharton. Those who do stay at CAS though and are interested in business to rather well.
This is true. This has been my experience at Penn. At Penn you are able to benefit a lot from Wharton through taking classes and being part of the various business clubs available. In fact this is a strategy used by a lot of CAS students who are interested in a business career but have different academic interests (i.e. don’t wanna study business). Also recruiting opportunities are in no way restricted to Wharton students and employers like having candidates with diverse backgrounds. A Penn CAS kids who has had some business exposure and understanding through participation in Wharton clubs and having taken Wharton classes in in no way in any disadvantage over a Duke Trinity kid.
At the end of the day as a mentioned before it is a wash. Visit both and I m pretty sure you ll make up your mind then (the schools are quite different).
MrClutch007 indeed it would be good to visit Amherst as well. You will almost certainly get more attention from professors there and the town is nice, but much smaller than Durham. I would not put much stock in the college consortium as you would likely spend 99% of the time at Amherst.
Duke and Penn anre both great and a toss up academically I went to Penn for grad school and had a great time, but West Philly can be challenging. At a place like Amherst, people often don’t even lock their doors - not West Philly. The above said , Penn President Amy Gutman (and her predecessor Judith Rodin) have done a great job developing the area around campus to give Penn a better sense of place and community.
@Publisher Could you elaborate on why choosing just Penn would be a worse option than going to Duke?
@Penn95 Thank you! I agree with your points and overall it is a wash on which college is better than the other. I was briefly interested in how Duke has nearly 3000 less undergrads, but I found out that surprisingly Penn’s student faculty ratio was a healthier 6:1 as opposed to Duke’s 8:1. I’ll have to see how I feel about each place after the admit days!