<p>Financial issues aside, which is better for a biological science/pre-med route?</p>
<p>Stanford is obviously great at everything, but Duke has the resources of the Research Triangle, the Med School, and opps at nearby Chapel Hill and NC State.</p>
<p>Which one is better?</p>
<p>Stanford is better for everything. They have one of the best reputations and a very good location/campus for undergrads. Go there and I think you will enjoy it.</p>
<p>You picked two of the top five in most biological science fields. At this point, I don’t think you need to weigh the differences in academic quality or prestige, especially because you are only considering where you attend undergrad. Go for the place you think you would enjoy living and learning. As you point out, NC offers a lot in the way of research triangle, top notch medical school and multiple major universities. However, Stanford offers a very similar deal. You may already know this but NC has the third largest concentration of biotech/medical device companies in the world, whereas Southern California has the second largest concentration (these figures were from several years ago and I don’t know if the situation has changed). The point is, both Stanford and Duke offers a substantial amount in the biological sciences and you needn’t worry about the difference between them.</p>
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<p>stanford is not really close to socal, so don’t use that tid-bit to make your choice. but stanford is in silicon valley, which has unparalleled advantages itself. but as my own personal opinion goes, stanford > duke. and this is coming from a kid who got rejected, with stanford being his dream school haha. so yeah :)</p>
<p>but definitely look into both. i don’t think you can truly go wrong here.</p>
<p>Stanford >>>>>>>> Duke</p>
<p>“Stanford >>>>>>>> Duke”</p>
<p>Um, no. Nyccard, I’m pretty sure you were the person that likened Duke to a community college a while back. Given that the US News ranking system places Duke 4 spots below Stanford, I’m not really sure how that comparison plays out. </p>
<p>I do think Stanford is academically better than Duke (the people I know that are going there next year are literally some of the smartest people I’ve ever met), but not by 8 “greater than” signs.</p>
<p>You’re probably right. Eight is over the top.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation with having to pick between Stanford and Duke. I’m going with Stanford.</p>
<p>Stanford has the #1 graduate biology program in the nation. Plus, I’ve lived in NC all my life, so I want to try living someplace new. Durham is okay, but the social life, at least from my viewpoint, is limited to the campus and maybe the surrounding area. Stanford wins in that regard. I think both schools will prepare you the same for Med School.</p>
<p>Both schools are great, but I think Stanford might edge out Duke.</p>
<p>This thread may help:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=16363205&pp=15&page=2[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=16363205&pp=15&page=2</a></p>
<p>I gave academically,
Stanford 100
Duke 60</p>
<p>Woah there nsrjsyt. Duke is not bad acadmeically by any means. Honestly, I would say stanford is better, but not by much. There’s a reason why people call Duke “Stanford of the East.” My opinion:</p>
<p>Stanford 95
Duke 88</p>
<p>Stanford: 95 and Duke: 88 sounds about right.
If I was in the situation, I’ll probably go with Stanford just for the sake of it though</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sorry, Duke isn’t in the top-5. Stanford is (as usual).</p>
<p>Stanford University Stanford, CA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.9<br>
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.8<br>
2 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.8<br>
4 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.7<br>
4 Harvard University Boston, MA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.7<br>
6 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD Distance Enter your zip Score 4.6<br>
7 Rockefeller University New York, NY Distance Enter your zip Score 4.5<br>
7 Scripps Research Institute La Jolla, CA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.5<br>
7 University of California–San Francisco San Francisco, CA Distance Enter your zip Score 4.5<br>
7 Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO Distance Enter your zip Score 4.5<br>
7 Yale University New Haven, CT Distance Enter your zip Score 4.5<br>
12 Cornell University Ithaca, NY Distance Enter your zip Score 4.4<br>
**12 Duke University Durham, NC Distance Enter your zip Score 4.4 **</p>
<p>For grad school and research, Duke is better (according to the NYtimes). Otherwise I would choose Stanford every time.</p>
<p>
Improve your reading comprehension, Sam. Fields (plural) is the key word here.</p>
<p>Duke would be top 5 in a fair amount of biology subfields- marine biology, ecology, botany, forestry, evolutionary biology, biological anthropology & primatology, etc.</p>
<p>Hmmm…just exactly how a school is ranked #12 aggregate when it’s ranked in the top-5 in most of the subfields? Seems like if a school were ranked in the top-5 in most of the subfields, it would have been pretty much #1 overall.</p>
<p>If you look at all of those subfields, they’re all Macrobiology. If you’re going for micro, Duke doesn’t seem to be the way to go. I personally am in the exact same situation, wanting to major in bio sci, between Duke and Stanford with full rides to both. If you really are just going to do it based on the raw numbers and data, there’s very little disagreement that Stanford is a better school, in general, and for bio. But damn, I really like NC and don’t feel like leaving just yet, so it’s kind of a head vs heart decision.</p>