I think I have limited down my search to the University of Chicago and Duke. I’m planning on double majoring in math and economics. I have been given merit aid and nice perks from each university. I want to pursue a career in investment banking and so I’m wondering which school is better for my academic interests and for my intended career path. I like the social scene of Duke more but it’s not a major factor at all.
Both are outstanding universities, both will provide far more in intellectual and personal development – and splendid resources, of all sorts – than any undergraduate can absorb, both have exceptional faculty and students, and both will serve as immediate and lifelong professional catalysts (others will doubtless offer great detail in this arena). Fundamentally, in all these important areas – and more – it’s an essential equal situation: X might reasonably prefer Duke, while Y rationally favors Chicago (I’m sure, OP, this is not astonishing news 
).
However, which culture provides your better “fit,” which community (students, alumni, faculty, staff, leadership) do you want to be affiliated with for life, where do you want to spend the next four years, and so forth? Obviously, this is an ENTIRELY INDIVIDUAL decision. I respectfully suggest the best way to ascertain this crucial information is to spend a few days on each campus (Blue Devil Days is a great start) living an undergraduate’s life, sitting in on some classes, engaging in discussions with others, meeting some of the faculty, having a cup of coffee or two with students in a library coffeeshop, this list clearly is endless. By doing so, you’ll have a FAR more insightful basis to make this decision.
I will add a PERSONAL comment. I have been strongly affiliated with Duke for many decades. It truly exemplifies a “work hard, play hard” culture. I do not Chicago well, but I’m not sure what their on-campus equivalent for K’ville and basketball, for Last Day of Classes, and for so many things of this sort would be (although, I suspect they have some). Undergraduate life should involve LOTS of hard work, BUT IT ALSO SHOULD INCLUDE CONSIDERABLE AND GREAT FUN. Trust me, once you graduate (and in iBanking more than in most fields) the work-to-fun ratio will instantaneously skew toward responsibilities, daunting challenges, some frustration, and probably a lot less fun. I’m certainly not advocating a “party” undergraduate life or a bacchanalian campus environment, but I am suggesting that you truly enjoy these next four years.
@TopTier always impressed with your responses to questions on CC. Bravo once again.
=D>
Have a similar choice to make Duke or Carleton College.
@Joe2015: I don’t want to kidnap to OP’s thread, so my response will be abbreviated:
- Carlton is a fine LAC (certainly in the first-tier, IMHO) and I am a STRONG advocate of liberal arts undergraduate education. However, this does NOT suggest that LACs are necessarily superior in providing that education, in comparison to National Research Universities with distinct -- and relatively small -- "arts and sciences" undergraduate colleges. Trinity at Duke, is a good example of this paradigm . . . and there are many others at the most-competitive NRUs.
- But, the aforementioned -- and truly important -- "cultural fit" question(s) (see post #1) frequently are more pronounced in comparisons of first-rank LAC to equal stature NRU, than in a similar NRU to NRU assessments. Therefore, that on-campus-derived insight may well be more crucial when deciding to attend "a Carlton" versus "a Duke" rather than, for example, "a Columbia" versus "a Penn" or a "a Davidson" versus "a W&L."
Your Math/Econ education at UChicago will be heavily theoretical (which is more geared towards grad school in Econ and rather overkill for a career in Ibaning). You also need to consider whether or not you’ll like the huge Common Core at UChicago, which will take 1.5-2 years to fulfill. The campus culture is also very different; if you’re more social and mainstream, choose Duke, and if you’re more quirky and want to talk about Irish literature with your peers, choose UChicago (although you’ll find your niche at both).
The campus culture’s are pretty strikingly different. I also was down to Duke and UChicago (among a few others) and really didn’t like the culture that I got from UChicago (and the surrounding area was pretty dangerous). Do your best to visit these schools and the choice should be relatively clear afterwards.
I went to Duke, and my wife went to UChicago. So I have perspectives on both. I loved my experience at Duke, and she hated her time in Hyde Park. Both schools have similar reputation, but she felt that the UChicago academic atmosphere was quite cut-throat. Overall she felt that the students were too nerdy and didn’t learn anything of value for the real world (except for the excellent writing). She went to UC in the late 80’s, so stepping off campus was fraught with danger, and lots of gang violence in the nearby area. Things have gotten a bit better, but the area is still not the safest.
She has even gone as far as steering my kids away from even considering UChicago once they finish high school.
College should be a time you should enjoy yourself. Think about the environment that you will learn in.
Random thoughts. Son goes to UChicago. I’ve been to Duke many times for various things too. I would submit that the physical appearance of UChicago has improved dramatically over the last decade or so, to the point where I believe that the UChicago campus is nicer than Duke. That’s just my preference. True, UChicago does not have the sweeping avenue leading up to the main quad, but you can pretty much walk anywhere as a student at UChicago; you don’t don’t have separate campuses the way you do at Duke. True, the academic environment at UChicago is intense to a fault, but that’s why you’ve got to evaluate what kind of a student you are and what you want out of college. If you want the big time sports enthusiasm and associated comraderie there’s just no competing with Duke on that front.
Last year I was visiting my son and we went to breakfast at the Valois which I think is on 53rd Street. We were leaving around 10:30 am on a Saturday and I was struck by how multi-cultural / multi-racial Hyde Park is. Yet unlike a lot of places, it works there in Hyde Park. I thought to myself, “this how our society should be, everyone just going about living, and not worrying about what everyone looks like”. My son is very comfortable with the ambience in in Hyde Park, and I’m pretty proud of him for it. Also, the architecture of Duke is very nice, but how many schools have a Midway Plaisance designed by Frederick Law Olmstead for a World’s Fair and a Frank Lloyd Wright house right on campus? The place is redolant with history of the struggle of our society to live better together in cities, and what is right about it, and what is not right about it (a few blocks south).
The two places (Duke and UChicago) are pretty different I guess, other than you will have outstanding faculty at both places and really, really smart classmates at each. Best of luck to you.
Chicago was my #1 choice in high school, and I was a quirky, introverted kid. Though I was admitted, the financial aid didn’t work out, as Chicago’s financial aid was notoriously hit-or-miss in those days. Duke cost me essentially nothing, so it was an easy but somewhat grudging decision. Four years later, I could say that it was absolutely the right decision. Duke changed and challenged me in ways that never would’ve happened at Chicago, where there were lots of people who were just like me. Though you should always go for a college where you feel comfortable, it’s good to get out of your comfort zone in college and try new things.
The problem with campus beauty, of course, is that it’s so subjective. Lots of people wax poetic about Stanford and Pepperdine, for example, whereas I find both of them decidedly meh. I love college gothic and leafy campuses (Bryn Mawr, Duke, Wash U, Sewanee, etc.), on the other hand, whereas others find them cold and imposing.
I personally find Duke’s campus extraordinarily beautiful, though not the most beautiful I’ve ever seen (that goes to tiny Berry College, without contest). The “separate campus” notion is a common misconception, and Duke’s campus is in fact entirely contiguous – west campus with academic buildings transitions to central campus with apartments and the gardens, which transitions to east campus with freshman dorms and various arts programs. You can walk from east campus to west campus, and many people jog between the two for exercise since it’s such a lovely area or to get to things on central like the art museum or Jewish center. The buses are simply for convenience. Of course, since Chicago’s campus is only about 1/5 the size of Duke’s, it’s quite easy to navigate.
I’ve spent much of the last year at Chicago for dissertation research, and I last visited Duke over winter break. I have to admit that Duke’s sprawling campus is more appealing to me, as I tend to feel somewhat cramped on campuses like Chicago or Brown. Duke’s gardens alone are bigger than some college campuses! That said, Chicago also has a very attractive campus, and it’s probably my favorite urban campus along with Penn’s. It should be noted that Duke is undergoing a massive amount of renovation right now on west campus, which makes things a lot noisier and less attractive than they are normally. It’s not the best situation for current students, unfortunately, but future students will benefit from the renovations.
My son is a first year at UChicago and is majoring in econ. He also visited Duke and strongly considered applying there. For him, the biggest drawback to Duke was the city of Durham. There didn’t seem to be much to offer for college students. The campus is beautiful, but it is in the middle of a suburban area. That didn’t appeal to him. That said, Duke is an incredible school with strong academics and top notch sports. We will be taking our second son who is a junior to look at Duke in the near future. He is a different type of kid, so Duke may appeal to him more than a school like Chicago. Both are great in their own ways.
As for Chicago, S1 applied without having visited and got accepted early action. At first he was thrilled. As an Econ major, you can’t do any better than Chicago. Then he began to read negative comments such as those voiced in some of the comments on CC, mostly from people who had not attended the school recently. He did a 180 and decided to go to another college. I felt very strongly that he needed to at least visit and do an overnight before making his decision final. So he decided to do just that. He and my husband flew out to Chicago at the last minute and both of them fell in love with the school. They both thought the campus was amazingly beautiful architecturally and were pleasantly surprised by the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the campus to the north. My son was so concerned that the students there would be quirky, socially awkward, overly intense, etc. He found just the opposite with the students he met at his overnight. He changed his mind on the spot.
There certainly are quirky types at Chicago as there are at any top 10 school, but he selected a very social dorm (there are several) and absolutely loves all of the kids in his “house”. The house system is a great aspect of the experience at UChicago. The houses have rivalries and compete against each other in intramurals which are very big there. He LOVES the city of Chicago and gets in about every other weekend with kids from his house. They visit the hip Chicago neighborhoods, restaurants, museums, go to concerts, etc. He loves it so much that he is trying to get an internship (funded by the school) for this summer so he can stay. And we were worried about him being so far away in a school that borders on some rough neighborhoods.
The administration has put a lot of focus on improving the undergraduate experience over the last few years. We have a friend who attended UChicago in the eighties and recently went back for a visit. He jokes that his years at Chicago were the “worst best years” of his life. He was struck by how different the atmosphere was when he visited. He said the vibe was far more positive and the students seemed happier than when he was there. The school’s 99% retention rate seems to support that observation.
Best of luck with your decision.
Durham is not a huge great city by any means (I’ve lived in multiple and loved big cities), but its pretty ideal in the college sense. It is easy to get around (all the good areas are a 5 minute walk from East) and there are a ton of amazing restaurants and things for college students to do (18+ bars, etc). While I wouldn’t ever see myself living in Durham full time, that it is centered around the college really makes it a good place to be.
This one should be all about fit and personality.