Duke vs. USC for CS/Econ/idk

Hey guys! I am here at because, like many others, I need all the advice I can get for my college decision. So I was admitted to Duke and USC (with a half tuition scholarship) and waitlisted from Penn/Northwestern/Dartmouth (although Penn is the only one I’m gonna try to get off of and in any case, the chances are extremely low) so it’s basically down to these two and I’m having a lot of trouble with how to decide here.

First things first, although I have half tuition at USC (which makes it a decent bit cheaper) I happen to come from fortunate family circumstances and money does not have to be a factor in my decision (I’d almost certainly get no finaid at Duke). I’m mentioning the scholarship because that could affect life on campus and whatnot (looks good on a resume or whatever, idk)

Major: It’s complicated. For USC, I was admitted as CS-business and at Duke, I’m undecided. I think maybe I’m interested in working in Silicon Valley but maybe on the business side of things instead of pure tech? Econ was my favorite class in high school and Duke makes it easy to double major so I think I’d do CS and Econ there (which I like more than CS-“business”, since taking classes like accounting sounds kinda dull tbh) and I like the idea that if I decide to radically switch things up and go into a field that isn’t CS, like polisci or whatever, then I’d still be pretty secure at Duke and maybe less so at USC??

Pros/cons based on my very limited impressions of the two:

USC

  • LA is amazing
  • scholarship so cheaper and maybe I stand out among others on campus when competing for jobs?
  • football/school spirit/lots of social life
  • potentially more CS industry connections
  • CS-Business is one major, so it’s an already defined program
  • apparently can have a fake/cliquey vibe, especially in the Greek system (I plan on rushing at both)
  • scholarship means I might be a “nerd” there instead of fitting in? not sure
  • gets a bad rep as the university of spoiled children because of a high percent of 1%ers and legacy kids?

Duke

  • better school overall/more “prestige” for what it’s worth
  • more non-CS opportunities if I want to do anything else
  • basketball/school spirit/lots of social life
  • lots of interdisciplinary options and overall more flexible academics
  • overall more diverse/interesting? student body
  • location is eh, much less to do than LA
  • some recent concerns about social hierarchy?

If you have any more info or can clarify any of the points above, I would really appreciate it!

Either way, both of these schools are great and both fit a lot of what I wanted. If I get into Penn off the waitlist, my impression is that it’s essentially Duke - some school spirit + Philadelphia/NYC, which a trade that I’d be willing to make, if that helps explain my values? Thank you so much for reading my wall of text and giving me input!!!

@anaman

Don’t know Duke beyond what everyone knows from popular rep etc… D at USC/Viterbi so I know it well. Also know Penn well.

USC is big enough there’s something there for everyone. D is not a fraternity type. Wild night for her is playing board games till 3am on a Saturday with her dormmates - and she’s found plenty of like-minded kids. Other kids from her HS are doing the Frat thing and there’s obviously a whole world for them there too. Great community for musical/performance types as well, of course.

Penn is a great pipeline to NYC finance, and LA entertainment (funnily enough) among other things and also has good connects to Silcon Valley (though I don’t know if it bests USC there.)

Penn and USC are very similar in a lot of ways, with the major differences being shaped by their location (and a bit by their size, SC is 2x Penn’s UG population (19k v 9k) You can feel that bigger population on campus. The more pronounced Cinema Arts/Music/Performing student body is noticeable on USC campus vs. Penn.

Sports/“real” D1 vibe is also completely different. Most Penn students not immediately involved in a given team approach Penn sports with the ironic detachment of students who know, even if their football team wins the Ivys, they know they aren’t “really” a D1 division-winning team, but a very good DIII school with lots of smart kids. USC sports are as serious as you see on TV. Even kids like my D, who have very little interest in football of any kind will roll across the street for a couple of games each season just 'cause it’s the thing to do.

But the big difference, esp. for someone doing CS/business is location. Philly and LA are just different. Both are great in their own way. It’s really an east coast/west coast thing.

One last thing, while money may really not be an issue for your fam, you may want to double check. Any of those 3 schools without any aid and with room+board is going to come out 250000 - 300000 all in for 4 years. My D has pretty good merit aid from SC and writing the check still hurts a little every time… (and if you’re thinking MBA, a little merit aid can go a long way. Hope this helps.)

I have the exact same situation as you… please let me know what you end up doing!

Both schools are great, Duke is slightly more intellectual and academic, and has a great entrepreneurship community (Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate, The Bullpen, Melissa and Doug Entrepreneurs, Duke in Silicon Valley, and Startup Challenge) but USC’s location in SoCal gives it just a little bit of an edge. Both are very social schools with a community sort of feeling and very high on school spirit. All it really comes down to is which school you feel the most comfortable for you to succeed.

I don’t think USC has more advantage in Silicon Valley. It’s as far away as Duke.
But half tuition scholarship is nice.

USC is in Southern California (with Silicon Valley).
Duke is in North Carolina (on the other coast).
You good bro?

So, you realize Silicon Valley is in NORTHERN California, right? Yes, LA is definitely closer than NC, but still not really all that close.

You are delusional. Silicon valley’s most employee’s alma mater ranking, 1. Berkeley 2. Stanford 3. CMU 4. USC 5. UT-Austin, 6. Georgia Tech… This list does not include only CS major, and, Duke didn’t even make it to the top 10. So it is very fair to say USC has an edge over Duke with regard to SV.

Obviously, USC is MUCH closer to Silicon Valley than Duke. I don’t see how anybody could dispute geography. (Although USC is not in Silicon Valley’s backyard like Stanford certainly). The question is how important geography is to feeding those types of tech careers. I’d argue not that important, but there certainly is a geographic preference from graduates to stay close to where they graduated (particularly of public school graduates). Not sure what “Silicon valley’s most employee’s alma mater ranking” is necessarily or their methodology, but this ranking has Duke as the #5 school in the country as a feeder to Silicon Valley (this ranking takes into account PROBABILITY of a Silicon Valley job – i.e. on a per capita basis — not penalizing small schools. Obviously, Harvey Mudd would have no chance to compete with Berkeley based on pure number basis, but a larger percentage of Harvey Mudd grads get top Silicon Valley jobs than Berkely grads):

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2013/12/18/silicon-valleys-to-10-feeder-colleges-stanford-yes-but-harvey-mudd/

  1. Stanford
  2. Harvey Mudd
  3. MIT
  4. Yale
  5. Duke
  6. Dartmouth
  7. Princeton
  8. Harvard
  9. Brown
  10. Berkeley

Duke definitely has a HUGE presence in Silicon Valley and I know many graduates who have gone that route. Clearly, different rankings have different methodologies and metrics and it’s really hard to have a definitive list. (If you’re going by sheer numbers of graduates who have careers and live in that area, large public schools in California - and USC - certainly would likely be near the top of the list, that’s only logical). But, suffice it to say, you won’t be at a disadvantage going to Duke if heading to SV is your dream route.

Hey Anaman,

Just wondering which school you ultimately decided to attend. I also got into Duke and USC, while being waitlisted at UPenn. Because I don’t expect to get off the Penn waitlist, I want to decide between USC and Duke. I am currently leaning toward Duke, but am curious to hear your input after going through a very similar experience. I do not have scholarships to either school, but similar to you I come from a fortunate family so finances do not play a factor in the decision.

Thanks for the insight!

Justin

@holmesjustin920

I go to Duke now and I love it, actually wished I EDed here instead. imo if they’re the same cost there’s no reason to pick USC, Duke has a huge Greek scene and I probably went out Wednesday-Saturday night every week last semester. The social scene is definitely better at USC, but the academic reputation of Duke more than makes up for that difference. I got interviews from Facebook, Google, Goldman, Bloomberg, Palantir and more with just “Duke” and my high school stuff on my resume. Plus the connections here are insane - I know so many kids of CEOs, politicians, billionaires, etc. and a lot of them are willing to help their friends get jobs and whatnot. Overall I don’t regret it at all and I would highly recommend it - definitely go to both Explore and BDD and feel it out for yourself though.

Thank you so much, Anaman.
I will be out at Duke during the Blue Devil Days and am almost positive that is where I will end up.
Thanks again for your help!

Duke has a significant presence in the valley. This will only grow because of programs like the quantitative initiative.

https://trinity.duke.edu/initiatives/quantitative-initiative

I got admitted in both usc and duke. I am tennis player I have scholarship in both universities ofered by the coaches. I want to study economics with math minor (duke) or busines international (usc) . I have not decided yet where to go. What are your opinions about it?