Hey guys! I am here at 3 AM 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!!!