<p>Black (Vandy: 9.8%, Duke: 9.3%)
Hispanic (Vandy: 5.5%, Duke 5.9%)
Native American (Vandy: 0.4%, Duke 0.2%)
Asian (Vandy: 7%, Duke: 28.4%)</p>
<p>So, TheOC89 is correct that the two universities have a similar number of blacks and Hispanics. Duke has four times as many Asians (by proportion of student body), which is an extremely significant number. I don't see how you can say that there is no difference in diversity when there are so many more Asians at Duke than Vandy, but obviously I agree with you that the number of blacks and Hispanics is similar. </p>
<p>In regards to "Southern culture," Vandy's class of 2010 is 46% from the south, while Duke's class of 2011 is 34% from the south. Vandy's top 5 states are Tennessee, Texas, New York, Georgia, Florida. Duke doesn't list them, but used to on their site, and I remember that the top 4 were North Carolina, Florida, New York, and California.</p>
<p>the negative about duke is that it is in a dump of a town. durham is the epitome of what the northern perception of the south is... filled with old tobacco plants kind of sleazy and backwards.</p>
<p>Durham is indeed a craphole, but I wouldn't call it sleazy or backwards. Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill are all liberal towns (really the only blue part of the state) and the sleaziest part of Durham I've seen is probably the nightclubs full of drunken Duke students ;) You don't usually interact with Durhamites unless you're at a community venue like a club or if you're volunteering.</p>
<p>The thing about Durham that sucks is the crime. You can't go wandering the streets at night, even if you're not alone, because people do get mugged. I guess that's true for any urban area, but Durham especially. I've never felt particularly unsafe (definitely never felt unsafe while I'm on campus), but I make sure it's daytime or I'm in a crowd if I'm wandering off campus.</p>
<p>Definitely, Vanderbilt is better. The best way to find that out is to personally visit. I was lucky to have "overnights" at Vanderbilt, Duke and Harvard with my cousins, and, hands down, I was most impressed with the quality of the undergraduate experience and professors at Vanderbilt. Looking specifically at Vandy vs. Duke, I just really preferred the dynamism of Nashville, and the Vandy classes I observed. I was so impressed that I applied early--so yeah, I'm a California member of the 2012 class! Good luck. A visit is worth a thousand of these posts!</p>
<p>Pros of Duke:
-better name (school is recognized nationwide)
-more diversity (more international students, greater geographical diversity)
-significantly better recruiting opps (especially in finance)
-strong sports scene which in turn leads to strong school spirit (i estimate 20% of the kids on any given day are wearing some duke apparel) </p>
<p>Pros of Vandy:
-probably the best looking girls of any top 20 school.
-stronger greek scene (not that duke is weak...vandy is just stronger)</p>
<p>i can't think of anything else. nothing against vandy (big fan of the school...well big fan of the girls of that school) but when it came down to it duke's name, atmosphere, and (importantly) recruiting opps make it a better school for me.</p>
<p>Pick a college that works for you, but don't think people are rushing to Durham to hire only Duke grads. You will be sadly disappointed. The top firms in the country go to the top 75 colleges, some to 100---sorry to have to tell you that. So yeah, you're going to have a little competition at the end of those four years. One of the elite firms who goes to fewer schools is Goldman Sachs, and they go to 37 schools for their top jobs. And yeah, Vanderbilt and Duke are one of the 37. Guess that only leaves 35 other schools we have to worry about:)</p>
<p>also, recruiting isn't evenly distributed. its lopsided. and this is without considering for divisions (IBD/S&T is more attractive than being recruited for ops)</p>
<p>Bluedog, not being an American, I don't get the negative implications of in the the term "Southern culture." When I think of "Southern Culture," I think of Welty, Reynolds Price, Faulkner, O'Connor, Harper Lee, Kaye Gibbons, Lee Smith, et al. Also, Duke's data for the southeast do not include WV and VA, which are included in mid-Atlantic.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to imply Southern culture was a negative thing. Some people like it, some people don't. All I was saying is that Duke is slightly more geographically diverse than Vanderbilt - that's all. Southern culture includes food (grits, biscuits, mashed potatoes and gravy, hushpuppies), clothes (more formal generally; flower dresses for girls, khakis and button downs and sometimes ties for guys), dialect (southern accent), history and southern pride (those confederate flags occasionally arise), pace (people generally say the pace of life in the South is slower; people are not as much in a rush), and lifestyle (more rural instead of urban). Granted, these are vast simplifications and southern culture is more muti-faceted than I just pointed out. But, certainly, we can all agree that people from the North generally have a different tendencies than people from the South. It's probably beneficial to have both on campus! :) I like the south, but could NEVER live in the deep south personally (e.g. mississippi, alabama, etc.). But, it's a personal thing and some people love those places. Certain southern rituals are more prevalent at Vandy than Duke. For example, at Vanderbilt there is a large contingent of the student body that dresses up for football games (girls in dresses, guys in button downs and ties). This would NEVER happen for a Duke sporting event. Well, nobody attends football games, haha, but for basketball if somebody wore a tie, people would be staring at that individual. People wear Duke t-shirts and jeans to sporting events or crazy outfits (much more casual). Sorry if I made generalizations - just trying to give a clearer picture of what southern culture is. I'm not from the south so don't particularly know all the ins and outs. While North Carolina is certainly southern, on campus with the people you interact with (or, at least, who I interacted with), I did not feel like I was in the south at all (except that the weather is much better than the north!). If you want to be friendly with southern students, it's obviously easy to find them (i.e. hang out at KA - that's a fraternity in case u didn't know).</p>
<p>Also, speaking of WV and VA....VA is really two states. Northern Virginia is much more "northern," while there is also large rural farming areas in the south. So, it's be more informative if they split it up, which they obviously don't. But I'd guess there are several times more Dukies from NoVA than SoVa. It's not a state like Mississippi where it's 100% southern. WV is also interesting and I'm sure there aren't that many that from WV that go to Duke. WV is the third poorest state in the nation in per capita income (only ahead of Mississippi and Alabama, both southern again). It also has the lowest percentage of adults with bachelor's degree in the nation at just 15.3%. It's a very blue collar mining state. So, I don't think the numbers from WV greatly affect the Mid-Atlantic numbers.</p>
<p>Being from the northeast, it should be noted that Vanderbilt's "southern" culture is greatly exaggerated. The West End/Hillsboro Village/21st Avenue area by the campus has no 'southern' feeling and could easily be in Pennsylvania, etc. Only downtown Nashville has a southern feeling (about 2 miles from campus).</p>
<p>I have never eaten grits or drank sweet tea. I was actually surprised by the number of people at Vanderbilt from New York/New Jersey/Connecticut. CollegeConfidential paints a picture of Vanderbilt that isn't accurate. Its a bunch of normal kids in jeans/t-shirts from around the country.</p>
<p>I have never seen a confederate flag on campus and its tiring seeing the same lies posted on this site over and over.</p>
<p>OK, the TheOC89, fair enough. Let's just agree that both are good schools with a certain southern contingent larger than the ivies, and if you want to avoid the southerners, it's quite easy, and if you want to hang out with southerners, it's also quite easy. I'm just saying that there is a slightly higher percentage of southerners at Vanderbilt, but it probably doesn't make a significant difference in the overall student culture....When I visited the two campus, I personally felt Vanderbilt was more southern, but admittedly, my stay was very short and it's hard to get a complete picture of an institution in a day. Others may come to different conclusions. I know plenty of people from the north who love Vanderbilt....it's obviously a good school. And choosing between Duke and Vanderbilt is essentially a matter of personal preference depending on what you are looking for in a school. Everybody can come to the own conclusion and neither one is more "right" or "wrong" than the other. Certainly neither school is "better" than the other for everybody out there.</p>
<p>My experience was so similar to Calidude's, but I happen to be a girl from an earlier class. Read my post on the Vandy thread about this subject. I chose Vandy over Duke and Harvard, but I do believe college choice should be a personal one. VISIT EVERYWHERE! Sometimes that is all it takes...</p>
<p>Bluedog, you're too funny in your breakdown of southern culture -- very amusing. Having lived in N. VA and TN, I have to agree with much of what you write. However, as a parent considering colleges, I have to say that description of Vandy students dressing up for football games is very appealing.</p>
<p>quareidfaciam, I thought you said you weren't American....I supposed you could have immitrated here. But, I wouldn't have gone through all that effort if I had known you have lived in both NoVa and TN ;)</p>