<p>Hey, I just got off the waitlist at Yale, but I was going to enroll at Duke in the fall for engineering. </p>
<p>Yale financial aid is fantastic and they're offering me about 15,000 more than Duke for next year. I don't know what to do because Duke's engineering program is a lot better than yale's. I'm not sure yet which though, maybe civil. </p>
<p>What do you think would be the better choice CCer's?</p>
<p>Just because Duke’s engineering department is sometimes ranked higher than Yale’s does not mean it is necessarily better at the undergraduate level. Yale has an extreme availability of research opportunities (not the case at most schools) and the engineering department is rapidly expanding in size and reputation (e.g. $50 million donation this year for 10 more professors).</p>
<p>Just to show the variability in college department rankings, see this one from the National Research Council (it says graduate school, but pretty much every department ranking is based on graduate school): [Find</a> the Graduate School That’s Right for You — PhDs.org Graduate School Guide](<a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/]Find”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/)</p>
<p>Depending on your selection criteria (I didn’t take into account diversity and put 5 for everything else), Yale ranks higher than Duke for every engineering program that it has at the moment: environmental, biomedical, chemical, electrical, mechanical.</p>
<p>I think the problem is that Yale’s humanities and social sciences departments have historically been among the best in the world, and only recently (comparatively) have Yale’s science and engineering departments become as well-regarded as their other departments. So, people think Yale = humanities, and this assumption kind of overshadows the fact that Yale’s science and engineering departments are among the best as well. On the other hand, Duke’s general reputation is centered on science and engineering, but that doesn’t mean the reputation itself is better. Also, see my previous thread, “To dispel the idea that top science students don’t come to Yale” to see that the science and engineering students at Yale are of equal caliber to those of peer schools.</p>
<p>Also, if you decide to change majors (50% of college students do), I’d say Yale would provide you with more opportunities in more fields.</p>
<p>If you got 15k more money at Duke, I would say Duke and so the reverse should also be true. Go to Yale. 60k over 4 years is a lot of money to give up.</p>
<p>Yale engineering boasts of 1:1 teacher to student ratio. So irrespective of the rating, you know you are getting the most attention.</p>
<p>^ agreed.</p>
<p>Duke is not stronger in engineering. If there were no cost difference, I would tell you Yale. If Duke were cheaper, I’d say Duke. But here, the obvious answer, I think, is Yale.</p>
<p>edit: look at the engineering school rankings</p>
<p>[Best</a> Engineering School Rankings | Engineering Program Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings/page+2]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings/page+2)</p>
<p>Duke #31, Yale #35 – so there’s really no material difference between the two.</p>
<p>I was in the same situation sort of, just replace Duke with Northwestern and Rice. I ultimately chose Yale mostly because of the money (Yale beat Rice by $8,000 or so, Northwestern wasn’t even close), but also because of the low student-to-faculty ratio, the loads and loads of opportunities for research, the numerous labs on campus, and mostly the social scene. I wasn’t a huge fan of the frats at NU, and Rice had a similar social scene, but again, the money won out. So come join me! :)</p>
<p>did any of you apply to MIT? why or why not?</p>
<p>This one is easy: Yale. </p>
<p>Now if Duke was giving you the Robertson scholarship it would be different. But in your case Yale is giving you 15K more in financial aid, <em>and</em> it is a much better school overall. No contest.</p>
<p>If you like Duke better, you could call them up and see if they’ll come up with more money.</p>