<p>I am trying to decide between Duke and Vanderbilt. I like both schools very much, but I don't really have a concrete idea of which is a better fit for me. I do have a small preference for Duke.</p>
<p>However, factoring in costs makes the decision even more complex. By attending Vanderbilt, I could graduate most likely debt free, or possibly with <5000 in loans. Because Duke gave me less grants, and offers less scholarships, I would probably have to go ~20,000 into debt.</p>
<p>I do not have definite plans for what my major will be. The current option that I am most interested in is and undergrad science major like biochemistry or neuroscience, and then medical school. However, I am also interested in economics and english, or even possibly engineering.</p>
<p>Some people have advised me that the debt I would go into for Duke is worth it, as Duke has better programs and is more highly recruited from by companies and graduate schools. Other people have said that even if I am not totally sure about medical school, I should take Vanderbilt and finish without debt.</p>
<p>What would be the best course of action for me?</p>
<p>If you seek to go to medical school, Duke’s edge in prestige probably won’t matte as much. For graduate school admissions and job hiring, Duke is definitely worth paying the extra 15-20K. Both have strong reputations in the South but Duke is well-recognized everywhere while Vandy’s fades a bit once you go north of the Mason-Dixon Line. If you switched your mind and wanted to do Consulting or Investment Banking for instance, Duke would be the better school by a landslide.</p>
<p>I disagree with goldenboy on consulting – Vanderbilt is strong in consulting. Bain and BCG were both started by Vanderbilt grads (two of the most prestigous firms).</p>
Yet, neither of them actively recruit at the school. They might take 1-2 grads each year but Duke sends double digit alums to these two companies annually. McKinsey & Company was founded by a University of Chicago professor but Chicago undergrad isn’t a core target for McKinsey now.</p>
<p>Yeah, you’re right actually-Vandy is definitely a target school for Bain. It must have strengthened its profile for the firm in the past 4 years. A quick search on LinkedIn shows that 4 Vanderbilt students got Bain jobs last year in the Dallas office and about 12 were hired from Duke (in a variety of offices, highest in Atlanta and Boston though).</p>
<p>A lot of the boutique consulting firms don’t recruit there. You either get Deloitte or Bain or strike out at Vanderbilt. Other schools have a lot more options.</p>
<p>Like I said, 20 K is a very manageable amount of debt for a degree that you will carry for the rest of your life. Unless there’s a strong fit preference one way or another, Duke is the logical choice.</p>
<p>Simple gut, Durham is a tough city to live in. I live very close to it and while duke is in a bubble, it is in durham. I still don’t travel alone there at night and I’m not one to worry alot but facts are facts. So visit and walk around the cities as well, this is where you will live…</p>
Vanderbilt’s page shows that it combines recruitment for undergrads, doctoral candidates, and the MBAs. There’s no specific recruiting process for undergrads as is confirmed if you look at the number of profiles they have in the “Meet BCGers” section.</p>
<p>Vandy has 2 profiles and neither got a BA/BS from Vanderbilt. One got a PhD and the other got an MBA from MIT and a MS in ChemE at Vandy. It’s not really a target school for BCG-it’s as simple as that.</p>
<p>The vast majority of schools aren’t even listed on the site. The fact that BCG has Vanderbilt listed implies they are interested in qualified Vanderbilt applicants. </p>
<p>If you look on Vanderbilts Career Site - there were offers by nearly every top company - Accenture, Asurion, Bank of America, Barclays, Blackrock, Booz Allen, BCG, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Goldman Sachs, Google, Harris Williams, IBM, Lazard, Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Raymond James, etc. </p>
<p>(Go to LinkedIn and type Vanderbilt - you’ll see lots of people at great companies)</p>
<p>The worlds youngest billionaire (before Mark Zuckerberg) was John Arnold - an econ graduate at Vanderbilt who started an energy trading hedge fund. </p>
<p>Vandy all the way with less debt. My son got wait listed at both vandy and Duke, but would have chosen vandy straight up because he liked nashville so much and the students and faculty went out of their way to be friendly on our visit.</p>
Most of the elite schools are listed on that site. Middle Tennessee State isn’t, but did you really expect it to be?</p>
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Where’s Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, RBS, RBC, LEK Consulting, Booz & Co., Oliver Wyman, Moelis, McKinsey, BNP Paribas, etc.? BAML is the only investment bank that actively recruits Vanderbilt for front office positions. It looks like Bain targets the school and BCG takes 1-2 exceptional students. Vandy is a semi-target at best for elite jobs.</p>
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The debt amount here is manageable and Duke is the better school by any measure. It has a stronger student body, more undergraduate resources, greater prestige, better job connection, superior medical school placement, etc. etc.</p>
<p>There are thousands of colleges in America, only about 20 are listed. Lots of elite schools are not targeted at all - Swarthmore, Tufts, William and Mary, etc. </p>
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<p>My list wasn’t exhaustive - many of these companies are listed (JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, etc.)</p>
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<p>In terms of grad school placement, there is no difference - it will come down to GPA/test scores (LSAT, MCAT, etc.). The student bodies have nearly identical test scores and selectivity (Vanderbilt accepted 12%, compares to Duke’s 11.9%). You will get a great job from either university and I don’t think Duke is worth the extra money.</p>
<p>Perhaps you enjoy Durham over Nashville - but I’d give Vanderbilt the edge in college experience.</p>
<p>I think I will go the admitted students day at Duke soon, and I already have been to something similar at Vanderbilt. I can probably get a better idea of my preference after that, but I think that I would be very happy at either college.</p>
<p>I was wondering most specifically how the debt would interact with medical or law school, since you have to take out loans to complete them. I have heard my peers say that undergraduate debt will put you in danger of failing to get sufficient loans to finish either of these types of graduate school. To those of you supporting Duke, is ~20,000 in debt still manageable for medical or law school?</p>
Yes, absolutely, that is a manageable amount of debt for a school you like a lot and is world-class for premed. Regular medical schools don’t care about where you did your undergraduate studies but the elite medical schools do. I will post some figures when I get some time that show how much represented Duke undergrads are at the best medical schools compared to Vanderbilt undergrads.</p>