<p>When college acceptances rolled round this year, I found out that not only did I get into my first-choice school (selective state school, hard to get into OOS, ranked ~25th), but I also unexpectedly got into another school (private school, ranked ~10th) which I hadn't expected to. Although I got into my first choice and have my heart set on going there, my dad is overly concerned with rankings and is pushing for me to attend the private school. Although it is ranked higher, I don't feel like it's a place I want to spend my next four years, and he doesn't seem to understand that. Can anyone give me some advice on what kinds of things I should say in order to get my dad to, as the title says, see past the rankings?</p>
<p>What are the two schools?</p>
<p>What is your likely major?</p>
<p>Will they cost the same? (Is money an issue?)</p>
<p>What do you want in a school? Big, small, quiet, rah rah big sports, rural setting, city setting?</p>
<p>What do you like about your first choice school? What do you dislike about the higher ranked school?</p>
<p>The schools are UVA and Duke. I didn’t put the names because, to my dad, it doesn’t matter what the schools are - simply that one is ranked higher than the other.
In terms of majors, I have no idea what I want to do. Money isn’t an issue, either.
In my opinion, UVA has a much better location than Duke- Charlottesville is the quintessential college town, while Durham is far from it. I also like the medium-large size of UVA - not large enough to feel like a number, but not small enough to know everyone by the time you graduate. These among other things, but what I really am having trouble conveying to my dad is that the rankings aren’t what matter to me. To him, they are the most important thing, and this bothers me.</p>
<p>I know your Dad is referring to the USNWR rankings; however, have him look at the Forbes rankings too. (He might see the other side.).</p>
<p>You are the one attending college, not your dad.</p>
<p>@jc40: nobody takes the forbes ranking seriously and iirc, it doesn’t rank based on school quality but includes a bunch of meaningless riff raff</p>
<p>paulaturcotte, you have two beautiful options that many people would feel were fabulous. And if you can afford both, you are in tall cotton indeed.</p>
<p>I have a Duke 09 son and live not far from UVA and know literally hundreds of UVA graduates who never stop expressing their love for their University as they age up.<br>
Perhaps you should focus if possible on considerations that have to do with your career goals if they are defined (my son’s were not!).<br>
Duke’s premed program is world class and funnels students into incredible opportunities. Lab sciences at Duke are incredibly well funded. UVA’s business program was ranked first in the nation above UPenn’s Wharton last year which is amazing. Take a look at departments. UVA has many programs that place students in excellent positions…but I would start focusing on where you would end up department wise and compare. Also take a good look not only at the surrounding cities (Charlottesville is the hands down winner–it is magic…sorry to my son’s alma mater!)…but look at Residential life and housing which impact you a great deal as an undergrad … not important later in grad schools. (Duke’s Residential offerings are outstanding…not perfect! But outstanding if you want to live on campus for 3-4 years…that is the norm.) </p>
<p>Right now, Joy in Cameron Stadium this week…with some very fine Duke young men winning the national championship… Something my son now at Vanderbilt would not consider a factor at all! Duke son attended many many sporting events to root for his classmates in a long list of sports. It is a shame to go to Duke and not appreciate the student athletes…big part of the scene. Go to Duke Blue Planet and see the videos if you want to get a taste of the way Duke students love their teams. But keep in mind that Duke is also unique in its international student body and in its Duke Engage program for starters. Duke is also opening a program in China…</p>
<p>That said, diversity at UVA is also amazing. They are both very vibrant institutions with good alum participation and networks that last a lifetime.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Durham is not the ghetto. In fact, the areas immediately surrounding Duke are cute and college-towny, with coffee shops and delis galore. </p>
<p>Still, it’s your decision, unless of course there’s some sort of financial consideration–in which case, defer to the person with the checkbook.</p>
<p>There are a number of different ways of ranking colleges and universities. USNWR just gets the most press. Perhaps your dad needs to be reminded that USNWR invented its ranking system as a way of guaranteeing sales of their magazine several times a year. You will not magically have a better life just because you chose #42 instead of #100 (or whatever it is the scores are) out of a total of something like 3000 four year institutions in the US.</p>
<p>You like UVA better. If the cost to your family equivalent, I really see no good reason to choose a university that you don’t like as well.</p>
<p>you see a lot of debates on CC between Duke and the Ivies…</p>
<p>very little between UVa and the Ivies…</p>
<p>this might tell you something about the two schools…</p>
<p>take Duke, unless your heart is really for Virginia</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Durham is definitely ghetto. The areas near campus are nice if you don’t walk through them alone, or after dark. Seriously, though-most NC natives will tell you that Durham is one of the crappiest cities in the state. The gang scene there is pretty bad: I saw one estimate (a few years ago) that put Durham’s gang population in the thousands.</p>
<p>That said, Duke has tons and tons of security, so students do end up being pretty safe there. Just know that Durham is no Charlottesville. It sounds like you want to go to UVa more anyways, so Durham shouldn’t really be too much of an issue.</p>
<p>JohnAdams, I think that speaks more to the insecurity of Duke students.</p>
<p>Rankings are betting when giving you a general ideal, but not a all around decision maker. If you feel UVA is better I definately would go there, both are excellent schools.</p>
<p>Your Dad is focused on US News Rankings, that’s just one ranking and a heavily criticized one at that. See lots of threads about it and do a little Google research. Other rankin systems which many others think are more reliable/sound (Barron’s or Fiske, as two examples, which use categories) both I believe put UVA and Duke in the same top category. So, it sounds like you need to educate your Dad about the fallacy that the US News rankings are accurate, meaningful, or reliable.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Tell that to all kids on this board who advise attending school X over Y chiefly because the former is more well-known than the latter.</p>
<p>This advice is gold, Jerry, gold.</p>
<p>Something else to add: I think UVA offers a great balance between academics and athletics, so it’s an ideal place for a student-athlete. However, for others, athletic events are often great to attend since we pretty much dominate in every sport. Men’s tennis, lacrosse, baseball, soccer and women’s rowing, for instance have all been ranked #1 this year. These student-athletes have been in Olympics and UVA as a whole collected several medals in Beijing, including gold.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What about football or basketball (ie the two most-followed college sports)? :)</p>
<p>Yes, Virginia is having a great sports year</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The rankings tend to track money spent per student and not always in a way that sheds light on the true picture. A state school would not even be included in the same USNews category as Duke. I think if after taking into consideration a USNews rank, your gut is still telling you to go to a lower ranked school – obviously, you should follow your gut.</p>
<p>Quote:
you see a lot of debates on CC between Duke and the Ivies…</p>
<p>very little between UVa and the Ivies…</p>
<p>this might tell you something about the two schools…</p>
<p>take Duke, unless your heart is really for Virginia</p>
<p>JohnAdams12, you sound just like my dad in this scenario.
What I truly believe is that rankings don’t say it all. The prestige level doesn’t say it all, either.</p>