<p>I have been given the B.N. Scholarship to Duke, which is a full ride plus benefits, such as a guaranteed internship and a summer abroad. I'd pretty much only have to pay for books my whole college experience.<br>
Yet I also got into Harvard. Harvard is so hard to turn down - it has the unparalleled opportunity, it has the prestige, and Cambridge is a really awesome town. Also, the living arrangements and the general atmosphere is superior. However, I don't want to kill myself in college - yet I've heard stuff about grade inflation at Harvard, more so than at Duke.<br>
I don't qualify for financial aid, so Harvard would be really costly, but my parents have said they will handle it and I'll just have to pay them back. I don't know what I want to do, but I will probably want to go to graduate school of some kind - most likely. </p>
<p>I just need some advice. Any thoughts are more than welcome!!!</p>
<p>You’ll have to “pay them back”? That’s a ton of money. Harvard definitely has ‘prestige’ but Duke is a great school and I’ve never heard of anyone regretting attending there. Congrats on your options anyway.</p>
<p>I know it seems hard because Harvard seems like the top of the line with prestige…but honestly speaking, were I in your shoes I would probably choose Duke. It’s partially about the money - Harvard is always nice, but Duke is a top-ranked school as well and is pretty well-known nationally, and you shouldn’t have trouble getting opportunities coming from there, either. Plus, for personal reasons, there are things I like about Duke - I grew up in the South and I like the big sports aspect, the Greek life, and the general atmosphere of North Carolina.</p>
<p>If you do actually go to graduate school, it won’t matter whether you went to Harvard or Duke. I will say that being in less debt will make it easier on you if you choose to go to a school that costs a lot, like medical or law school. However, that’s far down the line and you may change your mind. Really, I don’t see the point of going into debt just for the name of Harvard - in the U.S. News rankings that everyone seems to buy into, Harvard’s tied for #1 and Duke is #10. I’m not sure that there’s an appreciable difference in the academics of two schools 9 spots apart. You’re going to get a great education at either.</p>
<p>Agree with Dunnin. If cost were not such an issue, I’d go to Harvard given your preferences. Cambridge is awesome. But save it for grad school. Take a prestigious scholarship at a prestigious school and count your lucky stars.</p>
<p>While Harvard wins in prestige, if you choose Duke you’ll be going to a still prestigious school for free that will offer you similar opportunities. I say Duke.</p>
<p>That is a prestigous scholarship-- take it!!! A friend’s son turned down Harvard for a similar scholarship at UGA and never looked back. Dont focus on “prestige”. The attention and opportunities you will have with this scholarship will be incredible. Save your $200K!!!</p>
<p>I have a friend that went to Harvard. Seriously, I don’t think of him any differently had he gone to somewhere else. Sure, it’s nice to tell people you went to Harvard but there’s no way that little vanity is worth 200k.</p>
<p>thanks for everyone who has posted! I am still not sure what i’m going to do… I have a day and a half to decide!!! If I hadn’t gotten the scholarship, Harvard would be a no-brainer, but if I hadn’t gotten into Harvard it’d be the other way around. My main hold-ups about Duke are that though I am from the South and more comfortable there, I don’t like the environment nearly as much and some of the students that I’ve met have seemed a bit snooty. Also, I don’t know if it’s the prestige bias speaking, but I just feel like Harvard would grow me more as a person and intellectually. Any thoughts, and does anyone know about the comparative difficulty of the two schools?</p>
<p>lreed87: $220k in loan repayment will affect your quality of life for at LEAST 10 years, maybe 20. I realize at your age it simply looks like an abstraction, but when you start having to say no to friends who are taking trips to Italy, or worse, have to turn down a lower-paying yet fulfilling job (let’s say a job that pays $40,000 – like a teacher, journalist, non profit manager, entry level Hollywood Studio job, etc.) b/c at that salary you cannot make your monthly loan payment/take a trip to Italy, you will quickly realize that “debt service” is not an abstract concept. It can be like an anaconda slowly squeezing freedom of choice in career and leisure pursuits. Debt is bad, financial freedom is good!</p>
<p>Go to Duke. You wont regret it! That’s a serious scholarship with very serious perks, Harvard is not worth losing the opportunity at Duke. You will have just as many opportunities at Duke and I’ve heard its not super elitist there. If I could go anywhere I wanted, with or without the scholarship, personally I would choose Duke.</p>
<p>And I highly doubt that when you finish up and start getting into your career that employers will discriminate between a Duke grad and Harvard grad. Its all about what you do with the opportunities that are made available to you while your in college. Not to mention I lived in the northeast for 20 years and life is just waaay too fast paced. The people over there are real judgmental, rude, and too interested in their own ambitions. The atmosphere at Duke is unmatched.</p>
<p>You will have the same opportunities wherever you go. Both Harvard and Duke are top 10 universities. If I were in your shoes, I would choose Duke in a heartbeat. You got a very prestigious scholarship w/ great benefits at one of the finest schools in the country, so I don’t know why you would want to turn that down. Harvard is overrated in my opinion (at least for undergraduates). Save that $220,000 for grad school.</p>
Debt is bad, financial freedom is good!</p>