<p>I had committed to Cal but just got off the waitlist at Duke and have a few days to decide which one to go to.</p>
<p>A little about me: I want to major in history or some type of social science. I hope to one day go to law school. In college, I hope to participate in mock trial, journalism, and perhaps some undergraduate research.</p>
<p>Pros for Cal: I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area so I save over $100,000 by going to Berkeley. I wouldn't mind being closer to home. I also wouldn't mind enjoying Bay Area weather for the next four years. The faculty at Berkeley are second to none and it has a particularly dazzling history department.</p>
<p>Cons for Cal: Bureaucracy is hard to deal with (got a taste of this when signing up for Calso), lack of diversity (almost entirely white and asian), infamous grading curve, probably a tad less prestigious than Duke for undergrad.</p>
<p>Duke isn’t worth 100,000 more dollars than Berkeley. As far as I know, Duke is renowned for its biological sciences (excellent medical school), and not necessarily for the humanities and social sciences.</p>
<p>Duke and Berkeley are peer schools, in general. No one is better than the other, though in terms of name recognition, I would say Berkeley has more of it. The top law schools do not favor grads of one over the other, except at their own respected law school. But at Yale Law and Harvard Law, Berkeley undergrads are more represented than Duke undergrads are. And, if this is a consolation, Berkeley-Boalt is better than Duke Law, and has more prestige internationally. </p>
<p>I’d say save the money and go to Berkeley. Berkeley is a fantastic school and would open many opportunities for you later on. You can then apply to Harvard or Yale law, if you don’t want Stanford or Berkeley law.</p>
<p>And that is a lot of money. Dragging that amount of student loan debt through law school would not be a great thing to do. If you do not go to law school, having that amount of debt with a history degree or most social studies degrees probably would not be a good thing either.</p>
<p>In this case, I think the obvious answer is Berkeley. Duke is not worth $100k over Berkeley, which not only is better for what you’re interested in, but is continually recognized as one of the top 5 schools in the world (and easily the best public school in the nation). Duke also won’t offer you an advantage over Berkeley for your goals. Even if it did, that wouldn’t justify $100k.</p>
<p>By the way, I’m not a Berkeley student (actually finishing at Stanford now, so that should tell you something :p).</p>
<p>All of the reasons you mentioned are good reasons to choose Duke over Cal. Your peer group at Duke will be stronger academically as well as more diverse, the undergraduate advising for law/med/business/graduate school will be exponentially better, there will be much less bureaucracy when signing up for class/applying to research positions and the student/faculty interaction will be a lot better.</p>
<p>By almost every measure that exists which attempts to assess the quality of undergraduate education, Duke comes out well on top. If your parents have the money to send you to Duke, then you should seize the opportunity because you will be wondering “what if” for the rest of your life if you go to Cal just because its cheaper.</p>
<p>I’m convinced think I wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in applying to law school from either school, especially because I understand that LSAT plays such a huge role in admissions. Can anyone comment about school environment? I’ve heard that Duke is something of a party school with a preprofessional atmosphere and, in general, does not have as intellectual or curious students as Berkeley.</p>
<p>Berkley definitely. Your cons for Berkley are not that bad and are the same cons for Duke in some cases (see post #4) and I dont think that Cal is less prestigious than Duke. Have fun saving $100,000! Wear your Duke hat and backpack when the Blue Devils make it to the Tournament again!</p>
<p>This is rather insulting to Duke. Duke has a MUCH higher standard of admission than Berkeley so–by the fact–the students there are, on the average, more intellegent and more talented than those at Berkeley. Be rest assured that students with the ambition and the talent to gain admission to one of the world’s premier universities will be very intellectual; curiousity is relative in that it is inherently difficult to be intellectual and engage in meaningful study without curiousity.</p>
<p>However Berekely is indeed the best public school in the world and 100 k cheaper. Because of this I would recommend Berkeley if the extra 100 k is a strain for your family. If your family is, say, lower to middle class without a doubt choose Berkeley. If your family is upper middle class or higher I think it would be to your benefit to go to Duke for the following reasons: </p>
<p>[ul]
[<em>]Better pre-law (77% vs 99% acceptance into law school due largely to superior and more focused advising)
[</em>]A more talented peer group that will in turn push you to learn more
[<em>]Duke is a great place to gain internships and build an impressive resume because of the more individual focus that comes from any private school
[</em>]College is a time of independence; for this independence to come to fruition a separation from home is strongly encouraged. Living away from California will give you perspective on life.
[<em>]Duke is a much richer school thus more resources will be used for you as a student (have you heard about the UC system’s economic struggles recently?)
[</em>]Duke not only has opportunities for undergraduate research they actually encourage students to take part.
[<em>]Superior athletics–the camaraderie that comes with Duke Basketball is especially awesome.
[</em>]Better networking opportunites
[li]Prestige and diversity (as you said) — yes Duke is slightly more prestigious than UCB at the undergraduate level[/li][/ul] </p>
<p>Also, on a side note, Duke’s weather is not significantly worse than that of UCB.</p>
<p>The reality is that Duke is arguably the weakest in the sciences, though biology is definitely stronger than the other three offered (chemistry, physics, EOS). The strongest programs at Duke are without doubt the humanities; its strongest programs are classics, religion, English, and the like. These get overshadowed because other good programs like political science and public policy are far more popular. </p>
<p>I agree with most of what lesdiablesbleus and SoonToBeLionized said; all other things being equal, it generally makes a fair amount of sense for a prospective law student to choose Duke over Berkeley. $100K is not chump change, however – tuition alone at top law schools is currently running about $50K per year. I would be very hesitant indeed to spend that much money for a school I didn’t strongly favor over a cheaper alternative.</p>
<p>I would love to see the resources for this stat…
“Better pre-law (77% vs 99% acceptance into law school due largely to superior and more focused advising)”</p>
<p>Admittedly, the advising at Duke is phenomenal, and poor advising is the bane of many public universities. That said, I must again emphasize that $100K is a lot of money.</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, Duke would be a better choice. The students ARE more intellectually curious, and they also know how to chill. Duke’s basketball is ridiculous as well. Duke also has a much more balanced political scene- you can be a liberal, conservative, moderate, libertarian, and be ostracized either way, unlike Berkeley where if you’re not a liberal, you’re considered an idiot by professors and peers alike. </p>
<p>But at the graduate level, Duke can’t compare. Berkeley KILLS Duke at the graduate level. This creates a problem for Berkeley’s undergrads though- since Berkeley focuses so much of it resources towards its graduate program, its undergraduate program is marginalized. </p>
<p>So as an overall institution, Berkeley > Duke. For undergrad only, Duke> Berkeley, and for grad, Berkeley >>>>> Duke</p>