<p>After regular decisions came out, I was planning on going to Georgetown. I always loved Georgetown and had wanted to go there for a really long time. I loved the fact that it was in a city, but also that it had a real community feel, especially around basketball. A few weeks after depositing there, I got off the waitlist at Columbia. I decided to go to Columbia because the academics are of a higher caliber, so then I deposited there. A few weeks later I got off the waitlist at Duke, and then yesterday I got off the waitlist at UPenn! </p>
<p>Now, I have to decide among Duke, Columbia, and Penn. So please HELP! If you have any advice I would love to hear it! Thank you!</p>
<p>graceso...u and i were almost in the same situation....i got into duke, harvard, and upenn....i chose duke because i was very much interested in pre-med as well as biomedical engineering...duke is also a place where you can have fun...and the weather is not that bad...so its up to you...if i were you i would choose duke...after all it is as good of a school as harvard and upenn.</p>
<p>Duke has a strong community feel, with basketball being a driving force. Sports aren't big at all in Columbia, where I feel school spirit isn't that pervasive. Penn is in between.</p>
<p>If being in a major city but also having a real campus community feel are your priorities, you should strongly consider Penn. Of the 3 schools you're considering, it best combines those attributes. However, it's really a matter of personal preference and what the campuses "feel" like to you. Academically, all 3 are pretty comparable, and you can't go wrong with any of them. Of course, for certain academic interests or preferences (e.g., Wharton for business, Duke and Penn for BME, Columbia for the core) one school may be stronger than the others.</p>
<p>your a lucky person--all great academically, choose which one you got a better "feel" at. If your a city person--Penn/Columbia. If your very political-Columbia, if your into sports-Duke, if your into a good mix of everything and social life(frats)-Penn.
You can't go wrong, with any choice.</p>
<p>Why would you pick Columbia for Core? If you consider the Core a driving reason to pick Columbia, why not go to Duke or Penn instead and take the same classes as you would in the Core, except not the ones you don't want to? It seems like being forced to take 8 or 9 classes shouldn't be a reason to pick a school, especially when equivalent classes are available at other top Universities. Columbia's overall academics and placement are much more important. </p>
<p>Duke's social life has multiple things - a fun Greek life, similar to Penn, but also great sports. Overall, I think this makes it a slightly more 'fun' school in respect to fraternity life as well as sports, when compared to Penn. Both Penn and Duke are much more fun than Columbia.</p>
Unless the OP got into Wharton, business opportunities are about equal between the College of Arts and Sciences at both schools. As for premed goes, I think Duke is a tad bit better than Penn because of higher placement into med school and an amazing hospital system which makes acquiring internships easier.</p>
<p>To the OP, cross Columbia off your list because it doesn't have a community feel or school spirit, both of which you seem to want in your college experience. Between Duke and Penn, I would decide based on the intangibles. Penn is located in the midst of a vibrant, cultural city(Philadelphia) but Duke has more of a sense of "community", school spirit and a larger sports presence. The academics at both schools are equally top-notch and the social life is decent at both schools as well, although I think Duke has a bigger Greek life presence.</p>
Penn also has an amazing hospital system, with its main hospital and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (best children's hospital in the country)--and their combined multi-billion-dollar research complex--right on campus. Penn also has its top-3 Nursing School, top-5 Veterinary School, and top-10 Dental School all on the same campus, and all 3 of those schools also conduct significant leading-edge medical/biological research (including lots of Vet School research that impacts human medicine). All of this research activity right on campus also provides significant opportunities for undergrads.</p>
<p>I would say it's too tough to advise you based on the information you gave. What is your major? What do you want out of college? Do you want to be in a city? (if yes throw Duke out). Do you want to go into business? (if so i'd rank it Wharton, Columbia Financial Engineering, then it's a toss up). Are you a premed? (if so I'd narrow it down to Duke and Penn). </p>
<p>Personally, I'd pick Penn. It was closest to home for me (from DC) so you might want to consider looking at the school most accessible to home (it's nice being close enough to go home whenever I want compared to my friends who have to fly cross country). It's in a city, but not one like NYC where the city=life and campus doesn't have a strong role on social life. It has great premed opportunities with an amazing hospital (HUP), other great hospitals in the area, tons of research opportunities at hospital, med school, biology, chemistry, new bioengineering facilities, large donation made last fall to nanotech, etc. It also has the #1 undergrad business school which is also a top 3 graduate business school which means great on campus recruiting for Wharton and non Wharton students, you can take MBA classes, and Wharton has lots of interesting classes that can really supplement your curriculum depending on your major (<a href="http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/degree_programs/minors.cfm)%5B/url%5D">http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/degree_programs/minors.cfm)</a>. For the prelaw type, I don't know many other top 10 law schools that allow undergrads to take law school classes. Socially, Penn has a great on campus social life with pretty good frat parties and house parties, and also has clubs and restaurants downtown. I can't speak for Durham's night life, but will concede that Columbia's will be better with NYC.</p>
<p>Make a pro con list like Rory on Gilmore Girls...haha</p>
<p>No, seriously, first I would go to collegeboard.com and take the college matchmaker quiz and fill out the criteria you MUST HAVE, even if its more neglilgible like having a student newspaper, all female housing, whatever, and see if all the schools come up or if you can eliminate some...</p>
<p>also, think about where you want to live and work in the future, because chances are the location of the school will help you get internships in that area. Also, many of the friends you make in college will remain in that same area as well, so if you end up moving across the country from Durham to New York, you may regret having to leave them behind....</p>
<p>If you want to work out east i would say penn or columbia. And personally I would choose Columbia because of the opportunites in NYC...but i want to live there so im biased.</p>
<p>Anyways, maybe you should make a pro con list just to see if any school far outweighs the others in pros or cons just out of curiosity but don't choose based on that alone.</p>
<p>Chances are that after you make a pro con list, you can rip it up and just follow your gut.</p>
<p>Good luck and let us know what you choose! You have a great set of schools yet a difficult decision to make.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Why would you pick Columbia for Core? If you consider the Core a driving reason to pick Columbia, why not go to Duke or Penn instead and take the same classes as you would in the Core, except not the ones you don't want to? It seems like being forced to take 8 or 9 classes shouldn't be a reason to pick a school, especially when equivalent classes are available at other top Universities. Columbia's overall academics and placement are much more important.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think the benefit of the Core would be that it provides a somewhat self-selecting student body, if the student is interested in such an environment. At Duke or Penn, you would probably have to seek it out a bit more.</p>
<p>Duke and Penn are pretty similar in terms of student body. Urban/north vs. suburban/south.</p>
<p>While we're talking about pre med research opportunties, may I add that Penn currently has not one, but two new biomedical facilities under construction:</p>
<p>-The Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, which is almost finished and includes some kind of proton accelerator thingy that is very rare and very expensive)</p>
<p>-Fisher Research Center (which is just getting underway). CHOP also has a building under construction, for a grand total of three new buildings just brimming with research opportunities for you ;)</p>
<p>And there's another nanotech building going up too.</p>
<p>These buildings now form a frickin' mini-skyline you can see from across the river.</p>