Help, please! Stanford v. full ride at Duke

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Hello everyone. </p>

<p>I'm interested in computer science and biology. I was lucky enough to be accepted at Stanford. Recently, I also received the A.B. Scholarship at Duke University, which provides for full tuition and boarding at Duke, as well as a semester at Oxford. I'm very conflicted: Stanford has been one of my dream schools for a long time, but the A.B. Scholarship at Duke is just wayyy too hard to pass up. Ordinarily, I would choose free ride at Duke in a heartbeat. The things that bother me though: </p>

<p>-Stanford is THE school for computer science + proximity to the Silicon Valley (as opposed to Duke, which is strong in bio but less so compsci)<br>
-I didn't like the frat scene at Duke very much (and greek life is apparently a big deal there)
-I'm afraid that I will miss out on meeting people that might eventually be the next "Larry Page" if I do not go to Stanford </p>

<p>I keep on vacillating between the two choices. I was CERTAIN I'd be going to Duke yesterday. I was about to send in my confirmation email. But I asked people who are already in college (at places like Brown) and they all unanimously thought I'd be dumb to pass up Stanford. If I went to Stanford, however, my financial aid packet would be small. My family can afford the tuition but we are fairly middle class and definitely not rich. </p>

<p>Advice? Does undergraduate prestige really count for that much?</p>

2

<p>Do you have $200,000 worth of objections to Duke? Does Stanford have grad programs in your major?</p>

<p>Congratulations on your wonderful choices–you must be an incredible student who will make the most of wherever you end up!</p>

3

<p>I personally know kids who turned down Harvard for AB Duke. But, if you have $ 200K sitting around, I’d say go to Stanford. Have you looked at the number of national scholars (Goldwater, Marshall, Rhodes etc.) coming out of the AB Duke program? Can Stanford match that?</p>

4

<p>Larry Page was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. The next Larry Page might be attending any good school, certainly including Duke.</p>

5

<p>bumppppppp</p>

<p>Seems like everyone’s in favor of Duke. Anyone willing to advocate for why Stanford might be better? Or is this a clear cut decision to everyone except me?</p>

6

<p>If you can afford it, go to Stanford. Going to Stanofrd is not something money can buy.</p>

7

<p>Duke is a great school, it is not like you will be turning down Stanford for a community college. I have allegiance to Stanford, but if I were in your position I would go to duke. Congratulations.</p>

8

<p>

WRONG! You can get into Stanford by donating millions (like many millions). MERIT FULL RIDE at ANY TOP 10 SCHOOL is something money can’t buy (there is no point). </p>

<p>

You can still intern at Silicon Valley if you go to Duke, it is known worldwide. Also, to work in Silicon Valley, you most likely will have to get a Ph.D. and you can always go to Stanford or a top school. Undergrad education doesn’t really matter if you are going to grad school, as long as the schools are relatively equal in rigor and strength. </p>

<p>

You do realize that you frat scene is something over played by the media to down Duke’s reputation. Duke bans alcohol in dorms, and they require students to live in dorms for 3 years. In other words, there is no crazy frat parties on Duke’s campus. If you really want a frat scene, you would have to go off campus, and that’s something you can control. If you don’t like it, you can ignore it easily.

What Duke doesn’t turn out amazing people?</p>

<p>Okay, a summer at Oxford with everything paid for you and everything organized for you is something you won’t ever experience if you reject the A.B. Scholars. At Stanford you will have to apply to be one of 47, not guaranteeing you to be accepted. Furthermore, you will still have to pay for airfare (couple thousand), housing (couple thousand), transportation, food, etc… If you want to go explore, you will have to pay for your own travel, at Duke, there are scheduled retreats.
As an AB Duke scholar, you can get up to $5,000 in grant money for your research, Stanford doesn’t guarantee that for you.
Your full ride includes everything, full tuition, room and board, and all mandatory fees for four years (eight semesters).</p>

<p>You would be dumb (not in a harsh way) to make your parents work harder for a few more years just so you can spend your undergrad at a $200,000+ dollar institution. Think about your parents, do you want to add financial burden to them and yourself (because you probably will have to do work study, taking more time off of your ability to study and research) if you can go to an equality prestigious/rigorous school? The biggest thing is financials. You’re parents might afford it but at what cost? Delayed retirement? More stressful life? And what about the financial cost to you? You realize that you would have to work. Which means, you will have LESS time to study/research (and for a double major like you, that means less publications, successful projects, innovations). All of this translates into a more stressful life. At Duke, you have everything set in place for you, you don’t have to stress about paying for college, finding funding for research projects and top Duke professors loves students who have fellowships, which means they will provide for you top research projects that can be published in prestigious journals. Undergrad prestige (which is crazy because Duke and Stanford are viewed as similar in prestige by educated people) isn’t worth $200,000+ in 4 years. You can succeed just as well at Duke, where you have more time to succeed in extracurricular and study.</p>

<p>BTW, last year (2010), two AB Duke students won Marshall Scholarship and one AB Duke student won Rhodes. So AB Duke doesn’t mean an inferior education at all.</p>

9

<br>

<br>

<p>If that’s the case, I have no qualms about advocating for Stanford. Duke’s good, Stanford is amazing. Duke’s frat scene, which didn’t appeal to you, is fairly pervasive; Stanford’s is pretty peripheral. Stanford, as you said, is THE school for CS, when you combine its tied-for-top (with MIT) programs with its ideal Silicon Valley location. Biology at Stanford is also unbeatably excellent (though it is very good at Duke as well). While it’s true, as another poster said, that future Larry Pages might be found at any good college, Stanford seems to be attracting an increasing number of students with entrepreneurial tendencies, and to be giving them every opportunity to develop them along with their academic pursuits.</p>

<p>How was that? :slight_smile: Good luck wherever you decide to go!</p>

10

<p>Gunit, i think the OP knows what you said. What bothers him is why not Stanford.</p>

11

<p>How can your family be middle class and still afford to be full pays at Stanford?</p>

12

<p>

Oops, sorry</p>

13

<p>To Pea: </p>

<p>My family has been saving up for me to go to college with some financial assistance from my grandfather (who is somewhat richer than we are). So yeah, we could afford for me to go to Stanford for undergraduate…But then I’d be on my own for graduate school. I guess we are more “upper-middle class” but since we are sending my older sibling to college as well, it’s a bit of stretch providing for two kids since my sister does not receive FA where she goes to school.</p>

14

<p>You will get some types of assistantships in grad school. It is very different from undergrad school.</p>

15

<p>Well then, I guess I would take your parent’s lead. If they are not concerned about being full pays at Stanford and Stanford is your dream school then I would go ahead and let them do this for you and choose Stanford. On the other hand if full tuition at Stanford would be a hardship for them then I think you should choose the scholarship at Duke.</p>

16

<p>Choose Duke. Save the money for graduate school.</p>

17

<p>Go Duke. I’m speaking as a Stanford grad. Full ride @ Duke is incredible and you’ll always have a chance to go Stanford for a masters in CS if you think you still need the Silicon Valley experience (or maybe you’ll go straight to work there anyways debt-free).</p>

18

<p>I agree with NeoTycoon. I did undergrad and grad @ Stanford and my son will attend next year (for math & CS). The only other school he seriously considered was Duke; had he won the AB Duke, I would have strongly encouraged him to take it. AB Duke is harder to get than a Stanford acceptance. As much as I love Stanford, if money is a concern to you at all, choose Duke. Congratulations.</p>

19

<p>Stanford has the best CS department in the world, even better than MIT and Berkeley. Duke is no match.
In biology, Duke is great. But Stanford is arguably the best, or tied as #1 with Harvard.
So academically, Duke is not at Stanford’s level for sure.
But $200,000 is a big deal for you, it’s hard to say. As an undergraduate, if you can excell at Duke, you may have a decent chance to go to Stanford for graduate study. But it’s not a gurantee.</p>

20

<p>By the way, if you are successful at Stanford, $200,000 might be not a big deal for you in the future.</p>