<p>duke alumni clubs are all over the world, just like most other schools. </p>
<p>[Duke</a> Online Community - Duke Club of New York](<a href=“Duke”>Duke)</p>
<p>My friend’s brother just graduated from Duke and had a horrific time. After 4 miserable years in Durham he is back home living with his parents bc he couldn’t find a job. Based on his experience, I am happy I chose not to go there. Anyway, I and most people with no association with Duke agree that Columbia is more prestigious. It is three times as more difficult to gain admission, etc. Sorry to turn this into a pi$$ing contest but I can’t let others carelessly defame my school.</p>
<p>In the UK, I’d say that it’s pretty good: lower than HYP, but quite possibly the best of the rest.</p>
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<p>I think he is honestly lying about this. Not that he isn’t a credible source because he is totally new and can honestly just lie about everything.</p>
<p>Wowboy, Duke had a president before Columbia had one. Duke has more Nobel Prize Winners every year than Columbia since 1980. Duke has more name recognition in itself than Columbia.</p>
<p>I got into many ivy leagues, including Columbia, and chose Duke.</p>
<p>Duke is one of the top schools in the country (top 10) and is ranked higher than Princeton and other ivies in the UK’s world ranking list, as number 13.</p>
<p>Wowboy, I wouldn’t say it’s three times as difficult to get into Columbia. Twice at most, and even that is very debatable. Here’s why:</p>
<p>According to the Triangle Business Journal’s March article ([Duke</a> admissions get tougher still - Triangle Business Journal:](<a href=“http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/03/23/daily69.html]Duke”>http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/03/23/daily69.html)), the admit rate for Duke class of 2013 was 17% (4065 admits/23843 apps). for class of 2012 was 20.6% ([Duke</a> University Admissions: Class of 2012 Profile](<a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2012profile.html]Duke”>http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_2012profile.html))</p>
<p>According to the Columbia Class 2012 profile, the admit rate for Class of 2012 was 10.04% ([Admission</a> Statistics | Columbia University Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/applications/stats.php]Admission”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/applications/stats.php)), other articles cite a rate of 9.8% for class of 2013 (not a lot of info for that class so I’ll stick with 2012 since more info was release for them). </p>
<p>So at most, it’s twice as hard to get in. However, this could be due to a variety of different reasons other than prestige, the most obvious of which is rate of early decision admits. According to Columbia’s website, more than 26% of the admitted were early decision whereas according to Duke’s website only around 11% of the admitted were early decision. Percentages aside, if we look at numbers, Duke admits slights less than 500 ED for a class of more than 1700 whereas Columbia admits almost 600 for a class of a bit more than 1300. By admitting more ED applicants who are guaranteed to attend, Columbia is artificially lowering their RD acceptance rate since the (always) large[r] pool of RD applicants are now competing for fewer spots and Columbia can reduce over-admission to ensure a proper class size.</p>
<p>A few quickies:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Wowboy is clearly lying. 2 posts total? ■■■■■. Also, if he DID somehow get into Columbia, that, in and of itself, is knocking the school. For goodness’ sake, he can’t even string together a grammatically correct English sentence (“three times as more difficult”)…Yikes!</p></li>
<li><p>After some quick and easy snooping, I learned that rorschachman is, in fact, an international, so he has more credibility in this conversation than any of us. His simple sentence clearly answers the primary question of this thread: how is Duke perceived on an international scale? His answer: lower than HYP, but the best of the rest. End of discussion.</p></li>
<li><p>SBR, Duke’s RD admit rate was 14.7%, so I’m quite proud to have gotten in. And everyone knows that plenty of applicants (many of them Asian) try for the “Ivy Sweep” and apply to all the Ivies (even Cornell and Brown), simply as a quasi-checklist. Duke isn’t directly associated with any of the Ivies (even though it’s more highly ranked than half of them), so people typically apply to Duke only if they actually have an interest in the school.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I realized my post was very confusing so the point is that by admitting more people who are guaranteed to attend, Columbia can afford to admit fewer people who aren’t guaranteed to enroll during the RD round and still have a large enough class. This then depresses the overall admit rate. Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>^^^^your rationale makes no sense. Okay, I guess that also explains why Duke’s yield is only 35% or something. </p>
<p>I, like most people here, have chosen this school over lower tier top private schools like Duke, so what’s the point? </p>
<p>I also find it interesting that Bluedevil1 has only 1 post, but he/she is not called out for this. Also, rorschaman wasn’t talking about Duke…</p>
<p>BTW, Columbia educated both FDR and Teddy Roosevelt, who were presidents BEFORE Nixon…</p>
<p>My rationale makes no sense? Maybe your thought process just couldn’t handle my brilliance…</p>
<p>Yield wasn’t the point of my explanation. I never argued that the higher ED admit rate of Columbia accounts for all of the discrepancy between overall admit rates of the two schools. No school has 100% yield in RD, columbia only has around 45% yield for RD applicants, that means for every spot to be filled during RD, it has to accept at least 2 applicants. On the other hand, 1 ED admit equals 1 matriculant. Thus, by admitting more during ED, Columbia can admit less during RD, making the overall admit rate lower. </p>
<p>That was simple math and no it doesn’t explain Duke’s yield at all nor did I make any such claim. </p>
<p>So where did you get this “lower tier top private school” thing from? I have nothing against Columbia, but it sounds like you are pulling stuff from your ass to [badly] make a point. </p>
<p>And what do you mean “like most people here?” Did you forget that this is the Duke forum? Is posting random statistics and imaginary facts on Duke forums suddenly an unofficial requirement for Columbia entrants? </p>
<p>Lastly, so what if FDR and TR were presidents before Nixon? Franklin Pierce was president before both and generally acknowledged to be one of the worst presidents in US History alongside US Grant. I bet I was a Duke student before you graduated high school, try to find the logic in that.</p>
<p>I’d go to Columbia… if I hated fun. Duke has better Wall Street connections anyways. (John Mack, Alan Schwartz, Steve Black, Robert Steele.) Columbia is a school with its best days behind it.</p>
<p>Wowboy,
yes we are justified in criticizing you for many reasons:
-The fact that you decide to pull some random miscalculation and grammatical errors: Duke is never “three times as more difficult”. I don’t even think Columbia is two times as difficult to get into. And you say you got into Columbia? </p>
<p>
You totally “BSed” this thing because you have nothing to say. I mean seriously W-T-F?? Duke is eclipsed by b-ball? Since when? If we were “eclipsed” with basketball we wouldn’t be ranked so high in nearly ever subject and the students would not be seen as some of the most academically challenged students. Also our Lacrosse is AMAZING, how is Columbia’s? Oh wait, Cornell and Dartmouth are better than them. Wow Ivy-League b-ball, since when was that every popular? I mean the most recent Ivy b-ball team that was able to make it to NCAA was Cornell. **Columbia NEVER made it to the NCAA finals in the 20th century. **Oh by the way, because you say that Columbia B-ball won Ivy league, Duke’s football is consistently ranked at or near the top of the list of Division I schools **which graduate nearly all of their football players **AND we are tied with having the most number of former ACC football players that in the NFL hall of fame. Duke Lacrosse under Mike Pressler had a **100% graduation rate **during all the years he was there (Columbia didn’t have a feat like that). Coach K and Pressler are both coaches for national teams, what about Columbia?</p>
<p>
New York is great, but it SMELLS REALLY BAD!!! There are always random dirty paper flying around. The sidewalks are dirty. Hmm I don’t exactly see how that is better than Duke’s. I don’t even think you have been to Duke’s. If I were to take a poll, I bet you most people would think Duke is the one that is more gorgeous. </p>
<p>
HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I “LOLed” at this. Yes if you want to become a CEO of a company that need bailout money to survive, 45 billion dollars of our money, go to Columbia. Yes if you want to be a CEO that gets criticized of **overly charging customers **with credit card bill, go to Columbia. If you want to be a CEO that gets lucrative bonuses while your bank is failing, go to Columbia. If you want your bank to go into a state where it nearly collapses, go to Columbia. If you want to be a CEO that owns a company and is thinking about purchasing a private jet while it is receiving 45 billion dollars of bailout money, go to Columbia. So yes if you want to be a **CEO of a business that will fail and have to be “bailed out”, **go to Columbia.
Read this: [BANK</a> STRESS TESTS MAY LEAD TO REMOVAL OF CITIGROUP CEO VIKRAM PANDIT - New York Post](<a href=“http://www.nypost.com/seven/04242009/business/ceo_stressed_out_165884.htm]BANK”>http://www.nypost.com/seven/04242009/business/ceo_stressed_out_165884.htm)
The US government **will remove **Pandit (the CEO of Citigroup) if he decided to spend more money wastefully. A threat like that shows that he is not a good CEO. Hmm, is this what comes from a Columbia education? I think so.</p>
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**
YOU REALLY NEED TO GET BETTER AT BOTH MATH, READING AND ENGLISH.** I don’t get how you don’t understand it? I did just fine. And you got into Columbia? I mean how do you not understand that? He even explained it. Also I wonder why Columbia doesn’t release their yield? I’m getting suspicious. **
Also 35%, how did you get that???** Duke had a higher enrollment percentage from what I can calculate. Do your math. It even shows the number of people enrolled in 2008 on Duke’s website, if you divide the number enrolled by the number accepted, you don’t get 35%. You need to go back to school and learn 5th grade math again. Honestly, and you got into Columbia? I don’t think so</p>
<p>Wowboy, I have nothing more to say to you except that YES rorschachman was talking about Duke hahahaha. Ask him!</p>
<p>For the sake of Columbia’s reputation, I hope they flunk you out.</p>
<p>Seems like everyone went off the original topic with the Columbia ■■■■■.</p>
<p>To the OP: I was born in an Asian country and lived half my life in another Asian country. And yes, I go to Duke.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t think Duke’s international reputation is as great as it should be. Yes, the people in the academia and major intl corporations will know Duke. But at least in Asia, it lags behind Cornell/Columbia/UCBerkeley/UofChicago and even UCLA/UMich in name recognition (as in, more people would have heard of these schools than Duke if you ask random people on the street). I believe this is in part due to the fact that a few decades ago, Duke did not have many undergrad/grad students coming from Asia whereas the other schools that I mentioned did (particularly the two UCs). </p>
<p>But of course, people that actually matter know Duke and know that it is a great school.</p>
<p>
It’s good to see you’re passionate about Duke already but to be truthful, Duke has had more than its share of failed leadership at top companies. Rick Wagoner(General Motors), Alan Schwartz(Bear Stearns) and Robert Steele(Wachovia) are prime examples.</p>
<p>Any one individual shouldn’t define a university as both of these schools have thousands of alumni who are doing great things now in their respective fields.</p>
<p>yeah i was going to say, it’s not like our CEO alumni have had more immunity from the economic meltdown than those from columbia. everyone in that sector just kinda epic-ly failed. lols.</p>
<p>i have come to absolutely loathe when one top ten school tries to make themselves look 10000x better than another of its kind. holy cow stop trying to make yourself feel better. YOU’RE SPLITTING HAIRS. if you really think there is a difference among penn, columbia, duke, dartmouth, uchicago, especially ACADEMICALLY… you’ve got a rude-awakening coming. </p>
<p>just FYI, if duke played the numbers game like penn and columbia to try and appease prestige whores, it’d be so easy. penn and columbia accept a ridiculously higher proportion of students ED than duke does. just like SBR said, that accounts for the higher yield and (in columbia’s case), a lower acceptance rate. duke, while it does play the game to some extent, isn’t trying to simply grab at a high usnwr rating. and that’s why i chose it over ivies. it is not categorically harder to get into any of the aforementioned schools. only HYPSM have the ability to state this. </p>
<p>and this has gone way off-topic -_- </p>
<p>Columbia’s 2012 class 42-43% was admitted during ED. Out of all the people that got accepted in 2008, 26% of them were during ED. Duke only has 11% of its total accepted application were from ED. I wonder why Columbia has to rely on ED so much?</p>
<p>I think Originpranks finally answered the OP’s question. Thanks for the honesty, especially since you agreed with me and others and stated your thoughts despite going to Duke. That was easy… ;-)</p>
<p>BTW, Columbia can also run up its application numbers (in a heartbeat) by going to the common application, like all other top schools. This would make it much easier for those looking for the so-called “ivy sweep” (as discussed above) to apply. I am proud to say that Columbia remains the last hold-out.</p>
<p>One last thing (not to fuel the debate anymore, but…), if the only reason Columbia’s rate was so low is because of ED, why doesn’t Penn have a much lower admit rate? The reason is simply that Columbia’s class is much smaller. Duke’s 2012 admitted class was even larger than Penn’s, which is considered to be a pretty large school. Even though Duke had about the same number of applicants as Columbia, Columbia admitted almost half as many.</p>
<p>This says nothing about the actual strength of each student body, but you can’t say that Columbia’s ridiculously low admit rate is simply because it uses ED so much. If it didn’t use ED, all those kids who thought Columbia was their first choice would still likely get in RD, taking the spots anyways. And like Smart Guy said, it says a lot that the school gets sooo many apps despite not using the Common App, where as if a lazy kid wanted to apply to duke, he wouldn’t even have to do the optional essay!</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and it is simply nonsense to say Duke has better Wall Street connections because if you thought for 2 seconds you’d realize that Columbia is in NYC!!! And where is wall street? Oh yeah, it’s in NYC as well. LOL</p>
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<p>Have you ever worked in finance before? Proximity to Wall Street has a minimal effect on a school’s Wall Street connections. Princeton, Harvard, and Wharton all have much stronger Wall Street ties than Columbia, despite all three of them being outside the city. Do you think Manhattanville or the CUNY schools have strong Wall Street ties? No.</p>
<p>Wall Street connections have more to do with prestige, and Duke eclipses Columbia in many respects.</p>
<p>Also, with respect to admissions, the point you guys are missing is that a lot of kids apply to all of the Ivy League schools, simply because they are Ivy League, which is a rather uninformed reason to apply. </p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure what pride there is in refusing the common app. </p>
<p>Another reason Duke is better than Columbia:
</p>
<p>[Could</a> a Mascot Change Increase School Spirit? | Columbia Spectator](<a href=“http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/02/06/could-mascot-change-increase-school-spirit]Could”>Could a Mascot Change Increase School Spirit?)</p>