<p>What do you think between these colleges:</p>
<p>Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Wash U</p>
<p>I'll be going to the engineering school. I'm leaning toward Duke, but on the US News Ranking, all of the others except WashU are higher than Duke in engineering (surprisingly, CMU is the highest ranked). Anyway, I don't want to choose based on rankings; at this point my criteria concern the atmosphere. I'm not that into basketball and I want a laid-back school. To be honest, I'm worried about the "Duke Stereotype" factor (see <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=36175%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=36175</a>). In addition, I'll shamelessly admit that I am weighing the amount of "prestige" associated with each school. What do you think?</p>
<p>Well, if you're still worried about the "Duke stereotype" after reading that entire thread, then there's not much more I can say.</p>
<p>And you do not have to be a basketball fan to go to Duke!!!! I KNOW MANY PEOPLE THAT HATE BASKETBALL BUT LOVE DUKE.</p>
<p>Have you ever visited? I would suggest it. Cornell and Duke probably have the nicest campuses, but if you like the city they might not be the best answers.</p>
<p>Not choosing based solely on rankings is wise. Choosing based on prestige is not.
But the two highest in terms of prestige are Cornell and Duke. It depends on who you talk to as to which one is more prestigious. Some say Cornell has the edge because of being in the Ivy League, some may say that Duke has the edge because of national exposure via basketball, but whatever. Your other three schools are well-respected, Northwestern probably the most out of the three.</p>
<p>I think of those 5, you'll have the most fun at Duke.</p>