<p>My son was all settled on UCLA but just got admitted to his original first choice, Duke, off the waitlist. His academic interests are political science and economics; extracurriculars are trumpet, tennis, running, and watching sports. Pros for Duke are the academic reputation, small class sizes, school spirit and advising system. But is it worth twice the price of UCLA, which has a good reputation out here and seems to have school spirit too? Are there advantages and disadvantages to each that we are not thinking of? He is very comfortable with both campuses and doesn't care about the surrounding cities.</p>
<p>The weather. It had a huge impact on my decision as to where to go.</p>
<p>well at this point im sure you have already discussed so many things with your son regarding his attendance at UCLA. Also, the programs and academics that your son is interested in is great at UCLA anyways. Thus, I would honestly chose to stay at UCLA at this point, however if his dream school is Duke and the pros consistently outweigh the cons, then go for it.</p>
<p>Both schools are great in nearly everything. But, if you can afford it, I'd go with the smaller campus, smaller class sizes, more interactions with profs, less bureacracy, better advisement, and much better grade inflation.</p>
<p>how much does he care about prestige? b/c duke is more highly rated.</p>
<p>no one will think higher of your son because he went to duke vs ucla...</p>
<p>both are great schools - and totally opposite! different coasts, smaller southern town vs monster west coast city.</p>
<p>i think the decision should be made based on his personality (where he will be happiest on a day to day basis)</p>
<p>id go to ucla,cause it sounds like money is some problem..</p>
<p>it all depends on what your son's personality requires to flourish both academically and otherwise.</p>
<p>i can guarantee that he will learn to think and be creative at ucla like no other. this isnt to say that duke does not offer the same opportunity, because it does, but merely that the free-for-all nature of the UC's demands a certain level of maturity and competence to be able to succeed academically and graduating students are well rounded and prepared to deal with the world.</p>
<p>at Duke, the same would be accomplished, but with perhaps less punishment (ignoring of course, the punishment your wallet would take). Durham's a nice town, lacrosse team aside, and the communal feel would do wonders for social development.</p>
<p>I can't reccommend one over the other because
1) im biased
2) im not familiar with duke academically, but have heard that it is very strong.</p>
<p>However, i can say that in both cases, your son will recieve a stellar education. Why pay more for the same result?</p>
<p>Also, to say that one doesnt care about the surrounding cities is a statement that comes from alot of entering freshman, but he should take heed of it, as he'll be living in and around these cities for 4 years of his life. Might as well be comfortable.</p>
<p>If we're talking JUST political science, I'd say that UCLA and Duke are programs of similar quality (top 10 or so). Beyond that, Duke's undergrad program overall is ranked higher, but I don't think the difference is that large.</p>
<p>If class size is a main factor, these show something to think about. I'd say the lifestyle would be fairly different at the two different schools. It would be a somewhat different four years or so.</p>