IVYs or Duke

<p>hey, everyone...I have a situation of "embarrasment of riches." Back in Dec., i cried b/c i thought that I was not getting in anywhere. Now April came and I got into all my schools that I applied to (11). I have no idea where to go.
So where would u go and y????????????????
(note: this is an update on my earlier thread.)</p>

<p>College of William and Mary (COllege Scholar-Full tuition/fees for 4 years.)
UVA--FinAid has not come back yet.
UNC Chapel Hill (No FinAid info yet.)
Duke University (No FinAid info yet)
University of Pennslyvania (Full ride)
Dartmouth College (almost a full ride)
Georgetown (No Finaid yet)
Boston College
Wellesley
VA Tech
UMD College Park --- CIVICUS Program</p>

<p>:::::::::a non-science or math major for sure:::::::
cultural diversity a must...........etc
so is it a dumb idea to choose DUke over Penn or Dartmouth in terms of prestige and etc?</p>

<p>Full ride at UPenn. That would be an easy one for me.</p>

<p>You should have already heard from Duke but yea I would go with UPenn because of the money.</p>

<p>i would go to UMD college park just to be a rebel</p>

<p>yea......Duke is random. I kno I got in(attended a recruitment weekend) but I got no mail yet.</p>

<p>While I view Duke and Dartmouth as equals, I would choose Dartmouth over all the others because of the nearly-full ride. However, before this friday, I had this choice: duke or dartmouth, and I think I would have chosen Duke over Dartmouth (without any financial aid info).</p>

<p>Edit: I didn't see UPenn! I would definitely choose UPenn over both Duke and Dartmouth! lol</p>

<p>how did you get a full ride at Penn; was your EFC O?</p>

<p>Didn't you get federal perkins loans and stafford loans in your financial aid package?</p>

<p>i think the fact that you put duke above u penn and dartmouth means that intuitively you want to pick duke, but the money issue is holding you back. but what do i know, do what your heart says</p>

<p>yea....I got a minor Stafford loan.....no perkins loan........my efc wasn't zero by any stretch of the imagination........got several scholarships plus grants.......not a total full ride b/c I have to pay $60 out of pocket.......this is compared with Darmouth where my family contribution is like 6,000 and I have significantly higher Stafford loan plus a perkins loan....I have work study at both places but really doesn't matter b/c I would've worked anyway...I have several outside scholarships pending that could wipe out my loans and work study.....but i don't want the decision to be based on money (this is my fault b/c i should not have losted the FinAid offers) , but on location, academics, prestige, etc... so please comment.</p>

<p>Do you have some idea of what you plan to study? Most of the universities on your list have good non-science majors, so that's not very helpful! Would you prefer a large university or a LAC? Would you prefer to be close to home? Do you need a large city, or would you prefer a rural setting? Do you want a large Greek/social scene? What other factors are important to you?</p>

<p>ummmmmmmmmmm I love basketball..does that help???????</p>

<p>Well you have to decide on your own. Have u visited all of the schools yet? If you have write down all of the pro's and con's of each school. On academics all of your schools are amazing. Prestige, U of Penn is a wonderful school. If your looking for diversity Penn is ok, b/c West Philly is full of Blacks(I should know because I used to live there). But I would go with Penn if I was you. But I'm not so make the decision wisely because everyone who posted there comments dont have to go to the school you do. But u seem like an intelligent person, so I know you will make the right choice.</p>

<p>Duke is ranked highest out of all of them...I don't know what you all are talking about regarding how weird it is that the OP is considering Duke. Assuming it isn't hard to afford w/ fin aid, I'd choose Duke over any of them.</p>

<p>U Penn is ranked higher than Duke...I would go to U Penn or Duke...either school is AWESOME</p>

<p>Depends on the ranking, obviously. US News & World Report says U Penn is higher (but they are neck and neck, 4 and 5 respectively, and these top 20 schools love to play musical chairs from year to year anyway).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>PENN! Is this even a question? :)</p>

<p>It seems like you're going to get full financial aid at all the schools. Assuming this happens, i think it's down to UPenn vs. Duke, the top dogs. You should visit both to see which one you like more.</p>

<p>in terms of prestige and respect throughout the US, does it matter whether I go with Penn or Duke, b/c my mom says Penn is more Prestigious</p>

<p>what is your major???</p>

<p>Also, you may be able to squeeze more money out of Dartmouth if you tell them about the finaid package that UPENN is offering you.</p>