Middlebury vs Georgetown SFS vs Duke?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
1

<p><strong>This is cross-posted to the other schools to get some diversity of views</strong></p>

<p>S wishes to study Arabic to proficiency, take a year abroad in an Arabic speaking country, and study in context of international relations. No specific objective, these are his passions rather than a career orientation. Assume we can pay tuition/room/board but nothing else - no extra summer programs, no wads of cash for extra fun, no graduate school. We live in New England. S has visited all three schools before applying and cannot go back to visit because he is an exchange student out of the country until June. He has been accepted to all three schools (plus several others, but including those would complicate things - of the full-pay, no FA acceptances, these are his most likely choices). </p>

<p>All three have great merit - Middlebury for its great language reputation and student-oriented focus, Georgetown SFS for its SFS program, and Duke because of its great reputation, Arabic program and strong financial condition and alumni network. </p>

<p>What are your thoughts?</p>

2

<p>i think duke is a top tier school, whereas midd is only a B school comparatively</p>

3

<p>I respectfully disagree with winnethepooh that Midd. is a “B school”. Certainly all three colleges have great reputations and it would be a tremendous honor to attend any of them. I recently came across an article in Forbes magazine called “America’s Best Colleges 2008” in which National Universities and LACs are compared against each other in the same lisiting, rather than separated as many other magazines do in their publications. I personally like this single-list comparison b/c a student can only choose one college, not one from each list. ;)</p>

<p>As far as Forbes’ ranking for Midd., Georgetown and Duke, Midd. is ranked at #17, Georgetown at #76, and Duke at #80.</p>

<p>[America’s</a> Best Colleges 2008 - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/13/college-university-rankings-oped-college08-cx_rv_mn_0813intro.html]America’s”>America's Best Colleges 2008)</p>

<p>There’s a link to the comprehensive list a little way down the page. It’s called “complete college rankings”.</p>

<p>US News, which separates National Universities from Liberal Arts Colleges, lists Duke at #8 and Georgetown as #23 under the National Universities category and Midd. at #5 under the Liberal Arts category.</p>

<p>Also, since this is the Midd. thread, I will post this link to Midd.'s youtube page.</p>

<p>[YouTube</a> - middcommunications’s Channel](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/middcommunications]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/middcommunications)</p>

<p>My family thinks it’s weird, but I am particularly fascinated with the video called “Middlebury College Biomass Gasification Plant” (further down on the page). In my opinion, this is amazing! :)</p>

<p>I believe each of these schools has its own strengths; a significant difference is the size of the student body (Midd. approx. 2500 undergrads, Duke approx. 6,500 and Georgetown approx. 7,100–source: collegeboard) and geographical location.</p>

<p>Laxtaxi, congrats to your son on his wonderful acceptances and best wishes for figuring out which school is the best fit for him.</p>

4

<p>Thanks, HJNMom. I wasn’t taking the “b” school comment particularly seriously. I consider all three to be among the very best options for what S wants to study in the world, and he is privileged to have this choice among really different schools of really similar reputation. </p>

<p>Don’t get me started on option 4, which is a scholarship at an excellent honors college at an enormous state university where he can study Arabic virtually for free…</p>