<p>Please evaluate the pros/cons and similarities/differences between these great schools. I already got into NW and i hope to get into Duke. Please compare these schools for me. I am planning to do pre-med.</p>
<p>i personally would choose Duke, its better for pre-med (i think), has a great medical school, and well... it's just cooler</p>
<p>dog87: The packing order should be Duke, (NU, Rice).</p>
<p>again, as I mentioned you will not get objective advise. On Rice board, the kids who are already in went there for number of reasons ($, guaranteed medicine, location, rank, friends, weather etc). They are not going to tell you they made a mistake.</p>
<p>Duke is better period. Absolutely no doubt about it. I'm stuck debating between Duke, Dartmouth, and Cornell however.</p>
<p>BTW, I am not a student at DUke, so this is a very unbiased opinion. JUst going to Duke carries a certain sense of prestige and weight by itself.</p>
<p>i too applied to both Northwestern and Duke
i also visited both this summer, when they were both warm and lovely. Duke was more hot and lovely, but you know how summer goes.
I personally fell in love with Northwestern, because of it's campus. I live in Ann Arbor, so I'm very used to UMich's campus, and Northwestern reminded me a lot of it. It gets major points for the campus. But Duke's campus isn't shabby either. Just not as awesome as Northwestern's.
In terms of acedemics, which is possibly more important, they are both amazing schools. Northwestern uses the quarter system, meaning you end up taking more classes as you go through it, and you have more requirements for each major. Duke possibly has stronger acedemics, and might be better if you want a longer focus on each class. Somehow, at the level that both schools are at, the acedemics are amazing at either place.
Duke offers some prestige that Northwestern does not, in name value. This is probably not something to consider too highly in choosing a school, because both are amazing, yet Duke does get points.
Either way, both are amazing school, and I loved them both, so if I have to decide between them as well, it's going to be a tough decision. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>duke is more aesthetically pleasing IMO</p>
<p>Duke hands down....Is there really a question about it?</p>
<p>ugh. I'm facing the same dilemma.
I was accepted to both, and am getting a pretty good deal at Duke
But..
I'm planning to be a political activist via journalism AND law
and....NU has the heads up on journalism but..
ah i dun effin know
It's a good predicament to be in, but I don't want to be thinking "What if???"</p>
<p>well I already got rejected by NU so if I get into Duke I will be going there</p>
<p>Duke is notorious for having a polarized student body. From the first person perspective of several of my friends that attend Duke(black, hispanic and asian) they say that the student body shows a high level of self segregation. Also I have heard that the heavy sports scene at Duke is also associated with heavy levels of drinking. So if you like getting drunk and can get past the somewhat polarized atmosphere, Duke is a good place to get an education.</p>
<p>Duke. Gimme a break. Obviously.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So if you like getting drunk and can get past the somewhat polarized atmosphere, Duke is a good place to get an education.
[/quote]
There are kids at every school that like to get drunk, and many elite schools with high levels of minorities have the same self-segregation problem. Those who want to get drunk, get drunk, those who don't, don't. No one at Duke is going to hold your mouth open and pour alcohol down your throat. I don't drink and none of my friends do. People from outside a school who try to label it based on what a few of their friends are often times misinformed, even if there is some truth in the statement. (The truth being that many students do drink heavily, but implying that only if you like to get drunk is Duke a good place for getting an education is just flat-out false.)</p>
<p>Is there any chance in the world of being accepted at Duke if you were waitlisted at Northwestern?</p>
<p>ya. it is really a crapshoot.</p>
<p>I was admitted to both schools last year, and I had a tough time choosing between the two. I ultimately chose Duke over Northwestern because of Duke's Biomedical program and its better reputation.</p>
<p>Northwestern's distinct advantages over duke is its location. It has three benches and is located very near the center of Chicago city. Many believe Duke's setting is somewhat rural. However, with a car, it is easy to travel to many quality restaurants and malls within 30 minutes.</p>
<p>The drinking scene is not really a concern. First, students drink in every college, there is not doubt about that. Second, if you don't want to drink, you can choose to live in substance free dorms (a place where nobody drinks or smokes).</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, a Duke education is probably one of the best a person can obtain in this country. However, in obtaining that education you will have to tolerate alot of bs from other students (especially considering the caliber of the student body). I love basketball as much as anyone but when celebrating, drinking bouts and even mournings over lost games interuppts time spent studying, a line must be drawn in what should go on in an institution of higher learning. If it seems as if I am hating on Duke especially, I am not. I've already received an acceptance from Rice as well as likely letters from Darmouth and Duke. In order to choose between theses schools and those that will come on Friday, I listed all the disadvantages in each school and compared them with the other schools. The fact that Duke has only two major problems is a testament to the school itself. As a matter of fact, unless I somehow get 5K over a full scholarship from any other school I will probably go to Duke. When you make decisions that affect what you do for the next 4+ years you need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages. </p>
<p>Tunnel vision is a killer.</p>
<p>I agree that tunnel-vision isn't a good thing at all, but I think it's kind of biased for people to cite self-segregation as a huge problem at Duke when a) it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to seem--people from different races and backgrounds interact all the time here... and b) it's just as much, if not more, of a problem at other schools such as MIT ("Chocolate City"), Stanford, Wesleyan ("Malcolm X House"), Brown, Cornell, et al. where people don't say anything about it. Believe me, I have been to these places and seen it. At least Duke doesn't have a completely separate house/dorm devoted to black or latino students like a lot of other schools (specifically MIT, Stanford, Wesleyan, Cornell, all do, for example, which is what I named above). It bothers me because I believe that the only reason people cite this so much is that Duke first of all has twice (or three times) as large a percentage of black students as most other schools (including practically all the Ivies) so you see more blacks around and thus the problem is more visible (should Duke accept fewer blacks? absolutely not...) and second of all because Duke is located in the South, the object of a lot of unjust stereotypes and misconceptions, even though Duke's student body is completely national/international (in fact, UNC students joke that Duke is the "College of New Jersey in Durham, NC"). If you actually visited campus you'd see inter-racial interaction all around you...</p>
<p>Also, about the drinking...I have lots of friends who drink, I have lots who don't. I have never seen anyone be disrespectful of those who don't. If you don't want to drink, you can either elect to live in substance-free housing on both campuses or you can just be chill and make your own decisions and everyone will respect that. People here are not alcoholics. You go to the library on late Saturday night and there will be a surprising number of kids. Everyone does their work, and very few people go out more than three or four times a week. Duke kids have fun, but that fun can take on a variety of forms. For example, I'll usually drink and go out once or twice a week, see a movie on West for $1 with friends on another day, and go to a concert or something else some other time. The point is, there are tons of kids here who will be in your situation either way (as is the case in practically every other school (excluding extremes like Florida State and Caltech) so don't base your decision on a dumb stereotype that is masked as ostensibly unique to Duke.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I love basketball as much as anyone but when celebrating, drinking bouts and even mournings over lost games interuppts time spent studying, a line must be drawn in what should go on in an institution of higher learning.
[/quote]
I think you are blowing this out of proportion. We're unhappy when Duke loses, but not hysterical (many, many people don't even give a damn either way). You seem to think we go on a rampage when Duke loses and the school is in chaos. This is SO not the truth. Remember, YOU determine how much time you spend studying, YOU have the control.</p>
<p>I love Duke, much better than Northwestern</p>
<p>heck, I tried to apply to northwestern but it took them 3 weeks to send me an app so I figured, eh, if they don't want me that much then I won't apply</p>
<p>Dog87, what's gonna be your major? The two schools kinda excel in different fields.</p>