<p>
I don’t recall Ted Kennedy going to Penn for medical care. :D</p>
<p>Completely personal preference. Me, I had a better feeling walking around Duke. Seemed like a great place for my kid to spend 4 years. But then he wants to experience the “college life” that he sees on TV and movies. Kids playing frisbee, biking, and reading Faulkner on lush lawns and under trees, gearing up for the big game, Greek life, etc. But at the end of the day, its like asking complete strangers whether you should buy a BMW or a Lexus.</p>
<p>^bmw…</p>
<p>Wow Duke and Penn are almost exactly the same.</p>
<p>Duke is extremely liberal too, so if that worries you then cross that out. Really, both are awesome. I’m going to Duke. The thing I like about Duke is that it is concerned about its future in the rankings, prestige, academic, and other departments, and so has been working to bring itself up for the past 30 years.</p>
<p>In effect, Duke is really working hard to get on up there. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next 5 years it is comparable to Stanford and MIT (being the only other non-ivy other than Caltech in the top10).</p>
<p>Really though, just choose whatever you want! They are both AMAZING schools that are VERY RESPECTED. Stop putting down one or the other school, people!</p>
<p>I read somewhere in this thread that Penn was the safety of the Ivies…Wrong. That’s Cornell.</p>
<p>By the way, I chose Duke. Thank you everyone for all your help. I greatly appreciate it.</p>
<p>
Hey, don’t forget Chicago!</p>
<p>Indeed IB! Hey glasstiger send me a pm if you have facebook or something that way we will know each other before Duke!</p>
<p>Good choice, man!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t know about that. Everyone’s giving Duke a little too much credit. I just don’t see it as THAT fantastic of a school.</p>
<p>Texassoccer: I know what you mean. It’s ONLY within the top 10 schools of the USNWR, tied with Columbia for 8. AND it’s med school is top 5. ;)</p>
<p>Helicio: Sorry man. I don’t have facebook. :/</p>
<p>glasstiger, I still don’t see it as being better or equal to schools like Penn or Columbia. I guess it just boggles my mind that someone would choose Duke over Penn. Or maybe it’s because I am guilty of giving Penn too much credit. </p>
<p>Med school is a different story. I think they’re pretty much all reputable (if accredited).</p>
<p>^Agreed</p>
<p>To use Gabester’s analogy…Penn would be a BMW and Duke a Lexus =)</p>
<p>I would call Penn an expensive Mercedes and Duke an expensive BMW.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah I didn’t like the whole two-campuses thing. I rather like how Penn has managed to smoosh EVERYTHING into a single contiguous campus.</p>
<p>
This was so stupid that I think I have actually become stupider by having read it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not to belabaor the metaphor, but in most situations, a Toyota will get you where you want to go…</p>
<p>There are a lot of stupid posts on this thread.</p>
<p>I’m going to put a few idiotic notions to rest, and state the facts:
- At the grad level, Penn >>>> Duke, with the exception of medicine, where they are both excellent. Don’t believe me? Look at NRC rankings, US News, etc. This is hardly debatable.
- Penn IS more selective than Duke. It has a lower acceptance rate, handily beats Duke in cross admitted students (66% choose Penn over Duke), etc. You could try to argue about this, but you’d be wrong.
- Lots of kids dream about going to Penn - in fact, at least half of every class had Penn as their 1st choice.
- Duke is not ascending to the highest echelon - but Penn is. Penn, along with Columbia, Harvard, MIT and Stanford, rank in the highest level of research output/caliber: <a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/research2006.pdf[/url]”>http://mup.asu.edu/research2006.pdf</a></p>
<p>That is all. Yes, Duke is somewhat comparable to Penn, moreso on the undergraduate level than anything else, but unless you’re southern and/or a direct descendant of Jefferson Davis, there could be no possible reason to choose Duke over Penn - and nearly 70% of cross-admitted students would agree with me.</p>
<p>What does Jefferson Davis have to do with it? People at Duke are all extremely liberal and completely support civil rights. Duke is way more diverse than Penn too–look at the stats.</p>
<p>God some people on this thread are very stupid. They are both good schools; glasstiger you made a good choice man. These are the UPenn boards, so what do you expect to here?</p>
<p>Cya at Duke!</p>
<p>I agree Helicio. Some people are ■■■■■■■■. Duke and Penn are essentially the same. Don’t believe me? Check the USNWR and you’ll see Duke is tied with Columbia for #8 and Penn is tied for Caltech for #6. Don’t even try to tell me there’s a significant difference. Some people are worshipping rankings like it’s everything. I could see if it was between University of Colorado and Penn, but this is Duke and Penn people, they’re basically the same. Again, it’s not all about rankings. I picked Duke because of the school spirit and community feel. Penn has NOWHERE NEAR the school spirit of Duke and I don’t know about Penn’s community, but I got the feeling that it is a very independent campus. At Duke, there’s an ALL-FRESHMAN campus…Community feeling doesn’t get much better than that. I could see myself living in Duke for four years, whereas I felt that I COULD live in Penn, but I just wouldn’t enjoy it as much. If you guys wanna claim the Penn is better in everything else, go on ahead. But rankings aren’t everything.</p>
<p>
Oh, I greatly beg to differ. </p>
<p>What about students wanting to study marine biology? Duke has its own marine lab with a special scholarship program for such students. </p>
<p>What about students wanting to study anthropology? Duke has its own primate center, with some breeds being the only captive species outside Madagascar.</p>
<p>What about students wanting to study classics? Duke has one of the largest papyrology collections in the world. </p>
<p>What about students fond of the outdoors? Duke has a 55 acre garden and 7000 acre forest, much of which is within easy walking distance. Duke lends bikes and camping equipment for free.</p>
<p>…I could keep going very easily. I absolutely LOVE Penn. It was one of my top choices for graduate school in archaeology, especially because of its great museum. To say that it is uniformly excellent and that one would be foolish to choose Duke over it, however, is arrogant and irrational.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Who cares about the school spirit. You guys rant on and on about the pep rallies and all that jazz. Penn, while independent, is not a dog eat dog loner school. You will make tons of friends to network with. </p>
<p>Duke is a great school, don’t get me wrong. I find it appealing on many levels but when someone tells me they went to Duke, I nod and say “cool, that’s a really awsome school”. Contrast that with my reaction when someones tells me that they attended Penn; “amazing”!
They’re not the same. I am sorry. Penn=Columbia? Yes. Penn=Duke? No. Now I am not saying that Duke is miles away from matching Penn, the difference is probably really small, but for the most part they’re not peers.</p>
<p>Glasstiger, what was the point of making this thread? You asked for information on how to make a decision, but ignored everything good that was said about Penn. </p>
<p>Just because Penn’s basketball team isn’t on par with Duke’s doesn’t mean Penn students don’t have school spirit. The fact that they’re posting good things about their school on this forum shows that they do have school spirit, yet strangely this seems to annoy you.</p>