Penn, UVA, or Duke?

<p>Also, many of UVA's notable alums are products of UVA's other schools not just the Law School. I know. The alumni list on UVa's site is based on a list I researched, compiled, and provided for them during my free time, and their list is incomplete.</p>

<p>Mr. Orange, sorry if I was giving you UVAttitude. I didn't realize you were a UVa person. I misread your post and thought you were from Duke or UPenn putting down UVa.</p>

<p>Globalist, your PM box is full:</p>

<p>No problem man, I was just bored I wasn't trying to rail on your post. In fact, Woodrow Wilson president of the fraternity I'm in while he was at UVA, so I definitely take some pride in the alumni we've got. Also, my younger brother just picked UVA Echols over Duke, so I've been having some of the same discussions with him. I wholehartedly agree- UVA has a hell of a lot to offer over both Penn and Duke.</p>

<p>
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and the miserable students who go there? i'd rather go to joe blow university than that **** show.

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</p>

<p>Hmm... so was that comment based on any real experience or was it just a baseless remark? I guess you'd say the same thing about students at HYP?</p>

<p>I've been accepted to both Duke and UVa, and will be attending Duke this upcoming fall. After visiting both schools, I've concluded that Duke definitely has better facilities (especially for engineering). Duke offered me $20K+ in grants each year, while UVa offered me a mere $500. Sure, UVa is most likely a better value for in state students, but Duke is going to end up cheaper for me in the end. What exactly does UVa have to offer over Duke? (besides hotter girls and Rugby Road...)</p>

<p>By the way, wasn't Woodrow Wilson's fraternity house burned down in the 1980s?</p>

<p>Well, like you say, for in-state what UVA offers over Duke is obvious (as well as regional prestige if you plan on staying in Virginia). Social scene ("hotter girls and Rugby Road") is pretty important, since you have to live with it for the next 4 years. I have not heard great things about the Duke social scene or the Durham area. Also, if you receive Echols at UVA, you also get priority registration and are exempt from area requirements. For engineering, you are right, there are probably a ton of private schools that are a better choice simply due to UVA's lack of funding. </p>

<p>No, it was a different house that burned down in the 80s.</p>

<p>Thanks. Do you really think the social scene is that terrible at Duke? Would you characterize it as just a bunch of nerds or what? I didn't think such generalizations would fit... has anyone had a completely negative social experience as a Duke student?</p>

<p>BGrill27,</p>

<p>Jags statement was based on this post, which is by Duke students who hate it there. (Jags and I corresponded about it some time ago.)</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=95556&page=1&pp=20%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=95556&page=1&pp=20&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The outlier among these three schools is UVa, because two-thirds of its student body is admitted under the lower in-state standard. As far as location, none is ideal. Durham is a pit, Charlottesville is seriously overrated, and Penn is located in a not great section of a really neat city.</p>

<p>I guess I pushed someone's buttons ;-).</p>

<p>Bgrill, I've spent 2 weeks at Duke, one was a friday saturday, another was a thursday friday saturday. With the exception of my buddy from high school who i stayed with, I didn't like a single person I met there. Believe it or not I was actually talked down to because I went to a "public university." I have very little respect for the students at duke.</p>

<p>Also, I don't find Duke to have a very good party scene. You have to go to chapel hill for parties/bars. at duke the idea of a party is jamming 30 people into a dorm room - playing beer pong on a 5 foot long table - then going out to the quad drunk and watching a bunch of fraternity guys sit on their big benches. Ridiculous if you ask me.</p>

<p>and yes, the girls aren't that good looking.</p>

<p>also mensa,</p>

<p>cville is overrated if you come from like manhattan or l.a. or something, but on the whole - don't think its that bad. (i live right outside of manhattan). Truth be told - at most any college you go to you'll spend most of your time on campus. I've found that cville has enough stuff going on so that when you decide to venture off you can find something new to do. Of course, that may change when I'm a 2nd semester 4th year and have done everything...</p>

<p>To Mensa, In regard to the "lower in state standard"--many of the instate kids are there that could have had any pick of schools (and indeed have stats very similar to the out of state kids)but chose UVa because it cannot be beat on price , is a beautiful campus, and historic. People love it and have lots of fun, great school spirit. My son, for instance, a first year, had 1480 on old SAT,applied ED and has not looked back-he is very happy there .</p>

<p>"Thanks. Do you really think the social scene is that terrible at Duke?"</p>

<p>Yes. Have fun going on 20-30 minute bus rides just to get to a half-decent party.</p>

<p>Most of the kids on the other thread that didn't like Duke said that they weren't drinkers or that they were introverted. Warblersrule86 and bananainpyjamas say they absolutely love it there. It seems that the problems kids were having happened to freshmen in every school. I don't think a couple weekend visits is the greatest evaluation of a school-- you must have arrived at Duke already decidedly against it to say you didn't like anyone who you met there. I've met several UVa students in person and they all had a curious hatred for Duke... why?</p>

<p>hey -</p>

<p>like i said - i just didn't like the people there. it had nothing to do with whether or not i had a positive or negative predisposition towards it - i had neither. i went there basicly knowing what my buddy said about it. and i can just tell you that the 2 weekends i was there, it just wasn't that much fun - not compared to uva - just in general. </p>

<p>maybe thats not enough to tell me about the school - but let me ask you this, havn't you ever gone a tour of a school and said to yourself "i don't want to go here"? Lots of people do that. If you can tell whether or not you want to go somewhere after an hour tour - I think you can tell whether or not you like a place after spending 5 weekend nights there.</p>

<p>jags, what's with the new moniker?</p>

<p>i got blocked from posting for some reason lol</p>

<p>did you make an offensive post or something like that?</p>

<p>probably - i think i know which comment it was - but i guess repeating it wouldn't bode so well now would it?</p>