Please help me! HS senior trying to decide...

<p>Alright guys here it is...I'm deciding between going to Duke and dual majoring in (most likely) Biomedical Engineering and Economics and going to Ohio State in the honors program and probably majoring in Chemical Engineering and Economics. My ultimate goal is to get into a good professional or grad school, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to do after getting my bachelor's degree. The issue here is that at Duke, i will rack up somewhere in the neighborhood of $70k in debt, while at Ohio State I will have maybe $5k in debt. Basically, I'm trying to value how much better off I'll be graduating from Duke than I will be graduating from Ohio State honors. So, if anyone knows, how much exactly does the honors program mean, and also how much more value is a Duke degree than an Ohio State degree? I mean, I like Duke a lot better but I don't know if its worth all of the extra $$. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated...</p>

<p>bumpp i really need help…</p>

<p>If you want to go to a good grad school then don’t double major. Pick one major and get a good GPA in it. </p>

<p>And there’s honestly no way you can justify 70k in debt for undergrad. Even if you manage to pay it off in 15 years (that’d be about 620/month) you’ll still end up paying over $110,000. Go to OSU.</p>

<p>I agree with chuy - OSU all the way.</p>

<p>Another strong vote for OSU.</p>

<p>Thanks for the opinions guys…i know in my heart you guys are right, i guess i just dont want to admit it to myself lol. So, does anyone actually know how much better off I’d be graduating from Duke than graduating from Ohio State honors? Is it marginal or a pretty big difference? Like, say I wanna graduate and go work on Wall Street? I know at Duke those companies will be recruiting, do they even consider people from places like Ohio State for employment?</p>

<p>Work hard and make excellent grades! That will stand out. And work on people skills so that you interview well.</p>

<p>If you want to go to grad school then save your money during undergrad and spend it on a good grad school. Companies won’t really care where you did undergrad if you go to a good grad school.</p>

<p>yeah, but will ohio state honors get me into a top grad school? i mean i want to go to one of the best in the country (ivies, stanford, mit…)</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure I read something about studies that have been done about students accepted into Ivy League schools and those who declined the Ivy League they got into for a less expensive choice still did as well in life. I think it’s just as much the type of student at an Ivy League (I’m lumping Duke into this because it’s on-par with Ivies) as it is the Ivy League institution.</p>

<p>I’m preparing to apply at Stanford right now and I went to a western state university. I’ll let you know next year if I get in.</p>

<p>Duke vs ohio state? And you are planning on double major in duke to rack up 100k in debt? </p>

<p>If you are asking whether will I have better job opportunity or chance at graduate school going to duke or ohio state… answer is Duke. </p>

<p>If its worth taking out 100k debt going to duke, its up to your decision but you will be better off with duke degree than ohio state which I believe is in tier2 or 3.</p>

<p>You’re not better off with a duke undergrad degree and 70k in debt than you are with an OSU degree, even without grad school.</p>

<p>And yes, if you get good grades, stay involved and do a lot of research you’ll still be able to get into a top grad school. OSU isn’t a bad school at all.</p>

<p>Ohio is not evenlisted for biomedical engineer ranking where as duke, the school was once listed in top 5 previously. Getting Biomedical engineer master and PhD is like getting into med school. You will have better chance by going to high rank undergraduate school in order to higher your chance. Ohio? Never heard of that school in top 10 public school list. If you plan on going to top grad biomedical school, go duke. If you plan on majoring something else along with it to stack up more debt, I say you are an idiot with no common sense</p>

<p>OSU only started their BME undergrad program in 2008 so that’s probably why you haven’t seen them on any (useless) lists.</p>

<p>Isn’t medicine one of Duke’s best programs? It seems like biomedical engineering would be very good there… so not only would you be getting a high level education, you’ll be graduating from Duke… which will still say a lot about you. A lot of people try to brush off what undergrad school you go to… but everyone knows how hard it is to get into Duke.</p>

<p>Now if it’s worth 100K to you, you’ve got to make that decision. If it will hamper your family economically, then I’d reconsider. But… it is Duke afterall, and you don’t know if you’ll definitely want to go to grad school after your four years. If you wanna work on Wall Street, then definitely Duke is one of those schools where you could get that opportunity. Gotta weigh your options and see which one makes most sense for you.</p>

<p>Nobody is saying that Duke isn’t better. Duke is the better school. But 70k is substantially more debt than you seem to realize, especially for an undergraduate degree.</p>

<p>csmajor5: idk what your talking about, but double majoring doesnt cost any extra $$…im just trying to somehow gauge how much better a duke degree will be than an ohio state degree. everyone else: thanks for the responses!</p>

<p>MentorHockey…</p>

<p>I would attend Ohio State and come out with much less debt. There will be no employer offering someone $100,000 more in their Duke degree salary the first 2 or 3 years than you anyway. If you get a high GPA at Ohio State, you WILL get into a very good graduate program.</p>

<p>I earned a math degree from the #44 ranked school in math (Michigan State) and still was accepted into a Top-10 industrial engineering program (Wisconsin).</p>

<p>To mentorhockey22…
Double majoring doesn’t cost extra money?!?</p>

<p>you won’t be able to finish in 4 years by double majoring at duke. Biomedical engineer alone will take 4 years to complete and although there are many classes that have similar prerequisite for economy major in freshmen and sophomore… but you would have to take another least 30 hours+ credit to get your econ degree. That’s another year or two private school tuition debt adding onto your back.</p>