<p>illumn, I am sure you have "some experience." But how's this for experience- I got into all of them, attended one of them, have visited the other two more than 5 times each, know many many alumni from both, recruited at two of them for my elite consulting firm, worked with admissions at a top grad school, and currently work in business development in NYC with alumni from all of them.</p>
<p>to whoever said somethign about duke not being near an airport? raleigh-durham...? </p>
<p>I agree with whoever said that <em>most</em> of these assessments of prestige are just personal preferences. </p>
<p>Prestige? What's prestige? Prestige according to whom? Laymen, "people that count?" </p>
<p>Having visited all three colleges (not as good as having attended them but whatever) I thought this~
Dartmouth. Way too isolated. Lots of fun. Smart. Cold.
Brown. No athletics = not much school spirit. Very independent. Great academics. Great activism.
Duke. Not too isolated but enough to have an amazing forest (I like nature a lot). Lots of school spirit. Brilliant students who don't pontificate about physics in their spare time. Good weather. Negative: lots of alcohol, but it's not like you are required to drink it. </p>
<p>I didn't get into Brown, otherwise it would have been a tough choice between Duke and Brown. But Duke and Dartmouth was an easy choice for me. Dartmouth was just an ivy league school, otherwise it was like every other LAC that I don't really have a penchant for (small schools.... eh) and I didn't like the D-Plan at all. </p>
<p>So basically this comment is "***** assessing prestige."</p>
<p>According to pri 430 Darthmouth is a near perfect school for me. =/</p>
<p>Yeah, I too thought the "no proximity to hub airport" comment about Duke was strange. RDU Intl is an easy drive from Duke, about 20-30 minutes.</p>
<p>and how many years ago did you attend these schools slipper?</p>
<p>1) Brown
2) Duke
3) Dartmouth</p>
<p>I got into Brown and Duke and I chose.... Duke (really I would use prestige as only a small factor in making your decision as these schools are all very good).</p>
<p>All are the same...I think its ridiculous to say one is better than another in this area.</p>
<p>Columbia grad until now, Dartmouth until 2002 although I was there till 2003 working for a Tuck professor and starting a company. </p>
<p>Look, in NC of course Dartmouth is less known than Duke. In Massachussets and New York its the opposite. And less face it, I'd much rather have the east coast think highly of me than the south, which in the end will have far fewer implications on my life. The truth is both are great schools, but for you to say Dartmouth is only a top school for its Ivy name is insulting. IT beats Duke in selectivity, alumni loyalty, endowment per student, graduate placement and recruiting are the same (both are top of the non HYPS pack), undergraduate focus, etc. Dartmouth personally gave me $10K for my thesis research, TWO thesis advisors, an independent research scholarship, and incubated my company!! I got into a top MBA program as the youngest in my class BECAUSE of these reasons, not because some researcher in China knows about my school. These are the things that matter.</p>
<p>Dartmouth might not have top grad schools (I'd never got there for grad school except maybe Tuck), but in terms of undergraduate education its second to only Princeton and in terms of prestige Duke, Dartmouth, and Brown are on par.</p>