<p>Rice vs. Duke vs. Cornell vs. Dartmouth - these are the schools I've been accepted to and financially, they will cost pretty much the same. I'm having a hard time deciding?
(I want to do premed and I live in TX - but not Houston)</p>
<p>For premed I would say they are all great but if I had to scrutinize I’d say Duke>Cornell>Dartmouth>Rice for premed. </p>
<p>I would choose based on which environment most appeals to you. All four of these offer very different college experiences.</p>
<p>You know, the differences in reputation and academics between these 4 schools is probably not significant.</p>
<p>With these choices, it probably comes down to intangibles, i.e., which feels better. However, it’s truly a no-lose proposition.</p>
<p>Jakey is absolutely incorrect. For med school admission its all about GPA + MCAT + Top School + Lab Work/ Research + Recs. You don’t want to go to a weeder, which Cornell is known to be.</p>
<p>^Cornell is a weeder and a hard place to maintain a high GPA, but I think adcoms recognize it’s difficulty when looking at applicants.</p>
<p>Truthfully, even “Top school” isn’t a huge factor in med admissions. Go wherever you would fit best, ultimately what is most important is your grades your mcat scores and what you did during undergrad, not where you did it.</p>
<p>There are many Rice vs Duke threads, including some by Slik Nik, who transferred from Rice to Duke (for the better program in his major which wasn’t premed).</p>
<p>When we visited Rice, all the students were amazingly happy. It was my favorite school for my son.</p>
<p>I’d go with Duke or Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I really don’t know about the other programs but I know that Rice has some great opportunities through the UT Health Science Center and Baylor Medical School. Lots of combined research programs. Also, Rice is ideally located in Houston to take advantage of that Houston has to offer. </p>
<p>Like others are saying go where you think you’ll get the highest GPA.</p>
<p>Cornell is a bad idea compared to other choices. It has 14,000 undergrads (40% of whom are in NY state contract schools), much larger class sizes than OP’s other choices and its med school is hours away in NYC. Dartmouth trumps Cornell in every respect. It campus and town are quintessentially New England in character. Dartmouth is clear a pick over Cornell </p>
<p>For a Texas OP, Rice holds advantages over Duke, especially in the area of hospital opportunities adjacent to campus. Before there was a Coach K, Rice was considered the best university in the South. Rice has more of a undergrad focus than Duke and residential colleges. Unless OP is in love with Durham, NC or the idea of school spirit, he should pick Rice.</p>
<p>Thus, Dartmouth or Rice.</p>
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Yes, Coach K singlehandedly transformed Duke into an elite university; without him, all the students would have been languishing on the tobacco farms in Durham.</p>
<p>Darmouth will be easier, Cornell is too tough… too many bright students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1493097-ivy-schools-what-s-starting-sat-scores-their-top-800-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1493097-ivy-schools-what-s-starting-sat-scores-their-top-800-students.html</a></p>
<p>All are good choice for pre-med. Chose based on where you are most comfortable and think you fit in best. The happier you are, most likely, the better you will do.</p>
<p>Not a Duke fan…but Coach K had nothing to do with Duke’s academic reputation. Duke always has been the top school in the Deep South (which doesn’t include Texas). Athough Duke has risen to some degree in national rankings, its margin in regard to Rice and Vandy actually has shrunk. </p>
<p>I take Rice here, but the OP obviously is very bright with admittances to these four, so any of the 3 other than Cornell (for reasons already stated above) are probably fine.</p>
<p>Go where you will be the happiest. I really don’t think there is much of a difference in the academic reputation at any of the schools you have listed. Getting into medical school depends mainly on you and not the undergraduate institution.</p>
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<p>Unless you consider a fraternity/sorority-dominated social scene to be a negative. 65% of eligible Dartmouth students are in a fraternity or sorority, an unusually high percentage at colleges in the US (it is about a quarter for Cornell).</p>
<p>Should Dartmouth’s fraternity/sorority-dominated social scene be a concern for me? I’m open to it, I suppose, although kind of concerned about its reputation/some of the things I’ve heard about it, and don’t really consider myself the type of person to join Greek life…</p>
<p>Other than that (and the cold, which isn’t that big of a deal), I like Dartmouth in the sense that they’ve been really willing to work with me in terms of financial aid. (Duke has not really, Rice pretty much ignored me…)</p>
<p>I think I would be pretty happy at Rice too (I visited) and the location near the med center is a plus, but its actually a little bit more expensive than Dartmouth (and people here on CC seem to think that Dartmouth is a bit better than Rice)</p>
<p>How would you compare the competitive atmospheres at the schools? (I wouldn’t want it to be overwhelmingly cutthroat esp for premed) Also, in case I change my mind and don’t want to be premed anymore, I want the school to offer a solid back up plan. (since it seems that tons of premeds drop out?)</p>
<p>As a Dartmouth student, would you have the opportunity to work/volunteer/do research at the medical school/hospital nearby? What about the opportunities at Duke?
(I have heard that Dartmouth is more ugrad focused and fosters closer student-prof relationships?)</p>
<p>Duke offer more acsademic diversity than smaller Dartmouth-liberal arts culture.</p>
<p>Duke is the most cut-throat out of the four. Bring your thick skin to deal with the arrogance around you.</p>
<p>Duke campus, academics, social life, athletics, school spirit make Duke the est choice. Imo, only Stanford rivals Duke.</p>
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Imo Cornell is more cut throat than Duke.</p>