I agree-I think Vandy would embrace the opportunity for cultural diversity. As for need awareness and need blindness, it isn’t that Duke wont pay attention. I just think that you are a strong and interesting enough candidate that need would not be a deal breaker. I dont know how much need they would be able to offer but I don’t think it is what would keep you out.
@dowzerw Thank you for both the response and the compliment! It warmed my cold anemic heart!
Can you please elaborate on the last sentence?
So all in all, which one do you recommend?
The Karsh Scholarship at Duke doesn’t seem assured. And they hand out the award in March. If you ED to Duke snd get in without FA. You’ll have wasted your chance.I say SCEA to Princeton because your stats are competitive and you need the assurance of aid.
http://karshscholars.duke.edu
@malcomx99 Thank you for your response.
I did not say it is assured. But full need is assured in all three. Therefore, If I get into any of the three ED, they will pay for me. the only difference is that need-based FA is based on their calculations, while Karsh is full ride + Research stipend.
@Soheils Then its either Duke or Vandy. Where do you see yourself enjoying your four years?. Because they’s a high chance you’ll get in ED. Maybe you should just EA to other schools and RD to even more selective colleges, your stats look pretty ivy-esque to me. 
@Malcomx99 Thank you for your advice. Why the sad face?
I have been unable to find a school with an EA program and a respectable Aid program. can you recommend a few?
why either Vanderbilt or Duke?
And honestly, if enjoyment is the main factor, I don’t think you can enjoy any top school more than Vanderbilt as a male. 
Joking aside, both are great for my projected major, both are in the south which I kinda like, so I am just going with objective factors here.
@Soheils I donno if the deadlines are past but CalTech and MIT(You seem to be in their range of SAT and SAT 2 scores) And they give LOTS of aid(MIT anyway) to intls.
@Malcomx99 Caltech refuses to waive toefl and doesn’t accept IELTS. MIT is not a school i like to attend. It is too tech focused.
Caltech doesn’t seem to require TOEFL if you learned in an English institution(Check the requirements.)
Anyway MIT is among best schools worldwide for NeuroScience.
Why don’t you look into more schools for ED, if you’re not set on Duke/Vandy;
Cornell(Very high Acceptance rates here for ED) and FA to intls.
Columbia
Stanford.
Dartmouth
@Malcomx99 thank you for your interest in my case and your kind help,
I haven’t “learned in an English institution”. I have been instructed in Persian. Also Caltech does not offer aid to int’ls through EA. otherwise, I would have not thought of anywhere but Caltech. I mean, It has always been an unreachable Dream school for me.
BTW, MIT does not offer any advantage to EA, and I can’t Prepare the materials they want in 2 days.
Cornell was a part of my early short list, but I believe that they may do what brown claims to do : Defer almost all int’ls to RD. ( Brown actually told me that, I am not making this up.)
Since it is ED, and I have to make a commitment, I would rather not go with Dartmouth. It is in the middle of nowhere.
Stanford is even more competitive than Princeton, and is need aware. So I’ll leave it for RD.
Ahaha I have the same feeling about Dartmouth.
Well then in conclusion I say ED to Duke, the school looks great, not to small, seems to be more opportunities there.
Watch some videos online about Duke/Vandy, PM CC guys from both schools, and look into whether your interested major ranks well in both schools.
However DON’T eliminate Princeton. It really boils down to where you want to go, if its Princeton, apply. Besides applying early is DEFINITELY advantageous. The early acceptance rate for P is 18%. More than double the acceptance rate for RD + Scea. International acceptance in RD is as low as 1%-2%.
Re Duke vs. Princeton. Both have (or had) drinking cultures. One advantage Duke has over Princeton, given your academic interests, is an affiliated hospital/med school which may mean more research opportunities for undergrads. Given your four fit criteria, I’d be looking at Harvard.
Good luck – you look like a great candidate for admission!
@exacademic thanks again! I have no problem with that as long as I don’t become an outcast for not drinking.
So you say Harvard > Duke > Princeton for my case. How does Vanderbilt fare?
I can’t gather enough courage to apply SCEA to Harvard. Should I leave it for RD? would I have a chance? I know that Harvard took in an Iranian for Class of 2018. That may be good or bad.
I am sorry for asking so many questions, but since I can’t get first hand experience, I am forced to bore you guys.
BTW, is anybody open to evaluating my common app essay?
I don’t know Vanderbilt well enough to comment. (By contrast, I have degrees from both Harvard and Princeton, but not in a science field. Have visited Duke and had a close friend who was faculty there, but again not in a science field. )
What I’m really saying is Harvard strikes me as a better fit for you than either Princeton or Duke. As for judging between Princeton and Duke, I’m not saying Duke’s a better choice – just throwing out some pros and cons on both sides that you may not have considered.
Harvard consistently says that SCEA does not provide an admissions advantage. I’m skeptical of that claim in some cases (e.g. legacies and athletes), but in your case and, more generally, in cases involving first generation college students or applicants coming from unexpected places/situations, I suspect it’s true. BUT, there’s no option of saving Harvard for RD if you apply to Duke (or anywhere else ED) and get accepted. So if there’s a school you prefer to Harvard that has EA or SCEA and where choosing that option gives you a significant advantage, then go for it and apply to Harvard RD. On the other hand, if the only reason you’re not applying to Harvard SCEA is you think that’d be aiming too high, I’d reconsider.
Re your chances at Harvard. Always a crapshoot but no more so than Princeton really. And, honestly, you sound very much like the kind of candidate Harvard is looking for these days. Harvard has always valued energetic, self-confident kids who take initiative and reshape (or circumvent) the constraints imposed by their environments to pursue their goals. Harvard is also eager to position itself as a global university (or, perhaps more accurately, to retain its reputation as a global university in a changing world). And it just got a major donation to build up its engineering and applied sciences programs, which may or may not be directly relevant to your interests, but it does mean more resources for things like biomedical engineering. So in terms of Harvard’s institutional priorities right now, you look like a particularly attractive candidate.
FWIW, the Harvard supplement includes an optional essay (which everyone says you should submit), but it’s on a topic of your choice so if you really like something you’ve already written for a different school, there wouldn’t be much extra work.
@exacademic Thank you for your informing response.
Thank you for your opinion. I will definitely apply to Harvard, but , as you say, since Harvard does not offer any advantage for SCEA, I believe that it may be a waste to use my early spot on Harvard. On the other hand, If I got into Harvard SCEA, my college search would be over pretty soon, and that is nice.
Chicago has an EA program, but they require numerous essays, and none of them are similar to what other colleges want.
Basically, Princeton, Harvard and Yale don’t really prefer SCEA for the likes of me. I think it is because applicants don’t have to make a sacrifice. I would have applied through EA to Rice or Caltech with happiness if they offered aid to int’ls in early round. On the other hand, an Iranian on these forums got into harvard SCEA for 2018. and her objective stats were lower than mine. while this means nothing when analyzing schools of this caliber, it is nice to know that it is possible.
So I am thinking of making a sacrifice by applying ED to Vanderbilt or Duke. if I get in, well, it is not like they are not among the best universities in the world. else, I will try my chance at the others. Am I doing the right thing? Should I be audacious and go for P-ton or Harvard?
Also, if anybody has experience with Vanderbilt, I would appreciate their help.
Just out of curiosity,what are the chances of me not getting into any top 20 College/ Lac ?
my current list for RD is :
Univ: Princeton- Duke- Brown- Northwestern- Vanderbilt - Rice - Dartmouth - Johns Hopkins- Cornell- Troy University - State of Alabama - Harvard -
LAC: Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Hamilton, Harvey Mudd, Davidson, Rhodes College.- Haverford- Macalester- Skidmore
BTW: Does my profile picture look ridiculous to western eyes?
Any more perspectives?
I loath doing this, but BUMP.
Soheils, are you premed? If so, why not apply to Brown’s PLME program? I think it may be a better option than any other…particularly for an international student interested in medicine. US medical schools are very difficult to get into for non-Americans, the PLME program would certainly be a huge stress relief!