<p>Why is is that everyone I know who wants to go to Stanford is deadset on Duke as their second choice? And vice-versa? I thought they were pretty different... location, student body, everything. Is there something I'm missing here? WHat's the connection?</p>
<p>They were both rated #6 for top U.S. universities on the U.S. News rankings. Since the top five spots are just given to the five universities that pay the most money to be listed at the top, they aren't actually that good. Starting with #6, the ratings actually reflect what the university is like, and Stanford and Duke are tied for "number one."</p>
<p>Okay, just kidding. I have no idea. Right now, Duke is my second choice to Stanford. But that's because when I got in SCEA, I ended up only sending in my applications to the schools that offered scholarships.</p>
<p>Maybe the fact that they are so different is why people like both of them. It's generally not a good idea to apply to colleges that are almost identical, even if they are your top choices. If you get rejected from one, you're probably more likely to get rejected from the others, and if you change your mind about the kind of school you want to go to later, you won't have any options.</p>
<p>HAHA!</p>
<p>I applied to Stanford SCEA (deferred), and Duke is my second choice, I even considered applying there early over Stanford.</p>
<p>Funny how that is.</p>
<p>theyre both excellent schools that dont have some of the qualities the rest of the high ranking schools share (northeastern campus is an obvioius) theyre like alternatives to taking the ivy route - better weather, more school spirit, etc.
i dont think im applying to either, but i could see the appeal.</p>
<p>Same here! I got in SCEA to Stanford and the only real other option I am considering is Duke. Why? Because of my frend Benjamin Franklin (money speaks). Duke has a merit based program...maybe that's why its an option for so many students.
Other than that, however, I think the assumption that Duke and Stanford are similar is a misconception. True, they are the two best "non-ivies," but Duke TRIES to be like the Ivies. This is evident in everything from the architecture to the student body. Stanford, on the other hand, makes no such copycat attempts.
Anyways, they're both great schools.</p>
<p>collegehopeful44: I don't know much about Duke, but from [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=11158%5Done">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=11158]one</a> post on their board<a href="#7">/url</a>, it sounds like Duke is trying not to conform with the Ivys.</p>
<p>And I think at least MIT belongs with Stanford and Duke among the best non-ivys. I'm not making any judgment on which is the best, but just by the way MIT goes so often in those acronyms HYPSM (and you never really see a D in there), it seems like most people on this board consider MIT to be higher up there.</p>
<p>I agree, MIT and Caltech certainly deserve mention as two of the best universities in the land, along with the Ivies, Stanford and Duke. However, in the context of explaining the "Stanford-Duke connection," I think Caltech and MIT attract their own type of students, which is why I overlooked them. Come to think of it, there's probably a "MIT-Caltech" connection.</p>
<p>I still hold by my statement that Stanford tries to be less like the Ivies than Duke however, it was quite apparent to me on the campus visits.</p>
<p>Turtle+Collegehopeful: Are either of you going to be at Duke April 2-5 for Duke Up Close or a scholarship interview?</p>
<p>Interesting POV, RaspberrySmoothie. Having lived in Palo Alto for the past 7 years, I found it very interesting that when college application time rolled around, MANY people here compared Stanford to Duke. Many people asked the question "Isn't Duke just an east coast Stanford?" There are, in fact, MANY similarities between the two schools. Both are academic and athletic superpowers, they're both especially powerful in the sciences, both seem to attract a large number of students interested in medicine, helped by Stanford's location near some biotech firms and Duke's location in the Research Triangle (there's a funny saying at Stanford: "When you're a freshman, it seems as though EVERYONE is premed; by the time you graduate, there's only 10% of them left."), both are suburban schools with somewhat similar student body sizes...so there are in fact lots of similarities between Duke and Stanford. I'm sure that I skipped over some, but those were all that I could think of at 1:00 am. Hehe I'm procrastinating. I hate Shakespeare.</p>
<p>I might be. I'd love to go, but I'm not sure yet. I'll tell you by March 15 =)</p>
<p>Doh, I should have remembered seeing you on the AB Duke thread. Anyway, good luck!</p>
<p>They both have rivals that are well-respected state schools (stanford v cal, duke v uncch). Weird!</p>
<p>just forget me: yes, I'll either be at Duke Up Close or the Robertson Scholars weekend. I'll find out on the 10th, when they tell us if we're Robertson finalists. I just got my Duke Up Close thing today, however, and today was the deadline, I hope I registered in time to get a spot!</p>
<p>I applied to both as well. It's hard to top the appeal of top-notch athletics and academics that both these schools have as well as terrific locations.</p>
<p>Here's something you might find interesting:</p>
<p>Northwestern identifies its biggest cross-matriculation rivals as Duke and Stanford. So there's another source saying there's some kind of link.</p>
<p>Aah, the lure of high-stakes D-1 athletics with great academics to match...</p>
<p>I'm curious about the proportion of cross-admits to Stanford and Duke that select each one. Dadaist: where did you find the Northwestern cross-matriculation data?</p>
<p>Ugh, turtle, I've been googling for a while looking for that data. The exact stuff you want isn't available (cross admit data tends to be heavily guarded), however there is a breakdown of where people who turn down a Stanford admission go. I know Harvard was #1, pretty sure Yale was #2. I'm not sure if Duke was named specifically, or if it was one of the big chunk of "Others." If you really want that pie chart, I'd PM Byerly; I'm sure he has the link.</p>
<p>(Nice pic on your Duke Up Close profile, btw).</p>
<p>H'm, that's too bad it's not available publicly. However, I would guess that MIT and probably Princeton (just because of prestige) is above Duke on the "others" list. By the way, I am probably going to a Duke scholarship interview, but it's not April 2-5, instead it's the three days before that.</p>
<p>"We offered, they declined"</p>
<p>Where those who turned down Stanford for the Class of 2008 went instead. </p>
<p>I suggest you save this page, since you are unlikely to see anything like this published again in the near future!</p>