Every year, the UCs raise tuition, particularly for OOS. Many programs for vets and others are eliminated. The vet program requires CA residency, which is getting harder and harder to show. If you choose Berkeley and tuition continues to rise at the same rate it has risen for the last 10 years, and you have to pay OOS tuition, where would you rather be?
2.Better networking opportunities at Duke, as Duke students have more $ and better networking connections coming in.
Cal has more diversity regarding income.
Duke has more geographical diversity.
Duke has a better career counseling department.
Both are great schools. Ignore the rankings and chose based on where you will be happy.
If I were you now, I would choose Duke without a second thought. Smaller class sizes, no risking tuition, less hassle moving with family and trying to establish residency and pay higher taxes and higher living costs for next 3 years, prestige, fame, people connections in Duke.
Sbballer-
You may want to correct the poster below who is “confused” having not included UBC in the same league as Duke, Princeton, Yale… He is hardly alone. This is someone who is making a real world decision not just spouting off.
Both great schools and I agree not in the same league… Duke is an elite top 10 private school like those listed by the poster below, UCB is not.
“I’m a high school sophomore at a competitive high school in the Northeast. I plan on taking 10 AP classes in my high school career (1 in 10th, 4 in 11th, 5 in 12th) but other top students at my school will be taking about 12 APs because they do not do art or music as one of their elective spots. After 10th grade, I will have a 4.3 GPA and am aiming to apply to colleges like Princeton, Yale, Williams, and Duke. Taking more APs will not help my GPA because my school limits the amount of AP weighting (4.667) students can get per year which is 2 in 10th, 3 in 11th, and 4 in 12th. Will continuing to do orchestra hurt me when top colleges compare me to other peers in terms of difficulty of schedule or will a difference at this high a number of APs not matter? Thanks in advance for any input”.
Let me put it this way, when someone says I went to Cal, I ask which California school did you go to? when they say Berkeley, I ask is that a private school? when they say UCB, I ask which University of California school is that again, I think there is like…7? Its all so confusing, which is not the case with Duke.
UCB is frequently ranked above Yale and Princeton in most international rankings… Duke doesn’t even crack the top 20 in most. Nobel prizes no contest. Don’t be fooled by USNWR rankings that favor private schools. Berkeley is a world class university… Duke is not on the same level period in terms of prestige or fame. just pointing that out.
In every US ranking: US News, WSJ, Forbes, Washington Post, USA Today and Wallet Hub Duke is ranked in the top 10 while UCB never appears in the top 20. While parchment is hardly an exact science it is representative of student demand with a more than 2:1 ratio choosing Duke who this year had an 8% acceptance rate (once again top 10).
Assuming we are both right should the fact that the OP is From the U.S. Suggest the national surveys are more relevant? If so it isn’t close. I can understand or at least accept your point of view as based on fact if this was an international student, but come on. I understand wanting to win an argument but are you really suggesting within the United States people are counting noble laureates or referencing US News or the WSJ? Are they referencing their own children’s preferences and results or are they taking your word for it?
I agreed on the global but that wasn’t my question… The domestic rankings, student preference, and selectivity as evidenced by admission rate all favor Duke. The OP is an American national. Why would you base your recommendation on “Global” rankings? Lastly you can either conclude rankings are irrelevant or relevant. What you can’t do is chery pick and ignore the OPs question and context.
Boards like this are truly absurd. You can’t make a mistake by going to Duke or UCB. Once you show up, and start your classes, you don’t get to pull out rankings to support your position. That being said, the UCB boosters here a little over the top, Duke is a great school and is, for most kids, likely a better fit for undergraduate, but really, if you want to go to UCB you should go and not look back. I find this is the worst of CC.