<p>Son was just admitted off the waitlist. Are the advantages of Duke worth twice the price of UCLA? (We have saved all his life for college and can pay, but want to spend it wisely.) Has anyone been in his situation, having to choose between a more conveniently located college where he will already have a number of friends and a somewhat more prestigious one across country? His school counselor touts the personal attention he will receive at a private school and recommends Duke, but ultimately, of course, it is my son's decision. He has visited both and feels equally enthusiastic about and comfortable on each campus. His interests are economics, political science, trumpet, tennis, running, and watching sports.</p>
<p>Ultimately, he needs to choose where he will happiest (Be careful not to choose a college for him - sometimes, parents will attempt to do this - I remember meeting a few during Blue Devil Days). </p>
<p>As far as a similar situation, last year, I faced a choice between a full-ride at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Business versus Duke, and I chose Duke. Choosing Duke meant that I would be taking out loans to pay for my education and probably working more often than had I gone to the U of MN.</p>
<p>Looking back, there has not ever been a single time that I have ever regretted my decision to attend Duke. I remember coming home for Christmas and seeing my old high school friends and found that I had a completely different experience than my friends who had stayed close to home at the U of MN. They typically hung out with many of the same people as they had in high school. They were less independent and really not as passionate about their college as I was. Also, they did not have the same opportunities that I had (For example, this summer I'm going to China for intensive language training). My two friends who went to Notre Dame and UPenn had experiences much closer to my own. </p>
<p>At Duke, you'll find that you have so many opportunities available to you, and if an opportunity is not offered, you can usually just tell someone and that opportunity will become available to you.</p>
<p>However, I think that the greatest part about Duke is undoubtedly the people you meet - your own peers. You will meet so many talented and unbelievably passionate people.</p>
<p>In all honesty, this past year at Duke has been probably the best time of my life, and I truly think that paying the extra money required to attend Duke is absolutely worth it.</p>
<p>So - we're certainly strong in Econ and Political Science (or both together); we have a band he can play trumpet in (Dean of Natural Sciences is in the Pep band, though in the trombone section); our Tennis team is really quite good (and there are a lot of people around here who play); the Duke Golf Course has a great running trail (and there are others around); and ... we watch a lot of sports :)</p>
<p>The "twice the cost" part is always an incredibly difficult thing to look at. Not helping matters, of course, is that UCLA is a great school with strong departments. Probably, a lot of this is going to go on "gut feeling" about what kind of experience to have (large public school in a large city on the West Coast vs. smaller private school in a smaller city in the South-ish) and what, after ruminating about all the options, feels "right." With the nice proviso that there really isn't a "wrong" in this case. </p>
<p>Overall - congrats on your son getting to have this dilemma :)</p>
<p>I do want to say that I would treat "conveniently located" as a minus, not a plus.</p>
<p>The reality is that growing up involves a multiplicity of experiences, and the broader and more diverse a background a person has, the stronger he or she is for it.</p>
<p>I received a Regents Scholarship ($6K, which I believe basically covers tuition) to UCLA and never even considered it relative to full-priced Duke. This is not because UCLA is a bad school - far from it. It's simply because:</p>
<p>1.) Personal attention can be key to a strong education. Small class sizes, faculty who care. Opportunities for things like research, student participation, etc., are all easier at smaller, private schools.
2.) Stronger classmates push each other to excel.
3.) A new environment pushes you to grow in ways that staying close to home never could.</p>
<p>I don't mean to sound flippant about this, but I can promise you with reasonable certainty that your son will receive a more useful and prestigious education among stronger peers with more attentive faculty here at Duke. These things are all key to his educational experience as well as his future plans.</p>
<p>Quantitatively speaking, Duke's premedical placement numbers crush UC Berkeley's, which are already probably reported as being higher than they are. (I would assume the same applies to job placement, prelaw, etc.) Is it because Duke's admissions is more selective? (Actually, I'm not sure whether we really are.) In any case, I don't think that explains everything. We also have better career advising, stronger peers, and an emphasis on well-roundedness that all real-world applications value.</p>
<p>In any case, I can also promise you that our economics department here is very strong, too. Perhaps 1/4 or so of our kids are economics majors, and there's a good reason for it: our department teaches very well, and job placement is extremely successful.</p>
<p>Sports culture might be stronger than Duke... but this one is probably a wash. :)</p>
<p>i am from san diego and i also had to make this decision....
for me i would say that duke is definitely worth the money over ucla... there are just so many things that are taken care of at a private school that aren't in a public school
first housing: all the UCs schools are reaching a point where they can not guarantee housing and are sticking the problem to the students to solve... this you won't find at duke and you will avoid the headache
second: personalized attention, you will always get better attention with your advisors and your professors at a private school than you will get at a public school... it just comes with the territory of paying more.</p>
<p>and I agree with bluedevilmike's point about the new environment pushing you to grow, it is different living at duke than it would be living in socal. But you will push yourself to get to know new people and form new interests. </p>
<p>about the sports scene, i think ucla and duke will probably have the same culture, ucla has the usc rivarly and events such as beat sc week and a semi strong football and b-ball programs can sort of be at least on par with duke b-ball fever and football gloom.</p>
<p>duke all the way!</p>
<p>but that was my personal choice - i told myself to that if i wanted to get out there and learn, what better time than now.. when im going off to college? i wanted to get out of california (as much as I LOVE IT HERE AND WILL MISS IT DEARLY NEXT YEAR), and even though I did get a case of cold feet when end of april rolled around...</p>
<p>I still decided on duke over ucla, berkeley, and other comfortable schools in california.</p>