<p>I got into an argument with a friend of mind about which is better. Despite the fact that we came to the conclusion the Duke beat the both of them, the question still lingers in my mind. </p>
<p>Any opinions?</p>
<p>It depends on what your criteria for judging the schools are, can't go wrong in either case. For NC kids, it's great to have Wake, Chapel Hill, and Duke to choose from. Especially because it takes lower scores and stats to get into at least two ofhtem if you are an in-state resident. :)</p>
<p>Wake. Usually, a private beats a public. But, if I was in your position, I would go to UNC, becuase it is cheaper. What I am trying to say is that both are excellent, but I would give a slight edge to Wake.</p>
<p>Wake is tougher academically.....lots of work.</p>
<p>Davidson is better than both Carolina and Wake.</p>
<p>well unc, but only because it's regarded as one of the best in my future major. If I change my mind, it would still be unc, because of the criteria I think is important (read: greek life too big at wake)</p>
<p>I agree with Par, join me at Davidson next year.</p>
<p>UNC or Davidson. They offer great educations. UNC is clearly one of the best public universities in the country. Davidson is a top notch LAC. Duke obviously beats them all. However, if I had to pick between Wake, UNC-CH and Davidson I would pick UNC-CH or Davidson because they have less work then Wake Forest, it is not as tough for students to get good grades (which translates to higher gpa's), they have less of a greek life, are more diverse and are also just as good if not lsightly better then Wake.</p>
<p>I find Wake to be a good school but since their academics are so incredibly tough compared to other schools that are at the same level students get lower gpa's and not many people know about this level of work so it hurts the student in the end, since they have such a small percentage of minorities and such a large greek life many people prefer the other options available in NC.</p>
<p>How does Davidson stack up against Duke re: academics? Also any comments about Davidson social life would be appreciated....Thanks.</p>
<p>If you are looking for schools in North Carolina this is how it goes.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Duke (hands down. We know Duke is the powerhouse of the South)</p></li>
<li><p>UNC-CH (great school. Very very tough for out of staters because of quotas limiting the number of out of states. I think the acceptance percentage for out of staters is something close to 20% maybe even less.)</p></li>
<li><p>Davidson & Wake Forest - Davidson is the elite LAC. Wake Forest is the so called LAC with a larger student body.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If I had to rank it I would say Wake would come in 4th based on my personal preference. I'm not a frat guy, I like diversity, want a nice large city and don't want absurdely tough academics when no one else knows how tough it really is so I get screwed over in the end. Overall though Wake is a nice school but not a place where I would EVER want to go to college.</p>
<p>Wake is a very good school, but UNC matches it in rankings, and UNC has a really good college town, and the people aren't as rich and snooty. Plus, UNC is cheaper(even out-of-state).</p>
<p>OLdman, Davidson is high on DD's list - we have visited twice, Duke once.
It is hard to judge differences in academics, because the atmosphere is so different. Duke is more overtly pre-professional and competitive (although the majority at Davidson are headed to a profession or business). The teaching is probably better at Davidson, the faculty more prestigious at Duke. DH and I come from a large family of teachers, and we are very prejudiced toward the small class sizes and close relationships with faculty at a LAC. No one is at Davidson because of the name (except a few legacies), people are there to learn. Davidson = Williams/Amherst</p>
<p>Davidson has the finest pre-med program I've ever seen. The prof in chargewas recently the president of the national associatin of pre-med advisors, and the program is top notch.</p>
<p>Duke is just a "busier" livelier feeling place because it is bigger. Davidson is a little artsier, although it is not an artsy LAC. Duke is not a Southern school. Davidson is still a Southern school and still conservative, though not as Old South as say W&L or certainly Hampden-Sydney - think Atlanta-Charlotte- Nashville, not Savannah- New Orleans-Birmingham.</p>
<p>Social life is a little odd, fair amount of drinking (of course) although they try to keep the young ones out of the bar. About half the guys join a frat, 60% of the women join an eating house. There are 4-5 womens' eating houses and 1 co-ed house. The houses are non-rush. You visit, then rate your top 3, this goes into a computer, and they match girls up with houses (everyone we talked to said it really does work this way, its pretty fair). the houses are an old Davidson tradition, the same families have run the kitchens for years, that's their job, cooking in these houses. Both the houses and frats are non-residential, they sponsor parties, intramural teams and community service projects, the usual Greek stuff. Greeks and indies seemed to mix freely, there seemed to be a large enough non-Greek population that one would not HAVE to join to have a social life, although women in and out of houses said the house food was very good (joining the house must be pricy, we didn't get into that). Hope this helps, as always only one person's opinion.</p>
<p>Baaa, Wake Forest is #1.</p>
<p>A belated thank you to cangel! oldman</p>
<p>UNC is a great state school, but when it comes to undergrad education its hard to beat Wake. Sure, we don't have grade inflation, but I think UNC is somewhat overrated just because its insanely hard to get in from out of state. If you're from NC itd be a tougher call, but you're from somewhere else, why go to UNC when you could go to your own state school (unless that's wyoming or something).</p>