My son has been accepted to UPenn and Duke University. He plans to major in CS. Any perspectives to share that may help him make final decision? How do the CS Academics compare and future job prospects? of course campus, residential system, & location are very different between the two. At Duke, CS is in Trinity College of Arts & Sciences but he wants to be on the engineering side for multiple reasons so he would Double Major in CS and ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering). At UPenn, CS is in School of Engr.
Urban or not for one ? I’d choose Duke. Both are great in CS.
I don’t like urban. Duke is my favorite mid size campus aesthetically. But that’s me. It’s awesome. Weather better and Raleigh a tech hub. ACC sports.
Ultimately he needs to decide. Where did he like it better ? There’s clear distinctions.
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I doubt you’ll find much difference in roi or job prospects between these two. If you want, contact the departments - they probably have info on what their students do or where they go after graduation. I’m a Penn alum so there could be bias. I had several good friends in college that were CIS majors. One is still a very close friend - he went to Harvard for his PhD and is a tenured professor in the AI/NPL area. Two other CIS friends went to JPL.
But it will be about what your son likes best. My own DS2 had no interest in Penn. He’ll be studying CS elsewhere.
Part of Duke is absolutely beautiful that’s for sure, but it’s the part they show in all the pictures. The old Trinity College part (where the freshmen live) is not, nor is it as well-kept. The frosh get bussed over to the nicer campus area, when needed. Big time sports programs will certainly be fun to watch, but as I recall, it’s a lottery to get b-ball tickets to some of the games.
My daughter was a Pegram freshman year on East Campus and completely disagree with east not being well kept. Her dorm was newly renovated and gorgeous. We visited one of her friends in Bell Tower and that dorm was also quite nice. In general she has been very pleased with the quality of the campus and most especially the food - especially having visited friends/family on other campuses.
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You can’t go wrong here. Let you child choose the school with the location and environment he prefers.
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They are peers. Pick on fit.
(I’d pick Duke)
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Thanks for input. My DS is leaning toward Duke. His understanding is that CS academics between the 2 are on par, but the school spirit & residential learning focus that he is looking for tilts in Duke’s favor. He could live in either a city centric environment or in NC, he enjoys what both environments have to offer. He (we) just want to make he is not missing anything about UPenn because he/we didn’t learn alot at their 2.25 hour (!) admit day event (it was surprisingly sparse vs all the admit days we have been to. Felt like they were saying, we know you will choose us because we are Ivy…and they’re right, with >70% yield!) We are from west coast so we don’t have a lot of personal experience with the Ivy network benefit. It is a inconvenience that CS is not in Engr school at Duke and therefore he has to do the double major (thankfully, there is lots of overlap between ECE and CS). Any additional comments about student culture would be helpful. UPenn historically had “cutthroat” reputation due to Wharton influence. Every school says it’s collaborative, would be helpful if anyone has comments about more recent student life at UPenn. The Duke student life energy/vibe seems to be a definite pro for my son.
I don’t know much about CS at Duke, but why do you think it is a disadvantage that CS is not inside Engg? Doing CS + ECE is not the same as doing just CS. It is a different package – you will end up doing stuff you don’t want to do, and won’t have time for stuff that you do want to do if just CS is your interest. There are always tradeoffs to a double major.
A couple disadvantages would be that only in Duke Pratt Engineering College do you get access to first year design project that offers hands on engr + building engr peer network. Also, no foreign language requirement in Pratt Engr so that can free up for major related electives.
But, you’re right…the devil’s (trade-offs) in the details. His interests lie across ECE & CS so the double major is relevant for him
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My son just finished his first year as a double major ECE / CS at Duke. He loves it! Please let me know if you have any questions.
This thread of ours from last year has some info on his impressions of the Duke engineering program. Scroll to the end to the update I did after his first semester.
Congrats on two great options!!
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I would probably lean to Penn then, if he’s interested in an EECS or ECSE type program. Penn also has a better reputation in silicon valley high tech but a lot of that could be because of the Wharton grads out here in the bay area.