<p>The Adcom definitely liked her time at Duke. However, my neighbor liked his time in Bermuda, but I don’t want to listen to his rambling on about it for an hour. A professional would present material that the audience wants to hear, not what they want to talk about.</p>
<p>I would agree that the FA stuff is the same at every top school…except for the ways that they are different. That was only one example of areas that simply were not addressed. She did not mention Greek life at all, and barely made a passing reference to Pratt Engineeering - those represent huge percentages of undergraduates that are unique on every campus. </p>
<p>Probably 90% of what is presented during these Adcom sessions can be found on any school’s web site. How this information is packaged during the session, I believe, speaks to how the school perceives itself.</p>
<p>We were ultimately able to get the information that we wanted by talking to students on campus. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post that it would be foolish to evaluate a school based solely on a one-day visit. However, this was Duke’s chance to make a good first impression and they dropped the ball (unless their intent is to appear arrogant and self-absorbed). Based on other posts, my experience was not an isolated incident.</p>
<p>That’s a good analogy. Yale is awesome but there’s not a single area besides Law School (YLS) where its as good as Harvard. The same could be said of Duke vs. Vanderbilt although Peabody at Vandy is one of a kind.</p>
<p>I’m guessing the Adcom was trying to go non-traditional (most college info sessions are as you know, boring) and it didn’t really turn out well. Instead of basically reading the website she talked about her experiences, which is good, if done right and mixed in with facts, which apparently she was lacking. </p>
<p>As far as Vandy vs Duke, I was kinda looking at both (for awhile) but learned that Duke>Vandy in terms of business (side story- I wanted to go to Vandy during my Jr year, did research on this forum actually and was told that Vandy is not a top school for business/consulting by Vandy advisors and students). In terms of engineering, I’d say Duke (especially with BME). If education is more your forte, I’ll give Vandy an edge because of Peabody. We can go into other areas, but I’d say the only place where Vandy has a real edge is Peabody.</p>
<p>I agree with you Danders617. I don’t know anything about Duke but I do know that Vanderbilt’s regional counselors would never ignore an applicant - even if rejected. I found Vanderbilt’s process transparent and the admissions counselors very personable. All of my emails were returned within 24 hours.</p>
<p>I really don’t think the distinction is as clear-cut as crimsonismylife claims. </p>
<p>I’ll be the first one to admit that Duke is the best university in the South. However, throughout the South, most place them on equal footing, and depending on one’s specific location, Vanderbilt is often considered to be better than Duke. The same applies to Rice; neither Vanderbilt nor Duke is regarded quite as highly as Rice in Texas or in surrounding areas. The average person is not sufficiently acquainted with either school to know which of the two is better, and many who do have some familiarity with the two simply know that both are superb. Of the three southern elites, however, only Duke has a decent international reputation (and even then, many only know it for basketball!). </p>
<p>Conversely, Harvard is better than Yale everywhere; it’s not MUCH better at all, but it’s simply as-good-if-not-slightly-better at everything (except Law) by comparison. </p>
<p>Also, patriotsfan1, Vanderbilt is actually a fine choice for business. Pretty much every decent firm has us as at least a semi-target, and some (BAML, Bain, BCG, etc) target us heavily. The reason why Vanderbilt isn’t known for business is its lack of people interested in entering business professions. This helps those who are interested in business, however, as there is less competition when OCR occurs. If you keep up a decent gpa, secure a relevant internship, and interview decently, you’ll get offers. Duke is definitely a national target, but competition on campus is also more of a problem at a place like Duke than at Vanderbilt.
Finance is also more of a precarious career path now than it was a couple of years ago. Even the most heavily-targeted schools are going to see fewer offers, and the bonuses that actually made finance worth going into before are now pretty much nonexistent. I wouldn’t choose a school based on its ability to place into business at this point.</p>
<p>I think the only thing that may be arguable between Harvard and Yale is “which school offers better undergraduate education?” I think many may actually prefer Yale just based upon this criteria, just as many may also prefer Princeton over it if they were just choosing based upon quality of undergrad education. Harvard sometimes is criticized by many academics (those into education) in this arena (ever read Excellence without a Soul?) because of this. A lot of top 20s are guilty of having serious issues in this arena, but often Harvard is made a poster child, but I would imagine some would claim that this only happens because “people like to target the top for criticism”. Unfortunately there are many tops, and Harvard is often targeted most among them. Princeton or Yale is perhaps not as good “statistically” (rankings and stuff), but their educational environment may be preferable to Harvard’s that some students may indeed choose either over it if they had the choice. They wouldn’t be stupid for doing so. All 3 are amazing. Same goes for Vandy vs. Duke. Student must look out for ability of school to help them follow their passion. If Vandy happens to feel like a better place for them, they won’t really be “missing out on Duke.” People choosing either will be fine if they have any sort of ambition (which is kind of required for admission).</p>
<p>IB still pays 100k with bonuses out of college (lots of money lost in taxes and rent, but great exit ops)</p>
<p>If I enjoy business/finance I shouldn’t choose a school that has good business/finance placement? Ludicrous. I’ll just become a teacher or English major instead…oh wait, those don’t pay well at all. While finance salaries aren’t ridiculously high anymore, they still are very high, especially for a kid out of college.</p>
<p>The point is that bonuses are no longer anything close to what they were a couple of years ago (also, receiving a bonus is contingent on several factors. It’s not guaranteed; it depends on your company). IB pays 100k with horrible hours and a ton of on-the-job stress. </p>
<p>How do you know that you enjoy finance/business? What do you enjoy about them? You can’t possibly know what it’s like to work in either industry if you haven’t actually worked in one of them.
Maybe YOU know that you want to work in finance/business. Most people change their career plans throughout college. For example, if someone were to choose NYU Stern over Rice - despite a slight preference for Rice - because NYU is better for placing into finance, but then decided during their sophomore year that they instead wanted to go to medical school, they would have made a bad decision. My guess is that many people pick NYU Stern for its business placement, despite the consensus that Stern is a rather cruddy experience. Certainly many of the students who go to Stern could have placed into wall street without Stern, and certainly many of the students at Stern are pursuing business for nothing more than money. A student should go to the college that they like the most, not the one that places the best for a certain career path.</p>
<p>There are other criteria than job placement. It’s 4 years of your life. “Good placement” at Duke isn’t reason enough to rule out a school with decent placement and possibly other perks, particularly considering the overwhelming number of students that change majors (50%?).</p>
<p>vonlost: I was referring to the USNWR top 20 national universities for UGs. Basically, saying that many have similarities and have been criticized about their ability to educate as well as their prices and pitches suggest. That’s all.</p>
<p>This is honestly ridiculous now. I know what I want to major in based of my work and class expierence. If I hate classes like science and language but like economics and following the markets and enjoyed my work expierence with economics, I think it’s safe to say that’s a major I want to do. Even if I do change, Duke is amazing in almost every other field and more respected than Vandy (once again, see my previous posts for my respect of Vandy, it’s a good school). If Duke is much better with finance and economics, it’s safe for me to choose that over a school like Vandy which has subpar placement in the industry for its prestige (if one is smart enough to get into Vandy, they are smart students and deserve good placement). I have a goal and I’m not afraid to work hard and long hours to make my money, there is no need to attack that. Im sorry that you dont want to work hard and earn your money. I’m really getting a negative opinion of Vandy after this. </p>
<p>Saying that its not worth it to go into IB because of the hours is like saying its not worth to go to Duke or Vanderbilt because one would have to study forever in high school and have a high workload in college. Americans can’t be afraid of hard work.</p>
<p>You’re missing the point. First of all, economics is not exactly closely related to IB. This is what tells me that you don’t know the first thing about IB. IB, as a field of finance, builds on economic principles, but does not require the same economic analysis that would you learn to perform as an economics major. Please, enlighten us as to what work experience you have had previously that would give you any sort of substantial background in IB. </p>
<p>Second, yes, Duke is a more respected school. Duke Econ is good, but it is a long shot from anything like Northwestern, and it is not at all comparable to the best programs in the country. Econ isn’t typically regarded as one of Duke’s strengths. Regardless, this is graduate program strength that you’re referring to. At the undergraduate level, most top universities have the resources to provide their undergraduates with an excellent education in nearly any field. </p>
<p>The point is that you seem to be into IB solely for the money. I have not heard of anyone actually enjoying IB as a profession. What is there to like about it other than the pay?</p>
<p>Vandy isn’t in the same league as Duke or NU in this discipline.</p>
<p>
I agree that there isn’t a clear 20 but rather a clear 5 and a clear top 15 universities. </p>
<p>Top 5
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT</p>
<p>Top 15
Columbia
Chicago
Duke
JHU
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell
Penn
CalTech
Northwestern</p>
<p>These 15 universities excel in everything: selectivity, academic reputation, financial resources, student body strength, student-to-faculty ratios, professional placement, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Did you really just call NU way better than Duke for undergraduate economics? I’m speachless. </p>
<p>Investment Banking has to deal with mergers and buying companies. It’s not directly related to economics, but it relates. There is no investment baking major, but if you know economics and know how to use excel, you’ll be able to do IB. If you don’t know anything about Econ, you’ll be at a loss. I had a prestigious internship that had to do with Econ thank you very much and another internship in a finance office of a local company. </p>
<p>Econ is absolutely a strength of Duke and a popular major. It’s really hard at Duke, but it’s popular and Duke is recruited heavily for IB unlike NU and Vandy. </p>
<p>IB is all about the exit ops, it’s two years of hell and then hello top business school</p>