For economics, liberal arts. Which would you suggest. Pricing wise Duke is most expensive
how significant is the price difference?
60k an year
List the three schools by price.
How much is Vandy, how much is UNC, how much is Duke.
What is your hot button? Size, cost, or otherwise?
Duke has the best access to wall street
2 Likes
Unc is 50k, Duke 85 and vandy 27k.
Primary consideration is the quality of education, grad school opportunities and career. Of course cost is huge as well
First off, you cannot go wrong. We toured all three.
- UNC - My D grew up loving UNC from afar. Even had unc in her email address. When we flew in from Colorado, she said it was all local kids talking about North Carolina high schools, which was very different than the other schools we toured. Crossed UNC off immediately. Frankly, I had visited Chapel Hill before a couple of times and UNC and liked it just walking around, but I also walked away from the tour and campus visit thinking you really can feel the 82% in-state vibe. It wasn’t for her. Of the public schools, Michigan was by far her favorite and she almost matriculated there. UM is only 50% in-state.
- Duke - I loved it. She crossed it off. Felt it was too “geeky” like her Northwestern visit (my alma mater). She’s a geek, but maybe wanted to be pulled out of her bookish shell self. Duke is hard to beat academically.
- Vanderbilt - We both loved Vandy. Just such a great cross-section of kids who work hard, but enjoy life too. Very different discussions when 91% are out-of-state or International students. She’s a Vanderbilt student. My daughters are/were so busy all the time and have done so many interesting things. They say Vanderbilt students have high aspirations and try so hard, but they also go out of their way to help each other out. Dorms, food, all that other daily stuff are fantastic. Vanderbilt always ranks very high on quality of life, students love their school, etc. surveys. Nashville is a great town too. My other daughter was an Economics major at Vanderbilt and she says Vanderbilt changed her life.
1 Like
All three are great quality. All three (and many other “lesser” schools would prep you for grad school - and your career is dependent on what you want to do?
Where do you live? Where is home - i.e. which state? Where do you want to end up - in the US, internationally?
I assume you are a US citizen? Otherwise you will be going home anyway most likely.
In a “rank” it would be Duke, Vandy and then far below UNC for econ.
If you were my kid, you’d be going to Vandy (regardless of career desire) - no questions asked - because it’s a top top school and you got an unbelievable price.
2 Likes
Given the cost of each, I would choose Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt is an excellent school.
Vandy hands down.
I’m a Vandy alumni (school of Nursing) and Masters in Nursing- excellent resources, professors who have real life as well as academic experience and alumni networking/ activities.
1 Like
Duke seems overshadowed by its basketball program but it’s a top 10 school. The Durham Freeway splitting the Duke campus is a negative as is the disappointing attempt to revive Durham itself (but not for lack of effort)
If you want a job at Goldman Sachs or McKinsey, I would go Duke to increase your chances vs the other schools…and, you’re likely to make up the extra money spent going to Duke cause of overall better job opportunities afforded Duke graduates
1 Like
Vandy for undergrad and then look at Duke and others for grad school later. That is a huge savings for a great school. It is hard to justify full pay for Duke when you have Vandy as an option for 1/3 of the price.
2 Likes
Why would there be such a disparity in the financial aid? Is this a merit scholarship at Vanderbilt?
1 Like
In this analysis of economics departments based on faculty publishing, Duke, at #24, and Vanderbilt, at #27, appear in the same zone: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments | IDEAS/RePEc. By comparison, UNC, at #72, does not appear competitive.
They do offer combos of merit and need at Vanderbilt.
In theory, Duke does merit and need as well, but for less that 1% from the data shared.