<p>I'm OOS, I've gotten an EA to GT, and think I have a chance at Duke and Virginia. 1570 SAT, 4.0 GPA, lots of AP's, Captain of Baseball Team, leadership in school spirit positions and community service, etc.</p>
<p>I loved U. of Virgina when I visited. Cousin was on a sports team and I got a great tour, but he graduated and is having a tough time finding a job. If you got into these three schools were would you go?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t go to Georgetown over UVa. I’d venture to say UVa is the better school, certainly is a nicer school, and its much cheaper–even OOS. </p>
<p>Duke is a different story, its a more prestigious school. However, I still think anything you can get at Duke you can get at UVa. Between Duke and UVa, I’d just pick the one you like more.</p>
<p>Re: your cousin not getting a job–that depends on what he majored in, how well he did, etc. If he graduated with 2.0 in sociology, he’d have a hard time getting a job from any of the schools.</p>
<p>I have heard that UVa’s recruitment is mostly regional. Is that true?</p>
<p>I got accepted at Duke and UVA (as well as others) last year. When I visited Duke, it just didn’t look like a fun campus. There seemed to be a cut-throat atmosphere in the air. Durham is awful, IMO, and hence the school isolates itself from everything by it’s Duke Forest. It’s an island unto itself.
UVA looked so beautiful, and fun. I knew I’d get a great education at either institution, but I wanted to have a good time too. So, long story-short, I turned down Duke quite easily, in favor of UVA, and I never looked back!
I don’t know much about Georgetown. The Jesuit education has a great reputation. I never applied to Georgetown though; it was too close to DC for my taste.</p>
<p>Vistany,</p>
<p>As a state school, 67% students are from Virginia, so of course you would have to say it is a regional draw. (By comparison Cal-Berkeley is 90% from CA). But the OOS kids come from almost every state. All schools draw more from nearby. Stanford is 46% in state. Duke is 15% from NC. Most kids at HYP are from the Northeast. The bottom line is that UVA has a national reputation.</p>
<p>jags, do you really feel that duke’s name pulls a tangible amount more than UVa’s? I would be surprised. Maybe in some areas (engr probably) but in most I would say they are about on par, and considering the opportunities at the two, I don’t think there is a bad decision between the two (essentially your conclusion, but still).</p>
<p>You should visit both and then decide.</p>
<p>i got in georgetown ea also and i feel like i’m going to have the same problem… i’ve visited both too and i am just too indecisive</p>
<p>Personally, I would go to Duke. Duke is supposed to be a pretty fun school, but I mean it’s academic clout and prestige really speak for itself. I think Virginia and Georgetown are similar in terms of prestige, but Virginia is larger and possibly cheaper (if you establish residence). Georgetown is probably a better national recruiter and probably attracts more national students. Virginia is a great school, but you have to ask yourself if you want to go to a school that is predominantly Virginian. I go to a school in Ohio that has more than fifty percent Ohioans and I am miserable. I’m not saying Virginia is the same way…(I am applying there probably)…but it’s certainly a factor. </p>
<p>As for the job, I don’t know what really to say. Grades? Major? Lack of experience?</p>
<p>
If you are asking about job recruitment, it’s national. It’s understandable, though, that people who grew up in Virginia would be drawn to job offers from companies in this region. </p>
<p>You’ll find active alumni clubs (an indicator of a large alumni population) in most major cities, though. I’ve been doing our west coast travel for the last few years and there are strong alumni associations in Pheonix, San Diego, LA, and San Francisco. The Southern California group (SD and LA) are fantastic groups.</p>
<p>My girlfriend’s sister who is at UVA is taking a job in Cali.</p>
<p>ehiunno,</p>
<p>I would think Duke’s name carries slightly more clout because of its basketball program. It may sound stupid, but anyone who watches a Duke basketball game has to hear Dick Vitale ramble on about Dukes “over 1400 average SAT score” (which I’m sure no one on the basketball team has). So I think that does help. However, you should be able to do just as well out of UVa as Duke–likely better if you come out of the Comm school (if thats what you want to do). I don’t know anything about the engineering program’s recruitment.</p>
<p>Sachmoney,</p>
<p>OOS UVa is substantially cheaper than Gtown or Duke. UVa’s estimated total cost of attendance for OOS is $38,125, Georgetown’s is $51,120, and Duke’s is $45,121.</p>
<p>As for Georgetown, 70% of the students come from east coast states, 71% of Dukes students are from East Coast States, and 85% of students are from East Coast States at UVa. All 50 states are represented at each. However, since UVa is more than 2x as large as Gtown and Duke, there are at least the same amount of students from all over the country, if not more. So I wouldn’t say UVa isn’t “national.”</p>
<p>I’m thinking the same thing, except im instate and i only applied to duke and uva out of the 3 you mentioned. IMO I think that you can get a job from both but it would be slightly easier from duke cause uva does seem regional, at least that is how most kids in my high school see it. most uva alumni that i know who go there ended up coming back to the northern va-dc-md area. they told me that they came back because they found it easier but they had friends who went to new york and other places like that. i can’t say any duke stories b/c i dont know any duke alumni.</p>
<p>then again most kids at my high school dont do 2 much research on uva before they apply. most go “oh state flagship i guess i have to send an app”. I uva will prepare you for most anything though.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m rambling and I sound like I’m contradicting myself so I’ll summarize it real quick: i think duke is the best for national recruitment b/c it is more presitgous than the other ones and georgetown may have more people from over teh country come to campus, uva is kind of stronger academically (IMO)…</p>
<p>If it weren’t for McIntire, I’d have rather gone to Duke (for the prestige) or Georgetown (because I like D.C.).</p>
<p>And yes, Duke has atleast one basketball player with an above 1400 SAT.</p>
<p>And Georgetown’s Jesuit tradition was thrown out the window from what I hear.</p>
<p>Just a comment about the “prestige” of duke. I have 2 anecdotal stories about it in comparison to uva’s. </p>
<p>I’ll preface the first one with my sister was a super-star at UVa. When she was looking for jobs, she was looking at many of the best jobs you can get out of the Comm School. She used to say how many of the companies she was looking at only recruited from a few schools (most of the Ivies, UVa, Williams). She never mentioned duke kids being in the interviews–and has never mentioned knowing anyone who went to duke while living in boston or new york (she knows lots of kids from UVa, MIT, Williams, Dartmouth, and Yale in these places).</p>
<p>I’ll preface the second story with the fact that I’m not really looking for a long term job for next year (just something for 1 year until I go to grad school) and also it really isn’t about duke. I also have no where near the GPA, nor the activities that my sister had at UVa. But I’ll tell you this, when I walk into an interview and the people all have degrees from rutgers or montclair state, the person interviewing me definitely seems very impressed with UVa.</p>
<p>Folks- the business world is where I live–at least the legal world. As a hiring partner at my firm, I can tell you that all three (Georgetown, Duke and UVA) will open doors for you. However, the graduates of UVA have a certain civility and refinement that I have not run across from graduates of the other two schools. All three speak to your ability as a student. UVA speaks to your outlook as a person. It is a little hard to put into words but that’s my take on it. By the way, UVA has the best law school of the three.</p>
<p>That’s not necessarily true about the Boston/NY thing. I live near Boston, and I know lots of people who went to Duke, a few who went to Georgetown, and none from UVA. Also keep in mind that twice as many students attend UVA as opposed to Duke or Georgetown, so obviously you’ll be more likely to run into its graduates.</p>
<p>They’re all great schools, but very different (especially depending on what you want to study, which is what is what I suggest you go by)</p>
<p>I agree with jOHN ROSS, there is a civility and refinement to UVA students.
Duke was just so harsh when I went on my student visit there; actually, it wasn’t Duke per se, it was all the students (and parents) who looked competitive/and oh so tense. There was no fun. When I visited Duke, it was my #1 choice, but when I left, I had the biggest headache and it went to the bottom of my personal list of colleges.
Though Duke is in NC, one would not know that to visit it. My home is in the south and some people I know refer to the Duke medical center as “the Medical College of New Jersey”.
Not that there’s anything wrong with NJ. However, Duke is not southern IMO, nor charming in the sort of way that I desired. UVA has a nice mix of people. It’s southern–but also brings in a nice mix of OOS students. It’s preppy, beautiful, smart, fun and is really a national landmark in terms of Virginia history. UVA is academically challenging AND fun. I think this balance, creates a balanced student.
That’s my take on things, and my statements are based on what I was looking for when I applied last year. Of course, everyone is different, and we all seek what we are looking for in higher education.</p>
<p>the only problem I have with the whole " I’ve met uva grads and they are better than the other two" or the uva makes the most balanced kids is subjective. I’ve noticed that almost all the examples that people cite here and people that I know whose siblings have gone to uva only seem to give me examples of where echols/rodman scholars are now and the graduates of mcintire…</p>
<p>I frankly don’t see how UVA can be called “southern”, lol. It’s mostly kids from Northern VA, no matter how “diverse” people claim it to be.</p>
<p>guillaume,</p>
<p>no one is calling it southern–just virginian.</p>
<p>genius,</p>
<p>I have friends from the e-school who weren’t Rodman scholars who have good paying first year jobs (50k+) who work for the government, boeing, capital one, etc. I have a friend who graduated as an econ major–with just under a 3.0–who got a job at a hedge fund out his first year out.</p>
<p>But remember, not everyone is going to have a great job. Obviously we’re going to talk about people who have done the best. But, quite frankly, you’ll find most sociology or psychology majors–from UVa, Duke, or Georgetown–aren’t working for goldman sachs making 60 grand a year. They get less glamorous jobs or go to grad school.</p>