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What on earth does business have to do with a non-premed biology major???
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<p>Lol. I think that's just slipper focusing on what is clearly WashU's weakest placement.</p>
<p>Go to the school that gives you the least overall cost net of scholarships. Both schools are excellent. If they are close in cost, I would pick Duke.</p>
<p>Sam Lee,</p>
<p>Is there some assumption that Duke students apply to NE schools more frequently than WashU students? I mean, I'd assume Duke students also get into other professional schools not used on the survey at very high rates...Just because Duke has a lot of success at Harvard and Yale professional schools, doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of success at Northwestern or Chicago professional schools. </p>
<p>Basically, since Duke is one of the best schools at sending students to Columba, Yale, Harvard law...I don't see why it would be any worse for Chicago, Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>And, since WashU performs poorly at sending kids to Columbia, Yale, Harvard...I don't see that as a reason why it would be more succesful at other programs such as Chicago, NU, etc.</p>
<p>And I think again, you don't realize how far Duke is from the Northeast...and I mean, its near Charlotte (headquarters of Bank of Amierca and Wachovia, which love Duke), Raleigh (research triangle), Atlanta, and other big cities. Probably more big cities around it than around WashU, which again goes against the idea that Duke students disproportionately go to the Northeast.</p>
<p>Also, only 14% of Duke students are from NE to begin with, and 15% are in-state. In contrast, WashU is only 9% in-state and probably has a similar % of students from the NE.</p>
<p>Ummm...or the entire discussion led into business if you look at the previous posts.</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess,</p>
<p>You are using circular reasoning. Are you saying that Stanford wouldn't be further ahead if Stanford law/business are included as they should be? I don't know why such simple point is so hard for you to see.</p>
<p>slipper,</p>
<p>Actually bio major can do business in the future, you never know. Hey, I wasn't the one who brought up that whole wsj ranking at the first place to a prospective non-premed bio major. thethoughtprocess did! LOL!</p>
<p>Sam Lee, my point is that Duke's location doesn't work in its favor in getting into the WSJ feeder schools used in the survey, yet still its students are so strong that it ranks in the top 10. </p>
<p>Talking about how Duke students live in the NE more often after graduation is circular reasoning in itself - its likely that the students go to the NE because they get finance jobs in NYC and they get admitted into the professional schools. It seems like you are saying that Duke students hate living in North Carolina so they move up to the Northeast, which in turn leads to their overrepresentation in NE professional schools. That seems like a hefty stretch. When discussing location, keep in mind that Duke is 500 miles down I95 from NYC.</p>
<p>I used the WSJ to show that stronger students choose Duke rather than WashU, which I don't think can be argued at all, and overall undergraduate strength should play a role in OP's decision.</p>
<p>The truth is that old habits die hard. WashU might be a much more selective school than it was previously, and Duke might have even fallen in terms of comparative selectivity. But the bottom line is that Duke built a reputation over years and the benefit of its reputation will be hard to lose. When it comes to placement in terms of jobs and grad school, its at a much higher level.</p>
<p>If you include the top 10 professional schools instead of the top 5, the list of top feeder schools isn't going to change that much. Wondering whether Stanford is going to #3 is meaningless and not the point. The WSJ only did this survey for one year, they should do it for a few years, average the results, include ten top professional schools and then I think it would get a lot more credence.</p>
<p>Exactly. :D</p>
<p>Its not as if the ranking would change significantly, though I agree WSJ should have went through greater length.</p>
<p>However, I doubt anything would change significantly, atleast at the top.</p>
<p>You'll see a very high correlation between the WSJ rankings, US News rankings, THES global corporate survey, average SAT scores, National Merit Scholars, etc. etc. etc. </p>
<p>The schools which are best for one thing are the best for most things - WUSTL being the outlier since they have high SAT scores but low professional school placement and aren't ranked highly in the THES survey, or in terms of National Merit or WSJ.</p>