what are YOUR opinions on this?

<p>Okay. so two of my friends were in a bit of an argument. a stupid one. but i thought i'd post it on here.</p>

<p>one is applying early decision to brown.
and the other is applying early decision to duke. </p>

<p>the arguably smarter one, is applying to brown. the one applying to duke asked my friend who is applying to brown, why they weren't applying to harder school than brown to get into, such as duke. </p>

<p>the student applying to brown got upset, and said brown was just as hard, if not harder to get accepted into than Duke. and she claimed that the rankings of usnwr favor duke much more than brown, and that's why brown isn't quite as high as duke. </p>

<p>are there any opinions on this? which friend is probably right? i mean, i know both are great schools. but the girl who is applying to brown, i think, has a more compelling application.... i'm confused then why her school is not ranked as high as duke.</p>

<p>Duke gave more money to US news than Brown</p>

<p>Frankly the argument is rather foolish considering that ED means that the applicant is committed to attend. By applying ED, they are categorically stating their #1 choice. Why should one say that what's right for me has to be right for you? Tell them to be quiet and that the rankings-thing is mostly hot air. The miniscule degrees of "better/worse" that make up the upper ranks of USNWR list is negligible. They should each be so lucky and should be wishing the best for one another.</p>

<p>really?
i mean, whenever i look at selectivity, BROWN is much harder to get into than DUKE. but i wasn't sure if that reflects anything in terms of environment/academics.</p>

<p>i think brown had a 13 percent acceptance rate and duke had a 25 percent acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Acceptance rate doesn't matter. The quality of the applicants is what matters.</p>

<p>would you say that the quality of applicants are about the same?
i mean, obviously both are phenomenal schools, but I always get that feel that duke is more legacy, "old" money, jock / cheerleaders, etc. but I could be totally WRONG. so don't accuse me of stereotyping, it just seems that way.</p>

<p>Here is what US News said:
DUKE
Fall 2007 Acceptance rate: 23.0 %
Number of applicants: 17,748
Number of applicants accepted: 4,077
Freshman enrollment for Fall 2007: 1,700
Percent of first-year students submitting high school class standing: 47 %
Freshmen in top 10 percent of high school class (2007): 90 %
Freshmen in top 25 percent of high school class (2007): 97 %
Freshmen in top 50 percent of high school class (2007): 100 %
Percent of first-year students submitting SAT scores: 93 %
SAT Critical Reading 25th-75th percentile range: 660-750
SAT Math 25th-75th percentile range: 680-790
SAT Writing 25th-75th percentile range 680-780
Percent of first-year students submitting ACT scores 36 %
ACT English 25th-75th percentile range: 29-34
ACT Math 25th-75th percentile range: 28-34
ACT Composite 25th-75th percentile range: 29-34</p>

<p>BROWN
Fall 2007 Acceptance rate: 14.0 %
Number of applicants: 19,097
Number of applicants accepted: 2,669
Freshman enrollment for Fall 2007: 1,484
Percent of first-year students submitting high school class standing: 44 %
Freshmen in top 10 percent of high school class (2007): 92 %
Freshmen in top 25 percent of high school class (2007): 99 %
Freshmen in top 50 percent of high school class (2007): 100 %
Percent of first-year students submitting SAT scores: 93 %
SAT Critical Reading 25th-75th percentile range: 660-760
SAT Math 25th-75th percentile range: 670-770
SAT Writing 25th-75th percentile range 660-760
Percent of first-year students submitting ACT scores 27 %
ACT English 25th-75th percentile range: 28-34
ACT Math 25th-75th percentile range: 27-34
ACT Composite 25th-75th percentile range: 28-33</p>

<p>okay, thanks for sources.</p>

<p>i'm not going to go and tell one of my friends that he or she is applying to the better school.</p>

<p>although, just based on what i've heard about the two schools, i find Brown more attractive.</p>

<p>I think that your Duke friend is out of his mind and is the perfect candidate for rejection, if schools pick up on any of his mindset through the application.</p>