<p>You know, one thing I found incredibly important when looking at schools with my children was understanding the character of the students they tend to attract. It has long been my observation on CC, that Duke tends to attract a student body who is very into rankings, assessing minute portions of other colleges and comparing them favorably or unfavorably, and overall has a very arrogant we-are-good-and-I’m-going-to-prove-it-in-your-face mentality. Compare that to many other fine universities, Northwestern among them, that have much more of a welcoming, sincere, “hey, there are a lot of great places, we’re pretty proud of our own but we’re not horribly concerned with ‘beating’ others – it’s all good and there’s plenty of excellence to go around.” There’s an arrogance about the Duke spirit that is very evident and a real turn-off, IMO. It’s far more classy and gracious to say, “Hey, there are a lot of fine universities and it’s all good” than it is to engage in this tacky and immature “Let me PROVE it to you!” nonsense. It’s a shame, because I have a much more negative image of Duke after hearing its boosters on CC than I did prior to CC. </p>
<p>Whether Chicago is “better” than Duke on these things or vice versa is so totally irrelevant. The size of the library? Please, you’re not going to read all the volumes anyway. Why can’t you just be content with knowing these are all great places and this is where personal preferences (and finances, of course) come into play? Why does it have to be linear - this one > that one – why can’t it just be “this one is better for Person X’s set of needs, and that one is better for Person Y’s set of needs”?</p>