Hello All,
Im making up my college list and am wondering what Duke has to offer thats unique that othe colleges eg ivy leagues dont have
Thanks
All of the Ivy leagues are dramatically different from each other. But here are some general differences:
More emphasis on interdisciplinary work at Duke
Better weather
More school spirit
Better sports teams
Law Medicine Business on same campus as undergrads
Much younger school - infrastructure is less aged
Plenty of land - 1700 acres - enough for one acre for each incoming freshman
@sgopal2 I don’t think most of these are things that differentiate Duke from the ivies. Apart from weather and better sports all the other things at least one or more ivies have too. I think in general one gets a pretty comparable experience at Duke that one does in the ivies. That said every top school, including Duke has its unique identity. So, @happywharton that is a reason to put it in your list, that is it very comparable in all aspects (academics, alumni network, recruiting, resources) to the ivies, stanford, mit. Also this is completely my personal opinion, but i think Duke is prob a better choice for college than Brown and Cornell (and maybe Dartmouth too if you are not interested in business).
Thanks for your opinion! Im really into finance/business, would dartmouth or duke be better? Wharton is my dream school atm
I’m not a Duke alum, but it seems to me that Duke shares some characteristics with other select schools in different areas, and that the sum of these add up to give Duke a unique identity:
- Balance of academics with social life and especially athletics - most similar to Stanford
- Large campus with extensive green areas and graduate schools on campus - most similar to Stanford
- Strong emphasis on interdisciplinary studies and social engagement - most similar to Penn
- "Younger school" - with forward thinking mentality - most similar to Stanford
- Strong focus on undergraduate education with easy access to professors and research opportunities - most similar to Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth
None of these is an “absolute”, and they can probably be found to a greater or lesser degree at many other schools.
@happywharton Wharton or Penn CAS (Econ or PPE major) would be better than Duke or Dartmouth for business recruiting but you sadly can’t apply to both or put CAS as your second choice. So I say apply ED to Wharton since Penn is your dream school and then I d put Dartmouth a little bit above Duke for business. It has a very close knit and strong network in business and a slightly stronger name on wall-street, more alums, ivy league tag etc. But duke also does very very well in business recruiting and if you were not interested in finance, business i d tell you to put duke over Dartmouth.
Oh btw Penn is amazing, I have had the best time there! Hopefully you get in!
Duke does not offer an undergraduate major in finance or business. So if you want an undergraduate business degree then economics is about the closest you’ll get at Duke.
But keep in mind most who go onto successful business careers go for an MBA. If you see yourself going for an MBA then try to major in a non business field and get work experience first.
So I don’t agree with Penn95. Going to Wharton for a bachelors degree won’t help you more than getting a Duke degree. The Wall Street firms recruit just as heavily at Duke as they do at Penn.
I would definitely put Duke above Dartmouth. Not only as a matter of their respective programs (which are similarly recruited and respected but difficult to compare in many ways) but in terms of campus culture. Dartmouth is snowy, fratty, and rural, which may indeed be your cup of tea. However, if it were me, I’d get on the Duke bandwagon and enjoy the nicer weather, better facilities, more worldly people, better school colors and the arguably ‘higher’ prestige and ranking (just as a cherry on top, prestige is not what’s important)
If anything, going to Wharton might be a disadvantage (compared to Duke, Dartmouth, or even Penn CAS, which btw are equivalents when it comes to recruiting) because of the insane amount of competition there for business jobs.
I considered Duke because it’s warm, great at sports, and a beautiful campus. I chose Wharton because I liked the atmosphere more, and because it is simply recruited at much more heavily. It’s ridiculous to suggest it’s a disadvantage to be at Wharton. If you do well here you get opportunities that no other school offers.
@MBVLoveless not true. Penn CAS, Dartmouth, Duke are not exactly equivalent for recruiting. At Penn CAS you have a higher ranked econ department, and access to all the business recruiting opportunities that are available to Wharton kids and engineers. As a whole Penn is more heavily recruited than Duke and Dartmouth. The difference is not giant but there is a difference. Plus you have the opportunity to supplement your econ or other lib arts major degree with as many Wharton classes as you want, a chance you do not get at the other schools.
Needless to say that the claim of being at a disadvantage at Wharton relative to Duke or Dartmouth is quite untrue.
Lol if that helps you sleep at night. If IB/consulting people about the classes you take and Econ department rankings, UChicago and Northwestern > Penn, Duke, Dartmouth, Columbia, which are arguably not true. And good luck competing for those highly coveted jobs with the top Wharton and dual degree students.
From what my Penn CAS friend says, though, Penn’s culture as a whole is more business oriented than other schools’. It depends on what kind of atmosphere you seek in a college.
@penn95: do you have any proof for this? Or are you spouting more of your opinion?
@MBVLoveless People do compete and do just fine. Recruiters want Penn econ or other non-wharton major kids for the same reason they recruit econ and other major kids from top colleges who don’t have undergrad business schools. Only thing is that at Penn you have the extra advantage that comes with wharton classes, and heavier recruitment by firms than most other schools. And you can differentiate yourself from the typical Wharton student while still having access to the resources that Wharton and the pre-professional Penn culture brings. Proof is on the Penn career services website, under the stats for ECON, PPE and engineering students if you want to check it out, @sgopal2 too. Also Penn is def more well represented on Wall Street than duke that is a fact. I am not saying that ranking of econ department makes a difference by itself, all I am saying is that you have a stronger Econ department and the stronger recruiting opportunities that come with being at Penn so even if you are not in Wharton, Penn is a slightly better deal than Duke, Dartmouth or any other non-HYP school for business.
@penn95 wrote:
The links that you provided to the Penn Career website doesn’t show anything of the sort. Just shows what career choices Penn students decide upon. In fact it looks remarkably similar to what Duke grads do. Does not show any superiority.
The OP came here asking about the differences between Duke and Ivy league schools. And then you mistakenly believed this meant which school does better for wall street jobs.
I hate to break this to you. But being more heavily recruited by Wall street is probably just a function of how close Penn is to NYC. I’m sure you can say the same about Penn and Stanford. Penn probably has more students go to wall street jobs than Stanford, but does this mean that Penn is a better school? NO