<p>Can anyone bother to tell me, please?</p>
<p>US News ranks Duke 5th. THES ranks Duke 11th. Who cares? To answer your question, </p>
<p>Peer assessment (25%)</p>
<p>Retention (20% in national universities and liberal arts colleges and 25% in master's and comprehensive colleges)
---six-year graduation rate (16%)
--- freshman retention rate (4%)</p>
<p>Faculty resources (20%)
---proportion of professors with the highest degree in their fields (15%)
---student-faculty ratio (2.5%)
---proportion of faculty who are full time (2.5%).</p>
<p>Student selectivity (15%)
---SAT or ACT tests (7.5%)
---proportion who graduated in the top 10% for national universities and liberal arts colleges and the top 25% for master's and comprehensive colleges categories (6%)
---acceptance rate (1.5%)</p>
<p>Financial resources (10%)</p>
<p>Graduation rate performance (5%; only in national universities and liberal arts colleges)</p>
<p>Alumni giving rate (5%)</p>
<p>uh... those statistics are confusing. SAT or ACT tests (7.5%)??? what does that even mean?</p>
<p>It means some schools report SAT scores, some report ACT, and they use whichever one, figure out a specific percentile range, and use that to rank schools.</p>
<p>i think it's based on the four year grad rate....not the 6</p>
<p>To answer the OP's question-- Duke is a badass school, that's why.</p>
<p>If you're an international student, I will say that Duke was recently not as high as it currently is, and many non-American communities (immigrant communities included) do not have access to as much information as closer-by Americans, who thus are quicker to change their impressions.</p>
<p>I know many of my family friends are confused by my decision to attend Duke over UC Berkeley, which to most Americans is a fairly obvious question.</p>
<p>Duke is a school that continues to improve itself. US News has recognized this for a few years now. My guess is that your home community will recognize this soon. My family friends, on the other hand, are still stuck back in the 1970s, so who knows when they will come around.</p>
<p>Is it true that Duke is only well known in the South, and not very recognized in the Northeast, New England area? I go to school in New York City and the smartest kids in my school applied to HYP, and didn't even bother considering Duke.</p>
<p>beprepn - who may be an alternate handle for a similarly obnoxious poster - is spouting nonsense, as no set of rankings includes varsity sports.</p>
<p>He's being a troll.</p>
<hr>
<p>First, HYP are more prestigious than Duke by most rankings, and so it has nothing to do with location.</p>
<p>Second, US News is, simply put, not in the South - and so of course Duke is well-known outside the South. </p>
<p>I think it's simply that many kids are prejudiced against North Carolina based on its past history - the Biomedical Research Triangle is certainly not a bastion of racism by any means - and refuse to go there. At least, that's how it was in my high school.</p>
<p>Bluedevilmike, what I meant was:</p>
<p>Should I expect great job opportunities in the Northeast, say, on Wall Street, if I graduate from a southern university like Duke? Or would I only find good offers from employers in the south? I don't want a job in the South, by the way.</p>
<p>Yes, you'll have opportunities. 25% of Duke grads work in NYC, and another 25% work in DC. For Dukies wondering where that info came from, check the bulletin board inside the West Union.</p>