My son is trying to make his final college decision and keeps getting hung up on the low quality of life rating by Princeton Review for Duke. He loved his visit but is worried that there are some unknowns contributing to the low quality of life. Does anyone know why Duke gets such a low quality of life rating?
I would put ZERO stock into some random Princeton Review rating. Ask Duke students about their quality of life, look at freshman retention statistics (95%+), alumni giving and pride, and you’ll quickly see that the vast majority of Duke students love their Duke experience. The Princeton Review rating is not scientific in the least. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s getting dragged down by the PR’s ranking Duke high on the town/gown relations are strained and Durham safety, or the fact that Duke admins simply did not supply them the requested information in the desired time (I have no idea what rating PR gave Duke for the record).
One of the very last things your son should use in making a decision as important in attending college is a ranking by some random third party trying to sell subscriptions. If there was core data that led to that (such as a very high transfer rate), that would be one thing…but some random combination of what they think the food and dorm quality and ease of getting around campus would be at the bottom of my list of what to consider. I’d visit and make those judgments for myself. Seriously, the overall happiness level of Duke’s student body is very high – there are the common stressors of any top tier university from an academic pressure perspective, but the campus beauty and sense of community at Duke is outstanding.
Edit: Just did some random googling and this article from October 2014 says Duke has one the HIGHEST quality of life ratings based on Princeton Review:
http://tippingthescales.com/2014/10/princeton-review-releases-new-rankings/
Maybe it’s wrong, or maybe a “new ranking” came out…you really think the quality of life changes that much year to year? No, it doesn’t. Princeton Review just has to come out with something.
The quality of life reviews on Princeton Review are laughable. Complete pseudo-science. As with any convenience survey, the quality of the results depends HIGHLY upon who fills them out.
Over the years, I have heard and read many critiques of Duke, some by individuals and some by publications. Yet, not even once have I seen Duke’s “quality of life” criticized. In fact, it has always seemed to be an institution forte. @bluedog’s foregoing post (#1) provides some important "researched " information, which I won’t reiterate. From decades of experience, however, I can confidently indicate that the PR’s QoL assessment must be significantly flawed.
I offer a random – but potent – test as proof; I’m sure you know some children of friends/colleagues/neighbors/associates – and your son has classmates – who are current/recent Duke undergraduates. Call them and ask if they enjoy the quality of life at Duke . . . and why? I suggest that’s a far more compelling evaluation than anything I – or any publication – can state.
I think the above link regarding quality of life refers to law schools. For 2015, the PR Quality of Life rating for Duke is 70. However, thanks for the feedback and information. I will pass it along to my son and emphasize that he should not take that data too seriously. I just wish that Princeton Review would stop putting out flawed assessments or improve their assessment strategies because it does impact kids’ impressions. Personally, I did not know that it was flawed either.
Here is a good article that explains the inherent flaws in the Princeton Review methodology:
My son is a sophomore and has had such a good experience that my daughter applied ED and is in the Class of 2019. He wouldn’t want to go elsewhere and, as a result, neither did his sister (who is strong willed and didn’t follow her brother blindly). All rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt. Many are nonsensical.
Low quality of life at Duke? Trust me, it is the same as at HYPS, or better ! And the lines to mental health are shorter 
I personally know many students at the Duke’s law school… and they all seem to be quite happy (at least for law school students). I would not go by this random ranking… talk to real students and then decide.
All ranking systems are limited their methodology. All ranking systems are non scientific and they all have flaws. Everyone places value in the system that agrees with their views and discredits those that do not. That is how it works and why they create spirited debate. No ranking system should decide where to spend the next 4 years of your life. Some look at wealth, prestige, research productivity at the grad schools, costs, grad rate, income after graduation, or the opinion of adults that have never set foot on campus.
The neat thing about the PR is they look at surveys from current students and report “what the students say” in a variety of areas. No university administrators are “gaming the system”, no grad students or faculty spitting out poor research in order to graduate, get a grant, or to get tenure, no class sizes are limited, no ranking peer schools low to make their school look better, no opinions of high school guidance councilors, no marketing gimmicks, no measuring the size of ones endowment, etc… The PR only looks at the opinions of current students and what they say about their university. It’s quite simple, raw and may be the least biased of any ranking system. Some U’s score well year after year while others consistently score poorly. Why?
Rice, Wash SL, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, & Stanford score well on these surveys and Duke, NU, NDU, Georgetown, CalB score poorly. Why? Are the questions flawed? Do they select students that just flunked a test or broke up with their girlfriend? Are some schools surveyed on a sunny spring day and others on cold rainy days? Are some questioned during spring break and others during final exams? Is it influenced by the type of student each university admits (happy kids will be happy anywhere)? I don’t know.
Ava, have your son visit his top choices and select the one that feels like the best fit. Trust his gut feeling.
Quality of life on Duke campus: Not bad.
Quality of life in Dur-Ham: Fairly shabby.
There you have it.
I have not read all the posts or visited all the links, but I can say that my son is a senior graduating with two degrees and he has absolutely loved his four years at Duke. He lived on campus his first three years. During this same time frame his sister attended grad school at UNC and lives in Durham. My youngest is at NC State. All three love the Raleigh/Durham area.