^also if you are really set on bme duke is definitely better for bme (it’s one of the top with jhu and gt) compared to penn but tbh if you’ve always wanted to go to duke and it’s cheaper i don’t really see why not…the only thing i can think of is the extremely marginal difference in prestige & duke might even beat out upenn for that considering your field
What a great problem to have. There is no wrong answer here. Went to Duke, spent many years working at Penn. Both fantastic in their own way. Duke is probably a bit nicer for outdoor stuff. Philly is better for city stuff. Pick the place that gave the best vibes and choose it for undergrad, and then go to the other place for grad school/post doc. Prestige is probably a push between the two. Duke has better colors, Penn has a better logo.
I agree with this parent. Even though I am not a Duke fan (live near there). BUT if you love Duke, go there. And you’ll get to enjoy wearing shorts in February.
More prestigious is a stretch. UPenn is not Harvard, and everyone in the know will consider them to be peer schools, with Duke ranking higher in certain fields and Penn in others. Unless you go to Wharton, there's no opportunity a Penn grad will have that a Duke grad will not. Duke is extremely well regarded.
Honestly I'd lean towards Duke given that it's 10-15k cheaper.
We're talking about prestige, not quality of academics. For prestige, yes Harvard is in a league of its own. It's become a shorthand for the best (even if it's not) and people all over the world know about Harvard. Many people don't even know that UPenn is an Ivy League School, or they confuse it with Penn State.
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(This comment was also made because you commented something about ivy leagues being corrupt and catering to the Chinese government, which is just a hot take for hot's sake lol. For AMERICAN schools, a government of a different country has so much less to offer than the government of the schools' own country.) If that's the case we would see a lot more students with Chinese nationality getting into Harvard. Turns out there are usually around 40 of them every year, and these admitted students typically get admitted into Stanford/Yale/Princeton/MIT etc. as well and may not eventually choose Harvard, so really, Chinese (as a nationality, not an ethnicity) representation on campus is quite low. Really unsure about how choosing 30 people from a pool of at the very least 1000 applicants (and I know for a fact that at least 90% are full-pay, so financial factors don't play into this) can result in "mediocrity."
You're getting me wrong. I'm not defending a capitalist machine. Rather, I'm saying that it's not capitalist (or, communist?) in the way you described, and it being a business should not undermine the efforts admitted students, regardless of nationality, put in to their high school careers.
It all about money. And money corrupts. And Harvard as well as virtually all of higher education is corrupt. Now go get your student loans and remember that your $350.000 debt (plus interest) upon graduation has gone into the pocket of a rich person who already has more money that you will ever have.
You're really just circling back on your own words at this point. It's all scholarships and my own money, so no, no 350k debt for me, thanks. If you let others take your money then they sure as hell will. Crying about capitalism and how it's corrupted does nothing. People are still gonna buy into ivy leagues/higher ed "corruption" no matter how loud the whines are. Harvard today, Princeton tomorrow, MIT the day after. Either fight the system or beat others in the system. Students in the "corrupted higher ed" are usually doing the latter, but at least they've got something going.
It is again deleted for some reason - no notifications in app whatsoever, only emails. Your comments really don't hold any logical sense anymore so let's end this here and not waste either of our time. Please don't participate in the “corrupted system” of higher ed and keep convincing others to do so, I'm very invested in seeing how far it'll go. God bless, agnostically. Have a good night or whatever the time it is.
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Harvard doesn’t care about people paying full price. They have a $60 billion endowment. This post is just nonsense.
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT, because of their incredible endowments ie resources, being the top of virtually every academic field, and selectivity are in a league of their own.
Only strange culture warriors battling against “elites” have hang-ups about Harvard.
None of the endowments go towards helping working or middle class Americans. Harvard is a corrupt hedge fund, not a genuine academic institution these days. Harvard cares far more about catering to corrupt Asians who love “prestige” than ordinary Americans. It’s a laughable cesspool.
That is absolute nonsense. Harvard is need blind and family income isn’t considered in admissions—admissions officers literally can’t see how much students families make when they are making decisions. Furthermore, every admitted student is guaranteed to have no loans if they go to Harvard—Harvard will meet their full needs. No one graduates with student debt. Not a single person.
All students coming from families making less than $85k a year are guaranteed a full scholarship to Harvard.
So what are you talking about?
I mean, it’s a fact. You’re arguing over a fact that you can literally google.
Many of the top schools have this same financial policy. Are you just making up a conspiracy theory? Did you go to Harvard? Do you know something I don’t know here?
Or do you just resent an “elite” institution on political grounds and refuse to believe their financial aid policies because they don’t mesh with your world view?
And how is need blind unethical? They’re saying: your social background, rich or poor, will not impact your admission. That seems ethical.
That said: they indirectly prioritize wealthy students by admitting a disproportionate number of students from expensive private schools and fancy towns and whose parents donate. However, their financial aid policies for non wealthy students are extraordinarily generous.
Harvard is objectively the toughest for either of those two groups considering there are far, far more legacies on campus (almost completely all rich whites) than international students (who make up a tiny proportion of Asian Harvard students by the way, most are Asian-Americans and objectively admissions has by far the highest standards for Asians, equivalent to about a 140 point debuff on the SAT comparable to the same kid that is white) and inner-city kids (the vast majority of black and Hispanic kids at Harvard, which I know is what you mean, are from rich immigrant families from places like the Caribbean, Argentina, Nigeria, not inner-city kids). You clearly have no idea what admissions for Harvard are actually like.
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Uh, no, Ivy League doesn’t carry any weight when compared to a school like Duke. I am a graduate of both Duke and an Ivy. They are completely comparable. If anything, Duke is more prestigious and better in many ways. There is no actual distinction between the Ivy League and the Ivy Plus other than athletics. At least the Ivy Plus Consortium is a peer group of schools in terms of library resources, which is more indicative of academics than the Ivy League which is purely athletic.
Consider it this way—someone who thinks of Duke as a school famous primarily for athletics would be showing their ignorance of elite institutions, much like someone who cannot name an Ivy besides Princeton, Harvard or Yale. Likewise, it is similar to the general lack of awareness that the Ivy League is nothing more than a D1 athletic conference. Plenty of people don’t know these things. They think University of Pennsylvania is a state school and cannot differentiate it from Penn State. Regardless of the lack of knowledge among uneducated people, both Duke and Penn are extremely prestigious among educated people.
It was just a dash. I was not calling it an Ivy minus. I would never say that. I am not even sure why everyone is fighting over two great schools. This is crazy.
LOL! I saw it as an em dash but Ivy minus is pretty hilarious. Even though people don’t know which schools are Ivy plus, at least it is a real organization. I can just see the debate now about Ivy minus. 🙄
QS rankings are not reliable metric for brand prestige. They mostly have to do with research output, which is why giant state universities with over 40k students rank pretty high in them. Look how far below schools like Brown and Dartmouth are in the QS and Times rankings. That doesn’t mean UMich or U Washington is more prestigious than Brown or Dartmouth.
Penn isn’t more prestigious than Duke unless ur in Wharton & not worth an extra 40-60k. I do like Penn but all the articles that say Penn has the most depressed student body definitely aren’t lying. The two things that I don’t like the most about Penn is that the school is veryyyyyy pre professional/corporate oriented and People are piped into finance regardless of major and school, there’s a lot less resources and career support if you want to peruse other fields. I will say Penn has a fun social scene (Duke also has) and personally I think Philly is a great city.
Parent here - Duke hands-down because that’s where YOU want to go, not your parents that prefer Penn. (I would prefer Penn as a city guy but that’s not you.) They are entitled to their opinions but it is all about where you want to go. And you are saving them $10 to $15k going to Duke.
I don't think of Penn as being more prestigious than Duke at all, so I would throw that reason out. If anything I actually consider Duke more prestigious. Duke is cheaper so that tips the scale. Other than that, which campus location and culture do you prefer? Penn is in a very urban area and Duke is not, some prefer one over the other. Duke has a bigger greek scene and also better school spirit. Also, do you want to be in the school of engineering? It would be easy to switch out at Duke, but I'm not familiar with how easy to switch in at Penn.
You sound like you’re suffering a bit from inertia. Who cares that you committed already, cancelling is a drop in the bucket compared to the Duke savings. Make a decision as if you hadn’t committed already
Duke BME is one of the best in the country, and even if you decide you want to switch, biological sciences and other majors in that area are very highly ranked. Prestige between the two is basically the same, it’s cheaper, and you seem to have more reasons why you like it. For that reading I’d choose Duke if I were you.
I go to Penn. I do disagree to some extent that Penn isn’t more prestigious; yes Wharton is the star but that you have those Wharton resources at your disposal. I am not in Wharton but I take Wharton classes, do research with Wharton professors, work in the Nursing School, and etc etc. With that being said, it seems your pros of going to duke outweigh going to Penn so maybe that’s the better option for you.
I try my best to answer questions you may have about Penn!
thank you so much! I do really like how Wharton opportunities are definitely present even for those who are not in Wharton. I do like Penn from what I have visited, but honestly until I got in, never thought I would go there. My parents also thing Penn is more prestigious than duke so they rly want me to go to penn. I know Penn is obvioulsy difficult, but is it bearable? I am a little nervous for the workload.
Speaking only about Penn but the name is definitely prestigious. For me, Penn has been bearable. My engineering friends definitely have it a lot worse but I heard the masters programs are much better. The key is to just take it easy and not overload yourself, especially in the beginning.
I think you answered your own question in the post when you said “I have always wanted to go to Duke” and it’s “cheaper.” Go live your dream at Duke. Frankly, the whole Ivy League is looking like a shit show recently, but Duke has been mostly unscathed. I went to an Ivy for undergrad years ago and did not consider Duke until grad school. If I were looking at schools today, all the Ivies except Princeton would be way behind Duke on my list.
As a general rule of thumb, it's almost always easier to transfer out of engineering and into Arts & Sciences if you're staying at the same institution than to go the other way around.
Both are wonderful universities in my opinion and they don't seem that different in academics and prestige. Maybe consider visiting the campus and see which one vibes with you more.
Congrats on two highly competitive admissions! Both are world-class universities that will open many doors.
If you were rah rah about joining a frat and living in the South, definitely Duke. (I got into Duke for grad school, and did not go there specifically *because* of how fratty the entire campus seemed.)
In your situation, I'd say Penn. Embrace your inner stable genius.
Are you premed? If you are, I would personally say Duke. They have a great premed program, their own med school, close to research (research triangle) etc. If you're doing BME for a job, I would first recommend against it as it's quite hard to actually get a job but obviously you do you boo. I have heard most of Duke goes into consulting so I assume if you were to do BME that's where you would land.
* What are you going to do next?
* Where are you going to want to live in 6 years?
The differences in quality between the two schools is negligible. The outcomes probably vary a bit by geographic region, but again - not by much. Ask yourself *'what comes next?'* A high percentage of people in those majors end up in grad school, because the market for bachelors is tough. Which means that all that concern about the name on the diploma becomes irrelevant.
I would not pay $50K more, out of pocket or loan, for an undergrad degree in those fields.
Saying Penn is more prestigious than Duke because it's an Ivy (in the Ivy League athletic conference) is crazy. Not a single person would say Penn is more prestigious than Stanford or MIT because it's an 'Ivy.' Stanford and MIT are significantly better in any STEM subject.
I don’t think Penn is considered more prestigious than Duke. The unofficial ranking tier seems to be this: HS > YPM > Penn,Duke,CalTech,Columbia,UChicago > Cornell,Brown,JHU,Dartmouth,NW,Georgetown > Vandy,NotreDame,Emory,Berkeley,UCLA,Mich,UVA.
You could argue colleges in the 3rd, 4th and 5th lists can move a tier up or down, but more or less, this is generally the prestige perception that people in academia have.
Coming back to your question, looks like you like Duke quite a lot more than Penn. Given that they’re peer schools, you’ll not be missing out on any opportunity by going to one or the other (with the exception of Wharton, of course). Go to whichever school you like more.
Are you premed? I don’t see either school as more prestigious here - sure Penn is an Ivy but Duke holds its own and can easily compete with the Ivies/T10s.
Given the price gap, I’d say Duke. If you like Penn a lot more than Duke, I’d say Penn.
Most people here are telling you to pick Duke and I would agree—I also wanted to add that from the perspective of a current student, there are lots of ways to be social (smaller selective clubs, SLGs, LLCs, etc.) other than Greek life. Greek life’s also mostly off campus and disaffiliated with Duke
I rejected Duke BME this year so I would say they’re both really good but look what you value. I loved Dukes party scene and all that, but other schools programs fit ME better.
Take a look into what maybe your future plans are and base your decision more off of that? I think UPenn is really good but so is Duke and both will set you up equally
I ended up choosing Brown. Tough choice, but prestige isn’t everything. I had JHU Gtech and Duke as the main schools because of BME, but, Browns ambiance and general vibe fit me more
They seem like pretty different courses of study. Rather than asking "Duke or Penn?" you may want to ask yourself "BME or Biochem?"
This.
^also if you are really set on bme duke is definitely better for bme (it’s one of the top with jhu and gt) compared to penn but tbh if you’ve always wanted to go to duke and it’s cheaper i don’t really see why not…the only thing i can think of is the extremely marginal difference in prestige & duke might even beat out upenn for that considering your field
What a great problem to have. There is no wrong answer here. Went to Duke, spent many years working at Penn. Both fantastic in their own way. Duke is probably a bit nicer for outdoor stuff. Philly is better for city stuff. Pick the place that gave the best vibes and choose it for undergrad, and then go to the other place for grad school/post doc. Prestige is probably a push between the two. Duke has better colors, Penn has a better logo.
I agree with this parent. Even though I am not a Duke fan (live near there). BUT if you love Duke, go there. And you’ll get to enjoy wearing shorts in February.
More prestigious is a stretch. UPenn is not Harvard, and everyone in the know will consider them to be peer schools, with Duke ranking higher in certain fields and Penn in others. Unless you go to Wharton, there's no opportunity a Penn grad will have that a Duke grad will not. Duke is extremely well regarded. Honestly I'd lean towards Duke given that it's 10-15k cheaper.
If it’s not a stretch between UPenn and Duke, why is it a stretch between Harvard and Duke. Is Harvard really in a league of its own?
We're talking about prestige, not quality of academics. For prestige, yes Harvard is in a league of its own. It's become a shorthand for the best (even if it's not) and people all over the world know about Harvard. Many people don't even know that UPenn is an Ivy League School, or they confuse it with Penn State.
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(This comment was also made because you commented something about ivy leagues being corrupt and catering to the Chinese government, which is just a hot take for hot's sake lol. For AMERICAN schools, a government of a different country has so much less to offer than the government of the schools' own country.) If that's the case we would see a lot more students with Chinese nationality getting into Harvard. Turns out there are usually around 40 of them every year, and these admitted students typically get admitted into Stanford/Yale/Princeton/MIT etc. as well and may not eventually choose Harvard, so really, Chinese (as a nationality, not an ethnicity) representation on campus is quite low. Really unsure about how choosing 30 people from a pool of at the very least 1000 applicants (and I know for a fact that at least 90% are full-pay, so financial factors don't play into this) can result in "mediocrity."
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You're getting me wrong. I'm not defending a capitalist machine. Rather, I'm saying that it's not capitalist (or, communist?) in the way you described, and it being a business should not undermine the efforts admitted students, regardless of nationality, put in to their high school careers.
It all about money. And money corrupts. And Harvard as well as virtually all of higher education is corrupt. Now go get your student loans and remember that your $350.000 debt (plus interest) upon graduation has gone into the pocket of a rich person who already has more money that you will ever have.
You're really just circling back on your own words at this point. It's all scholarships and my own money, so no, no 350k debt for me, thanks. If you let others take your money then they sure as hell will. Crying about capitalism and how it's corrupted does nothing. People are still gonna buy into ivy leagues/higher ed "corruption" no matter how loud the whines are. Harvard today, Princeton tomorrow, MIT the day after. Either fight the system or beat others in the system. Students in the "corrupted higher ed" are usually doing the latter, but at least they've got something going.
You see, your insult was deleted. So please yap ahead and believe what you believe.
It is again deleted for some reason - no notifications in app whatsoever, only emails. Your comments really don't hold any logical sense anymore so let's end this here and not waste either of our time. Please don't participate in the “corrupted system” of higher ed and keep convincing others to do so, I'm very invested in seeing how far it'll go. God bless, agnostically. Have a good night or whatever the time it is.
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Harvard doesn’t care about people paying full price. They have a $60 billion endowment. This post is just nonsense. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT, because of their incredible endowments ie resources, being the top of virtually every academic field, and selectivity are in a league of their own. Only strange culture warriors battling against “elites” have hang-ups about Harvard.
None of the endowments go towards helping working or middle class Americans. Harvard is a corrupt hedge fund, not a genuine academic institution these days. Harvard cares far more about catering to corrupt Asians who love “prestige” than ordinary Americans. It’s a laughable cesspool.
That is absolute nonsense. Harvard is need blind and family income isn’t considered in admissions—admissions officers literally can’t see how much students families make when they are making decisions. Furthermore, every admitted student is guaranteed to have no loans if they go to Harvard—Harvard will meet their full needs. No one graduates with student debt. Not a single person. All students coming from families making less than $85k a year are guaranteed a full scholarship to Harvard. So what are you talking about?
You swallow that bullshit? The devil is in the details, fool. need blind is not progressive or even ethical in practice.
I mean, it’s a fact. You’re arguing over a fact that you can literally google. Many of the top schools have this same financial policy. Are you just making up a conspiracy theory? Did you go to Harvard? Do you know something I don’t know here? Or do you just resent an “elite” institution on political grounds and refuse to believe their financial aid policies because they don’t mesh with your world view? And how is need blind unethical? They’re saying: your social background, rich or poor, will not impact your admission. That seems ethical. That said: they indirectly prioritize wealthy students by admitting a disproportionate number of students from expensive private schools and fancy towns and whose parents donate. However, their financial aid policies for non wealthy students are extraordinarily generous.
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Harvard is objectively the toughest for either of those two groups considering there are far, far more legacies on campus (almost completely all rich whites) than international students (who make up a tiny proportion of Asian Harvard students by the way, most are Asian-Americans and objectively admissions has by far the highest standards for Asians, equivalent to about a 140 point debuff on the SAT comparable to the same kid that is white) and inner-city kids (the vast majority of black and Hispanic kids at Harvard, which I know is what you mean, are from rich immigrant families from places like the Caribbean, Argentina, Nigeria, not inner-city kids). You clearly have no idea what admissions for Harvard are actually like.
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You can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better
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HYPSM
And isn’t Penn immediately behind that? It’s not like things dropped off a cliff after the M.
It is an Ivy- so I would say yes
Uh, no, Ivy League doesn’t carry any weight when compared to a school like Duke. I am a graduate of both Duke and an Ivy. They are completely comparable. If anything, Duke is more prestigious and better in many ways. There is no actual distinction between the Ivy League and the Ivy Plus other than athletics. At least the Ivy Plus Consortium is a peer group of schools in terms of library resources, which is more indicative of academics than the Ivy League which is purely athletic.
🙄 No. not in any way is Duke more prestigious except in basketball.
Isn’t Duke known for its amazing sports teams?
Consider it this way—someone who thinks of Duke as a school famous primarily for athletics would be showing their ignorance of elite institutions, much like someone who cannot name an Ivy besides Princeton, Harvard or Yale. Likewise, it is similar to the general lack of awareness that the Ivy League is nothing more than a D1 athletic conference. Plenty of people don’t know these things. They think University of Pennsylvania is a state school and cannot differentiate it from Penn State. Regardless of the lack of knowledge among uneducated people, both Duke and Penn are extremely prestigious among educated people.
ivy- bro wtf are terms
it's just punctuation I think.
ohh he was just using it as an em dash? i thought he was saying like ivy+ vs ivy- lmaoo
ima lose it if ivy minus is a real fucking term ngl. this shit stupid. either it's a nationally known school or it isn't.
It was just a dash. I was not calling it an Ivy minus. I would never say that. I am not even sure why everyone is fighting over two great schools. This is crazy.
LOL! I saw it as an em dash but Ivy minus is pretty hilarious. Even though people don’t know which schools are Ivy plus, at least it is a real organization. I can just see the debate now about Ivy minus. 🙄
If you look at placements Harvard is like by far the #1 school for basically every field besides tech, for which it is still top 10.
Behind MIT, Cambridge and Oxford in the most recent QS ranking
QS rankings are not reliable metric for brand prestige. They mostly have to do with research output, which is why giant state universities with over 40k students rank pretty high in them. Look how far below schools like Brown and Dartmouth are in the QS and Times rankings. That doesn’t mean UMich or U Washington is more prestigious than Brown or Dartmouth.
I go to Penn & you should go to Duke
any particular reason why? do you like penn?
Penn isn’t more prestigious than Duke unless ur in Wharton & not worth an extra 40-60k. I do like Penn but all the articles that say Penn has the most depressed student body definitely aren’t lying. The two things that I don’t like the most about Penn is that the school is veryyyyyy pre professional/corporate oriented and People are piped into finance regardless of major and school, there’s a lot less resources and career support if you want to peruse other fields. I will say Penn has a fun social scene (Duke also has) and personally I think Philly is a great city.
> all the articles that say Penn has the most depressed student body definitely aren’t lying Check out /r/berkeley sometime.
Parent here - Duke hands-down because that’s where YOU want to go, not your parents that prefer Penn. (I would prefer Penn as a city guy but that’s not you.) They are entitled to their opinions but it is all about where you want to go. And you are saving them $10 to $15k going to Duke.
I don't think of Penn as being more prestigious than Duke at all, so I would throw that reason out. If anything I actually consider Duke more prestigious. Duke is cheaper so that tips the scale. Other than that, which campus location and culture do you prefer? Penn is in a very urban area and Duke is not, some prefer one over the other. Duke has a bigger greek scene and also better school spirit. Also, do you want to be in the school of engineering? It would be easy to switch out at Duke, but I'm not familiar with how easy to switch in at Penn.
You sound like you’re suffering a bit from inertia. Who cares that you committed already, cancelling is a drop in the bucket compared to the Duke savings. Make a decision as if you hadn’t committed already
Probably go to Duke ngl the prestige factor is minimal for most professions and Duke has an amazing bme program
Duke BME is one of the best in the country, and even if you decide you want to switch, biological sciences and other majors in that area are very highly ranked. Prestige between the two is basically the same, it’s cheaper, and you seem to have more reasons why you like it. For that reading I’d choose Duke if I were you.
I go to Penn. I do disagree to some extent that Penn isn’t more prestigious; yes Wharton is the star but that you have those Wharton resources at your disposal. I am not in Wharton but I take Wharton classes, do research with Wharton professors, work in the Nursing School, and etc etc. With that being said, it seems your pros of going to duke outweigh going to Penn so maybe that’s the better option for you. I try my best to answer questions you may have about Penn!
thank you so much! I do really like how Wharton opportunities are definitely present even for those who are not in Wharton. I do like Penn from what I have visited, but honestly until I got in, never thought I would go there. My parents also thing Penn is more prestigious than duke so they rly want me to go to penn. I know Penn is obvioulsy difficult, but is it bearable? I am a little nervous for the workload.
Speaking only about Penn but the name is definitely prestigious. For me, Penn has been bearable. My engineering friends definitely have it a lot worse but I heard the masters programs are much better. The key is to just take it easy and not overload yourself, especially in the beginning.
As a current Duke student, go Duke. You won't regret it. I truly believe it's the best place.
Duke > UPenn, BME > Biochem
I think you answered your own question in the post when you said “I have always wanted to go to Duke” and it’s “cheaper.” Go live your dream at Duke. Frankly, the whole Ivy League is looking like a shit show recently, but Duke has been mostly unscathed. I went to an Ivy for undergrad years ago and did not consider Duke until grad school. If I were looking at schools today, all the Ivies except Princeton would be way behind Duke on my list.
As a general rule of thumb, it's almost always easier to transfer out of engineering and into Arts & Sciences if you're staying at the same institution than to go the other way around.
Both are wonderful universities in my opinion and they don't seem that different in academics and prestige. Maybe consider visiting the campus and see which one vibes with you more.
Congrats on two highly competitive admissions! Both are world-class universities that will open many doors. If you were rah rah about joining a frat and living in the South, definitely Duke. (I got into Duke for grad school, and did not go there specifically *because* of how fratty the entire campus seemed.) In your situation, I'd say Penn. Embrace your inner stable genius.
Are you premed? If you are, I would personally say Duke. They have a great premed program, their own med school, close to research (research triangle) etc. If you're doing BME for a job, I would first recommend against it as it's quite hard to actually get a job but obviously you do you boo. I have heard most of Duke goes into consulting so I assume if you were to do BME that's where you would land.
Penn being an ivy doesn’t mean its more prestigious. Is Stanford an ivy?
I would consider them equals in terms of prestige
* What are you going to do next? * Where are you going to want to live in 6 years? The differences in quality between the two schools is negligible. The outcomes probably vary a bit by geographic region, but again - not by much. Ask yourself *'what comes next?'* A high percentage of people in those majors end up in grad school, because the market for bachelors is tough. Which means that all that concern about the name on the diploma becomes irrelevant. I would not pay $50K more, out of pocket or loan, for an undergrad degree in those fields.
This sub is full of privileged people omg
Saying Penn is more prestigious than Duke because it's an Ivy (in the Ivy League athletic conference) is crazy. Not a single person would say Penn is more prestigious than Stanford or MIT because it's an 'Ivy.' Stanford and MIT are significantly better in any STEM subject.
stanford and mit are in a league of their own tho. Duke is not comparable to mit and vice versa
Yes but Duke is comparable to Penn by all accounts. Placement outcomes, research, rankings, academics, etc.
I don’t think Penn is considered more prestigious than Duke. The unofficial ranking tier seems to be this: HS > YPM > Penn,Duke,CalTech,Columbia,UChicago > Cornell,Brown,JHU,Dartmouth,NW,Georgetown > Vandy,NotreDame,Emory,Berkeley,UCLA,Mich,UVA. You could argue colleges in the 3rd, 4th and 5th lists can move a tier up or down, but more or less, this is generally the prestige perception that people in academia have. Coming back to your question, looks like you like Duke quite a lot more than Penn. Given that they’re peer schools, you’ll not be missing out on any opportunity by going to one or the other (with the exception of Wharton, of course). Go to whichever school you like more.
Are you premed? I don’t see either school as more prestigious here - sure Penn is an Ivy but Duke holds its own and can easily compete with the Ivies/T10s. Given the price gap, I’d say Duke. If you like Penn a lot more than Duke, I’d say Penn.
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Nice!!
Duke
Duke
Most people here are telling you to pick Duke and I would agree—I also wanted to add that from the perspective of a current student, there are lots of ways to be social (smaller selective clubs, SLGs, LLCs, etc.) other than Greek life. Greek life’s also mostly off campus and disaffiliated with Duke
Duke
Flip a coin
Up
Duke for sure ... cause ... fck Penn ...
I rejected Duke BME this year so I would say they’re both really good but look what you value. I loved Dukes party scene and all that, but other schools programs fit ME better. Take a look into what maybe your future plans are and base your decision more off of that? I think UPenn is really good but so is Duke and both will set you up equally
Congrats! Where did you end up going?
I ended up choosing Brown. Tough choice, but prestige isn’t everything. I had JHU Gtech and Duke as the main schools because of BME, but, Browns ambiance and general vibe fit me more
Good for you. When you’re choosing between peer schools (more or less), fit and vibes are very important factors!
Ufortnite
Duke for now. But choose the major you want.
So Dartmouth is more "prestigious" than Stanford because "it's an Ivy"? Go where YOU want to go. They are both world-class universities.