Harvard of South - Emory, Duke, Rice or Vanderbilt?

[Anonymous]

Why are we having this conversation again?

FIU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools are good but are seen as truly prestigious only regionally. DC is technically the south, so I think we tend to view them as better than other regions do.
In California, you'd be hard pressed to find people who think Duke is better than Cal or UCLA and they wouldn't see it as a peer of Stanford or top ivies either. It is kind of like a private UCLA: a great school with great basketball tradition!

And people on the east coast don't think all that highly of UCLA.

Which is fair. And I find to be true. The East Coast, the South, and the Midwest don't really think about UCLA. And most people in California don't think at all about Michigan, UNC, or Virginia.

They are generally regional schools. Maybe Berkeley still has the name. But they hardly admit anyone from OOS except a few full pay folks. So that will change over time.

For schools with national appeal, it will always be the privates, including some of the southern schools like Duke, Vanderbilt, and Rice. Comparing them to Harvard or whatever is a fairly pointless conversation. Harvard is Harvard but it's not great at everything. Most engineering students would take Rice then Duke then Vanderbilt before Harvard.

Don't think Emory, much less Tulane, are part of the same conversation.

I'm pretty sure this statement is wrong: "Most engineering students would take Rice then Duke then Vanderbilt before Harvard." Do you have any data that supports the assertion?
Rice is the least national of those schools name wise (yes, below Emory). It is a great target school now since it still flies under the radar and some people continue to be anti-Texas. The old Rice alums are a totally different breed compared to the others too. A fair number of solid and old fashioned Texas oil men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools are good but are seen as truly prestigious only regionally. DC is technically the south, so I think we tend to view them as better than other regions do.
In California, you'd be hard pressed to find people who think Duke is better than Cal or UCLA and they wouldn't see it as a peer of Stanford or top ivies either. It is kind of like a private UCLA: a great school with great basketball tradition!

And people on the east coast don't think all that highly of UCLA.

Right and neither is seen as amazing everywhere (likely the point of the comparison).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think any of those schools really want or care about being Harvard of the South, they’re all well respected in their own ways. But if we’re talking about the best school in the South, it’s Duke full-stop. Not particularly close.

That just isn't true. Duke has a lot of grad schools and departments that are just ok. It is a very good overall school but is more the Cornell of the South than the Harvard of the South. Harvard and Stanford are universities with no real weak areas.

LOL, for undergrad Duke blows Cornell out of the water. The cross-admit ratio is like 75-25 in favor of Duke.

Cant imagine any reason to pick Cornell over Duke.

Engineering and business. Most of those students will choose Cornell over Duke

Most types of engineering and CS are the big ones where Cornell has an advantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools are good but are seen as truly prestigious only regionally. DC is technically the south, so I think we tend to view them as better than other regions do.
In California, you'd be hard pressed to find people who think Duke is better than Cal or UCLA and they wouldn't see it as a peer of Stanford or top ivies either. It is kind of like a private UCLA: a great school with great basketball tradition!

And people on the east coast don't think all that highly of UCLA.

Which is fair. And I find to be true. The East Coast, the South, and the Midwest don't really think about UCLA. And most people in California don't think at all about Michigan, UNC, or Virginia.

They are generally regional schools. Maybe Berkeley still has the name. But they hardly admit anyone from OOS except a few full pay folks. So that will change over time.

For schools with national appeal, it will always be the privates, including some of the southern schools like Duke, Vanderbilt, and Rice. Comparing them to Harvard or whatever is a fairly pointless conversation. Harvard is Harvard but it's not great at everything. Most engineering students would take Rice then Duke then Vanderbilt before Harvard.

Don't think Emory, much less Tulane, are part of the same conversation.

Youre wrong. Emory has more national appeal than Rice. Don't know why you're repeating false narratives in this thread.

[Anonymous]

When we did our tour last year, the Duke tour guide did mention that Duke was considered the "Harvard of the South", so I am going to go with what this guide told us....

[Anonymous]

UF is frequently called the Ivy of the south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard Tulane described this way. I think it’s silly and inaccurate. Harvard is Harvard. Duke is Duke. Very different schools with different strengths and cultures. I don’t see the point in forcing comparisons and imagining similarities that aren’t really there. No one says that Harvard is the Vanderbilt of the North. It’s possible and more useful to just look at each school separately as an academic and cultural environment.

Outcomes at Tulane are vastly vastly different from outcomes at Vanderbilt or Duke in particular.

Second and third tier order of jobs for similar majors at Tulane.

I know vandy grads working at gas stations, the only ones that truly do well had prior connections before going there.

I know Princeton grads working hourly jobs as tutors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we did our tour last year, the Duke tour guide did mention that Duke was considered the "Harvard of the South", so I am going to go with what this guide told us....

I think I had this same guide last month...

[Anonymous]

Duke or Vanderbilt. They are essentially peer schools though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Duke or Vanderbilt. They are essentially peer schools though

Not what I was convinced. Duke > Vandy in almost every way.

[Anonymous]

Why is this thread still alive? Without the trolls two things are clear:

1. Duke is comfortably the best school in the bottom half of the country.
2. Duke, nor any top school, cares about being the “Harvard of X.”

[Anonymous]

wanted my DC to like Duke so much - she was an extremely popular kid at a DCUM private, well liked by all in hs. Unfortunately she just felt the vibe at Duke was weird and not authentic, and kids came across as the “try-hards” - the type she could be superficial with but who she didn’t really associate with during hs

wound up not applying to Duke, got in Vandy RD and is absolutely luving it - she feel the school is full of her “peeps” - que sera sera

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All 4 are elite however Vandy is the most confusing as its a mystery as to what their actually good at. But Duke is Harvard,
Vandy is Yale, Emory is Columbia, and Rice is Princeton.

A lot of things is the answer. Its a massive biomedical research center/hospital (as are Duke and Emory), yet it has a very slac like feel.

[Anonymous]

Tulane is frequently called the Harvard of the South.