Duke [Full Scholarship] vs MIT [$77k/year]

[Anonymous]

I don't get the contention. Go to Duke. There's literally no benefit to going to MIT over Duke for CS, unless you really need to go to CS grad school. For SWE roles, you will end up in the same place.

[Anonymous]

Duke, the full merit scholarship is more selective than MIT for CS.

[Anonymous]

MIT grad here, don't get me wrong I love (and hate) the institute. CS at MIT is a grind. There are so many other brilliant CS students it's rough. I would not say it's enjoyable academically. I survived but that's the eyes-wide-open truth.

So 300K vs free at Duke? Duke, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Stuy and then MIT.

On DCUM, Stuy is “all Asian kids, immigrant grinders, can’t look you in the eye, can’t shake your hand, only cheaters and drones”.

On DCUM, MIT is the best college in the world!!

They were the same kids. Especially nowadays, they’re totally the same kids. I don’t get it.

I loved MIT most days and loved Stuy most days. But I’d take Duke for free tyvm

Oh hey fellow alum. I totally agree.

That said, academically, IDK, I felt like I was punched in the face, a lot. It was like a game I could never win because the professors would even rig it to get failure. Failure without a point or learning lesson was just awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIT is the better value for CS. His peers alone are worth the extra $320,000 COA.

Yeah agree. I know so many MIT CS grads who are millionaires now (through founding companies or being early employees at big tech.)

They may initially have the same jobs out of college, but somehow MIT (and Stanford) grads seem to be the ones creating start ups.

.

Duke students in this field are not even close to the level of brilliance of the MIT and Stanford students. There’s no comparison between Duke and MIT when you’re talking about CS.

My daughter went to a summer program there as a middle schooler and I was amazed at how much improvement was done to the school in the last five years. The dorms are nice with connecting tunnels. Their fitness centers is amazing and it doesn’t revolve around student athletes. It’s a city school in a great location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really know why people think MIT has the better peer group. My kid went to MIT and loved it. But as the girls there say, “the odds are good, but the goods are odd”. She said, it wasn’t if you were on the spectrum, but where on the spectrum. She fit that description. She and her friends all got great jobs, for sure. But more 95k salaries than 300k salaries.

Duke feels like the smart beautiful people. Richer. More connected. Private school. I gotta think their outcomes are just as good if not better.

Scientists and people in high tech don’t need to be beautiful or richer. The best connections for them will be at MIT. I doubt your post is real anyway.

[Anonymous]

If you are rich, MIT.

If not, Duke with $300K.

$300K will grow to $2 millions in 20 years invested in S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

[Anonymous]

“Second, Duke's undergrad public policy program is top notch. Biomedical engineering is world class.”

You can only think of two. Thanks for proving my point about the lack of top ten departments. Academically, Duke is overrated. It is also not in MIT’s league for CS. The value is there for the money, but the worship of Duke here at DCUM is off the charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are rich, MIT.

If not, Duke with $300K.

$300K will grow to $2 millions in 20 years invested in S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

MIT degree vs Duke degree + $2 millions in 20 years.

What's your choice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Second, Duke's undergrad public policy program is top notch. Biomedical engineering is world class.”

You can only think of two. Thanks for proving my point about the lack of top ten departments. Academically, Duke is overrated. It is also not in MIT’s league for CS. The value is there for the money, but the worship of Duke here at DCUM is off the charts.

OP seems to be going for CS, but aren't Duke's medical and law schools both top 10?

[Anonymous]

I haven't read the thread, but I think advice for you / your kid comes down to this:

1. I know many kids find the one-dimensional aspect of MIT (and CMU) very off-putting. They don't want to be around a student body that is always stressed out about their workload, so they specifically opted for a Stanford or Berkeley (or insert top STEM school on well-rounded campus here) et al to be around other students that were studying something completely different.

2. Honestly, is your kid someone that you think will actually change the world...or is your kid likely to just go get a job in CS. The fact is that most MIT grads end up in jobs alongside kids that went anywhere...they work for FAANG or work in consulting et al. Your Duke kid will have all those opportunities open to them...there is no value to MIT if this is the likely route.

Many kids will say they want to change the world, but just aren't world-changers.

3. If you really think your kid has the drive and determination to start the next great company, or you think absolutely wants to work in quant or at a VC firm...basically, wants these top 1% of jobs...then MIT can make sense. It's not that they can't get there at Duke, but they probably won't be surrounded by as many like-minded kids.

This is the age-old battle on DCUM where people love to gloat that they went to no-name State U and now manage all these Ivy league/MIT/Stanford kids...because that's actually where most kids end up.

However, schools like MIT are equivalent to VC investments...top VCs have way more grand slams than average VCs.

If your kid is just trying to hit a single, then take the Duke free-ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Second, Duke's undergrad public policy program is top notch. Biomedical engineering is world class.”

You can only think of two. Thanks for proving my point about the lack of top ten departments. Academically, Duke is overrated. It is also not in MIT’s league for CS. The value is there for the money, but the worship of Duke here at DCUM is off the charts.

Wow. You are really angry. What is your beef with Duke? Were you rejected? Or your kid? Or are you a Tar Heel?

As I noted, Duke is really good at accepting kids with great people skills and developing these skills. I think you would have benefitted from this. College is about more than just academic rankings. Which tend to be quite arbitrary, by the way.

Your very limited perspective and childish hatred towards a school is quite pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Second, Duke's undergrad public policy program is top notch. Biomedical engineering is world class.”

You can only think of two. Thanks for proving my point about the lack of top ten departments. Academically, Duke is overrated. It is also not in MIT’s league for CS. The value is there for the money, but the worship of Duke here at DCUM is off the charts.

Wow. You are really angry. What is your beef with Duke? Were you rejected? Or your kid? Or are you a Tar Heel?

As I noted, Duke is really good at accepting kids with great people skills and developing these skills. I think you would have benefitted from this. College is about more than just academic rankings. Which tend to be quite arbitrary, by the way.

Your very limited perspective and childish hatred towards a school is quite pathetic.

hysterical. You're talking about college rankings being arbitrary but probably think Duke is highly ranked.

So the takeaway is that if you want a schmoozy feel, go to Duke. If you want top notch academics, go to MIT.

-dp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Second, Duke's undergrad public policy program is top notch. Biomedical engineering is world class.”

You can only think of two. Thanks for proving my point about the lack of top ten departments. Academically, Duke is overrated. It is also not in MIT’s league for CS. The value is there for the money, but the worship of Duke here at DCUM is off the charts.

OP seems to be going for CS, but aren't Duke's medical and law schools both top 10?

That has nothing to do with undergraduate education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the contention. Go to Duke. There's literally no benefit to going to MIT over Duke for CS, unless you really need to go to CS grad school. For SWE roles, you will end up in the same place.

Wrong.

1000% wrong.

1. Duke is in NC that is not a place to be going right now fools
2. MIT is CS Duke is not.
3. Duke gave us Steven Miller
4. Duke is a racist place
5. MIT is academically 100% better than Duke.