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

[Anonymous]

It’s a shame that a supposedly top ten school offers very few programs rated in the top ten.

[Anonymous]

If you want any fun over 4 years Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a shame that a supposedly top ten school offers very few programs rated in the top ten.

Duke? Really?

First of all, most kids don't go to school for a "program." You go for an overall education. And a peer group. And an experience.

Second, Duke's undergrad public policy program is top notch. Biomedical engineering is world class. Not sure where economics stands from a "ranking' perspective but it is a huge feeder to Wall Street. Someone noted here or in another thread some remarkable people who have come through the Duke CS department.

Duke also has a ridiculously passionate and loyal alumni base.

What do you want? People post here and act so smart and opinionated but have no clue. Are you a Tar Heel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a shame that a supposedly top ten school offers very few programs rated in the top ten.

Isn't Duke's law school tied with Harvard at #6 this year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does he want to major in? That should be deciding factor.

I'm OP. He wants Computer Science. MIT's legendary CS program is really, really hard to turn down. But Duke is free...

Duke's CS program is really very good. He would not be a weaker job or career candidate if he went to Duke. Save the money so he can get an MSCS after undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does he want to major in? That should be deciding factor.

I'm OP. He wants Computer Science. MIT's legendary CS program is really, really hard to turn down. But Duke is free...

MIT is only choice if he wants CS degree.

-1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIT is #1 school in the world.

Caltech disagrees...

[Anonymous]

Duke and I wouldn’t give him a choice but we wouldn’t have enough saved to even consider MIT.

[Anonymous]

Duke for undergrad.
MIT for graduate school.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who got into Stanford and some other top Ivies a years ago but chose Duke because she had a full ride.

[Anonymous]

MIT is the ticket to the best jobs and VC funding. Well worth it if your kid has ambitions.

[Anonymous]

The one kid I knew who got the Duke full ride hated her time there. Didn’t connect with the other kids and probably would have felt much more at home at MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So true. The MIT nerds will get good jobs out of graduation but many will be stuck in midlevel careers.

I think the choice largely depends on what you want -- do you want the rah rah, "I want to be CEO", schmoozy atmosphere? That would be Duke.

Do you want the "let's see why x does y" nerdy smart atmosphere? That would be MIT.

MIT has way more patents than Duke.

+1. It’s not all about salary after graduation. It’s also about the education, the experience and the peers. MIT will be much different than the Duke experience. It depends on the kid’s personality and how challenging the MIT tuition will be for OP. If it’s an MIT type and money is okay, you should definitely pick MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been to MIT alumni events. It’s a lot of midlevel engineers in bad suits who are wondering if they can get a second gift bag.

Are there famous founders? Sure. Is that typical? No.

Lotta sour grapes on this thread.

I went to MIT! Sorry, that was obv!

I enjoyed my time there (mostly), but people saying the the MIT degree will open a lifetime of millionaire success is just wrong. I've seen it over generations. We're mostly just engineers! It's a great job, but it's not a pipeline to the billionaire class

The cynicism in the post did not suggest an MIT alum. My kid's been accepted (also to Duke and HYS), so I've chatted with some alums and they did not share your views. Of course, everyone's experience is different, and I appreciate your candor. From my viewpoint, Duke looks like a fairly standard college experience (haven't visited, TBH) but MIT appears to be operating from a completely different paradigm (that is, doing things unlike other colleges). Everything from the admittance email they sent to the UROPs, IAPs, pirate certificate, etc. My take is that MIT is for a certain type of quirky, smart (and hardworking, yes) kid who is looking for something a little different. Hopefully this isn't all just marketing . . .

[Anonymous]

Is your child a Robertson Scholar? Robertson > MIT, MIT > Duke otherwise