Reply to Duke vs. UVA (In-State)?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I went to an Ivy but was accepted to both Duke and UVA.

Duke offers more of an Ivy-like experience, but think Dartmouth-like behavior in faux-Princeton buildings with some Penn-like professional schools.  I’m not sure the arrogant frat-boy culture at Duke is unique, but it is more obvious because the frats are right in the center of West Campus (or at least they used to be), not on the fringe as at many schools.

UVA has certain elements of a private-school culture, due to its history and location, but once you get outside the main grounds it’s basically like any other state university, which means most live off-campus and have to take ownership of their education because they aren’t going to be coddled like they would be at some pricey SLAC.[/quote]

This. OP raised a wrong question.

Yes Duke is only marginally better in terms of reputation. And yes UVa is definetely cheaper. But why is UVa so much cheaper?  Obviosly that’s because it’s a state school. So how come so many parents send their kids to pricey private colleges when they can send kids to cheaper public institutes?  That’s because there are[b] other intangibles [/b]that they can obtain only at private schools like better student care, connections with wealthy people, etc.  
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But I think that is the point of this thread.  Those "intangibles" of going to Duke v a great flagship no longer exist.  Once upon a time when there wasn't such a huge difference in cost yes maybe it made sense to spend that kind of money on undergraduate but now the smart money is sending their children for undergraduate to state flagships and then saving their money for grad school which can be over 100K a year.  Everyone now is expected to have an undergrad degree.  That wasn't the case 25 years ago.  It's absurd to spend these prices at $80K a year on "intangibles" when you can get a great education at a state university or even better, go community college for two years and enter UVA or UCLA or Berkeley on the guaranteed admission program.  That's where the smart money is now.

So the question should be whether the OP should pay the premium for those intangibles (plus marginally better reputation) at Duke. [/quote][/quote]

See your thinking is very middle classy. Trying to look for best bang for the buck. Those state schools attract people like you.  Nothing wrong with it.  Usually ambitious and bright middle class kids.

But undergraduate reputation still matters. There are plenty of upper class people who are willing to pay $80k. Their kids will meet similarly wealthy kids at private colleges. It’s true that private colleges try to attract kids from the low infome families. But the main stream at Duke and other top privates are always rich kids.   [/quote]

You can get a higher percentage of lower income (Pell Grant) kids at the better privates than at many publics (like UVA).  The publics have more financial appeal to middle/upper middle class.  [/quote]

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