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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DS from a private VA high school has applied to UVA EA (non-binding) and is applying to Duke RD.  Very strong stats and leadership in ECs.  (Very likely admit to UVA, and counselor, who knows Duke well, is strongly encouraging application to Duke.)  Interested in business or pre-law.  Doesn't want to go North.  These are the two top choices.

Given the dramatic difference in cost of attendance ($78k Duke vs. $35K UVA), is there any good reason to attend Duke over UVA?  We will be paying from moderate savings and then out of pocket as we go.

Duke is certainly ranked higher, but the "prestige" factor between the schools in the mid-Atlantic area seems to be minimal.  Duke is smaller.  Both seem to be pretty "preppy" and greek-oriented.  Both seem very sports-focused, which is important to DS.  They have similarly ranked business and law programs.

I get paying a premium for HYPSM.  But, in your opinion or experience, is Duke worth a similar premium?

I imagine a number of posters will say, "wait and see if you have the problem first."  I get that.  But I also might preempt excessive exuberance for Duke by talking about the cost difference with DS now.

Anyone else face this one before?

[/quote]

This has been faced many times.  Everyone should form their view based on their financial circumstances and if it will make a difference given their intended career path.  (But they should also keep in mind many if not most change career and major paths.)

I would disagree that prestige is similar, even in the mid-Atlantic.  Duke is generally regarded below HYPSM in prestige but above UVA and similar schools in my experience.  That said, I think the prestige factor is often overrated.  Medical school and law school are really numbers based, for instance.  You have to have high GPA and high MCAT/LSAT to get in.  I believe Duke will have higher representation at good graduate schools than UVA on a per capita basis, and you might try to attribute that to prestige, but I would argue that it is predominately a function of the students.  Students who are admitted to Duke are, on average, going to score higher on MCAT/LSAT than UVA students and it has nothing to do with what the schools provided.  Duke students will have had higher SAT scores, on average, and that aptitude carries over to other tests like MCAT/LSAT.    If you take the same person and put them through UVA and Duke, their stats will probably be very similar, and therefore also their chances of medical and law admission.  Perhaps at top graduate schools, prestige will be the tie breaker, but that is pretty rarified territory.  [/quote]

The bottom line is that if this student is good enough to be admitted to Duke, then for purposes of law of business it makes no difference as a practical matter whether he goes there or to UVA.  Yes, Duke is ranked higher, but it isn't Harvard.  At the graduate/law school admissions level, the schools are considered peers.  They don't split hairs the way that college obsessed parents do.  UVA, Duke, Vanderblit, Rice, Emory, Notre Dame, Georgetown, etc., are all considered the same. [/quote]

No they are not.  Rice and Duke eclipse UVA.  But that’s not a reason to go to those places over instate UVA, especially if you are Echols.[/quote]

Duke and Rice may eclipse UVA, as you say, but the difference is not dramatic enough for grad schools to care.  They are absolutely considered peer schools.[/quote]

For in state students with a choice, the only undergrad business school that tops UVA is Wharton.  That’s a no-brainer.  Anything else ... there is zero reason to pass up UVA.[/quote]

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