Be strategic with your ED. Look at historical accepts from your hs, which peers are applying, and how they may be hooked (legacy/donor, athlete, urm). At our private, only the hooked get into duke ED. More get in RD, but those are often deferred ed kids who are hooked. Vandy is super unpredictable at our school with high stats/great EC kids rejected/deferred, and then test optional and/or ok smart but not top kids getting in - and those accepted kids are all super wealthy. For such a low acceptance rate, the kids we know at Vandy arent the top students (except for the super smart public school kids who get that full chancellor merit scholarship). My kid loved both duke and vandy, and would have been happy at either, but given our hs historical experience, they applied early to a different top school (an ivy) and was accepted. We made the decision based on available data, anecdotal advice, and our kid's profile. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally would say Duke. But I know kids who felt more comfortable at Vandy for whatever reason and chose Vandy. I would visit both.

Depending on what social science your child wants, Duke's public policy department is unique and really great. Econ is very good also but has become over-run with pre-Wall Street types. Though I'm sure Vandy's econ is not that different in that regard.

Vandy has Nashville which is generally a really good thing. But Durham is big enough to have plenty to do (particularly when you factor in the rest of the Triangle) yet small enough that kids stay on our near campus, which I view as a positive but others might not.

Vandy was historically more southern but that has been changing.

Are you willing to share why you think that Duke's Public Policy department is unique ?

Thank you in advance for your response.

NP who was a Duke Public Policy major: Not a lot of top schools have public policy majors. It is kind of a more practical poli sci major - less theoretical (though there is definitely theory behind it) and more analyzing actual situations. A lot of decision analysis. It develops strong, concise writing skills. A number of majors end up doing policy, but many end up in law school, consulting, finance, or even med school. Lots of the professors are doing really interesting real world research, and they also have adjuncts with great experience - Frank Bruni from the NY Times is there now, a beloved professor who recently retired and taught leadership classes was a former Wall Street guy who was then CEO of a company, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Duke doesn’t really take anyone who isn’t hooked ED. Vandy is harder to predict as they take nearly half the class test optional and seem to have a thing for passion projects, etc . . .

OP. Thanks. This is interesting. I did not know Duke does not take ED unhooked. DS is unhooked.

Anonymous wrote:Duke is 6th vs Vanderbilt at 18 this year ranking. Like Vandy but ain’t no Duke.

I think Vanderbilt went from 13 to 18 because of the new ranking algorithm that US News is using. And they were super pissed about it.

But 6, 13, 18, whatever.

Duke doesn’t really take anyone who isn’t hooked ED. Vandy is harder to predict as they take nearly half the class test optional and seem to have a thing for passion projects, etc . . .

Duke is 6th vs Vanderbilt at 18 this year ranking. Like Vandy but ain’t no Duke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke much better school

I went to both and there’s no way I’d claim one was demonstrably a better school than the other. Nashville is clearly a better and more fun city though.

Was one for grad school & the other for undergraduate school ? TIA

Anonymous wrote:Duke much better school

I went to both and there’s no way I’d claim one was demonstrably a better school than the other. Nashville is clearly a better and more fun city though.

Anonymous wrote:Generally would say Duke. But I know kids who felt more comfortable at Vandy for whatever reason and chose Vandy. I would visit both.

Depending on what social science your child wants, Duke's public policy department is unique and really great. Econ is very good also but has become over-run with pre-Wall Street types. Though I'm sure Vandy's econ is not that different in that regard.

Vandy has Nashville which is generally a really good thing. But Durham is big enough to have plenty to do (particularly when you factor in the rest of the Triangle) yet small enough that kids stay on our near campus, which I view as a positive but others might not.

Vandy was historically more southern but that has been changing.

Are you willing to share why you think that Duke's Public Policy department is unique ?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Duke is more selective than Vandy let us know when Vanderbilt is top 10.

The likelihood of getting into both schools is almost negligible. And Vanderbilt is a tougher admit than Duke these days. They attract similar students. I’d visit and focus on fit and where you want to spend four years. I think Nashville has the real advantage there.

In regards to Wall Street, Duke is probably still a little better with placement, but Vandy does well with MBB consulting. You can’t go wrong with either choice,. It’s really where do you want to risk the ED app. I’d look at the data from the high school over the past three years and see if there are any patterns. Both Vandy and Duke have been really tough admits from the DMV in recent years. And ED 2 at Vanderbilt is deceptive. It’s not much of a boost at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally would say Duke. But I know kids who felt more comfortable at Vandy for whatever reason and chose Vandy. I would visit both.

Depending on what social science your child wants, Duke's public policy department is unique and really great. Econ is very good also but has become over-run with pre-Wall Street types. Though I'm sure Vandy's econ is not that different in that regard.

Vandy has Nashville which is generally a really good thing. But Durham is big enough to have plenty to do (particularly when you factor in the rest of the Triangle) yet small enough that kids stay on our near campus, which I view as a positive but others might not.

Vandy was historically more southern but that has been changing.

You don’t have a pulse on today’s teen boys. They all want to be on Wall Street. It is at every single school. 99% of my son’s friends want to study business, finance, data science, etc. Not a single boy wants to do computer science or engineering. One wants to be a doctor. One wants to study business and go to law school.

First - how do I "not have a pulse on today's teen boys" when i said exactly what you said - that there are a ton of econ majors who want to end up on Wall Street. The attempted insult wasn't necessary.

Second, Computer Science is ridiculously popular. Check out this link - CS is the #1 major at Duke, and trust me, it's not all girls:

https://facts.duke.edu/

And both Duke and Vandy have thriving engineering schools.

So many people show up here and act like experts when they have no idea what they are talking about. And they are rude and dismissive in the process.

I think the OP was offended by your comment about being overrun with Pre Wall Street types.

OP. This is not me, but I agree that it is offensive. DS wants to major in economics. I can see him going to the street if he decides to do so. He is the type and he will be great at that. He is smart, personable/social, has great communication skills, well-liked by his friends and works hard. Alternatively, he may want to do a ph.d. Who knows! A lot can chance in four years .

NP: So I think what the poster was trying to say is that the Econ department at Duke (and many other schools) is full of very pre-professional types, rather than kids who are truly intellectually interested in economic theory, etc. That is a good thing to know going in. Not sure why that is offensive?

Anonymous wrote:Kid won’t get into either so y’all are arguing about nothing

Yup, and no disrespect to the kid, but acceptance rate below five percent for both. No harm in trying of course.

Kid won’t get into either so y’all are arguing about nothing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally would say Duke. But I know kids who felt more comfortable at Vandy for whatever reason and chose Vandy. I would visit both.

Depending on what social science your child wants, Duke's public policy department is unique and really great. Econ is very good also but has become over-run with pre-Wall Street types. Though I'm sure Vandy's econ is not that different in that regard.

Vandy has Nashville which is generally a really good thing. But Durham is big enough to have plenty to do (particularly when you factor in the rest of the Triangle) yet small enough that kids stay on our near campus, which I view as a positive but others might not.

Vandy was historically more southern but that has been changing.

You don’t have a pulse on today’s teen boys. They all want to be on Wall Street. It is at every single school. 99% of my son’s friends want to study business, finance, data science, etc. Not a single boy wants to do computer science or engineering. One wants to be a doctor. One wants to study business and go to law school.

First - how do I "not have a pulse on today's teen boys" when i said exactly what you said - that there are a ton of econ majors who want to end up on Wall Street. The attempted insult wasn't necessary.

Second, Computer Science is ridiculously popular. Check out this link - CS is the #1 major at Duke, and trust me, it's not all girls:

https://facts.duke.edu/

And both Duke and Vandy have thriving engineering schools.

So many people show up here and act like experts when they have no idea what they are talking about. And they are rude and dismissive in the process.

I think the OP was offended by your comment about being overrun with Pre Wall Street types.

OP. This is not me, but I agree that it is offensive. DS wants to major in economics. I can see him going to the street if he decides to do so. He is the type and he will be great at that. He is smart, personable/social, has great communication skills, well-liked by his friends and works hard. Alternatively, he may want to do a ph.d. Who knows! A lot can chance in four years .