Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke better for Neuroscience but Penn I think better chance of admission. Our HS double legacy ED candidates that were strong rejected at Duke. Penn takes unhooked occasionally ED.

Double legacy and strong candidates? Plural? Rejected at Duke ED?

I thought Duke liked legacies. If this is true, they must be phasing it out.

Definitely not phasing it out. But Duke primarily likes big donor and connected legacies. Even ones that aren’t that smart and they take them over smarter unconnected applicants and legacies whose parents aren’t big donors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. Setting finance majors aside, why would anyone consider Penn over Duke?

Penn is currently ranked #6 by USNWR and has incredible opportunities for students.

Duke’s location makes it undesirable for many students. It is not ivy-league and also is academically behind peer institutions. It is a southern school that attracts different kids.

As a Penn alum, I think you’re wrong. I’ve viewed Duke firmly as an academic peer and well beyond the need for the ivy tag. I agree they attract slightly different students though. In my experience, compared to friends I had at Duke, Penn is more pre-professional and career-driven. Duke is also driven, but seemed a bit more relaxed overall. And I had friends at Penn that wished they’d gone to Duke after realizing they wanted a more relaxed environment, and I knew people from Duke who wish they went to Penn for the professional focus. In many ways they are academically peas in a pod, so for a decision like this the main consideration should be urban environment or not, and school spirit/sports culture or not.

Princeton.

Penn is the stronger overall university, especially with regard to their professional schools. Penn's business school, medical school, and law school are all better than Duke's. For undergrad specifically though, I don't see much difference.
Penn is also in a better location (at least for internships and out of school opportunities). Philadelphia is a fun city and has a lot more going on than Durham.
I'd even take the Palestra and Franklin Field over Cameron Indoor though that is just personal preference.

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. Setting finance majors aside, why would anyone consider Penn over Duke?

Penn is currently ranked #6 by USNWR and has incredible opportunities for students.

Duke’s location makes it undesirable for many students. It is not ivy-league and also is academically behind peer institutions. It is a southern school that attracts different kids.

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. Setting finance majors aside, why would anyone consider Penn over Duke?

? For one, Penn is in an actual city. Secondly, Penn has world class academics across the board, not just within Wharton. I’ll give it to Duke, they offer the same top notch opportunities and academics as Penn and their alumni do very well in the workforce, but I’d also argue Penn is a bit more intellectual. Both schools are quite pre-professional for sure. I’ll also give Duke the happiness factor, but most of the unhappiness at Penn stems from Wharton and people who want to transfer into Wharton from CAS.

Serious question. Setting finance majors aside, why would anyone consider Penn over Duke?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke better for Neuroscience but Penn I think better chance of admission. Our HS double legacy ED candidates that were strong rejected at Duke. Penn takes unhooked occasionally ED.

Double legacy and strong candidates? Plural? Rejected at Duke ED?

I thought Duke liked legacies. If this is true, they must be phasing it out.

I don’t think they’re phasing out legacies, but their are probably a very strong batch of legacies applying right now.

Anonymous wrote:Duke better for Neuroscience but Penn I think better chance of admission. Our HS double legacy ED candidates that were strong rejected at Duke. Penn takes unhooked occasionally ED.

Double legacy and strong candidates? Plural? Rejected at Duke ED?

I thought Duke liked legacies. If this is true, they must be phasing it out.

Duke better for Neuroscience but Penn I think better chance of admission. Our HS double legacy ED candidates that were strong rejected at Duke. Penn takes unhooked occasionally ED.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wharton > Penn non-Wharton = Duke

Applying for neuroscience

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/united-states/neuroscience-behavior

Anonymous wrote:Wharton > Penn non-Wharton = Duke

Applying for neuroscience

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you cannot go wrong with either of these fabulous schools. As you know, it is very likely that neither one will be an admit. I'd go for the one that's more likely an admit. Which is probably Penn.

Since when is an Ivy school a “more likely admit?”

Tell me you know nothing about college admissions without telling me you know nothing about college admissions.

Wharton > Penn non-Wharton = Duke

Anonymous wrote:They are two very different campuses with totally different cultures. There is a lot of application overlap between both schools, but generally people figure out which one they prefer.

This is where the rankings completely "blind" people when they apply to schools. If Duke was ranked 40th overall vs. current ranking or Penn was ranked 40th overall vs. current ranking...nobody would apply to both.