Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 23:38     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:Duke has the wow factor Northwestern does not.
Duke is behind HYP and Stanford but that’s it(excluding MIT and CalTech). Duke is unique with great academics, fantastic campus, top shelf sports and one of the wealthiest alumni networks in the country.

You have clearly never visited Northwestern's campus








Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 23:09     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.


That seems about right from what I've seen. I think what a lot of parents aren't realizing is how ED and SCEA factor into admissions for high performing students. There is no advantage to applying early to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford if they are applying without a profound hook. MIT does it's own thing and there's no meaningful difference one way or another. But many of these high performing students are shooting an early binding app to Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, Chicago, Brown, Columbia, and Penn, where applying early does make a difference. Most of the RD Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford acceptances these days are ED rejects from other schools. It's a different calculation these days for top students. ED/SCEA and the emphasis on particular hooks have changed calculations for many top students. And both Duke and Northwestern are on top of that, whereas the top Ivy League schools are la-di-da, and we are 400 years old and whatever. So they are getting the detritus and fall back options in RD when ED and SCEA didn't work out for students.

Basically, all the energy is directed at ED schools, and then it's shotgunning at T20 schools in RD and seeing what sticks. But both Duke and Northwestern are pretty good with this reality, and both are getting great students by working in the real world.


I am lost when I read that. Wrong wrong wrong. If you have the chops for HYP, for sure you will get in at least one of Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, Chicago, Brown, Columbia, and Penn during RD.


Unhooked?

Yeah, no. HYPS are not for the smart unhooked kids in the early rounds. And those students do tend to apply elsewhere.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 23:08     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
DD applied to both. ED to Duke and RD to Northwestern. Did not get into Duke but accepted to Northwestern. Decided she wanted something else. We’re FCPS.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 22:35     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Duke has the wow factor Northwestern does not.
Duke is behind HYP and Stanford but that’s it(excluding MIT and CalTech). Duke is unique with great academics, fantastic campus, top shelf sports and one of the wealthiest alumni networks in the country.







Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 22:24     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.


That seems about right from what I've seen. I think what a lot of parents aren't realizing is how ED and SCEA factor into admissions for high performing students. There is no advantage to applying early to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford if they are applying without a profound hook. MIT does it's own thing and there's no meaningful difference one way or another. But many of these high performing students are shooting an early binding app to Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, Chicago, Brown, Columbia, and Penn, where applying early does make a difference. Most of the RD Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford acceptances these days are ED rejects from other schools. It's a different calculation these days for top students. ED/SCEA and the emphasis on particular hooks have changed calculations for many top students. And both Duke and Northwestern are on top of that, whereas the top Ivy League schools are la-di-da, and we are 400 years old and whatever. So they are getting the detritus and fall back options in RD when ED and SCEA didn't work out for students.

Basically, all the energy is directed at ED schools, and then it's shotgunning at T20 schools in RD and seeing what sticks. But both Duke and Northwestern are pretty good with this reality, and both are getting great students by working in the real world.


I am lost when I read that. Wrong wrong wrong. If you have the chops for HYP, for sure you will get in at least one of Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, Chicago, Brown, Columbia, and Penn during RD.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 22:16     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.
What are "the stats for HYP"? They don't admit based on stats. A 4.0 1550+ is state flagship level. Anything higher requires ECs.


Stats for HYP meaning 4.0 + 1580 + national awards + feeder school. HYP still a crapshoot but kid would have almost certainly gotten into an Ivy.
If they didn't get a merit scholarship from Duke, they're not as impressive as you might think.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 17:12     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.


That seems about right from what I've seen. I think what a lot of parents aren't realizing is how ED and SCEA factor into admissions for high performing students. There is no advantage to applying early to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford if they are applying without a profound hook. MIT does it's own thing and there's no meaningful difference one way or another. But many of these high performing students are shooting an early binding app to Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, Chicago, Brown, Columbia, and Penn, where applying early does make a difference. Most of the RD Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford acceptances these days are ED rejects from other schools. It's a different calculation these days for top students. ED/SCEA and the emphasis on particular hooks have changed calculations for many top students. And both Duke and Northwestern are on top of that, whereas the top Ivy League schools are la-di-da, and we are 400 years old and whatever. So they are getting the detritus and fall back options in RD when ED and SCEA didn't work out for students.

Basically, all the energy is directed at ED schools, and then it's shotgunning at T20 schools in RD and seeing what sticks. But both Duke and Northwestern are pretty good with this reality, and both are getting great students by working in the real world.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 16:14     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:Kids will pick any Ivy over either Duke or Northwestern.


Not really.

They are both more desireable than Brown, for example
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 16:13     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:Why are people bringing up Georgetown and Chicago? Genuinely interested in understanding if Northwestern can be seen as a competitor to Duke.


Northwestern might be a little more difficult to get accepted into than Duke
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 16:12     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:Neither are popular in NYC schools.
Chicago in Midwest and Georgetown in the south are a lot more popular than these two, respectively.


Not exactly true re U of Chicago.

Their stats are falsely inflated by all the marketing they do to kids would would never have the grades or SATs to get in.

Northwestern has a single digit acceptance rate.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 16:03     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:Neither are popular in NYC schools.
Chicago in Midwest and Georgetown in the south are a lot more popular than these two, respectively.


They're more popular, because everyone knows both those schools give preference to east coast prep school grads. Duke and Northwestern are very, very popular, theyre just hard to get into.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 15:57     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.


I have one at Northwestern and one at Cornell. Similar students. Very very happy at both.

Both sets of kids’ friends would have loved to have gotten into Duke (many friends ED to Duke but didn’t get in).

For some reason, Duke sits a bit higher in these kids minds. I don’t see it!


+1
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 14:36     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.


I have one at Northwestern and one at Cornell. Similar students. Very very happy at both.

Both sets of kids’ friends would have loved to have gotten into Duke (many friends ED to Duke but didn’t get in).

For some reason, Duke sits a bit higher in these kids minds. I don’t see it!
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 13:05     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.
What are "the stats for HYP"? They don't admit based on stats. A 4.0 1550+ is state flagship level. Anything higher requires ECs.


In private schools, grades are not inflated, you need certain stats to be considered as hyp candidates, unhooked.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2025 13:02     Subject: Northwestern vs Duke
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In reality, NU and Duke are literally filled with kids who either didn’t get into an Ivy or didn’t feel they had the stats to try


Wrong wrong wrong. I know 2 kids who turned down Cornell for NU and one who had the stats for HYP who chose to ED at Duke.
What are "the stats for HYP"? They don't admit based on stats. A 4.0 1550+ is state flagship level. Anything higher requires ECs.


Stats for HYP meaning 4.0 + 1580 + national awards + feeder school. HYP still a crapshoot but kid would have almost certainly gotten into an Ivy.