Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are considered peers. The things that stand out for me for each school are:

Dartmouth: college more along the lines of elite small colleges like a Williams or Amherst, isolated campus in the sticks where any student who doesn't enjoy frat/party scene might feel isolated, a relatively strong school spirit around its sports teams compared to other ivies.

Duke: mid-sized university with many pre-professional students, with outsized school spirit due to MBB, big party scene.

Ideally you will be able to visit both before making the decision.

My friend's daughter is MISERABLE at Dartmouth in large part because is not a frat/party kid. She just finished her freshman year was debating not returning. The game day decision was that she'd try another year.
She went to high school at a diverse school in the DMV so wasn't raised in the sticks but just can't seem to find her people at Dartmouth. I think there was also this expectation that she would have this super awesome college experience (she got a spot at her dream school!) but it's been a complete bust.

Lest anyone jump on here and say I'm a troll---no, definitely not. My kids are younger. I've just been surprised to hear how hard it's been for her since she's a super well adjusted and lovely kid.

I know someone who had a similar experience at Dartmouth. Liked the academics but never found her people. Also not a party kid or athlete.

Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth = Ivy.
There's your answer.

Duke > Dartmouth = Ivy

There's your complete better answer.

Duke is a University with diversity.
Dartmouth is fratty WASP school in the middle of nowhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just an anecdote:

MY friend's nephew (Asian) transferred from Duke last year to a foreign university because he did not feel their computer science program was in the frontier of innovation. I think he was also worried about being Asian at Duke. Not sure why and could not really get much information from just casual conversations.

I think the premier university in RTP that feeds graduates into tech companies is probably doing pretty well with computer science. The Asian thing is a red flag too, makes no sense.

+1 didn’t Google and Apple literally just start building major tech campuses in Durham? Seems like the only reason to do it would be to hire Duke kids

Anonymous wrote:This is just an anecdote:

MY friend's nephew (Asian) transferred from Duke last year to a foreign university because he did not feel their computer science program was in the frontier of innovation. I think he was also worried about being Asian at Duke. Not sure why and could not really get much information from just casual conversations.

I think the premier university in RTP that feeds graduates into tech companies is probably doing pretty well with computer science. The Asian thing is a red flag too, makes no sense.

Anonymous wrote:When you play the Cross-Admit card, you are admitting you have lost the argument.

That wasn’t really the point, the point was the student bodies are more similar than different which is evidenced by how many cross-admits they have each year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just an anecdote:

MY friend's nephew (Asian) transferred from Duke last year to a foreign university because he did not feel their computer science program was in the frontier of innovation. I think he was also worried about being Asian at Duke. Not sure why and could not really get much information from just casual conversations.

Duke is ~30% Asian for undergrad, fitting in should be no issue.

A lot of these ideas about Duke are outdated. Their biggest feeder is North Carolina School of Science and Math which is right next to Duke and is heavily Asian. Duke is not a WASP school, if anything Dartmouth is likely more WASP and fratty nowadays.

Anonymous wrote:This is just an anecdote:

MY friend's nephew (Asian) transferred from Duke last year to a foreign university because he did not feel their computer science program was in the frontier of innovation. I think he was also worried about being Asian at Duke. Not sure why and could not really get much information from just casual conversations.

Duke is ~30% Asian for undergrad, fitting in should be no issue.

This is just an anecdote:

MY friend's nephew (Asian) transferred from Duke last year to a foreign university because he did not feel their computer science program was in the frontier of innovation. I think he was also worried about being Asian at Duke. Not sure why and could not really get much information from just casual conversations.

I just want to say that I went to Duke and I'm really nice! Lol.

But seriously, this frat bro thing is really, really outdated. I'm not saying there's no one like that on campus, but words that are way more appropriate and accurate to describe Duke students would be:

nerdy
liberal
woke
Asian
focused
STEM
pre-med
policy
passionate
sensitive/triggered

I fit into several of those buckets. I also started there in TIP as a kid and taught there. Lots of actual experience with the school. I love that part of NC. I'd love to retire there.

I think Dartmouth is a fantastic school. I'd have my kid ED there over Duke because it's a less challenging admit and it would be really nice to get in early. But they're both hard to get into, period.

Anonymous wrote:There are some comedians that we are supposed to like yet few people actually think they are funny. Howie Mandel, Whoopi Goldberg, & Pete Davidson come to mind.

Duke is sort of like that. We are all supposed to think it is great, but it’s not clear WHY. Highly ranked departments? No. Impressive graduates? Dick Nixon? Great campus? Sorta. Fun location? Nope. Makes its students more likable than when they arrived? LOL.

THIS.
I am a PP who was deciding between Duke and Dartmouth almost 30 years ago. I ultimately picked Dartmouth partly because my alumni interviewer from Duke was such a definition of a bro that I could not get over it. I almost reported him to the admission committee, and my guidance counselor had asked me to report him, because his behavior was so inappropriate. Most of the Duke alumni I've met since then fit that stereotype. I know it's a good school, great even, but something about it just didn't feel right to me. I loved my time at Dartmouth and was not in a frat.

When you play the Cross-Admit card, you are admitting you have lost the argument.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke students not particularly impressive. Also bro culture.

I don’t usually engage with trolls but you realize that Duke wins the cross-admit battle against Dartmouth quite handily right? So many of the students at Duke would be at a school like Dartmouth if they didn’t get into Duke, would they also not be impressive if at Dartmouth instead? Logic people.

And that snippet does not lead to the conclusion that the students at Duke are more or less impressive.

? If Dartmouth wanted the same kids, what does that say about the Dartmouth student body? This is just logic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke students not particularly impressive. Also bro culture.

I don’t usually engage with trolls but you realize that Duke wins the cross-admit battle against Dartmouth quite handily right? So many of the students at Duke would be at a school like Dartmouth if they didn’t get into Duke, would they also not be impressive if at Dartmouth instead? Logic people.

And that snippet does not lead to the conclusion that the students at Duke are more or less impressive.

Anonymous wrote:Duke students not particularly impressive. Also bro culture.

I don’t usually engage with trolls but you realize that Duke wins the cross-admit battle against Dartmouth quite handily right? So many of the students at Duke would be at a school like Dartmouth if they didn’t get into Duke, would they also not be impressive if at Dartmouth instead? Logic people.