dna3

I’m having the hardest time of my life choosing between these two schools. My parents don’t qualify for financial aid, so the difference in price is $35K/year – 44K for Duke vs. 9K for Emory (I have 20K in outside scholarships). For the past year or so I’ve been thinking about pre-med, and if I do become a doctor I would definitely pursue a specialty like immunology or endocrinology, which means I would need to get into a good med school…and pay for it. So if I went to Duke, I could make it through undergrad without loans, but there would be $0 left for medical school.

BUT then again, I’m not completely set on med school, so I feel that it’s important I go to the best school that would prepare me for whatever path I choose. Duke’s departmental rankings are definitely better than Emory’s, and I feel like there’s also a big difference in the overall quality of the student body. I REALLY like being around smart people, and throughout my life I’ve always identified with and become best friends with the smartest people at my private school. I was looking forward to being stretched and engaged by my peers in college, and I really don’t want to be at the very top of the class.

Other than academics, I guess I’m most concerned with the social life. I’m not a big partier and don’t drink, although I might want to go to a party every once in a while. I’m kind of a serious, sometimes introverted person, and it usually takes me longer to make friends. I REALLY like to have fun though, but my idea of fun is usually just hanging out with a really close, small group of friends.

I LOVE the school spirit at Duke (live in Raleigh and been a Blue Devils fan all my life) and feel that I would be really proud to say that I go to Duke. However, I’m not sure I can say the same of Emory. Duke really has that prestige, name-factor thing going on, and I guess that’s really important to me. I know people say not to pay attention to rankings, but there’s something very alluring to me about going to one of the best universities world-wide. If the schools were the same price, I would choose Duke.

I have visited both: I went for the Emory Scholars weekend and also for a scholarship weekend at Duke. I was SO close to getting a full-ride at Duke, and I’m still very disappointed I didn’t get it. A few small differences I noted were that the dorms at Emory are much nicer, and I would also have the perks of the Emory scholars program including first choice in classes and housing.

Sorry this was so long, I’m just very confused. Help anyone? (BTW, I also got into Penn and JHU and waitlist at Harvard, Yale, and Brown)