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I can provide some insight as a student who was accepted to both but chose Davidson. Name recognition/prestige-wise, I'd have to agree with amp in saying that they are virtually identical. You'll find that no matter which one you choose to attend, you'll get a lot of blank stares. I actually empathize a lot with you with the whole prestige factor influencing your decision making. When I was deciding where to go a few months back, I posted a very similar topic on CC asking people which school was the most prestigious of those I had been accepted to. I found that the consensus, both on this board and among my peers and adults, was that Davidson was not at the top of the list when it came to name recognition among my acceptances. It was definitely a hard factor to overcome, but I knew that in the end I'd be the smartest and most well developed individual after four years at Davidson as opposed to the others on my list. Once I made the decision to go with my heart and head rather than some vacuous consideration like prestige or rankings, I felt a whole lot better about myself and was more at ease with my college choice. When it comes time to making decisions, remember that YOU know that Davidson is a great school with great people, and ultimately that it doesn't matter what anyone else knows about it.
To answer the other parts of your question, I actually settled on Davidson largely because of the experience I had in an English class on my visit. My professor was a woman who left a job at Princeton to teach at Davidson, and she showed me things in the material we were discussing that I never would have seen on my own.
You've chosen to look at two very, very similar schools. They are both high-powered liberal arts institutions with very little name recognition but a lot of die hard followers. If you're accepted to both, it's really gonna come down to your gut, I imagine.
Good luck!
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