<p>IMHO, (and this was the personal list I created for college, the same way all college applicants have their own personal lists) I think I rank Stanford and Duke as the top two universities in the U.S. just because they excel at almost all aspects of education, be it engineering, medicine, liberal arts, social sciences, humanities, etc. They also have great locations and beautiful campuses. I think that all of us that have been through the college decision making process can attest to the fact that it’s probably one of the hardest decisions a person has to make in their life. Therefore, my recommendation is that if your son gets accepted to both then he should go visit OVERNIGHT and get the college experience there and see if he sees himself there. I know Duke has this two day thing for all accepted students called “Blue Devil Days” where they can live with a student for two days and see all that Duke has to offer (I’m sure Stanford has something similar). </p>
<p>As for the assertion that Stanford is in a “different tier” than Duke just because it has a lower acceptance rate, I’m not sure that would be valid. I say this because at Blue Devil Days, the Dean of Admissions told us that Duke rejected 1300 valedictorians this year, so I think that for both schools, nobody should keep it as a “safety school” because they’re both so difficult to get into. One of the other reasons why I also value Duke and Stanford so highly is because their admissions officers look at EVERYTHING when they evaluate applications. Meaning that your son has to have not only the grades, SAT scores and extracurriculars, but also excellent recommendations, an amazing personal essay and something that makes him unique (which he seems to encompass). Best of luck!
P.S. There’s no need to re-take the SAT. Honestly, once you get to the 2300s, there really is no difference between a 2310 and a 2390. When Duke evaluates its applicants it looks at these six criteria [Duke</a> University Admissions: What We Seek](<a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_whatweseek.html]Duke”>http://admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/who_whatweseek.html) and ranks you on the scale of 1-5, and I think anything above 2300 would rank as a 5. And just like someone above mentioned, I cannot stress enough checking out these extremely informative websites that each school has, because that sometimes provides more valuable information than actually a college visit.</p>