Columbia vs Duke

ConfucianNemisis
Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:00:36 +0000

“Columbia=Duke same prestige etc. etc. They’re ranked the same on U.S. News”

Because, you know, US News is the be all, end all of prestige. And just what the heck is prestige?

Columbia and Duke are both very respected selective institutions of higher learning. You need to ask yourself one simple question: Is it more important to you to live in New York City and have everything that it offers at your finger tips, or to spend four years at a school where the undergraduate experience is front and center? If obsessive and hard to explain institutional loyalty is something you want in your life, go to Duke. I’m in grad school and I realize that my friends who went to schools like Georgetown, Duke, even Cornell, have a level of passion and love for their schools (see any sporting event) that you’ll never find at Columbia. The sense of community here derives less from a passionate attachment to the institution as from the bonds you form with your classmates and life mentors, whatever form they come in.

Furthermore, with rare exceptions, you really shouldn’t be thinking about specific programs unless they’re specialized, particularly famous at one school, or simply non-existent at one school.