DARTMOUTH/Duke/Swarthmore/Midd

mini
Sat, 02 Apr 2005 23:52:05 +0000

You didn’t say what you wish to study! or what you like to do for fun! It’s hard to give you decent advice without it.

All of these schools will provide you with a great education, and give you doors to a world after your college days are over, including graduate school, if that’s what you hope to pursue. I happen to like Duke least, but my bias may be based on the fact that I know least about it (and 25-30 years ago, it wasn’t in league with the others.)

But what you study, and what you enjoy would make a big difference. If you are big into music, fine arts, art history, and perhaps languages, and like spectator sports, of the four, Swarthmore is the wrong place.

If you are very into foreign languages, and skiing, and beautful rural environments, Middlebury is your place.

If you need access to a big city, then Swarthmore (or Duke?)

If you like spectator sports, and would like a broader array of academic choices than Middlebury or Swarthmore can offer, then Dartmouth.

If you want the place where the largest percentage of people love the largest number of books, Swarthmore’s your place. I highly disagree with my fellow Williams grad I-D, I think it offers the least in the way of all-around academic experience, though it likely offers the most intense one. And that might be exactly what you are looking for.

And if you want the feel of a bigger school, and more of the “All-American experience”, with fine academics as well, Duke should fit the bill.

I agree with the comment that Dartmouth is the safest choice. It also may be the wrong one. But if I knew absolutely nothing about you, other than that you were smart enough to get into all these schools, and come from abroad, I’d say go to Dartmouth.

(For what it’s worth, Princeton Review - in adding together its scores for academic quality, quality of life, selectivity. and financial aid/scholarships - ranks Carleton, Amherst, Smith, Pomona, and Haverford the top undergraduate schools in the country, but, guess what? - Middlebury, Swarthmore, Williams, and Dartmouth are tied just below that, and Duke just a little below. The reality is you’ll get a great education at any of them - you just have to know what you want, though you’d likely get a great education at any of them even if you didn’t!)