<p>According to the 2009 THE-QS rankings:</p>
<p>Duke = #14
Berkeley = #39</p>
<p>Also, the JiaoTong ARWU is extremely suspect. For example, in the 2009 rankings:</p>
<p>University of Minnesota = #28
Northwestern University = #30
Duke = #31</p>
<p>Also, Yale behind Chicago, Columbia, CalTech</p>
<p>UWisconsin two ranks below Penn</p>
<p>UCSD ahead of ETH Zurich? </p>
<p>Seriously? Can I laugh now?</p>
<p>In all seriousness, while those schools are good schools, there are significant and known issues with ARWU’s ranking criteria. I should also point out that the methodology used by Shanghai JiaoTong University heavily favors research powerhouses and science/technology orientated university to the almost exclusion of many good liberal arts/humanities-heavy universities.</p>
<p>I’m not saying Duke superior to Berkeley, I’m just saying that relying on rankings like that is a terrible idea. Both schools have their strengths but also their differences. Duke is small, Berkeley is 4 times the size of Duke. Student experiences will vary drastically between them and so will individual fit.</p>