Duke vs Cornell vs Notre Dame

Ruby789
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:30:51 +0000

@ambitionsquared: I am happy to tell you my opinion, but remember it is just that, an opinion. I’ll give you some things to chew on. As I said before, neither of my kids applied to either school, so I have no bone to pick with them. I visited both. I was very impressed with the academic opportunities with both.

What I especially liked about Cornell - I have to say that the setting in Ithaca is wonderful. People love to say the winters are harsh, but school is longer than just winter. The outdoor opportunities are fabulous there, and winter sports are so fun too. I also think Ithaca is a cute town, and there are lots of restaurants and things to do in town. It is close and walkable. I love the Cornell campus on a hill with the views. Gorgeous! As far as other undergraduate experiences, I have heard that Cornell’s food in the dining hall is among the best. I also like that Cornell’s undergraduate population size is so big, and I like the state school aspects. I think this provides a lot of social opportunities. I have cousins’ kids who have attended Cornell, and some were in the Greek system, and some were not. I think you don’t have to have Greek to have a good social life at Cornell.

I only visited Duke for a few hours, and I only went to the Information Session, and my K2 went alone on the Campus Tour. We were there the day after Duke beat Wisconsin for the Basketball Championship, so spirit on campus was high. Despite that, the feeling my K2 got was not a positive one. She didn’t like the set up for Freshman dorms, and didn’t get a good vibe about the social life there. One of my K1’s friend’s brother went to Duke, and the friend says he loved it, but she thought that was because he was Greek, and she thought being Greek was pretty necessary at Duke. That is something that I keep hearing, but, since I don’t have any really knowledge about that, maybe you should ask about. I didn’t think some of the local off campus opportunities were too good, but I didn’t get a good sense of the area from our short visit. I don’t know if there’s skiing or good hiking or outdoor things to do either. I do think that Duke has a better sports fan base than Cornell, so if you enjoy that, that would add to the experience.

If it were me deciding between Cornell and Duke, I would choose Cornell. But I’m not the one deciding. I think there is some worry about the social climate at Duke enough that you might want to ask about it. Things change, so a reputation made a few years ago might not be true any more.