Duke vs. Davidson

College Search & Lists
41

<p>Davidson is a good school. But Duke is still a completely superior school looking at academics. </p>

<p>If I said no offense, I guess I take it back if you really do think that Davidson is on par with Duke. Because that simply isn’t true.
Davidson is up and coming, which is why it was mentioned in the Times. Duke is already elite. See the difference? </p>

<p>You are saying LAC’s can’t be compared to Universities. They can. LAC’s that are on par with Duke include Amherst and Williams…both schools are superior to Davidson though. You can compare Williams to Duke because Williams is one of the best LACs, and has a similarly competitive student body - Davidson does not. </p>

<p>Mattmom, did you really correct my grammar? I guess its good to finally know what a contraction is.</p>

42

<p>Not grammar. Spelling. Correcting grammar would have involved something like telling you not to use “ain’t” instead of “isn’t.”</p>

43

<p>

Berkeley doesn’t do very well in those awards despite having an enormous number of 1500+ (out of 1600) SAT scorers. I’m not saying this isn’t an indicator of quality (I frequently cite the Goldwater scholarship), but it’s important to note that not all excellent colleges do well in this area.</p>

<p>

I wrote earlier that I thought Duke offered more academically, but I also noted that I thought the difference wasn’t enough to significantly impact an education. Your statement implies that a top biology student at Davidson wouldn’t be able to get into the same graduate programs as a top biology student at Duke, for example. I find this hard to believe.</p>

<p>On the other hand, things like location and student body WILL make a significant difference in one’s college education.</p>

44

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<p>it’s not about spelling, either. and it gets pretty pathetic to watch when someone resorts to being pedantic just to take a weak jab at someone else, only to sound like a loser doing so.</p>

45

<p>Duke has had 41 Rhodes Scholars
Davidson has had 23 Rhodes Scholars
Duke has 6200 undergrads
Davidson has 1700 undergrads</p>

46

<p>The OP has undoubtedly made up his or her mind by now, and I hope it works out for the best. I would like to respond on this particular thread one last time, this time to the rude and tangential “pathetic/pedantic” post 44. I was deliberately pointing out a careless but real error because I found (and continue to find) the tone of that poster’s observations foolish, arrogant, and, in fact, somewhat offensive. Also, I am one of those old-school people who really does believe grammar and correct use of language are important. In any case, youth, ignorance, honest pride, or desire to be among the best are no excuse for putting down other schools, and the more people you meet at all ages the more you will realize that excellence comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes, with degrees from a lot of different schools.</p>

<p>And of course a nod of recognition to the poster who noticed that a school’s percentage of Rhodes Scholars can be quite impressive even if absolute numbers seem lower. I am sure there are many other small schools that have even higher percentages, but it was still interesting to see that Davidson’s Rhodes Scholar percentage is noticeably higher than Duke’s.</p>

47

<p>Again, I am compelled to say, with regard to criteria for comparing schools, what rot!! If anyone in Arizona has never heard of Davidson, I would opine that that is more a reflection of their lack of knowledge. If we were to define the term “heard of…,” many folks mean that they are aware of the exploits of a school’s football or basketball team. That’s no comment on academic standards. I mean, how many people say “I heard that XYZ University’s point guard is a Rhodes Scholar?”</p>

48

<p>^ The flip side of that coin is that many people associate a school like Duke with the exploits of it’s athletic teams, not completely realizing that it really does have outstanding academics. Many kids really do decide to attend Duke because of the academic excellence, NOT because of the athletic programs… ;)</p>

<p>(You really could find an excellent athlete at Duke who is also a Rhodes Scholar.)</p>

49

<p>Hi everyone! I have decided on Duke, although I have to agree with the people who defended Davidson as well–it’s amazing as well, which was what made it such a difficult decision. Thanks for your input!</p>

50

<p>DEFINITELY duke.</p>

51

<p>MattMom - its pretty ridiculous you consider my comments “foolish, arrogant, and, in fact, somewhat offensive” - I guess you find facts offensive and arrogant. After all, I was just paraphrasing the following websites:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D”>www.collegeboard.com</a>
Duke has average SAT scores about 120 points higher than Davidson…to put it into perspective, gap between Duke and Princeton, Yale, and Stanford is 20, and Duke’s scores are 10 points higher than Penn, 20 higher than Columbia and Brown</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/06_annual_report.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/06_annual_report.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Duke has 120 National Merit Scholars, Davidson has 8…to put it in perspective, Penn has 100, Columbia has 70, Harvard has 210, Yale has 180, and Dartmouth has 70</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Duke is a top 10 feeder school into top biz/med/law schools, Davidson is NOT in the top 50 (unless I missed it somewhere)</p>

<p>There we go MattMom, that should resolve any questions you’ve had about how good Duke is…and again, sorry about the facts disagreeing with you. At the end of the day, your son or daughter will definitely be successful - regardless of whether a Davidson or Duke grad. Plus its nice to see parents vouching for their children’s schools.</p>

<p>Sorry to all if I sound abrasive, I just honestly don’t think Davidson is comparable to Duke in quality. Overrating Davidson is basically underrating Duke, which is why I wanted to make the facts clear to all.</p>

52

<p>Well, I’d say Williams trumps them both at least in some of the numbers games…but thank you. I too have every confidence in my children and in their schools and I’m sure if they had chosen to apply to Duke and attend I would have found a place in my heart and mind for it as well.</p>