Duke vs. MIT?

[warblersrule]

@DadTwoGirls

Both schools are very strong. She is the one who will to have to attend classes, do the homework, and take the tests.

I don’t think that there is a bad choice as long as she goes to a school where she is comfortable. MIT is higher ranked, but that doesn’t make it a better choice for any one particular student.

When I was a graduate student at a top ranked university, there were plenty of other students there who had done their undergrad at schools ranked significantly lower than Duke, and one who had done their undergrad at MIT.

I agree 100%.

@hopewhite25 Has your daughter visited MIT? Presumably she has visited Duke already. Sometimes colleges that seem perfect on paper can be very off-putting in person, and one may love a college that seemed a poor fit before visiting. An overnight visit would be especially helpful.

The two universities differ in so many ways - academic diversity (STEM students at MIT vs. wide mix of arts & sciences & engineering at Duke), campus size and architecture (e.g. separate freshman campus at Duke), setting (Cambridge/Boston vs. Durham), weather, athletic scene, etc. I can’t imagine them appealing equally to the same person.