<p>Yale is a wonderful institution and no one would quibble about your preferring it to life in Durham and no one could make a legit argument that premed isn’t super at Yale. I think New Haven and Durham tie for criminal risk elements…but Durham wins in the more days in shorts category for weather. However, your posts are sweeping, and inaccurate. My son is Greek, and truly admires the student athletes around campus but he is deeply involved in arts at Duke and has friends in many corners, including people who are clearly committed to their vocations in medicine. He has many friends, male and female who are smarter than he is, savants in one little respect or another…and he respects so many people of character…that I personally feel that admissions at Duke does a bang up job. His FOCUS group was stupendous. No kidding–really mind boggling great in terms of what one wants to get out of the liberal arts credits you have to nail in college anyway. Not everyone’s FOCUS experience, but he still spends time with the professors and is fast friends with the freshman FOCUS students three years later. He bonded with the faculty in his foreign language department, loves his two majors, and comes home raving about 80% of his teachers, even when he is not making the class top grades. He has had meals with many teachers over the years, and has been abroad twice. On his own he nailed a great summer job last year and another one this coming summer and his Duke degree didn’t hurt him. I especially like the high spirits and fun of the students at Duke…and my son has friends who drink and friends who abstain. He has incredibly diverse friends in terms of race and religion. He attends a great deal of the cultural arts programming and the sports offerings. Honestly…the only way to find out if Duke is right for you is to come to a Blue Devil Day. He went to two of those accepted student days…which makes him unique. The first Blue Devil Day he attended, he was paired with a very negative student who couldn’t have been ruder or a lousier representative for Duke and probably has some serious personal issues but I will spare you the details). There are students like this at every college. My son returned on his own for a second Blue Devil Day, and didn’t make up his mind on Duke till the last minute. He fell in love with his peers on East very quickly and hasn’t looked back. Tons of great kids in his freshman dorm…starting with his health nut teetotaling roommate engineering student…and including some fantastic athletes, musicians and people now deeply into MCAT prep.<br>
three years later our son is giving the tours.<br>
my advice is always to Be True to your School once you are in it…and dig in…and I remember you…rd31 …and don’t really “get” why he is hear spouting off stuff about no one at Duke can write a thesis statement or stay sober??? We can all agree Yale is fantastic, after all.</p>
<p>has anyone else noticed my bombastically sarcastic comments on this forum, because its really funny, check the</p>
<p>I didn’t really find them funny…or bombastically sarcastic.</p>
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<p>lol…thats really funny but I agree. Duke, Yale… the 4 letter names look and sound very good.</p>
<p>If you go to Yale, just remember that Swedish companies like Ericsson or Saab might look at you funny when you tell them after an internship that you’re returning to Yale…</p>
<p>As for much of the rest of the above, I’ll let the highly anecdotal nature of much of the criticisms diminish themselves. It is, of course, unfortunate that rd31’s guide essentially defrauded the university.</p>
<p>work release, DukeEgr93, is a great thing.</p>
<p>((BTW, see post #20))</p>
<p>Awwww (blush). And there’s another Duke poster on here that should get the Yale joke, too.</p>
<p>jail??? lol i think ive heard this before somewhere</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/3868794-post2.html]d”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/3868794-post2.html]d</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_College_Wrexham[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_College_Wrexham</a></p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>Do I win?</p>
<p>Wow - that’s a linguistically rich name. I have no doubt that, in terms of endowment, most schools believe that Yale College Wrexham.</p>
<p>To the OP: My cousin graduated from Yale 3 years ago. He told me that the time he has spent at Yale was one of the best experiences of his life socially, academically, and emotionally. When I went to attend Yale graduation ceremony 3 years ago, I saw numerous students at Yale graduation ceremony crying. When I asked my cousin why the heck they were crying, he told me bc these students realized that their time at Yale was over and they would miss it so much later on. I can almost guarantee that you will meet some amazing people and form special social bonds at Yale. Now, objectively, Yale is a better school than Duke especially in grad school placement. Last year at Harvard Law, Yale represented over 90 people while Duke represented about 40. (I know this bc my dad is a Harvard Law alum) Prestige-wise, Yale wins big. Yale is arguably second most famous university in the world only behind Harvard. Yale’s prestige, esp. at international level, is much stronger than Duke. Although I am a huge fan of Duke bc of their amazing academics and social life there, Yale is simply way to good to pass up for Duke.</p>
<p>“Yale’s prestige, esp. at international level, is much stronger than Duke.”</p>
<p>I love the word “prestige.” It’s so deliciously vague, yet it rolls trippingly off the tongue - or keyboard - of so many posters. Really, if it’s “international prestige” folks want, after Harvard, you’d have to go to Cambridge or Oxford. At least according to the one list that people seem to agree isn’t totally screwed up with respect to international schools. And for technology? Neither Harvard nor Yale (nor Duke) are even in the top 20 - gotta hit up MIT for that one. Or Berkeley. Or Stanford. So if you are a list chaser, there you go - enjoy!</p>
<p>I have gotten the impression, however, that the OP is interested in schools for much more than their ranking or the number of students who choose not to return to their undergraduate institution for law school… And given that, I highly doubt there are many absolute statements that will be of any service whatsoever in deciding which school is a best fit both for the college years and after.</p>
<p>both schools will certainly provide outstanding opportunities </p>
<p>what you should look at is the student life at both schools. </p>
<p>what do you see yourself fitting in at? </p>
<p>Yale is extremely competitive. My mom goes to graduate school there and she says most of the undergraduates are beyond miserable and stressed out. The social scene is lacking, to say the least, unless you are involved in sports. Additionally, after being involved in the Duke vs. UNC rivalry recently, I’ve realized how much of a complete joke the Yale v. Harvard rivalry is. Don’t expect much school spirit, except at those games, which is essentially a reason to get drunk. More importantly than whether or not New Haven vs. Durham are safe is whether or not the campus is safe. I think that the Yale campus is pretty safe but thefts are very common and my mom gets regular emails about armed robberies, etc. Also worth noting is that the Yale campus is very integrated into New Haven instead of isolated like Duke is from Durham. I actually did not like this aspect of Yale, it reminded me a fair amount of Penn</p>
<p>Duke doesn’t have the same cutthroat competitiveness. It’s not that the students are all that less intelligent (say avg 20 pts less on the SATs), its that the southern roots of the school have survived and that people don’t need to batter each other to get ahead. Duke is in the middle of a 8,000 acre forest. This was a HUGE attraction for me as I love nature and the outdoors. </p>
<p>Lastly, Duke is very much a young university that has and will see some exciting growth in the 21st century. Duke’s endowment continues to grow at a rate that in the top three among its peers including the ivy league…last year it grew 25%. One telling statistic is the percentage of graduates who donate to the university: 52%, the 2nd highest behind Princeton. Those who graduate from Duke obviously feel the same connection that makes people ‘cry at graduation.’</p>
<p>Academically they are comparable, but as far as student life goes they couldn’t be more different institutions.</p>
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<p>Well, I am aware that H and Y aren’t really known for technology overseas like MIT or Stanford are. I was commenting on the ‘general’ school name prestige and ‘wow’ factor. Since you mentioned Cambridge or Oxford, let me comment. I come from overseas and where I lived in (S. Korea and Japan), Yale is hands down second most famous college in this region. People in this region regard Yale with much awe and utmost respect, while no one there knows of Duke. Even if Yale might not be as famous as Oxford or Cambridge in Europe (which I am not sure of), my experience with talking with several European people tell me that Yale is one of the few American universities that European people know of in general. Duke is very well known here in the U.S. and rightfully so. But, nobody knows what Duke is outside of the country. </p>
<p>Aside from this discussion, I realize this international prestige thing might not have much to do with OP’s decision process. Both schools are phenomenal schools and I am a huge fan of both. It is just that given the choice between Yale and Duke, Yale beats Duke in so many different areas, especially in prestige around the globe.</p>
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<p>Then why does duke have international students representing 70+ countries??</p>
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<p>My cousin as well as his Yale friends think of the social atmosphere at Yale otherwise. If anything, my cousin told me that Yale kids are surprisingly relaxed, and most kids are really down to earth and aren’t cutthroat at all, maybe except for pre-med courses. And, most Yale students are miserable and stressed out? I fear that you are giving the OP a completely wrong and unfair description of the general Yale population. Only during the finals, I heard, peple are like that, though. Also, I wouldn’t say social scene at Yale is lacking. Duke, I believe, has better social scene compared to Yale largely bc of good sports programs and big parties, but Yale students, I heard, are very social as well.</p>
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<p>Well, to answer your question, most international students who apply to U.S. colleges in the first place are the students who received special education from special English-speaking high schools in each country, which are very few in every country. These students then would be expected to go to the U.S. colleges. As a result, these students are far more knowledgeable about the U.S. colleges than most others in their respective countries bc they are aware of the USNEWS college rankings and U.S. colleges in general. Also, there are tons of international students who attended h.s. here in the U.S., in which case these students would know of Duke in many cases. To provide a perspective, schools like USC and Emory are virtually not heard of overseas, yet these schools, too, manage to enrol international students representing 70+ countries as well.</p>
<p>ha…so ironically we were talking about something like this in my stats class on thursday! my teacher was convinced that its better to go to a school like Duke…where it’s not as cutthroat and where you might get an opportunity do excell and get recognition for your work!</p>
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<p>I’m pretty sure, given Duke’s THES ranking, that at least a few people know what Duke is outside this country… </p>
<p>I might recommend to you that absolutes based on limited personal experiences severely weaken any points you are trying to make. If the point is that Yale is “ranked” higher or more internationally known - Granted. But trying to use that point and your cousin as a bludgeon to say that in all ways, Yale is superior, and for all people, Yale is a better choice? Not so much…</p>
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<p>Since you wish to discuss the rankings, let’s take a look. First of all, THES ranking is a British version of world universities and thus it has subjective bias in favoring British universities. Still, Yale managed to be ranked #2, tied with Oxford and Cambridge. This furthers my case that Yale may arguably be the second most famous university in the world. And, my experience with talking with 5 European students at my college tells me that most Europeans, not those in special or highly educated circles, know of only a handful U.S. universities including HYSM + Berkeley and sometimes Wharton, Columbia, and Cornell. Duke, along with other fine U.S. schools like Dartmouth, Brown, Emory, and Northwestern, aren’t known very well. </p>
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<p>limited personal experiences? LOL. I lived in S. Korea for more than 10 years, lived in Japan for 4 and a half years, and I have tons of friends and relatives in this region. Not only that, I myself was born there and I perfectly speak these two languages. I would say that I myself am quite well assimiliated into the mainstream culture of these two countries since I attended schools there and know of teachers, students, etc. in each region and I make frequent summer trips there each year. Out of thousands of people I knew from these countries through a decade of schooling, religious ceremonies, etc., almost no one knew of Duke while most of them still knew of Yale. Sure, there could be some who know of Duke in Asia, but they are few and hard to find. My dad is a law professor at the most prestigious university in Korea and even he didn’t know Duke well, along with most other professors. </p>
<p>Bottom line is that regardless of Duke’s reputation status overseas, Yale has a very dominant international prestige.</p>