Need some parental advice!

JHS
Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:24:08 +0000

Well, of course they’re all wonderful universities, and all capable of providing absolutely first-rate education to any undergraduate. But I don’t think overall Duke is up to the level of Harvard, or really anywhere near it.

I looked at the three major attempts at international university ranking – which give a lot more weight than USNWR to things I, personally, respect. One of them, QS, has Duke and Michigan virtually tied at 14-15, with Carolina a good way back. The others, the Chinese ARWU (which virtually ignores humanities) and the Times of London, both have Michigan about the same place, but put Duke and Carolina much closer together about 10-15 places (and a meaningful scoring difference) behind. So maybe I was a bit hasty to say that they (or Duke, at least) is clearly a step behind Michigan, but I’m reasonably certain that neither of them is a step ahead, either. Other than in weather and basketball and, in Duke’s case, preppiness.