<p>I don’t know what your goal is (i.e., the operations research thing). But I think Princeton’s finance certificate plus any concentration is very good. Princeton is one of the only schools in which you can concentrate in anything but still get a hedge fund job out of college. I don’t think this is true for Duke. What I am going to try at Princeton if admitted will be either Woodrow Wilson + Finance certificate / Economics + Finance certificate. But as I said, no finance certificate is required to progress into the hedge fund world. (or any institutional asset management) Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, graduated from Princeton with an engineering degree and joined D.E. Shaw for a while doing the type of stuff you want to do.</p>
<p>I am applying to Duke and Wharton for the regular round if I do not get in Princeton. As you can see, I definitely believe that Princeton has an advantage over even Wharton, unless you’re applying to a dual degree program like Huntsman. The fact that someone from classics, or from English literature can go directly into Bridgewater says a lot about Princeton’s prestige. </p>
<p>Your score is within the range of consideration so I think if you apply to both Princeton and Duke you’d be looked at equally no matter what. (i.e. pass the initial winnowing) But I can’t comment on your ECs.</p>