<p>First off, congratulations! Simply getting accepted to Harvard, Stanford, and Duke means that you are a fabulous student/college applicant. Getting the Robertson on top of that means that you are in the elite of the elite, and that you show as well in person as you do on paper. It also practically guarantees that you are capable of taking full advantage of what any of these colleges has to offer, and that the main determinant of your future success is going to be you, not which college you choose.</p>
<p>Very few people turn down Harvard or Stanford to go anywhere other than the other of them, or Yale, Princeton, or MIT. People talk about it all the time, but very, very few people do it. But one of the big exceptions to that rule is Robertson/Morehead scholarships at Duke or UNC. I think you’ll find that many of the Robertson Scholars at Duke have turned down Harvard and/or Stanford. Not that everyone makes that choice, but it’s not an irrational choice at all, even without taking the tuition scholarship into account. Some people who would receive full or almost full need-based aid at any of the schools still choose Duke based on the special opportunities the Robertson provides. (Taking the scholarship into account, it’s a supremely rational choice, of course. But you already knew that.)</p>
<p>Some of what you say sounds a little immature. The summer opportunities for Robertson Scholars won’t allow you to develop your “intellectual abilities and academic pursuits”? That’s just silly, really misguided. You would major in totally different things at Stanford or Harvard, but you think that Duke is second-rate in all of those fields? It isn’t, at least not to an extent that would be relevant to any single human undergraduate over the course of four years. I don’t know what exactly you mean by “co-term”, but both double-majoring and getting simultaneous BS/MS degrees are overrated, especially when one is talking about an elite student at an elite college. Do you actually believe that, with the same amount of effort, you will learn less at Duke, or be less attractive to employers/graduate programs? If so, you are making it up.</p>
<p>You should go where you want, taking into account everything. Any of these choices will be great. But you shouldn’t stick your thumb on the scale and call it analysis.</p>