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This is completely false. Stanford is considerably more prestigious than Duke. Duke is an elite school, Stanford is super-elite. Stanford has better academics - in some cases, much better - in almost every single field than Duke. I don’t meant to trash Duke (see my earlier post), but it is quite misleading to say these two institutions are of similar caliber. That is completely false. </p>
<p>If the OP selects one for a better feel/attraction to one place over the other, that’s one thing. But let’s not mislead him with statements that fall flat on their face. </p>
<p>Likewise, Stanford’s student body, selectivity, yield and EC activities in campus are of higher quality than Duke’s. </p>
<p>“Both in a bubble” - not really. Duke deals with the complexities of town/gown relations with Durham and the Research Triangle. Stanford has East Palo Alto (for economic and racial diversity) and plenty of social issues to get involved in. Neither school has to contend with the quasi-tribal inter-ethnic issues famous in Northeastern cities or the political activism Columbia and Brown are famous/infamous for, but “bubble-dom” is a stretch.</p>