The traditional, deciding which college to go to thread.

Parents Forum
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<p>LOL the time difference is ten hours so it would be 5:00 a.m. in Dubai, hopefully they are asleep for many more hours yet. </p>

<p>I also do hope you both end up at the same school - all the schools are wonderful and certainly large enough for you to endlessly explore separate interests, and the emotional and practical benefit of having each other close by is enormous, incalculable, really.</p>

<p>On the other hand, maybe the two of you should take a gap year and reapply, in order to give us all a totally new set of schools to argue about (j/k). :)</p>

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<p>For those long term CCers this certainly has the drama of EvilRobot-Yale vs Vandy Passion, and Curm’s D’s roller coaster ride. Shriv and Ktwin will probably find all of the passion quite amusing :slight_smile: Don’t we all? </p>

<p>Is Oracle currently a student at Duke , or an accepted student? </p>

<p>1)I agree with the above posters, it makes such sense for the boys to select the same school. </p>

<p>2)Shriv and K-twin have you developed any relationships with profs at any of these schools? do you know anyone at any of these choices? any personal connections- friends in these cities?</p>

<p>Twins, you do have someone counseling you in Dubai, professionals in your country to consult? Where is Alexandre when you need him :)</p>

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<p>Given the interest level of many CC parents, I wonder about the interest and opinions of their own parents (really the only ones who matter).</p>

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<p>Oracle, I am quite surprised after searching your posts - to find that you are seeking information on the Duke threads because you are NOT a current student.
Perhaps, you should take the good advice given above, and stick to the Duke boards where you can find out about the school you are blatantly promoting here.
Oracle You posted this on Duke thread,so you are far from the expert you claim to be:
Duke liberal or conservative slant?
Question for those of you who are students or recent grads:</p>

<p>Is it true that the students are fairly conservative while the teachers tend to unfortunately be very politically correct/ liberal?</p>

<p>Please be as specific as possible (maybe certain academic departments, certain student clubs…) including any personal stories if you have them</p>

<p>and if so, is the administration held captive by the far left faculty who run the school?</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>wow southjersey…a bit stalkerish, but im sure well intentioned </p>

<p>I have done a lot of research on Duke and after visiting, i could still not capture the exact political leanings of the professors/students, so I asked others in the cc community for their input. I don’t see the problem? I have not been telling Shrivats to go to Duke for the politics- I have stayed on the areas I am more well-versed in. Just to note, I have offers of admission to 3 of the schools Shrivats and his twin are deciding on…so I have put in a fair amount of effort in selecting the best one… and after that search, it is likely it will be Duke. I think Shrivats would make an awesome classmate and yes i am “NOT a current student” i am an objective applicant</p>

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<p>my dear oracle</p>

<p>I know I should just ignore you, but…</p>

<p>Duke may be heaven on earth for you, but that doesn’t make it the best choice for everyone. My last word on this matter.</p>

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<p>Wakes up in the morning, yawns, strolls over to the computer, switches it on, opens CC (wondering when the addiction will end), opens a thread with too long a name (AKA: this one), and suddenly stops, shocked at having sparked his first ever CC war!</p>

<p>(Sorry for that exceedingly long sentence) </p>

<p>I don’t think I’ll even try to respond to the individual posters (It’s been like a game of tennis here, with our college decision as the ball. :)) Instead, the issues:</p>

<p>@The Same School Situation (And other alliteratively named issues): We’ve actually decided (one of the few decisions that we’ve made), that we won’t be going to the same college if it’s Rice, maybe we will if it’s Berkeley or Penn (or Duke, lest the war begin again). The reasons for that are complex, involved, and have a great deal to do with the way we’ve always been considered ‘the twins’ in Dubai. Both of us going to Rice (coupled with a few of our friends also going there), would be a bit stifling. Actually the situation that seems more and more likely of late is that one of us goes to either Rice or Berkeley, and the other goes to any of the colleges. (As we hadn’t really anticipated any financial help from any of the colleges, that would help the financial situation) As regards the entire logistics issue that would develop, well, we’ll manage, somehow. (Sense another thread will be posted on CC sometime in late July)</p>

<p>@SJCM (or SouthJerseyChessMom): We’re quite well traveled (most of W. Europe, some East Asia), but we’ve never been to the US. (or at least, never until this year :))</p>

<p>@oracle: Thanks for all of your input, both positive and not. Actually speaking personally (not sure about Kaushik), Duke’s not in my area of consideration right now. If that’s a mistake, well it’s a mistake I’ll live with.</p>

<p>@oldolddad and hop: Thanks for the perspective re: Berkeley. We’re both pretty confident/assured with regard to Professor interaction, so hopefully, proper faculty relations shouldn’t be a problem.</p>

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<p>@SJCM: We do know two alumni of our school who are at Rice (we’re trying to get in touch with them), and we’ve been spending the past few days trying to put the grand old family tree to use, digging up cousins to the nth degree who might have been to any of these colleges.</p>

<p>@Astrophysicsmom: The financial difference is really quite considerable; we’ll end up paying about the same (25ish K) for Rice and Berkeley due to scholarships, and we’d have to pay sticker price for the others.</p>

<p>@oracle: Thank you for taking the time to post; I’m still thinking about Duke or Penn, but somehow, my reasoning is that even if I rule out the financial advantage that Rice/Cal gives me, then I’d go to Penn over Duke. It’s just the sense that I’ve gotten from what reading I’ve been doing about both. Best of luck to you for college! :)</p>

<p>@SJCM: Alexandre indeed! :slight_smile: He’s been kind enough, in fact to offer to discuss these colleges with us, so we’re looking forward to that (what chance we’ll come back and start considering Michigan? ;))</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m not sure we’d be able to handle that! :eek: We’d get even more confused (if that’s even possible)…</p>

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<p>You know, given the fact that you have no strong preferences – I’d say follow the money – one of you can choose Rice, the other Berkeley. </p>

<p>It’s one thing when a kid has his heart set on a dream school… at least there’s an emotional reason for spending more … but it makes no sense to spend twice in the absence of a strong desire.</p>

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<p>I think that Rice is big enough for both of you to get away from the twin thing. I agree that all are fine choices, and there is a lot to be said for following the money.</p>

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<p>You will both be so very busy, and so deeply engaged in all of the wonderful and interesting things that you will discover to do at college that there’s virtually no chance of being stifled, even if you both matriculate at the very smallest of schools on your list. </p>

<p>As everyone else has already said, all are excellent choices; there is no way to really go wrong. Please do let us know what you decide.</p>

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<p>We’re both probably off to Berkeley.</p>

<p>(At least we’ll wait for a final quote from their Fin. Aid Office, but as of now, it’s heading Cal for us. :))</p>

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<p>Shrivats: Are you sure??? We are plugging for Rice here, because there are SO many opportunities for kids to do neat stuff - and there are not so many kids vying for those opportunities, like at Berkeley!! My DD, (not an engineering major) - is heading off soon for a 4-week trip to Nicaragua to help build a health clinic with Rice Engineers without Borders. (Look them up on the website, and see what cool things they are doing). This will cost her nothing, and she will gain valuable experience. Rice has lots of money for paid internships, (even if the position is a non-paying one), and funds for club sport travel, and funds for research and well-paid student jobs… Berkeley is cool, but you are in a system that is overcrowded and underfunded. At Berkeley here is NO hand-holding; no close support if you have health issues (like the bad case of mono my daughter had, or the leg injury or illness that jym626’s son had) and practically no easy-to-deal-with oncampus housing. The quality of academics is the same, but the attention and opportunities that can practically fall into your lap - that would be at Rice. Just my last plug. ;)</p>

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<p>they’ve decided on berkeley. It was probably difficult to come to that decisoin, so i suggest all of us stop second guessing it and instead wish the twins success at berkeley.</p>

<p>(subliminal message : duke is brilliant)</p>

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<p>@anxiousmom: Plug appreciated… ;)</p>

<p>That said, we’re pretty sure by now. As Regents we’re guaranteed on campus housing, advisers and the lot, plus as we’d both be going, that would be a fall back. That said, we’re not committing just yet, we’ll let some more time pass for our opinions to solidify. Also, we should get a quote soon, so once we have that in hand, we’ll know all that we need to, to make our final decision.</p>

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<p>Congrats to Shriv and K-Twin on a “probable” decision-
you know there will be more than a few posters- parents- who anxiously await your first US / college visit report :)</p>

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<p>In verse anyone? ;)</p>

<p>No, but seriously, I’m planning on writing biweekly status reports and well, impressions, I suppose in a bit of a group email to my teachers and friends here, as well as to a few people I’ve got to know well over at the International forum; if anyone’s interested I’ll forward at least the first few to you :slight_smile: ('course this is all up in the air, but I’m definitely doing the emails, (my school’s had a great influence upon me ('twas the subject of my essays) and it’s the least I can do to keep my teachers informed :)))</p>

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<p>Congratulations on your decision (assuming it is final). I think the Cal + Regents combo is great, with the latter taking a lot of the bite out of being at a huge (at times) impersonal university. Also, the Bay Area has so much to offer - even for impoverished Cal students without cars!</p>

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<p>Regents offers parking :); though we’re probably not buying cars just yet. That said, if the both of us do end up going to Cal, we’d have saved about 120-160K, ideas anyone? ;)</p>

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<p>toyota prius. :slight_smile: Congrats on your almost-made decision.</p>