<p>hope4freeride, I lived in New England for 15 years before returning to the midwest a while ago. In my opinion, the fact that northeastern students prefer Duke over Vanderbilt says nothing about the relative “quality” of the schools or the education they offer. A lot of these kids just don’t want to leave the east coast. </p>
<p>As for which school is “better”, I can’t really comment beyond what other posters have said: it depends on your priorities. Vanderbilt has a reputation for valuing its undergraduate program very highly, its faculty members are very engaged with their undergraduate students, and the administration puts a lot of time, attention and money into the undergraduate program. In my personal opinion, this aspect of Vanderbilt puts it head and shoulders above many other highly ranked institutions.</p>
<p>Students need to think about what sort of overall experience they are looking forward to, and then visit with those priorities in mind. My son is very happy and successful at Vanderbilt, but he has friends who can say the same about Duke.</p>