First off, you cannot go wrong. We toured all three.
- UNC - My D grew up loving UNC from afar. Even had unc in her email address. When we flew in from Colorado, she said it was all local kids talking about North Carolina high schools, which was very different than the other schools we toured. Crossed UNC off immediately. Frankly, I had visited Chapel Hill before a couple of times and UNC and liked it just walking around, but I also walked away from the tour and campus visit thinking you really can feel the 82% in-state vibe. It wasn’t for her. Of the public schools, Michigan was by far her favorite and she almost matriculated there. UM is only 50% in-state.
- Duke - I loved it. She crossed it off. Felt it was too “geeky” like her Northwestern visit (my alma mater). She’s a geek, but maybe wanted to be pulled out of her bookish shell self. Duke is hard to beat academically.
- Vanderbilt - We both loved Vandy. Just such a great cross-section of kids who work hard, but enjoy life too. Very different discussions when 91% are out-of-state or International students. She’s a Vanderbilt student. My daughters are/were so busy all the time and have done so many interesting things. They say Vanderbilt students have high aspirations and try so hard, but they also go out of their way to help each other out. Dorms, food, all that other daily stuff are fantastic. Vanderbilt always ranks very high on quality of life, students love their school, etc. surveys. Nashville is a great town too. My other daughter was an Economics major at Vanderbilt and she says Vanderbilt changed her life.