I’m mildly surprised Chicago didn’t make the cut. Is it possible for a college to be more aggressive with its marketing? It still struggles with name recognition, I suppose.
Duke was a very hot school in the early 2000s, but the admissions office has been content to rest on its laurels for too long. Additionally, urban schools have become very popular with college applicants, and Duke’s location is not attractive to many, especially compared to other southern schools like Vandy and Rice. Finally, it’s perhaps worth noting that Duke’s most popular programs have long been public policy, economics, and BME and biology; the declining interest in finance/econ among top students in favor of hot fields like CS has not worked in Duke’s favor. (Brown has seen a 17% decline in econ majors and a 310% increase in CS majors over the past decade.)
I wonder why PR refers to Harvard College but not to the undergraduate colleges at the other universities.