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Does anyone here go to Duke University or Washington University in St. Louis?

Do you like it there?

By DUKIE on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 01:11 am: Edit

Being a freshman at Duke, I can tell you it's great. I'm interested in biological sciences, so I was considering between these two universities when I was applying. My word of advice is this: you can never guarantee what degree/major you're going to end up choosing by the end of those 4 years, so Duke is a better choice. Its political science and public policy programs are just as good as its sciences; the economics department is also highly rated. Duke truly has a wide variety of quality programs to choose from, allowing students to become acquainted with multiple disciplines (and of course we're just as good at drinking/partying as we are in academics).

P.S. The first year writing program might sound really scary at first, but it's actually very interesting because of the small group discussions that occur during the class.

By Weird on Friday, January 31, 2003 - 09:16 pm: Edit

That's really odd, I applied and got into both Washington University and Duke last year. Also, Virginia and Cornell. I ended up choosing Cornell, so I'm sorry that I can't comment on those fine schools. I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience at either place! I didn't know what I wanted to study, so looking across all departments I determined that Cornell and Duke were probably stronger in breadth than Virginia, which is probably as much or more stronger than Washington U. On a close comparison of Cornell and Duke across all departments I was interested in, I determined that Cornell offered the most consistant success across all fields.

I will say one thing for Duke -- it is not NEARLY as hard (my parents would say "challenging") as my school once you get there. Some schools want you to have a life, others want you to become an expert in your field before you even get to graduate school.