Duke or Georgetown..which would you choose??

Same choice - I think it wonderful that you think highly of Georgetown's ability to supply connections, but having done really well in grad school at Georgetown (and not done quite as well at Duke), the number of connections made at Duke, at least for me, were greater. In fairness, maybe I did not need them so much at Georgetown at that stage in my life. Schools are what you make them.

Duke is more than just "another" good school. It and Stanford stand alone on the athletic/academic plane. My kids went to arguably the best high school in the country. It is a fantastic barometer of college admission. It sends 25-30 a year to Duke, and 10-15 to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Over 125 go to UVa. Georgetown is not an easy place to get in, but from that high school it is not as difficult to gain admission to as with Duke or Dartmouth, two places I would consider about even in terms of difficulty (with Dartmouth getting a slight edge). I am not sure that this matters - all of these places offer wonderful opportunities, and again what counts is personal fit. That is really the point - more than a few ratings points here or there or anecdotal beliefs.

And the elephant in the room has not been discussed - debt and money. For example, if one lives in Virginia or California it is incredibly difficult to justify doing anything other than going to UVa or Cal. The cost/benefit ratio is fantastic. And good money deals (academic scholarships preferably included - I don't like athletic scholarships) at other flagship state schools are really, really worth a look. The answer because of finances is a lot different in 2012 than it was in 2004. Debt (or saddling parents with debt) makes far less sense now. One has to make a non-ego driven decision which really has academics and value in mind.

By the way, the OP is a fine young athlete. This makes it harder to make the right decisions about academics and the like (the long run is always important). But again it is more crucial than ever.

It depends on the student. UNC is on par with UVA. I have been a student at both schools. Both UVA and UNC have less academically-gifted students because they are state schools.

Out of state, UNC is probably the most difficult of the four to get into. In state, it is definitely the easiest (but still not easy).

I do not know enough about the V schools.

Vanderbilt is an expensive club for wealthy families to proect their children from having to go to a state school and be outcompeted there as well. Vanderbilt sells a kind of prestige for a high price. Vanderbilt A and B students would have been B or C students at Duke, had they gotten in.

Lots of the TJ kids go to UVA for the in state tuition. Relatively few would go to Georgetown, as for them it's both a local school and private school tuition. The OP is coming from the West, so those kinds of local considerations don't apply. She is considering two good private schools, both with good teams. None of my children went to a school local to us. Part of the college experience, for many kids, is the opportunity for a chosen adventure.

YEA ! No Asian Exclusion at Duke or Georgetown. That means it should be easy for whites to get in.

Easy Peasy wrote:

YEA ! No Asian Exclusion at Duke or Georgetown. That means it should be easy for whites to get in.

Easier to get in Duke and Georgetown for white children because they don't exclude Asians??? Whatever.

I believe you must be referring to UNC. That school is full of white North Carolina kids. By the way, to the poster that said it is difficult to get in UNC as an out of state student. Of course it is difficult but only because NC has a state law that mandates that all its state schools consist of 82% NC residents.

G-Town.

duke guys team is hotter

excuse me but has everyone forgotten that Duke just had the NCAA champ at 10k and the 3rd place finisher at 1500m??????? They cant be all that bad

Since there is NO Asian-Exclusion it means Asians don't try to get in thoze schools and it's a cake for whites to get in. Princeton, Stanford, Yale, on the other hand lock out Asians by inspecting the applicants last name to keep the campus majority white.

I say that because the Duke program seems really confusing...it seems like one year they are good but the next they cant even make it to nationals. Does anyone know anything about the coach??

duke girls only eat salad....nothing else. they need some meat (the food). go to g-town. its cool they have a track its just short...they just won nats.

Wide Range wrote:

TrackCoach wrote:

If you are specifically targeting schools with strong academic credentials, don’t overlook, Nova, UNC, UVA and Vanderbilt.

Mr. Coach, if you do look carefully, you find that only UVA from your list would be academically comparable to Georgetown or Duke.

Villanova, North Carolina, and Vanderbilt are good, as opposed to bad academic schools, but most all of their students could not get into Georgetown, Duke, or UVA. V, NC and V professors, for the most part, work with lower ability students, and teach down to them. The challenges are higher and the education is better when you go to a school with better students, such as Geotgetown, Duke, or UVA. The same would be true at an even higher level, such as Harvard, Stanford or Princeton, even higher standards.

Not to get technical, but UNC, UVA and Vanderbilt are all about the same. And UVA is definitely not comparable to Duke, Stanford is the only non Ivy that has an equal reputation to Duke and I'm not sure if UVA is on par with G'town. With that said, UVA is a very good school, but so is Nova, UNC and Vanderbilt.

Of the schools mentioned, they should be ranked

Ivies

Stanford trumps Georgetown on research, Georgetown trumps Stanford on quality of undergrad. From personal experience I can say the quality of students at the Ivies and Georgetown is the same. Stanford is a little light in this department.

Duke, UVA

Vanderbuilt

UNC, Villanova

Sorry, but UNC and Nova are nowhere near the quality of Georgetown.

To answer again the OP's question: Georgetown trumps Duke. DC trumps whatever town that Duke is in.

Quick Kick wrote:

Of the schools mentioned, they should be ranked

Ivies

Stanford trumps Georgetown on research, Georgetown trumps Stanford on quality of undergrad. From personal experience I can say the quality of students at the Ivies and Georgetown is the same. Stanford is a little light in this department.

Duke, UVA

Vanderbuilt

UNC, Villanova

Sorry, but UNC and Nova are nowhere near the quality of Georgetown.

To answer again the OP's question: Georgetown trumps Duke. DC trumps whatever town that Duke is in.

---------------

I like G'Town too, but your statement is false, "quality of students at the Ivies and Georgetown is the same". I think you overrate G'Town and underrate Duke. Perhaps it is just perception, but Stanford and Duke get a lot of Ivy league caliber students who want to remain the south or west coast, but I don't think a kid would pass up U of Penn to go to Georgetown.

Quick Kick wrote:

Of the schools mentioned, they should be ranked

Ivies

Stanford trumps Georgetown on research, Georgetown trumps Stanford on quality of undergrad. From personal experience I can say the quality of students at the Ivies and Georgetown is the same. Stanford is a little light in this department.

Duke, UVA

Vanderbuilt

UNC, Villanova

Sorry, but UNC and Nova are nowhere near the quality of Georgetown.

To answer again the OP's question: Georgetown trumps Duke. DC trumps whatever town that Duke is in.

You are absolutely wrong. I have never met anyone - georgetown grads included - who has claimed georgetown is equivalent to stanford, let alone Duke (both of which are better than Cornell - all ivies are not alike, dude). Duke is head and shoulders above GT.

As a true school snob, I'll give my rankings:

Duke>>Vandy=GT=UVA>UNC>>>>>>Nova

Academically

Duke>Vanderbilt>Georgetown>UVA>UNC>Nova

2011 XC

Georgetown 1st NCAA - DC

Nova 3rd NCAA - Villanova, PA

Vanderbilt 6th NCAA - Nashville, TN

UVA 20th NCAA - Charlottesville, VA

UNC did not qualify (3rd in Southeast Region) - Chapel Hill, NC

Duke did not qualify (5th in Southeast Region) - Durham, NC

Quick Kick wrote:

Of the schools mentioned, they should be ranked

Ivies

Stanford trumps Georgetown on research, Georgetown trumps Stanford on quality of undergrad. From personal experience I can say the quality of students at the Ivies and Georgetown is the same. Stanford is a little light in this department.

Duke, UVA

Vanderbuilt

UNC, Villanova

Sorry, but UNC and Nova are nowhere near the quality of Georgetown.

To answer again the OP's question: Georgetown trumps Duke. DC trumps whatever town that Duke is in.

You are just wrong. Here are the US News & World Report rankings:

Stanford 5

Duke 10

Georgetown 22

UVA 25

UNC 29

It is Duke that is most comparable to Stanford. Georgetown is the school that is more like UVA and UNC. Have no idea where you are getting your "facts".

However, regarding the Director's Cup, Stanford won again for the 17th straight year. However, Duke finished 5th, UNC - 6th, UVA - 7th, but Georgetown was way down the list at 55th.

I live in Virginia and don't find DC appealing at all. Would definitely not call it a college town. It is a matter of opinion, but give me Durham, Chapel Hill, or Charlottesville, anyday.

Vanderbilt is #17. Also placed 6th @ NCAA cross in first appearance this year. Keith has good things going on down in Nashville.