Duke, Princeton, Yale or Georgia Tech....

[A930Rocket]

What's it going to be: Duke, Princeton, Yale or Georgia Tech? My son has been working hard at school and in his swimming. The above mentioned schools have flown him in for official visits to see the campuses and the meet the swim teams. He's been impressed with all of them, but now he has to make a decision. As for a major, he's been looking at engineering, pharmacy and pre-med.

We are in Charleston, SC so two are close by and two semi far away. If he was closer, we could visit him at school and see some of the meets. He's at that age where he wants to be independent, go away and rarely come home. His sister said the same thing and comes home from USC all the time.

We are reading up on all schools. Unfortunately, having to commit early, we don't have as much time as we would like.

Needless to say, we are proud of him and wish him the best.

Any pros or cons to the above schools?

Edit: My inclination would be Duke or Tech and not just for proximity.

[MrScott]

By no means comprehensive:

Duke: academically respected, nice campus, near downtown Durham, relatively safe (much better than years ago) small city. I live nearby. I believe they have a strong Med program, close to Duke and UNC hospitals.

Princeton: one of the most selective re: admissions (though my info may be outdated) and tough academically once you're in unlike some ivies (*cough* Harvard *cough*) Another beautiful campus. Princeton (the area) is much more a college town than Durham, definitely safe (people leave their front doors unlocked), upper-class.

Great schools, congratulations.

[Seahawk]

Embarrassment of riches. Well done to all of you.

Princeton and Yale have one foot in the tar pit, plus they are very cloistered schools with eastern cliques like you read about.

GT or Duke, easy.

[MBAtarga]

GT!!!

(GT grad, '84 EE)

[fred cook]

My son went to GT (not on a scholarship) and worked as a co-op at the GTRI lab while he was there. Great school, a butt load of hard work/classes with a diploma that is respected all over the world. When he graduated, he had 5-6 job offers to choose from. His degree is in Mechanical Engineering but he landed a job in the aerospace industry that he really enjoys. Hope this helps!

[gduke2010]

Duke

[MRM]

Can't go wrong with any of them, so go with wherever he feels most comfortable. Where he feels the best is probably where he'll do the best. Princeton has the reputation of being the most selective undergraduate school and has the best academics in the country. Princeton and Yale obviously have a network that will open doors that even Duke won't open, if that matters. If he's thinking Ivy for grad school, he might prefer Yale or Princeton because they give preferential treatment to Ivy undergraduates, and they give highest priority to their own graduates.

Tell him to go where it makes him happiest.

[Hard-Deck]

Columbia....

[flatbutt]

Well done on raising such a scholar. It it were my kid it would be Princeton #1, Yale#2, GT #3.

[Brian in VA]

Wow, congrats! Pre-med, pharmacy = Duke. Can't go wrong pre-med at a place with an amazing med school, volunteering in the labs would be great for the application process. Yale / Princeton would be my equal 2nd choice (both excellent though.) Of course the real answer is where he'll be happiest and that doesn't always follow logic.

[M.D. Holloway]

Notre Dame and don't look back...

Actually if given the choice of those 4 I would select Yale...

[nostatic]

Ivy league schools do give some advantages once you get out due to who you meet. That said, they also have a certain vibe that works for some, not for others.

I am not an ivy kinda guy, and frankly most Harvard grads I've dealt with had issues. When I visited Princeton I didn't like it but that was for grad school and the grad students are second class citizens to the undergrads.

GA Tech has some very good programs, especially in engineering and CS.

Also, I think the "pre med" major is a huge mistake. Actually best to major in non-science and just take the med pre-reqs separately. Undergrad is a time to get as much breadth as possible.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Embarrassment of riches. Well done to all of you.

+1. Congrats.

In the end, it should be the school that he thinks will fit him the best. We know nothing of your son's personality and traits, so that prohibits any of us from giving good advice.

Your son's an athlete, if the swim programs are flying him in to recruit him. Keep in mind that the Ivy League does not allow for any athletic scholarships. Tuition is what, $40K annually? Plus living expenses. In contrast, in grad school I had a classmate who swam for USC (the Trojans), and had just about everything paid for during his 4 years. Heck, he somehow even put some of his grad school textbooks on his athletic scholarship's tab.

If your son's serious about swimming all 4 years, obviously the flavor of the athletic programs will have a big impact on his life. I'm not a swimmer, so I have no idea how collegiate swim programs rank. He'll be spending 40 hours or more per week with those people. The coaches are going to teach him about life, not just swimming. Are you (as a parent) OK with those people being mentors?

Princeton, in particular, has a fantastic reputation for focus on undergraduate education. Some other schools have great names, but more due to their graduate program success than undergraduate teaching.

Yale's kinda artsy. IIRC, you don't apply to Yale--you apply to one of the 13 colleges that make up Yale. New Haven's a schitty town. Crime can happen anywhere, but you certainly think about your child's safety--particularly when you're hundreds of miles away.

Princeton and Yale are pretty small schools. There are only about 1400 incoming freshmen per year. They don't have many grad students. Duke also has a small undergrad population, but overall there are more grad students than undergrads. I don't know the student body sizes at GT.

There's value in attending a school far enough away from home that you don't just pop home for 3-day weekends and for mom to do the laundry. See how people in another part of the country think. Live in a rural setting if you come from a city, or vice versa.

This part is my opinion, but I think there's a reason why Yale and Princeton are considered part of the "Big Four" in collegiate academia. Maybe everyone on the outside looks down at the snob factor or cliqueiness. I suppose people think we're all rich jerks because we drive Porsches. But it's not just the panache of attending one of those schools. About 30 of my HS classmates attended Harvard/Princeton/Stanford/Yale. And I noticed that they seemed to have grander aspirations in life. Even compared to the kids who went to other Ivy League schools. It doesn't/didn't necessarily make them better or happier people. Maybe it is a superficial definition of success. But they went on to work and lead the big Fortune 500 companies and such. I attended a graduation at an Ivy League school. The one thing I remembered from all the speeches: the university president spoke, and supposedly he came across one soon-to-be-graduate who had transferred in (as opposed to having matriculated directly from HS). He asked her what the difference was between her previous school and this Ivy League school. And that student replied: "xxxxxxx students dream bigger dreams."

In the end, I think a kid should go to a school he/she better fits. If your kid is trying to narrow it down to these good schools, no matter where he goes he will be successful down the road. But if it comes up to a coin toss, my preference (finances permitting) would be to go for a Princeton or Yale.

[speeder]

Your son has been accepted by Princeton and Yale? I don't know much about Georgia Tech or Duke other than they are not spoken of in the same conversation as the first two, generally. Princeton is the #1 ranked college in the land. The competition to get into that school is insane, I would have a hard time turning them down.

Even Yale is probably easier to get into than Princeton, I'd imagine. My nephew, (sister's son), is a sophomore at Yale, he loves it and is rowing on the crew. He was an all-state swimmer in HS in Minnesota and did not try the athletic approach in applying, he wound up walking on the crew after he was enrolled. Your son must be really, really fast if those schools are recruiting him for swimming. Congrats if that's the case.

If he visits Yale and wants to meet my nephew, PM me and I'll hook it up. He's a nice guy and I'm sure that he'd be glad to meet him.

[speeder]

OK, eating my words quickly here. Duke is in fact ranked in the top 10 universities in the U.S. presently according to the US News and World Report rankings. Georgia Tech, while undoubtedly a fine school, is #36. I was correct in guessing that Princeton is ranked #1, ahead of Harvard/Yale/Stanford/MIT and the University of Chicago.

[rattlsnak]

He will get the best diversity/culture at GT, hands down, but I think it really depends on what he wants to major in. If he goes with engineering, then again GT is the clear winner.

[aigel]

I would prioritize as follows:

Princeton
Yale
Duke
GT

GT is a solid engineering school but not in the same zip code compared to the others. I believe the swimming is likely important to him now, but will it matter 20 years from now. I would not consider GT if I had the other 3 to choose from.

And yes, they are snobs, they aren't all great and we all have met idiots from top schools. But that said, all other things equal, the likelihood of professional success goes with the rank of the school. It wouldn't be a big deal otherwise.

Good Luck and congrats to you your son and your family! Good do have choices like these!!!

G

[speeder]

Ted Turner once made a joke when he was unsuccessful in trying to buy one of the major studios, (was it Paramount?)....

"I once cried because I had no movie studio. Then I met a man who had no professional sports teams."

These are the parents of the kids my nephew is going to school with.

[mattdavis11]

Given his academic excellence and athletic abilities, I'd mention that he should look at Vanderbilt. Great school, #1 conference when it comes to athletic competition.

Outstanding parenting!

Edit: No men's swimming team.

[MRM]

There are a couple of other things to remember when considering these four particular schools. First, within his area of subspecialty, the prestige of the department he wants to apply to, might be different than the prestige of that school to the general public. For instance, to the general public, Princeton and Yale are much higher prestige than Duke, which is much higher prestige the Georgia Tech. But, Georgia Tech has any number of engineering students who selected Georgia Tech over Duke, Harvard, Yale, etc., specifically because of the labs that Operate at Georgia Tech. The same holds true with why some people select Duke when they can go anywhere. Depending on his major, aspirations, one school may stand out to people in his discipline, and he should pay that school special attention.

Second, the old boys network, open doors and Protection Association that goes with Princeton or Yale, matters most if he wants to go in that direction. If he wants to be a public school teacher, it hardly matters whether he goes to Yale, Georgia Tech, or the University of South Carolina. But if he wants to be chief technology officer to a Fortune 100 company, you should look at what connections his school will bring with it.

Finally, if he thinks that he would fit in well with Yale or Princeton, heshouldn't turn up his nose in reverse – snobbery, he should be as comfortable going there as anywhere else. But considering that he wants to go into the biological sciences with an eye toward medical school, Duke is probably the one that stands out. Again, check out the Nobel Prize winners at each of the four schools, and you'll be very impressed. There's no way to make a wrong decision here, unless he chooses a school that doesn't suit him.