Duke vs NYU: Which is more prestigious OVERALL (not just for MBA)?

Question

Which university is considered more prestigious overall (rankings, brand, academics, and other intangible aspects)?

I'm mainly concerned about the OVERALL university's brand (i.e. business school's brand is just one of the aspects) and not just their business school's brand.

I've used various major aspects to compare both these universities. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue and any other aspects that I might have overlooked below.

International Rankings:
Looking at the 5-year averages, Duke ranks higher than NYU (i.e. 2-10 ranks difference) in almost all international rankings except for reputation rankings, in which NYU is marginally better (~3 ranks difference). The gap for overall international rankings was even greater but NYU’s ranking has gradually improved over the last few years.

National Rankings:
Again, looking at the 5-year averages, Duke ranks much higher than NYU in all national rankings: Duke is top 5 or 10 in almost all rankings (i.e. ranks equal or higher than most ivy-league schools) while NYU ranges from 27 to 125.

University Name:
I believe Duke is highly recognized in the US but not many people know about it internationally. Everyone's heard of NYU since it has "New York" in it (i.e. name speaks for itself).

Nobel Prize Winners:
NYU has more Nobel laureates, Turning Award winners and fields medalists than Duke, which might be due to the difference in # of students.

Selectivity/Notable People:
Duke (16000 students) vs NYU (52000 students). Hence, Duke is more selective but NYU might have more famous alumni (partially due to its famous film school) and more students.

Undergrad Admissions Rate:
Over last 8 years: Duke (7.7-11.6%) vs NYU (15.3-32.3%). NYU's acceptance rate has been going down rapidly in the recent years.

City/Campus/Weather/Culture:
NYU = Duke. While NYU has the city advantage, almost all big recruiters come to Duke. Duke has a much nicer, bigger campus. Due to smaller city, students at Duke might be more collaborative and supportive of each other. Duke has better weather.

Sports:
Duke > NYU. For NCAA, Duke plays in Div I while NYU plays in Div III.

Business School:
While NYU Stern is older than Duke Fuqua, Duke Fuqua ranks higher marginally in almost all MBA related rankings if we look at the last 5-year averages. Duke sends more people in Tech (27%) than NYU (17%), but that's not my concern since I have a strong Tech background. I'd prefer moving to West coast post-MBA since it has more opportunities in Tech. While Duke Fuqua is only for graduate studies, making it more exclusive, NYU Stern is for both undergraduate and graduate studies, with the potential of having more number of notable alumni. Money isn't a factor.

Endowment:
Duke (> $8.5 billion) > NYU (< $4.5 billion). More money = better students & ability to compete against other top universities.

Future/Potential:
I believe NYU's image will definitely improve overall since it's in NYC. Hard to project the future for Duke: can it overtake other leading/richer universities?

suvandna · Answer

I'd really appreciate some feedback from the experts: 
 mbaMissionKate   ApplicantLab   Admissionado   Squareoneprep   PaulLanzillotti   AvantiPrep   VeritasPrepMarisa   StratusDonna 
 bb   Narenn   GMATNinja

bb · Answer

Good try but the end of graduate university‘s reputation does not usually translate into a success of the business school. It definitely helps in certain cases to attract more people with greater name recognition but at the end of the day, the business school needs to stand in its own 2 feet. Look at Notre Dame for example or John Hopkins....

People who have gone to highly rated undergraduate universities, tend to go to highly rated business schools. Eg Notre Dame graduates, go to Harvard and Stanford, not Mendoza.

Bottom line, the business school end they undergraduate college are separate entities. It helps to have a well recognized name when you’re doing your laundry at the laundromat but probably not so much when you’re trying to recruit in the business world among people who are well aware of the pecking order in the business school rankings and selectivity of certain programs.

My 2 cents. Would love to hear a different opinion

Posted from my mobile device

suvandna · Answer

Thanks for that thoughtful reply!

I agree! I was thinking of choosing based on the overall university brand since I believe Duke Fuqua and NYU Stern are peer schools in most aspects such as rankings and selectivity. While NYU Stern always has a higher GMAT average, it usually has a similar acceptance rate and slightly lower yield rate compared to Duke Fuqua in recent years. I know NYU Stern's acceptance rate was much lower around 2012 while Duke Fuqua's was around the same as of now. I believe Duke Fuqua has a really slight edge when it comes to peer and recruiter assessments taken as part of the US News MBA rankings.

bb  I'd love to hear more details regarding the general reputation of those MBA programs (Duke Fuqua vs NYU Stern) and the wider universities (Duke vs NYU). Thanks!

suvandna · Answer

I personally think that overall university brand can make a slight different when picking between peer schools.

For example, Yale SOM, founded in 1976 (i.e. the youngest business school among top 15 now), really managed to boost their rankings over the last few years from top 25 to top 10. I believe it's mainly due to the help of the wider university in terms of funding and overall reputation. I know that might be bit of an extreme case.

Admissionado · Answer

Duke is a more prestigious school. The one exception may be that NYU Stern may be more desirable amongst the finance types.

Otherwise, just look at the rankings. Duke is consistently considered a top tier school on par with the Ivy League and comparable institutions (Stanford, UChicago, MIT etc.) while NYU is a step or two below. All the slices and dices you have laid out are no doubt interesting for comparable purposes, but your question is about prestige overall which is kind the opposite of looking at each school category by category. Prestige is derived from an overall opinion, reputation, viewpoint, etc.

I am also not sure what you mean by future/potential. Not all that much is changing about either school, certainly not enough to drastically shift their prestige factor. It would take a "revolutionary" type of event or scandal of epic proportions to have that type of effect. These reputations and positions are generally set in stone.

JohnnyBlaze · Answer

Yale's b-school ranking went up over the past 10 yrs because they started running the school correctly, nothing to do w/ the parent university.

Both Duke / NYU are great schools, but I would give the pedigree edge to Duke. NYU still suffers from the 'couldn't get into Columbia' overhang.

Best of luck.

MBASomeTime · Answer

When it's specific to Stern I'd say it's a lot closer. This year, Stern had a lower admit rate than Duke (5.6 vs 5.8%) and a higher median SAT (1550 at Stern, but most didn't apply this year with a score for Duke). Perhaps it's a valid comparison as Duke doesn't have an undergraduate business program.

Peer programs at the MBA level.

Peer programs at the MBA level.

Duke vs NYU: Which is more prestigious OVERALL (not just for MBA)?

Duke vs NYU: Which is more prestigious OVERALL (not just for MBA)?

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