01-21-2013, 12:34 AM
As far as I can tell, the Duke quota is just a rumor. At Penn, the rumor was that the mayor, councilmen and governor each got a certain number of seats. Every campus has these stories. Some of them may even be true.Â
Even if Duke does have some publicly announced goal, I doubt that represents a real difference in what goes on. I find it hard to believe that other schools don't have similar goals. Given the proximity of the schools, I don't see any reason why Penn an Princeton would both have disproportionate representation from their home state without a thumb on the scale. The schools are only a few Amtrak stops apart. They have very different physical environments. But most of NJ does not identify culturally with the Princeton area and I doubt that most of Pennsylvania identifies with West Philadelphia.
Even if Duke does have some publicly announced goal, I doubt that represents a real difference in what goes on. I find it hard to believe that other schools don't have similar goals. Given the proximity of the schools, I don't see any reason why Penn an Princeton would both have disproportionate representation from their home state without a thumb on the scale. The schools are only a few Amtrak stops apart. They have very different physical environments. But most of NJ does not identify culturally with the Princeton area and I doubt that most of Pennsylvania identifies with West Philadelphia.