Duke University Top Questions

For some reason I've never really understood, Duke students are stereotyped to be toolish jerks. According to this stereotype, they are rich, Northeastern kids who party all the time and have little regard for the people around them. Growing up a UNC fan in North Carolina, I am well aware of this sentiment. However, for the most part, it is utterly false. Although there are toolish jerks at Duke (just as there are at any school), Duke is an incredibly diverse campus with people from all walks of life. Not everyone is rich and there is not stigma against those who don't have as much money as others - in fact, it's almost impossible to tell who has money and who doesn't. However, there is one notable area in which Duke students do conform to their stereotype; within some (but not all) fraternities in the Greek scene, men tend to homogenize into one kind of person - and that person is often a tool. Yet this is only a portion of the Greek scene, and a vast minority of the Duke student body. As a whole, I'd say the correct stereotype about Duke is students who are passionate. Students get whole-heartedly involved in all aspects of their school, from social to academic to athletic to extracurricular. They are passionate about their studies, their fellow students, and their school.

A Duke student confronts the perception that all Duke students are rich, spoiled, and future CEOs.

A Duke student tackles the "overachiever" stereotype associated with the student body.

A Duke students talks about the perceived arrogance in the student body.

A Duke student talks about the "nerd" stereotypes associated with the school.

Duke student Marissa talks about some of the stereotypes associated with the Duke student body.

Yes, for the most part. Our girls are not hot on the average, but that does not mean that the playing field is not less fun or intriguing. There are some diamonds in the rough. No, we really aren't all nerds (except for the grad school kids). And while many Dukies are WASP-ie, there are just as many modest and only kinda' rich kids.

Duke: Yeas, the administration here sucks and you can get away with what the school thinks won't attract attention, but they get Stalinist on anything that the media might be interested in. Students: Certainly a lot of money, but I'm sure there are poor people here.

I feel that this stereotype is a far stretch of the truth. Albeit, there is a large number of students who may be considered better than "well-off;" however, the idea that the number of students who aren't rich and stuck up is negligable when compared to those who are is none other than a derivative of ignorace. I for one come from one of the poorest cities in the nation (Camden, NJ), and by no means do I feel like I do not fit in. Duke has done a better job in the past years with bringing students from all walks of life and backgrounds to campus, which, I feel, refutes the claim the most of us are stuck up rich kids.

The stereotypes about "effortless perfection" seem to be true. Duke students work very hard in all facets of their lives yet they appear to be very happy, attractive, well put together, etc. I don't know about the rest. But people at duke work very hard at everything, not just academics, but the social scene is very competitive, you have to constantly be aggressive and determined when going to a bar or frat party or any type of social gathering.