Duke University Top Questions

The athletic events on campus are the glue to life at Duke. Its what brings us all together, transcedning the various categories of people we are affiliated with. When it comes to athletics, we all are Dukies! or even better Cameron Crazies! We have several traditions relating to athletics like K-Ville, which I meantioned prior. In addition we have the tradition of climbing the chapel before you graduate and burning benches when we beat UNC in basketball (the best tradition of them all). If I am up at 2am on Tuesday its because I procrastinated with my friends in the common room all day long!

Hard....social life/ activities are very hard. Hookup culture is very prominent. after 5pm people's matuaty levels steadily decline. The kid who is curing cancer in the day light is the same guy drunk and making an ass out of himself at the bars at night. the social scene is very competitive, just as competitive as the academic scene.

Basketball games are obviously the biggest sporting event that everyone goes to, but football and soccer games are fun too. Many people leave their doors while they are around. If you like a good party, you can be sure you'll find one easily on a Friday or Saturday night, but if that's not your thing, you can usually find somebody with a car to go to a movie or get a meal at Cookout.

Its really easy to get involved and athletic events, especially basketball and lacrosse, are popular. A lot of people say Duke is a hook-up school, but I know a lot of people in relationships. Greek life is sort of big, but it wont ruin your social life if your not greek.

Whole lot of drinking. People generally go to house/frat parties and drink or drink before hand and go to a strip of clubs nearby to dance and possibly hook up (you will learn all about Shooters, dont worry). I suppose there are people who dont drink, I'm not sure what they do, there are mediocre concerts at the coffeehouse I would sometimes go to. Ummm, yea. Basketball games I guess.

Basketball obviously is big, but dwindling due to the relatively poor play recently. Football games are not attended very well, but the early morning tail-gates are the place to be fall saturdays. There is a consistent party scene Fridays and Saturdays, of course, with some going out Wednesdays and Thursdays as well. But to be sure, the population of kids who are out on Fridays and Saturdays is optimistically 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the school, and the Wednesday and Thursdays with even slimmer pickings. Fraternities are surprisingly influential in the party life, with, I would say, a majority of all parties I attended being a frat function of some kind. However, once you've been out a couple weekends in a row, you end up going to the same 2 grungy clubs at least one of your 3 weekend days. So naturally it can become a bit monotonous.

People are involved in many things. There are a ton of sports fans which is fun. Also, greek life is a great social option, but there are plenty of people who don't go greek too. Students also really get into big speakers coming to campus and I foudn myself broadening my horizons due to my classmates interests in things I never knew anything about! I met my closest friends in the most random ways, like waiting in line for food or just in my dorm or my partner in math! There is ALWAYS something to do socially and also ALWAYS someone to stay in with you and just watch a movie on a tired Friday night!

Lets see.... I think the social life at Duke is really fun. One thing I would change is the way that the sororities and fraternities mix, because it doesn't really change that much so when you go out it is often with the same people. The freshman dorms on the main quad are great because they are small and people leave their doors open pretty much until they go to sleep. My floor was great because of about 30 people, I was good friends with about 20 of them, including my RAs. Everyone at Duke says that the dating scene is pretty much non-existent and that it is predominately a hookup culture, which is true, and quite frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I joined in on the um....practices, but I would rather go on dates and get to know guys than make out with them on the dance floor. On a typical weekend, I pregame in my dorm (which for freshman is "illegal" cause the campus is dry-depends on your RAs....mine were awesome and drank with us on the last day of school) and then go to a club. Usually shooters if dancing is in the cards or devines if not. Normally I go out with girls in my sorority about once a week and the dance team about once a week and the people in my dorm the other night. I would recommend getting a fake ID if you go out because after I got one, I was much less afraid of getting caught drinking underage.

There are parties every weekend. It's pretty sweet. Frats and sororities throw section parties on campus or host one at a local club. But there's other things to do on campus besides drinking. There are movies hosted by Freewater, a lot of cool local restaurants, and you can always play sports out on the quad.

Extracurriculars dominate most peoples lives, honestly... Most people spend more time with their extracurriculars than their actual studies. But it is really what Duke does- they breed leaders, and you don't become a leader in a classroom, you become a leader in clubs and activities. Basketball events=heaven. Because Durham isn't exactly hopping, almost everyone stays on campus all the time. You can find a party, a movie showing in the Union, or just a random group of friends hanging out in the dorm on any Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night. You will find people you feel comfortable with, it just make take a year to do it.