Duke University Top Questions

The best way to describe the outside and inside opinion of Duke is to compare it to the New York Yankees in the sense that if you're not a Duke fan, student, alum or staff then you absolutely hate everything Duke. You think that they have too much money, you hate on their teams and you just hate on Duke. But, if you go to Duke you love it. The school spirit and the academics, the social scene and the people. Everything on that campus makes Duke what it is today. Having said that, it is not a perfect campus by any means. Greek life (we also have selective living groups, which can be included in this category) is a bigger part of campus life than some people want to believe. The thing about Duke is you need to join some organization when you get here. You cannot just sit by and watch your college life pass you by without joining some type of organization. It could be a sorority/fraternity, a selective living group, Duke Student Government, Duke University Union, a club sport, or an academic group, but everyone in some way or another is part of an organization. Additionally, the students and the administration have some issues. There are some administrators on this campus who truly believe in the power of the student body and are trying to help them in their academic and social endeavors. However, there are powerful administrators who do not listen to the student body. These people tend to worry more about issues concerning Duke's appearance to the outside world rather than the issues facing Duke students on Duke's own campus. Duke students have had their fair share of issues over the past couple of years. The most recent is the change in the House Model - no one understands how the house system will be altered or how it will work, but we will see soon enough come August. We've had Tailgate issues, gender issues, and Greek issues to name a few. What is most interesting about these issues, though, is that most of the response stemmed from how the administration responded to the issue and how they handled the student body. Duke students do not believe they should be treated like children. They value their opinion and truly believe they can bring change to the campus, community, country and world. So, when they are not consulted on issues that will directly affect the campus culture or student life at Duke they become resistant and oppositional. Most of the controversy at Duke lies in this fact: if the administration consulted the students more when making campus culture changes and truly valued and used parts of the student's opinions and ideas then there would be less push-back. Despite these complaints or controversies, people who go to Duke love their experience at Duke because Duke is not just a university, it is a feeling. People who go to Duke are proud to say they go there.

Great school overall, although it takes getting used to. Beautiful campus, encapsuled community, and good opportunities for outside engagements if you so desire them. Can be superficial at times, but that exists at most private colleges. Overall, 8/10, but you will definitely have a memorable experience there.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love Duke. Truly. But that's just me. Generally, I’d say that you get out what you put in at a school like Duke. Four years ago, I stepped onto campus as a college freshman eager to try my hand at everything. Coming all the way from a tiny town in Arkansas, I wanted to meet as many people as I could. I wanted to sign up for student groups, play intramural sports, take all the best classes, audition for shows, and more. Now, as my undergraduate life draws to a close, I can honestly say that I succeeded. There are so many opportunities for valuable experiences here that I was overwhelmed at first. Throughout the years, I was able to narrow my interests and prioritize my time. I was never disappointed. I am an English major, and I just completed my thesis in creative writing (you can write anything you want!). I’m an education minor and have volunteered at local elementary schools in Durham every semester. As a musical theater actor, I’ve done 4 shows in the last year. I started the Duke Baking Club. In March, I won the Intramural Basketball Rec League championship in Cameron Indoor Stadium. And all that is in addition to keeping up with my favorite Xbox games. The only limit to what you can do at Duke is your own imagination. My point in saying all this is to say that you, the student, make up what a college “is”. Classes are important, of course, but they only fill up 8-12 hours of the week (not counting homework). And, at Duke, you don’t have to worry about quality in that area. Duke professors are some of the best at what they do. What you do for the rest of the week , though, is up to you and your fellow students. Duke has pride and tradition. Duke has diversity. Duke is really, and without wanting to sound clichéd, what YOU make it.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love Duke. Truly. But that's just me. Generally, I’d say that you get out what you put in at here. Four years ago, I stepped onto campus as a college freshman eager to try my hand at everything. Coming all the way from a tiny town in Arkansas, I wanted to meet as many people as I could. I wanted to sign up for student groups, play intramural sports, take all the best classes, audition for shows, and more. Now, as my undergraduate life draws to a close, I can honestly say that I succeeded. There are so many opportunities for valuable experiences here that I was overwhelmed at first. Throughout the years, I was able to narrow my interests and prioritize my time. I was never disappointed. I am an English major, and I just completed my thesis in creative writing (you can write anything you want!). I’m an education minor and have volunteered at local elementary schools in Durham every semester. As a musical theater actor, I’ve done 4 shows in the last year. I started the Duke Baking Club. In March, I won the Intramural Basketball Rec League championship in Cameron Indoor Stadium. And all that is in addition to keeping up with my favorite Xbox games. The only limit to what you can do at Duke is your own imagination. My point in saying all this is to say that you, the student, make up what a college “is”. Classes are important, of course, but they only fill up 8-12 hours of the week (not counting homework). And, at Duke, you don’t have to worry about quality in that area. Duke professors are some of the best at what they do. What you do for the rest of the week , though, is up to you and your fellow students. Duke has pride and tradition. Duke has diversity. Duke is really, and without wanting to sound clichéd, what YOU make it.

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I genuinely love Duke and truly believe that I wouldn’t be this happy at any other university. The best part of being at this university is being surrounded by students who possess such an amazing balance in their lives. The students achieve unbelievable successes in their academic endeavors and produce outstanding work, yet they maintain a healthy and active social life. Everyone I know is deeply involved with something other than just academics, whether it is sports, dancing, cultural clubs, or social activism. But the students are only able to fully explore all their interests because Duke provides so much for them. The countless opportunities and doors this university opens for its students still astounds me on a daily basis. Programs such as DukeEngage offers students with the chance to go abroad basically anywhere in the world for an entire summer—without financial and safety constraints—and participate in another culture through community service. It is also unusual that a university of this academic standing also has a long and excellent history of athletics and arts. Most students spend a lot of time on campus which is great because you truly get a feel for the Duke community. However, it is easy to get stuck in the “Duke bubble” and not venture out into the surrounding communities and cities nearby. This tendency to stay on campus with fellow Duke students is one of the more commonly heard critiques of Duke. But nevertheless, this environment produces a deep feeling of Duke pride and loyalty. My favorite and happiest memory will always be from my freshman year after the Duke men’s basketball team won the national championships. The entirety of the Duke community came together on the main quad in a sea of Duke blue to celebrate this great victory together.

Duke is an amazing school. I chose Duke because it is the perfect balance of "work" and "play." The classes are challenging, engaging, and rewarding. There are so many opportunities for research, civic engagement (what other college offers an 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} free summer abroad to their students?), extracurricular activities, and more. Amazing speakers and events come to the school every year, affording the students opportunities to listen to and witness truly life-changing things. Additionally, the campus is incredibly accomodating. The Women's Center, the LGBT Center, BSA, ASA, Mi Gente... the list goes on. All are welcome and included at Duke. Duke students are super involved in EVERYTHING and student life is amazing. Yet the students don't take life too seriously - a problem I encountered in some of my college visits. They know how to kick back and have fun. Whether it be the midnight Disney sing-a-longs, the hilariously trashy Western night club that is Shooters II, or the AMAZING basketball games, Duke students understand that college is not just an academic experience, but one where you grow culturally and socially. And, a little-known fact, it is one of the only top-10 schools that offers merit scholarships. I am able to go to Duke through the Benjamin N. Duke Scholars program, a full-cost scholarship that covers everything except books. Duke is an absolutely amazing institution that is constantly working to improve itself, and the students absolutely love it.

Its hard to choose the best thing about your university. There are so many parts of the school that contribute to your experience, so picking just one seems unfair and incongruous. So I'll try and choose something that transcends a "thing", something that I personifies the University: so, my favorite part about Duke is it's energy. The energy of the students, of the campus, of Durham (the town around Duke), of our athletic teams, and of community service. You step on campus, and the energy and enthuaism are palpable. There is never a dull moment at Duke. With 7,000 students, you walk around every day seeing people you know and yet, you can still meet a new person every day until you graduate. While the current administration is not popular, it has sparked an unprecedented level of student involvement, protest, and engagement with the workings of the school. Again, energy. Student complaints and disatisfaction are not left in the colums of the student newspaper, they are discussed, debated, brought to the administration, reworked, reinterpreted, and ultimately resolved. So while there are things I would change at Duke, I need not worry, because its probably already happening.

As a senior, I only now realize how many opportunities I have let pass me by while at Duke. If I could change one thing about my undergraduate career, it would be to go to more free performances, lectures and events held on campus. Yes, Duke basketball is a key part of student life, and yes I have spent the greater part of my Spring semester in a tent for the Duke-UNC game, but Duke offers so many different enriching experiences outside of Cameron stadium. There is live jazz on Wednesday nights and you can usually get a $5 student ticket to a Duke Performance on Fridays and Saturdays. Duke is not a typical college town school. It creates its own community separate from and yet still part of Durham. At times this can give you a skewed sense of reality, making those few instances where you step off campus feel like you are stepping into a different country. However, Duke's isolation allows it to create its own metropolitan culture of learning and achievement. In their first two years, students might interact minimally with the greater Durham community since there is little need for them to leave campus. However, Durham offers its own art and food scene that is beginning to gain greater recognition on campus. As a senior living off campus, I find a new and fascinating Durham hangout almost on a weekly basis. I am constantly pleasantly surprised by what the community has to offer those who are willing to look for it.

I love my university! My favorite thing about Duke is the students. You have to opportunity to interact with people from not only across the nation but from around the world as well. Everyone has had unique experiences, and I've yet to meet a "boring" person at Duke. It's fun (and educational!) to learn about the different cultures and experiences of your peers. I have a hard time saying what I don't like about Duke, but if I had to pick something I would say the cost. Financial aid at Duke is really good, but it's still painful when every tuition bill comes in. With that being said, an education at Duke is definitely worth the cost. The size of Duke is perfect. You see new faces all the time, but you still run into familiar ones across campus. Just on a normal day out, I pass a lot of my friends or people I know from classes, but I also feel like there are enough people that I can continue to make new friends all the time. I definitely prefer the size of Duke over something larger. Most of my friends from high school ended up going to our in-state public university which as about 50k students. That is too big for me, and I'm happy with my choice to come to Duke. I always get a positive reaction when I tell people I go to Duke. People know it's a good school, and they are generally very impressed. Usually I feel like I have to downplay it because I don't want to feel like I am bragging about where I go to school. When I'm back home and people ask me where I go to school, I'll say, "I go to school out of state." Then if they ask specifically which school, I'll say, "I go to Duke. It's in North Carolina." On campus, I typically spend most of my time in CIEMAS, one of the main engineering buildings. It's one of the newer buildings on campus, and it's my favorite place to study, especially late at night. Everyone finds their own study place, and for most people that's the library. There are many other good places to study on campus at literally every hour of every day of the week, with CIEMAS being one of those. The location of Duke is great too. We're in Durham, which is the fifth most populous city in North Carolina. There's definitely a lot of nearby shopping, so it's nice to not have to travel too far from campus to get what you need. At the same time, when you're on campus, you don't feel like you are in the middle of a large city. Duke has it's own isolated feel--in a good way. Overall, I think the school administration does a good job. I think in this regard, the "no news is good news," idea is pretty accurate. I don't feel very involved with their decisions, but I've never had any issues with anything, which indicates that they're doing a good job. Of course, we had the scandal with the lacrosse players in 2006, which we still receive some heat for today. A lot of people don't realize that the men accused were actually innocent, so as a student of Duke, I get frustrated when people slander us for something that didn't actually happen. Many people are unhappy with the way the administration handled the case, but it's hard for any university to look good during a scandal, so this does not lessen my opinion of the administration or the university as a whole. We Duke students have a lot of pride, and we're not going to let one scandal ruin that. If you want to feel just how strong that pride is, go to a Duke basketball game! The passion that Duke students have is invigorating. I love it. You'll see students wearing their Duke gear across campus too. We all love it here, and we're proud to be Blue Devils! It's rare to hear a student say something bad about Duke. The only complaints you ever hear are about having too much work to do or not getting enough sleep, but those complaints are typical of any college student at any university. My best experience with Duke so far is actually one that did not occur on campus. That's what's great about Duke--the opportunities provided for students that happen off campus. I went to El Salvador last summer for eight weeks with a group of 9 other Duke engineering students, and we built two pedestrian footbridges in rural farm areas that experience severe flooding. There are opportunities like this everywhere on campus. Anyone can get involved!