Duke

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure I'd even heard of Duke until I really started looking at colleges around junior year, but I ended up falling in love with the school and choosing it for a number of reasons. I love the weather and scenery in the Carolinas (I wasn't looking for a southern school as much as wanted to avoid cold winters). I wanted a school that would be large enough to have plenty of people to interact with and small enough that I wouldn't get lost in a sea of students. I wanted a top ranked school. I wasn't certain if I'd want to stick with engineering or switch to humanities and Duke gave me both options.

DH and I met there and agree that alone was worth the tuition

I went to Duke for very similar reasons, and also because it was the school that gave me the most financial aid, and honestly, I did not really enjoy my time there as much. A lot of this has to do with my own personality as anything else. I am a homebody and probably should have stuck closer to home.

Part of my problem with Duke was the racial tension. I am surprised no one else ever mentions this. White students and black students really did not mix much socially, and even my parents noticed it when they visited campus. People did not seem to mix much with people who were demographically much different. For example, I am middle eastern and most of my friends, like me, were first-generation upper-middle class children of immigrants. Sometimes I felt like white kids on campus didn't really want to acknowledge anyone else.

I've read this observation many times about many elite schools- that super-accomplished students walk in, get their outstanding credentials, and then walk out to go jump through more hoops/make tons of money, without really developing intellectually or changing their point of view in the process. I generally found this to be true. The unofficial motto was "work hard, play hard" not "think hard" or "live a good life hard."

It didn't seem like a very healthy environment for young women. There were many, many girls on campus who were rail-thin, beautiful, perfectly dressed, accomplished in a million things, but there was something sad about them, like they were under so much pressure.

I really didn't find the career services or academic advisement to be anything to write home about. I honestly felt that no one there who advised me actually gave two shits about me, and it was fairly obvious (i.e. no one ever followed up with me, gave any indication that they cared about me as a person, etc.).

Durham was not a very interesting place to go to school.

Again, I am an oversensitive homebody, but I really wouldn't send my kids there. It was a pretty campus, I made a lot of great friends that I am still friends with 10 years later, and I had a lot of career doors opened for me, but I really wouldn't go there again if I did it all over.

Very honest and accurate assessment.

[Anonymous]

Great place for privileged whites who love the "southern" style.

[Anonymous]

And yet there are several other posters who had a good Duke experience. No college is going to be the perfect match for EVERY student.

[Anonymous]

Maybe a bit above UNC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great place for privileged whites who love the "southern" style.

This.

Even duke players, which are the royalty of duke, don't like it.

"Thank you very much, for reminding me of the reason why I left Duke. People like you can not and will not ever understand my situation. I’m sure daddy worked very hard to send your rich self to college. While real people struggle. I would also like to extend an invitation for you not to waste your or my time ever agin. Never being considered a part of your posh group of yuppies really hurts me to the heart. Yeah, right. Because I don’t care about you or your alumni." - Elton Brand

If you want to go into strategy consulting or banking and can't get into Penn or Dartmouth and are a white 'bro' or wannabe 'bro' and like bro culture - duke is your school.

Or if you want to do BME and can't get into JHU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great place for privileged whites who love the "southern" style.

This.

Even duke players, which are the royalty of duke, don't like it.

"Thank you very much, for reminding me of the reason why I left Duke. People like you can not and will not ever understand my situation. I’m sure daddy worked very hard to send your rich self to college. While real people struggle. I would also like to extend an invitation for you not to waste your or my time ever agin. Never being considered a part of your posh group of yuppies really hurts me to the heart. Yeah, right. Because I don’t care about you or your alumni." - Elton Brand

If you want to go into strategy consulting or banking and can't get into Penn or Dartmouth and are a white 'bro' or wannabe 'bro' and like bro culture - duke is your school.

Or if you want to do BME and can't get into JHU.

Brand met and married his fellow Duke classmate. Apparently, it wasn't all bad.

[Anonymous]

I had several friends in high school who were national merit semifinalists and turned down Princeton for Duke because Duke was more generous with financial aid. Everyone I know who has gone there has at least liked it, even if they were not totally rah-rah about the place. I will say the fraternity and sorority scene on the campus is stronger than some of the posters here have suggested, and the University allows them to occupy some of the most centrally located housing on campus.

[Anonymous]

My time at Duke was quite a while ago. I like it for many of the reasons already mentioned -- weather, beautiful campus, strong academics across a range of areas, and a great sports tradition that was a lot of fun. Also, as others said, financial aid was VERY generous. I was not involved in Greek life, and had many wonderful friends who were similarly not involved. Greek life was definitely present, but didn't dominate my life.
I think the pp who talked about racial divisions had a point. What I don't know is how different Duke was/is than other college campuses with diverse student populations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great place for privileged whites who love the "southern" style.

This.

Even duke players, which are the royalty of duke, don't like it.

"Thank you very much, for reminding me of the reason why I left Duke. People like you can not and will not ever understand my situation. I’m sure daddy worked very hard to send your rich self to college. While real people struggle. I would also like to extend an invitation for you not to waste your or my time ever agin. Never being considered a part of your posh group of yuppies really hurts me to the heart. Yeah, right. Because I don’t care about you or your alumni." - Elton Brand

If you want to go into strategy consulting or banking and can't get into Penn or Dartmouth and are a white 'bro' or wannabe 'bro' and like bro culture - duke is your school.

Or if you want to do BME and can't get into JHU.

My husband is as far from a 'bro' as you can get, and also very far from strategy consulting or banking, and he went to Duke and loved it. (He is white, however.) Sounds like a nice enough place, though from his description and other descriptions here, I don't see anything that distinguishes it from other Ivy or Ivy-caliber schools other than the weather and basketball scene. That's not at all to say it's bad, more that they are all pretty similar at some level. I went to Yale and what another poster described regarding race relations and stratification at Duke is what I experienced at Yale. My sister had a similar tale regarding Penn. I think it's pretty common.

Duke is definitely an excellent school academically. If your kid loves it and can get in, and you can afford it or get good financial aid, why not. The alumni network seems to be pretty strong, which is a plus.

[Anonymous]

I went to Duke and LOVED it. I disagree with what other posters have said about it being for "privileged" students. Everyone has to live on campus for three years and, if you're on campus, you have to have a meal plan--everyone is on the same playing field. My parents never gave me spending money, that was all on me, and I can't think of an that was too expensive for anyone who was middle class or had some savings of their own. Durham is a very inexpensive city, so even if you go out to eat (which was relatively rare when I was there) it wasn't much. There are a ton of on campus eateries all on the same meal plan so there really wasn't a need. The beer is also very cheap and basketball and football games are free to students. I was in a sorority there but my best friend from college wasn't. Greek life is big but it's not necessary for an active social life. Moreover, I thought having all of the freshman on East Campus was wonderful. There are only other freshman in your dorms and the dorms are small so its easy to meet people. The freshman also have their own dining hall so those first few weeks you could sit down anywhere and know that everyone else at the table was new and didn't know many people either. Finally, my professors were amazing and frequently hosted students at their homes to get to know us in a different setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and LOVED it. I disagree with what other posters have said about it being for "privileged" students. Everyone has to live on campus for three years and, if you're on campus, you have to have a meal plan--everyone is on the same playing field. My parents never gave me spending money, that was all on me, and I can't think of an that was too expensive for anyone who was middle class or had some savings of their own. Durham is a very inexpensive city, so even if you go out to eat (which was relatively rare when I was there) it wasn't much. There are a ton of on campus eateries all on the same meal plan so there really wasn't a need. The beer is also very cheap and basketball and football games are free to students. I was in a sorority there but my best friend from college wasn't. Greek life is big but it's not necessary for an active social life. Moreover, I thought having all of the freshman on East Campus was wonderful. There are only other freshman in your dorms and the dorms are small so its easy to meet people. The freshman also have their own dining hall so those first few weeks you could sit down anywhere and know that everyone else at the table was new and didn't know many people either. Finally, my professors were amazing and frequently hosted students at their homes to get to know us in a different setting.

Yours is another excellent perspective. Experiences will never be identical. I know an AA who attends Brown and is having an extraordinary experience but I read of others at Brown and Dartmouth who are not sharing the same experience. Would I discourage AA students from attending? Of course not. Either you try and help correct the problems, find your niche, or find a utopia school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and LOVED it. I disagree with what other posters have said about it being for "privileged" students. Everyone has to live on campus for three years and, if you're on campus, you have to have a meal plan--everyone is on the same playing field. My parents never gave me spending money, that was all on me, and I can't think of an that was too expensive for anyone who was middle class or had some savings of their own. Durham is a very inexpensive city, so even if you go out to eat (which was relatively rare when I was there) it wasn't much. There are a ton of on campus eateries all on the same meal plan so there really wasn't a need. The beer is also very cheap and basketball and football games are free to students. I was in a sorority there but my best friend from college wasn't. Greek life is big but it's not necessary for an active social life. Moreover, I thought having all of the freshman on East Campus was wonderful. There are only other freshman in your dorms and the dorms are small so its easy to meet people. The freshman also have their own dining hall so those first few weeks you could sit down anywhere and know that everyone else at the table was new and didn't know many people either. Finally, my professors were amazing and frequently hosted students at their homes to get to know us in a different setting.

Yours is another excellent perspective. Experiences will never be identical. I know an AA who attends Brown and is having an extraordinary experience but I read of others at Brown and Dartmouth who are not sharing the same experience. Would I discourage AA students from attending? Of course not. Either you try and help correct the problems, find your niche, or find a utopia school.

Or you find a school where diversity isn't just about statistics. They do exist. My son is at Rice and has found it to be a truly integrated culture. This might be attributable to the fact that the school has a strong residential college system with no fraternities or sororities. He transferred to Rice from another school which looked diverse on paper, but where the students were, in fact, very siloed by race, ethnicity, SES, athletes v. non-athletes, Greeks v. independents, etc. We've been very impressed with Rice in many respects and our son is thriving there.

[Anonymous]

Rice would be a big letdown for someone interested in Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice would be a big letdown for someone interested in Duke.

Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice would be a big letdown for someone interested in Duke.

+1.