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[quote=Anonymous]I was a poor kid with very good academics who also was lucky enough to be a national champion in high school. I bit on Duke and found it very difficult socially and culturally. My friends and competitors in high school were from the southern suburbs of Chicago - a few actually were actually good students - but all were very mentally tough kids who knew they had to earn everything on their own.  This was far from the case at Duke. The students were very gifted, but many were a bit shallow and soft. While I had nothing in common with most of them, I was not treated poorly and in fact was treated better than I deserved.

The education within the classroom was unparalleled if you focused and I was prepared for graduate school very, very well. I could not have done better in grad school. It was much easier than Duke (and the grad school was one with identical prestige as Duke). So I while I did not enjoy Duke I have no complaints.

I can’t imagine anyone today going to Duke without understanding the history of the school. It remains an aggressive upstart, with Buck Duke’s nouveau rich attitudes still permeating the place. Duke was deeply impacted by his view of the South’s backwardness, and was maniacal in gaining social and economic acceptance (marrying a Mayflower descendant and buying big chunks of Park Avenue).  Duke is a unique piece of American history, but that history exists in a legacy way today. For some it is great, but it is a hyper competitive place (was good for me as it gave me hugely unexpected social mobility), but one should be aware of what they are getting into - and easily understand why some dislike Duke.

Duke is a great story in history. Wash Duke - JB’s father - started the tobacco business with a 5 dollar gold coin Lincoln insisted go to freed Confederate prisoners. He didn’t spend it as he walked back to Durham. That sense of striving which often reflects arrogance lives on.

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