<p>Hi, I'm an actual student at Duquesne and I'm 100% willing to answer questions. Please feel free to ask me anything :)</p>
<p>Hi actual student. DS is an actual hs student, who will be applying to Duquesne, but needs a good merit scholarship. DD of friends was a very good student, but got a disappointing financial aid package from Duq (so goes elsewhere). We have heard from several people that Duq is not all that generous with merit aid - is that your perception? Their website is very vague on the amounts/criteria for the various merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Dear Xaniamom,</p>
<p>My DS is an actual Duq Student. She appled early decision, and got a bigger Merit scholarship than others who appllied with regular admissions. She also has aquired additional outside scholarships (which she found out about thru DU), so they are supportive with helping students find outside money.</p>
<p>Don’t rule it out before you find out the package they are offering. You could be pleasantly suprised! As we were!
Duquesne Mom.</p>
<p>Follow up to Zaniamom,</p>
<p>I found the page on Duquesne’s web site that lists all the Endowed Scholarships they have available.</p>
<p>If you have specific questions on how to apply etc, call them.</p>
<p>good luck!
[Endowed</a> Scholarships A](<a href=“404”>404)</p>
<p>I also have a kid there, and I felt the aid was good. It brought the cost down to make the school comparable to Pitt and Penn State for us (my kid’s SAT numbers were on Duq’s high side, though, which may have made a difference). The aid was basically scholarships. They didn’t offer work-study. The amount of FAFSA-subsidized loans that was offered was the same from all of the schools where my kid was accepted.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. DS SAT is definitely on the high side (2200), but he won’t apply Early Decision. We ARE going to the open house next weekend, though, and we’ll see how he likes it. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for good merit somewhere…</p>
<p>I found that Duquesne financial aid was relatively generous. They definitely brought their expenses in line with the neighboring Pitt, and maybe even were a bit better. My daughter did not apply early decision either.</p>
<p>Since it’s a private school they give tons of financial aid. My EFC this year was pretty low, about 2000 due to my father losing his job. So far they are covering around 22,000 and they still haven’t added everything I need yet.</p>
<p>XaniaMom - Hope your kid liked the visit! My kid chose Duq over Pitt, Michigan State, and other larger schools and is very happy with her choice so far.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that, Neonzeus. DS thought it was “nice”, which is better than his usual “meh, not really me”. He’ll be applying, so we will see how the scholarships are. I liked some aspects and didn’t like others, but that seems to be true everywhere we have visited.</p>
<p>My daughter is also very happy at Duquesne so far. It’s a beautiful homecoming weekend there and activities abound. Makes me sort of envious…</p>
<p>I have several questions to numerous people who posted here.<br>
Neonzeus, can you offer reasons your child chose Duq over the others? My hs student is considering Duq & Ohio State, and we are visiting Pitt U on Oct. 16.
Also, I would consider 2/3 cost of tuition + room and board to be about $23000 (if tuition & r & b are about $35,000…when you say you were happy with the scholarships received, would you say they covered at least 2/3 of what you needed? The cost for us would be manageable if my son were to receive that much.
To hardworker, how long have you been a student at Duq? What do you have to say about the dorms? What are the favorite weekend activities on campus for Duq students? Or do most head home? Have you declared a major and if so, what is it? What clubs &/or activities are you involved with?
To everyone posting here, what about the honors program? Are you or your student enrolled? Does it provide additional scholarship money?<br>
Thanks to all!</p>
<p>I have more questions for actual Duquesne students: What is your favorite thing about Duquesne? Least favorite? Who are the favorite teachers/professors on campus? What are the favorite classes? Are classes difficult to get in to? If you chose Duquesne over another school, what was the reason?</p>
<p>Miller: Like I said above, Duquesne has covered 2/3 of tuition for me, but it is mainly based on need. If your child is going to be in a specific program (pharmacy, education…) there might be scholarships available specific to their major. Granted, you don’t declare your major until sophomore year. </p>
<p>I’m in liberal arts, and I know there are many scholarships there…but it depends on what department your in. My department unfortunately does not have many scholarships, but others might. Also I am from Ohio (you mentioned OSU) and I get scholarships from Ohio as well as PA ones.</p>
<p>While you directed your questions to hardworker, I’m sure you won’t mind if I reply too. I am a senior Digital Media Arts major but I am also a first year Graduate student. (My program offers a program called the 4-1 masters, where I take grad classes my senior year and then only need 1 year of grad school…common in many majors). </p>
<p>The dorms aren’t too bad, the freshman dorms are very nice. Towers is the worst dorm by far, as it is like 18 floors of crammed rooms. Most likely your child will live their sophomore year unless they are in the honors college. Vickroy is by far the nicest dorm, featuring suite style living. They are also building a new dorm too which I do not know about. I am currently in Brottier, the on-campus apartment complex. The only problem I have is that they are pretty strict with a lot of the rules in all dorms.</p>
<p>Weekends are honestly pretty dead on campus. Most people go home, or go out to the Southside to party. However, Duquesne has many weekend programs too, like movies and activities. The nice thing about being in the city is that everything is just a bus ride away. I’ve felt very safe here too, as a young female. You don’t feel like you’re in a big city when you’re on campus.</p>
<p>I am involved with the theater department mostly as well as the digital media club. Our theater puts on quite a few shows which are free to Duquesne students. Our musical theater department, however, costs.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if the honors program gives extra money, but the dorms are a bit nicer and you have extra perks. Many of my friends were in the program, and the dorm is a lot quieter and not too many people go crazy in the honors dorm Assumption Hall.</p>
<p>My favorite thing about Duq is the professors and the overall atmosphere. Naturally you get annoying people or bad professors, but overall I really do enjoy it. I almost transferred my freshman year, but I stuck it out and I absolutely love it. My problem was roommate related. They do a great job selecting roommates, but I chose my roommate, which was a mistake.</p>
<p>Least favorite are the rules. I’m a very responsible student, as in, I don’t go out and party every other day. But even still, sometimes the rules are a little bit ridiculous. Also, the food is pretty bad at Towers, though they have improved it over the years. The hills are annoying to walk up too :)</p>
<p>Favorite professors really depend on your program. I always check ratemyprofessors.com to see how my professor is before I have them. Best adviser however for Liberal Arts would be Ms. Baker. Definitely the best hands down.</p>
<p>Favorite classes also range. I’m taking Theology of Marriage right now, and it’s quite entertaining and interesting. It really depends on your concentration however.</p>
<p>Classes have a specific order for registration. Sports and Tamburitzans get first priority, then honors college, then seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshman get assigned first semester. Sometimes it is hard to get into a class, but you do get waitlisted and then you get an email if someone drops and you can take the class. I’ve also sat in on classes just for fun (drawing for example) just for experience and no credit.</p>
<p>Duquesne was my first choice mainly for my major. But I also toured a few schools in Ohio and they were too big or small for me. Duq was perfect.</p>
<p>Thanks for your honest assessment and insight to Duquesne, saatia. It really helps. I am curious what kind of scholarships you received from Ohio, as we also live in a small Ohio town. My son likes the idea of a Pittsburgh college because he is thinking it’ll be more interesting than a college in a rural area.</p>
<p>Saatia, I would also have to add that OSU looks like an amazing school, but…so large. While some students can easily transition to a college of that size, my son sees the benefits of attending a less populated college. Also, Duquesne is only an hour from us, as OSU is three; again, not a big distance for some people, but far enough away from us that the drive to and from would get tedious over four years time.</p>
<p>saatia, you talked about the dorms. My daughter has also heard that Towers are really crowded and obnoxious. She now lives in St. Ann’s and thinks that the people there are too much, so what for next year?? I really don’t think she will be able to tolerate a louder situation. Any ideas on what we could try to do? Is there any way to get in a different (calmer, quieter) dorm than Towers?</p>
<p>Miller: </p>
<p>The scholarships brought us down to about the same cost as Pitt. D thought OSU was way too big and too urban for her. </p>
<p>She was also very focused on her major when applying. For an undecided student, perhaps the bigger school would have kept options open longer. In her case, D knew that she wanted nursing. Being sure of her intended major made the college selection process easier, since she was able to compare nursing programs at each school. She liked Ohio U and they offered a good scholarship too, but their nursing program was undeveloped. D really liked everything about the Duquesne nursing program, and their nursing open houses were very supportive and welcoming. Duquesne offers a 0-4 program, so she wouldn’t have to apply as a sophomore. While she liked some of the bigger schools like Michigan State, she worried that competing to apply to a major as a sophomore might be hard in a bigger school. She got into Pitt, but decided that Pitt had a very competitive and less friendly feel to it. D says that Duq has been very supportive of the students, and she is sure that they will help her succeed.</p>
<p>D is also in St. Ann’s, but likes it so far. She is thinking about going Greek but has been told that it would mean living in Towers. She’s visited Towers with friends and doesn’t like the elevators (the stairwells are locked so kids can’t use stairs to go between floors). She said there aren’t enough of them, and students jam onto them since they’re slow.</p>
<p>This is my first kid in a private school vs big public universities, and I do see a lot of differences. For ex., Duq emails a copy of their weekly freshman email to me, so I can see the activities offered to kids (and point stuff out to D LOL). I’ve gotten invitations to several parent-kid events, and there’s a freshman family weekend in lieu of a “family weekend” across campus. They had a freshman yearbook to introduce kids to each other, for a small fee. D seems to be getting to know her professors already, which is a lot different from my other kids’ 300 student freshman classes. She’s also got straight As so far, which is making me do a happy dance. D is thinking about grad programs, so the good grades are going to be useful. Admittedly, if she had gone to Pitt or one of the other schools that might have been academically a little tougher, her grades might not be quite so good but having a good GPA will definitely keep D’s options open. We’ll have to see how she’s doing in a few years…</p>
<p>Must a student live in the Greek housing in Towers if they belong to an organization?</p>
<p>Is there any realistic way for a sophomore to avoid Towers?</p>
<p>On Scholarships from Ohio: My freshman and sophomore year I got the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (I think that’s what it’s called). Basically if you went to a HS that required 4 years of English, 3 of science, math, history…etc. you can get 1000 a year I believe. I live in Cleveland, and there’s a place called Cleveland Scholarship Program downtown and they figured out a lot of scholarships I could apply for. If you live close enough to Cleveland, it’s a great FREE resource to take advantage of. They also do my FAFSA and help my parents with tips and tricks to get more money. This year I’m getting a grant from Ohio as well, but, my parents both were unemployed for a few weeks so my Pell Grant went up tremendously. My mom had a medical condition, and my dad was suddenly unemployed, and Duquesne was VERY helpful. We called them up, sent them “special circumstance” letters and got more aid. I think I’m going to be paying around 8k this year. Maybe.</p>
<p>As for Towers, it’s really not that bad. </p>
<p>If you’re in a Sorority you will have to live in the Tower’s wing, which I mean, if you want to only be friends with those people then it’s not a problem. Pittsburgh does not allow Sorority houses because they do not allow more than 5 unrelated woman to live together. Personally I think the sorority system here is a bunch of crap. They honestly are treated very poorly if they miss chapter and they are forced to be with each other. I have some friends in the system and they hate it, but feel pressured to say they love it. There are a couple sororities that are nice, but one of the sororities got in trouble for only choosing on looks. They also will ask you what your parents do for a living, and if it doesn’t make a lot of money they will not let you in. </p>
<p>The elevators suck, but they improved them over the year. My freshman year Towers was infested with Cockroaches, but they bombed the building before my Sophomore year and towers is now MUCH nicer.</p>
<p>The only way to avoid towers Sophomore year is Honors college or if your student gets Junior housing status (or rooms with a Junior). But seriously, towers is not that bad. Yes, you can’t use the stairs but overall it’s alright. My roommate and I lived in the middle area (there are two wings, each with 3 elevators and then a middle area). We only had one issue with it being too loud, and we called the front desk and they took care of it.</p>
<p>My suggestion is try to live in the middle to upper floors. We lived on 12 or 14 I think, and that was alright as the elevators weren’t as crowded when we left for class so we could almost guarantee getting an elevator. You need to leave 20-25 minutes early for class though. The lower floors were not so lucky with getting elevators for class as they would fill up pretty quickly by the time it reached floor 10.</p>
<p>The elevators broke down a lot when I was there, but they fixed them I believe. Also there are 6 elevators. We have 20 floors in Brottier, only 3 elevators. One is currently down for 15 weeks for repair. So personally I thought Towers was okay with elevators compared to Brottier (though I take the stairs in Brot).</p>