Alumni Base

Colleges & Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>(A thread not about acceptance/rejections =P)</p>

<p>Does anyone know if Duke has a strong alumni base? It's something that I want to take into consideration when choosing a school, but I can't seem to get a feel for it at Duke.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Duke has one of the strongest alumni base of any institution, rivaled by that of Princeton and Dartmouth. This is largely due to the incredible school pride that Duke fosters as students spend their four years.</p>

<p>A somewhat good measurement of this is alumni donations:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/569540-usnwr-2009-looking-top-strata-vi-alumni-giving.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/569540-usnwr-2009-looking-top-strata-vi-alumni-giving.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>As eatsalot said, Duke has a very strong alumni base. Since it’s something I’ve experienced this year as a brand new alum, I’ll put in my $0.02.</p>

<p>I recently moved halfway across the country for graduate school, and plugging into the alumni network here was amazingly easy. A lot of cities have alumni chapters, and you can find a ton of alumni even in areas that don’t simply by using the alumni search engine, where you can sort by location, year of graduation, major, career, etc.</p>

<p>There was sort of a “welcome to X” event at the beginning of the school year, and I got to meet a lot of the alumni in the area. Everyone was extremely welcoming and friendly, and this adorable old couple who graduated from Duke way back in the 60s invited me to come over to have dinner whenever. Several of us, particularly the younger crowd, of course get together to watch games. I can’t emphasize enough how absolutely amazing it is to be able to plug into a network in a strange city - having people help you learn your way around and teach you the ropes is fantastic.</p>

<p>The job aspect, which is probably more along the lines of what you were asking, is also quite strong. Duke regularly hosts alumni events on campus, and students are strongly encouraged to network with alumni. Even I received a couple job offers on campus from alumni, though I majored in a relatively useless humanities field and have fairly poor networking skills, so I would imagine the possibilities are excellent for a go-getter.</p>