<p>Hey there admitted kids. I'm a first-year tour guide at the Duke admissions office, let me know if you have any questions about life at duke. I'm tired of answering mind-numbing academic questions from frantic pre-meds (plus I'm a bit fried from finals). That being said, I'd love to answer any questions you have about what it's like living and learning at Duke, about what goes on outside the classroom.</p>
<p>a little post script to my above question:</p>
<p>Don't be afraid to ask me about any things you may think are taboo (partying, etc), I've experienced all of it and just want you all to have an accurate picture of what life at Duke is like (one word: great!).</p>
<p>How are the first year East Campus dormitories? Cramped, big, just right? And bathrooms, any private bathrooms, or is it all communal? </p>
<p>This may sound incredibly shallow, but how are the Asian women? (feel free to not answer this)</p>
<p>It depends what dorm you are in. There are ten dorms altogether, and only 3 have air-conditioning. The good part about the non-AC dorms is that they are a good size. Two of the AC dorms have AC, which is helpful during the first month, but they have small rooms and the walls are unattractive cement blocks. The final dorm they just opened this semester, Bell Tower. I am lucky enough to be in that dorm. The good part about these rooms is that they are AC and the rooms are good size. They call Bell Tower the hotel. Hopefully this helps.</p>
<p>There are 14 dorms on East campus: Pegram, Bassett, Alspaugh, Brown, Giles, Wilson, Aycock, Jarvis, Epworth, Gilbert-Addoms, Southgate, Randolph, Blackwell, and Bell Tower. Randolph and Blackwell have the AC with small rooms. Wilson has suite-style living, which basically means that three or four rooms share a bathroom as opposed to half of a floor. The downside to this is that they have to clean their own bathrooms (though for some this is better because they can feel right at home doing chores). I live in Giles, and I like my room. I think it's one of the larger ones in the dorm, and we have a gigantic walk-in closet. The heat was kinda intense for the first couple of weeks. My suggestion is to get plenty of fans, more specifically those "vornado" ones. I had one of those and two cheaper ones as well as a window fan, and I was able to manage the first couple of weeks (as in I was able to get to sleep every night no problem).</p>
<p>I don't think anyone (other than Randolph and Blackwell kids) have complained about space. You always have the option to loft your beds, and those who do find that they have a significantly larger amount of space in their rooms. Unfortunately, Giles was turned this year into a "no-loft" zone because they gave us half-lofts for free. It was mainly unfortunate because I had already paid for my loft (the people were nice, though, and gave me a full refund). Some of my friends have gotten pretty crafty with their rooms, including putting their half-lofts on desks and stuff to increase floor space. It's pretty cool to see what they've done. Some have even gone out and bought cement blocks to put under their lofts, and the half-lofts can be securely placed one on top of the other to form bunk beds. Anything for a few extra square feet, I guess!</p>
<p>Very helpful, thanks guys.</p>
<p>From a Blackwellian - Yes, our dorm rooms are pretty cramped. Our FAC (First-Year Advisory Counselor) actually informed us on the first day of a fun little piece of trivia - prisoners are actually legally mandated to have more space in their two-person cells than we have in our doubles. Not kidding. Not to mention our lovely, attractive cinderblock walls. WITH THAT SAID - My roommate and I both lofted our beds, and although we joke about the fact that when one of us is sitting at our desk and leaning back the other can't walk by, we are able to comfortably fit the furniture the room comes with, all of our stuff (and trust me, I'm a notorious overpacker), a blender, fridge, microwave, water boiler, pillows on the floor, three extra separate stacks of drawers, miscellaneous boxes, a standing floor lamp, and two (yes, TWO) extra comfy chairs. And, allow me a little bragging - we often get complimented on our cozy, homey looking room - AND, us being the social butterflies we are, we have easily hosted parties in there sometimes reaching 10-15 people at a time. So it is possible to have a nice room in Randolph or Blackwell, and I've seen a lot of nice ones around the dorm - but lofting is pretty much necessary if you want to fit comfortably.</p>
<p>So I'm going to have to represent Jarvis...which I adore. Jarvis and Aycock are built they same, and apparently they're pretty old, but awesome. From my experience all the rooms are generally massive, plus we have hardwood floor and nice, regular walls. The beds don't come half-lofted, but in general no one lofts their beds anyway. Except me of course, which was completely unnecessary but worked out because I have a cute little hang-out space. The closet space kind of differs. I know some rooms with 1 walk in closet, but ours happens to have 2. They're so big (although not as large as seahorse's which I resent), and I actually put my entire dresser in it just to save floor space. </p>
<p>I think the location of Jarvis is the absolute BEST as well. Right by the bus stop, which is nice at night when it's cold and you're waiting for a C-2. It's also right next to Carr, which is nice for e-print and if you have classes in there. Lilly and the Marketplace aren't too long of a walk either.</p>
<p>I love Jarvis...yay!</p>
<p>My D would like to get married in the chapel. There will be about 100 people. Is it big enough?</p>
<p>Oh yeah...during convocation it basically held the entire freshman class.</p>
<p>When you say your D, do you mean your dad or is that code for yourself? Just to let you know, there is currently a 6 year waitlist for getting married in the Chapel. You probably think I am kidding, but I am absolutely not. Call the chapel secretary. I suggest you put your name in as soon as you get to duke and find a husband/wife, haha. In addition, only Duke alumni or faculty (not their relatives, if they didn't go to Duke) are allowed to be married in the Chapel.</p>
<p>D usually means daughter, not dad.</p>
<p>Yeah, from the fact that you didn't know that the chapel can hold 100 people (it holds about 1600) shows that you've clearly never seen it. You can look it here <a href="http://www.chapel.duke.edu/home/%5B/url%5D">http://www.chapel.duke.edu/home/</a>
Did your daughter/her fiance actually go to Duke?</p>
<p>Representing Bassett here - WOOT WOOT! - there's no central A/C here, like all the halls on the main quad - the room sizes seem to be mixed - I've seen some fairly large rooms and some fairly small rooms. Unfortunately, my roomie and I have a really small double (it used to be a kitchen) but some of my friends do have some nice sized rooms. Also, there are some rooms that do have a portable A/C unit. Theres a faculty in residence on the first-floor as well. The coolest thing about Bassett tho is that it houses some of the freshman basketball players.</p>
<p>chuckleybob and i both live in GA... so he can agree with me when i say that the rooms are a good size, plenty of room and lofts are unnecessary - although i went ahead and lofted anyway. the first floor of GA blows a tad, not much integration with the second and third floors... makes it easy to study but harder to have a good time.</p>
<p>Great information. I'm not really sure what you mean by lofting and half-lofting. Could you explain what that means? Also what do you do for partying?</p>
<p>Q: "Also what do you do for partying?" A: Drink excessively.
just thought id clear that question up. if ud like more specifics id be happy to provide them.</p>
<p>full lofts can be found at loftsatduke.com. half-lofts are...well, half that size. I think that's the best I can describe it.</p>
<p>Parties are ok. Basically for freshmen, partying means taking the bus over to west campus and hanging out at fraternity sections (frats do not have houses... they receive blocks of rooms in different dorms to house their members). The frats generally flyer on wednesday and thursday nights. They like to give interesting themes to their parties, and then the brothers who are 'working' dress up and stuff. You find out pretty quickly which frats you enjoy partying at, and it's different from person to person. On really good nights, multiple frats have parties, so the crowds are not as bad. Generally, if you are feeling like going to a party, there's one somewhere on campus.</p>
<p>Even though east is a "dry campus," you can generally get away with stuff if you keep the noise down and stay in rooms. The problems that I have heard of are caused by loud music, people carrying beverages in the hallways, and even people playing beirut in their rooms with the doors open. RAs aren't looking to write you up for everything... though this depends on the RA. I'll let someone else talk about that if they wish.</p>
<p>Any other ideas/opinions?</p>
<p>Yea, the above answer is just about correct. Partying entails either staying on "Dry" east campus behind closed doors in someone's room drinking or going over to west and going through the frats' sections, going room to room looking for drinks. Parties on West are fun at first and are usually completely open/free drinks, but (at least for me) the repetitiveness of it all wore thin. After a few months, it got really boring doing the same thing every friday night. There are also a few clubs in Durham, nothing spectacular though. Once the awe of the party scene wears off, its nice to have a friend with a car so you can get off campus and mix things up a bit, go to Chapel Hill or Raleigh.
As a disclaimer for all you non-drinkers: there is a ton of stuff to do that doesn't involve alcohol, and a sizable amount of people who don't drink, if you aren't into partying. I know there are some officially-sponsored programs like "devils after dark" where they have activities set up and the substance free freshman dorm (Brown Residence Hall) has its own activities planned from time to time. In short, if you don't like to be around alcohol, you just have to be a little creative, you'll find something fun to do.</p>
<p>I'm a sophomore who is bored at home over break. </p>
<p>1) Full lofts-- only found on East or in especially cramped rooms or fraternity sections on West. It's essentially like a high bunk bed that you can put furniture like a couch/futon, desk, or a tall chest of drawers like the ones on East. Everyone on West gets a half loft. The beds are high-- but you can jump on them, or if you're short like me, you can use a stepstool. You can put your drawers or a refrigerator underneath.</p>
<p>2) Party scene. I lived in Pegram my freshman year-- and my year Pegram was legendary. We would mastermind all sorts of ways to party in the dorm including: drinking in the tunnels underneath the dorm, unscrewing closet doors and playing beer pong in the rooms, etc. However, we did have an RA and a GA who did try and go out of their way to bust us, which was sort of desereved because we sent too many kids to the hospital.</p>
<p>There are houses all along East campus for various fraternities (pretty much every on campus frat has at least one off campus house for some seniors to live) and sports teams and stuff. Early in the semester there were too many citations going on at those parties, but it's definitey died down a bit, and they are definitely fun parties to go to. As people have said, in all of the quads on West, the various fraternities have "sections". Each fraternity typically throws between 2-4 BIG parties a semester (because of budgets, this number varies from chapter to chapter), but on Thursday nights, if you want a more casual experience-- there's drinking and beer pong/flip cup/quarters/whatever in the sections. This is how you get to know people, I feel, and I love chill Thursday nights which I intend to use as pregames before a club and then never make it out. There's also a club/bar scene around East campus. Personally, I used to go to Shooters and Parizade all the time as a freshman, and now they're not as close and I'm more content hanging out with my fraternity friends partying in section. I only go to clubs when it's going to be a "huge" night or if my sorority is hosting an event. Clubs are crucial for sororities and for the fraternities who don't have on-campus sections.</p>
<p>However, just as a tidbit for all the freshmen, social life does change a little second semester. A lot of freshmen tent for basketball games, which means, on the weekends, there is always something going on in K-Ville. ALSO: fraternity/sorority rush. Sorority rush is one week jammed pack of stuff, but all sororities load up their social calendars for the first few weeks after Bid Day. Every sorority throws a "Bid Night" for their new member class-- its a fun party at a club. Sororities are invited to mix with various fraternities during their rush events. Fraternity rush events are much bigger deals: there are semi-formals, parties, and for the rushees, you're being brought to do cool activities... It's fun. Now when you or your friends are getting involved in these organization, there are always mixers things to go to... and you can almost always bring a non-affiliated friend along. If you're not interested in going Greek, selective living houses also have a fairly similar rush process with open-houses and parties. Even if you want to remain entirely independent, it may be fun to non-seriously rush a group on campus because you do get to go to a few events and meet people.</p>
<p>Since this is the forum, Question: What freshmen math/science courses should I expect to be afraid of? Any info on the intensity of the freshmen Chem, Calc, Bio, Physics would help...
What english/humanities courses are recommended from past experiences?</p>
<p>I know I still have time, but just wanted to know what to expect...</p>