<p>Actually, my argument is new! At least I have never seen this argument on any thread. I am not a URM. Did I say I was!? No one but AAs, Hispanics, and Native Americans are URMs. When did I say ALL URMs get in with weaker stats!?! Please re-read my argument! All I meant is that URMs get an inherent advantage in college admissions b/c of their race, and that applicants (such as myself) with very diverse backgrounds, probably do not get that same “diversity advantage” when they really should. That is my argument. And I never said, just being “Lebanese” is a diversity factor. You have to stay in touch with your culture/country in order to qualify for that diversity advantage IMO. </p>
<p>I am sorry if I offended/indirectly offended you, but you clearly misinterpreted my argument.</p>
<p>Everyone who is talking about my situation, please put your posts on the “wow” thread in the JHU thread. The link for that specific thread is a couple posts back. I apologize for stealing/diverting attention from the main purpose of this thread: to answer any questions accepted students may have concerning Duke admissions. Thanks for all you help.</p>
<p>@ armistice, there is no way to tell how much money a freshmen spends on a typical weekend. It really depends on the person himself. However, food is pretty much covered every single day of the week, cause you can eat with your board plan in the marketplace and with food points on west or using food points with participating outside merchants. However, if you do get tired of eating in the Marketplace (which most freshmen do after the first months), there are restaurants on 9th street and on main street that is within walking distance. Other than that, unless you are a shopaholic, $200 should be sufficient for a month.</p>
<p>@eatsalot: Duke is ok with pairing freshmen up. My roommate and I get along very well; i even eat dinner with her almost everyday. Others have roommates who they see once in a while, are on good terms, but don’t hang out with that much. There are rare cases where roommates do not get along at all. In some of these cases, you can request that you move away from your roommate, by moving in with another student or swapping roommates with another couple. Don’t worry too much about roommate problems, you will probably be really good friends with everyone in your hall:)</p>
<p>@knat: haha, I’d say computers are used often in classrooms, but not nearly as often to take notes. In almost all cases you are ABLE to use a laptop if you choose to, but many people prefer hand-written notes (myself included). It’s really just a personal decision, so maybe a better question for you to ask yourself would be, “do I think I will be more effective taking notes on a computer?” than looking at what others do.</p>
<p>Also, I have had several friends get their laptops stolen, but this is usually because they left them in their room and left their room unlocked. I am pretty good at locking my room, so I haven’t had a problem, nor do I worry about it. I’d say you don’t really need a chain unless it makes you feel more comfortable, but you definitely do need to keep an eye on your computer.</p>
<p>@annie91: if your dad lost his job, then you would probably be able to make a financial aid appeal if you were accepted. Duke does a good job of looking at special circumstances if things do arise, but are less apt (and rightfully so) to make appeals on the same information they had in the first place. Also note you have to reapply for financial aid every year, so if your family’s income and/or assets value are decreasing, they will take this into account. As a plan for right now, I’d say start seriously considering other options as you are on the waitlist, but don’t rule Duke out yet. You might as well accept the spot and see what happens with financial aid if you are admitted.</p>
<p>@armistice: I think 200/month sounds like a lot. You also have to take into account where money is being spent. If you’re talking about off-campus, out of pocket spending, I have virtually none. Some people obviously have slightly more (especially if they have a car), but 200/month still sounds like a lot. On the other hand, all on-campus food or merchandise (the vast majority of student spending) is on FLEX or Food points that you use from your Duke Card. You pay for a set amount in your board plan (just get the lowest, you can always add more later if you need it with no penalty), but I usually run out of food points pretty quickly (because the Marketplace gets extremely old and that’s where freshmen board plans are primarily for). I’d say I usually add about 200 food and and average of 50-100 FLEX per semester. Also note the main way to do this is online and it charges directly to your Bursar bill (so it just goes in with tuition and those other fees on your regular bill) rather than you needing cash. You can take cash into the Duke Card office to refill if you want, though.</p>
<p>Bottom line, I’d expect maybe 200-400 a semester tops, but most of this can be added through Bursar.</p>
<p>@eatsalot: it is pretty random, but it usually doesn’t end up horribly, and you can switch at semester if you have a good reason. But to avoid this, (this is what I did) you can go into the Duke 2013 (2012 for me) group (I’m sure someone will have created one already) on Facebook. Last year there was a special thread within the group just for roommates, there were actually two: one for guys, one for girls. You get the gist of this. You post some stuff about yourself and then look around to see if anyone seems like a compatible roommate. Then you can at least talk to them (even get their phone #) and have a better idea of compatibility than…well, none. Then you can request them on the housing app (one of the only things you can request). It worked out great for me, and I am living next door to my current roommate next year.</p>
<p>Edit: when you’re doing this, though, make sure that the other person isn’t doing Focus or a living group thing (or, if you’re doing one, that they’re in the same one). Otherwise it won’t work.</p>
<p>eatsalot: each focus program’s participants are assigned rooms together so that they can interact and engage with each other outside of classes. The same applies to those who choose the arts dorm or the wellness dorm for obvious reasons. </p>
<p>So if your roommate is in one focus program and you are in another, you’ll definitely not be able to room together.</p>
<p>Are there many opportunities to earn money on campus? What kind of jobs are there? I’m not going to get any financial aid at all, and I’d feel horrible if I had to ask my parents for even more money, on top of the 50k/ year they’re paying for a private school…</p>
<p>There are restaurants around Duke that hire wait staff if you are comfortable doing that.</p>
<p>As for on campus jobs, the library usually hires many students. There are always jobs available if you are willing to work in offices as assistants, etc. There are some paid research positions. Later on you can also TA. Some jobs though, will be much easier to get if you have work-study but not all require it.</p>
<p>Adrivit: You can’t increase your work-study allotment of $900 by working more. You can, however, increase the amount of money you earn by working more.</p>
<p>The way that work-study works is that a part of your wage is paid for by Duke as part of your financial aid and the remainder is paid for by your employer. In essence, it encourages the employers to hire work-study students because they personally have to pay a lot less wages. If you have federal work-study, 75% of your wages is paid for by federal money and the other 25% by your boss. If you have Duke work-study, 50% is paid for by Duke and the other 50% by your employer. </p>
<p>That $900 of work-study that you got as part of your financial aid indicates the maximum amount of money that Duke (or the federal government) will pay toward your wages (based on the percentages given above) for the next year. If your work-study runs out (if you were getting federal money, then in this case if you make more than $1200 in total), then your boss would have to pay the full 100% of your wages after that if he/she wants to continue employing you. </p>
<p>Sorry if the above explanation is a bit confusing.</p>
<p>Edit: forgot to mention, work-study is only available for jobs where the employer is affiliated with the university. </p>
<p>Also, I forgot to mention, there is a great community service program called American Reads/America Count where you tutor elementary school kids in reading/math. They exclusive hire work-study students and will pay you the appropriate wage so that you get the maximum amount of work-study that you can. The downside is that you are limited by how much work-study you receive. The upside is that they are pretty good about hiring almost everyone who applies I think.</p>
<p>Just to get a bit clear, Duke pays for 900$ which is 50% of my wages. So, do I get the other 900$ as extra cash or is that also directly used up for my billed costs at Duke?</p>
<p>No, let me clear it up a bit. sorry it was confusing. Let me use an example:</p>
<p>Say you work at the library for a year and made the maximum amount allowed under work-study. On your end you will get paid $1800 for that year of work. But below the surface, $900 of that will come from Duke as a form of financial aid (paid by Duke to you), the other $900 will come from your boss (paid by your boss to you). In the end, you get to keep all $1800 of that as spending money (minus taxes of course). The only difference is the source of the funds. </p>
<p>Work-study is basically a way for you to get your wages subsidized by either the gov’t or Duke so that it’ll be cheaper for people to hire you.</p>
<p>Eatsalot,<br>
If you are doing focus you will be in the same dorm as the rest of your focus group. However, your roomate will not be in your focus group.</p>