<p>Even tho I'm not in engineering, I think I can give some input on your questions:</p>
<p>1) Engineering here is really gaining momentum - as you mentioned the BME and EE programs are top notch, and the others I believe are equally increasing in reputation. Recently, Duke has invested a lot of $ in infrastructure - you might have heard they've built CIEMAS, a new genomics research center, and they're in the process of buidling the French Science Research Center. One thing that really appealed to me when I decided to matriculate here was the great degree of interdisciplinarity fostered by the University. This is evident in many of the research centers on campus where the disciplines are not very dilineated, but rather, the faculty are housed in labs in the same bldg. and many do collaborative/cross-disciplinary projects. This is highly evident in the biology, chemistry, and medical depts. I believe it is fostered with equal diligence in the engineering school and departments.</p>
<p>2) I'm from South Florida (Miami) which has a very vibrant city life so I can give you a good comparison. Durham is not a bustling urban hub with great night-life. Its a small city (pop 250000 or so) and quite honestly, there is not much to do within walking distance of campus. Just to give you some perspective, directly off West campus are residential neighborhoods, and directly off east, theres a Whole Foods and a little further down there's 9th street which has some pretty cool restaurants like Cosmics, Dale's Indian cuisine, Grasshopper Asian bistro, etc... In terms of shopping-wise, there are a few small botique stores and the like, but not much. If you go north on Buchanan, you can get to Northgate Mall within 10 minutes walking. Northgate is currently being rennovated (they're building a movie theater there now) and it has a fair share of stores (comparable to most other malls) which is really nice. Aside from that, I have not really found anything else within walking distance, but if you have a car thats a completely diff. story, cuz there's a lot of quirky, fantastic restaurants and shops in downtown (at the Am. Tobacco Campus, Brightleaf square, etc) For people who don't have cars tho, another option is Chapel Hill, which is convenient to get to cuz the Robertson Bus operates everyday between UNC and Duke. Franklin Street has a ton of awesome places to hang out at with friends, etc. Regarding the campus, I'd say that it is definitely energetic - there's a ton of opportunities to get involved no matter what your interests are - community service, volunteering in neighborhood schools and centers, research, volunteering at Duke hospital and VA hospital, a ton of interest groups, etc... Pretty much, theres more to do on campus than time will allow so you have to be pretty choosy in deciding what things you wanna get involved in.</p>
<p>3) Premed: I'm premed and I have to say that the science classes here are graded pretty tough. I came in with a lot of AP credits and decided to place out of all the intro classes, so I ended up taking some pretty demanding classes this year (orgo, cell bio, etc.) Most of the classes in bio and chem are curved to a C+/B- here and I've found it really hard to get A's. The tests and the way the material is presented tho, really makes you think. Despite what many people say about Organic chemistry, it is taught in such a way here that it is far from memorization. At first, I must say, I was kinda frustrated that I wasn't making the easy A like in high school, but the more I realize it now, a real education challenges you and it is far from easy. That's what science is like at Duke, it is challenging and frustrating at times, but in the end, quite rewarding. Med schools are aware of the rigor of the Duke premed program from all the advisors and admissions personnel from visiting med schools Ive had the opportunity to talk to. As a quick example, the average GPA for accepted med students during undergrad is around 3.6-3.7 for both science BCPM and overall GPA. At duke last year, it was 3.5 overall, 3.3 science. So med schools def. take into account the rigor of the Duke experience when offering places in their class to Dukies.
For business, I really don't know that much, anyone else wanna comment?</p>
<p>4) in one word: YES. The greatest thing about this place IMO are the opportunities available to you. You can really do anything here, extracurricularly and scholastically. I know people who are taking graduate level classes their first semester, people who are doing really interesting research, those who are amazing musicians and play with the Duke orchestra, etc... the list goes on. That is not to say Duke is perfect, nothing in this world is. But I would definitely urge you to come to campus, sit in on a few classes that interest you, and perhaps spend a weekend with a student. That experience is tenfold better than any description from a viewbook.</p>