<p>I'd like some feedback from current Duke students/students who have visited Duke</p>
<p>I'm interested at Duke, though not very familiar with it. I'm looking for a place that has a relaxed acadamic atmosphere (a la Stanford rather than a nerd school) and has friendly/happy students. I do hear Duke students are very heavy drinkers and I am NOT going to drink. Will there be any pressure? I also would not say I'm a huge partier either, though I do have a social life. What would you say is Duke's atmosphere? Pros/cons?</p>
<p>Also I'm planning to become a doctor, and does Duke have a good science program?</p>
<p>I'm a freshman. There is absolutely no pressure to drink. The students here are very friendly for the most part. Many students drink heavily, either in quanity or frequency, or in both, but there is a very sizable population that does not drink. There are plenty of things to do besides going to parties. I like to play poker, go to soccer games, go to the gym for a pickup basketball game (open til midnight on east), play board games, etc.</p>
<p>I go to parties as well and I suppose a con would be that they are all very similar, but I expect that happens at most colleges, and frankly, no one really minds when they're drunk. But I tend to dislike going to parties if I'm not drinking that night.</p>
<p>The academic atmosphere is relaxed, but there is a large amount of work, perhaps moreso for me because I'm an engineer. Everyone is very serious about getting their work done, and very excited to have a good time on the weekends. There are so many different kinds of people here that you will definitely make a great group of friends. People are remarkly intelligent here. That's one of my favorite parts of Duke.</p>
<p>Duke does have good science stuffs. We also have a lot of premeds so I'm sure you'll be fine with whatever you decide to do degree wise. (I'm a BME but also premed so I've had a bit of exposure to the chemistry, biology and physics departments and I liked all three; unlike the math department but thats a topic for another rant)</p>
<p>As for atmosphere pros and cons... it really depends on if you are able to find a group that you really fit in with. I didn't really find one until almost second semester freshman year or maybe first semester sophomore year. (that isn't to say I didn't have friends till then, but I hadn't really found the way I fit in on campus yet) Most people though seem to have an easier time of it than I did.</p>
<p>Another con is the "hook up" culture at Duke which I am not a huge fan of. I've never been a promiscuous fellow or one for short flings so I kinda feel uncomfortable with the way that type of social attachment seems to permeate college life. (though that seems more like a global issue than a Duke one)</p>
<p>But yeh, all depends on the people you know.</p>
<p>The Duke credo is to work hard and play hard.</p>
<p>There isn't a lot of pressure to drink, in the sense that nobody will care if you don't drink. However, the pressure is there for that there are a lot of people who participate in the activity and let's face it.. frat parties aren't as fun sober, which is where the majority of Blue Devils spend their weekend nights.
However, if you are with a good set of friends.. you can still have a fun time at parties sober, even if your friends are drunk, lol. People do more than drink at Duke.. well, at least some people, :p. Ur fine though if u don't drink, just keep in mind that an extremely high percentage of people at Duke are drinkers.. parties are less crazy than most house parties at high school.. since yes.. people at Duke are smart and don't do ridiculous things to attract attention of cops and turn a 'fun party' to a 'bust'.</p>
<p>Academics: Tough depending on what you are taking... I know that people spend a lot of time on EGR 53 homework. If you are in FOCUS..be prepared to do a lot of writing. However, there is no cut-throat competition among students and it's easy to get help.. some classes, such as freshman Orgo, are notoriously tough (despite B+ average.. still a lot of work!).. and I would only recommend taking Organic Chemistry if you are going into pre-med.. in that case, the class is required. A lot of Duke students come in pre-med.. the school has a very strong science program. You'll be extremely well prepped for medical school.</p>
<p>I'd agree with Sir Gecko on the social scene.. I haven't truly found my 'group' yet but I have been having a great time hanging out with the people I met. Cliques form at Duke pretty quickly.. but many cliques are nice enough to let 'outsiders' join in.. :D</p>
<p>Seriously though the tunnels are (kinda) interesting. I've spent some considerable time exploring them (not exactly allowed but I've live on East for two years so you know it'll happen eventually) and they can either be a hit or miss depending on who you are. I've known people to get locked down there on accident and be trapped for hours till they find an unlocked door but I've never had trouble going back to the surface. (its interesting to see what you can find to "pillage", in reality its just junk that Duke didn't feel like throwing away but it can still be fun!) Also, I've heard rumors of people thinking they go all the way to West but that is not true. (they furthest in that direction they go is the heating plant right after the tunnel that everyone paints stuff on, trust me I checked multiple times)</p>
<p>But you aren't allowed down there so don't go! ;-)</p>
<p>(oh and Cookout is another great option for late night eats, huzzah shakes!)</p>
<p>I don't think it's that people at Duke drink a LOT (I know of many who don't participate in binge drinking).. I think it's more so that a lot of people at Duke drink.
On the other hand.. I don't know that many Devils at this point..</p>
<p>at any school, save schools with strong religious affiliations, there will be a sizable portion of the ugrad population that go out on friday night and drink until they cant see straight. its just the age and environment.</p>
<p>Duke is not arizona state, west virginia, etc. Yes there is drinking, but the percentage of students that do is representative of schools in the "top tier" academically.</p>
<p>I agree ^^. Honestly if you go to Madison or ASU, there will be a lot more drinking and a lot more wild parties there. But I think for the top 10 schools, Duke is probably one of the biggest in terms of the drinking/partying atmospheres.</p>
<p>As a freshman here, I can definitely say the drinking/partying atmosphere is here. But honestly, you're not going to escape it whether you go to ASU or MIT. However, there are plenty of kids who don't drink and can have fun otherwise. There is plenty to do, don't worry.</p>
<p>Duke's premed program is one of the best in the country. I know there are statistics you can look up to back me up, but I'm too lazy to. </p>
<p>"at any school, save schools with strong religious affiliations, there will be a sizable portion of the ugrad population that go out on friday night and drink until they cant see straight. its just the age and environment."
True...but it's not just Friday night. It's Thurs-Sat for a lot, and Tuesday/Wednesday-Sat for some. Drinking doesn't bother me at all, but I was definitely surprised by the fact that Duke students go out so often.</p>
<p>college students everywhere go out thurs-sat. hell, thursday nights in the "real world" are still loved by many fresh out of college yuppies (and this summer, our youngest bosses planned some pretty sweet happy hour mixers for us on thursdays, despite having to be at work early the next morning). and i have a lot of friends at other schools who go out on either tuesday or wednesday nights... in college, it really doesn't seem that surprising. i'm a senior and my schedule is set up so i can go out tuesday nights and the standard thurs-sat.</p>
<p>Its called thirsty thursday. Its common at pretty much every college I visited (mostly top 15s). Its not just in college either. At the place I interned at for two years, a lot of the parties were on Thursdays. And hey, if you have a 11:20 class on Thursday and have no work, why not hit up Wednesday night? I am going to be up until 2:00AM anyways so might as well have fun while doing so. </p>
<p>I agree, Thurs-Sat isn't unreasonable at all (although I don't go out Thursdays because I have an 8.30 Friday class, blech.) I was surprised by the number of people at Duke who go out Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.</p>
<p>Well, that all depends or your academic load. For example, most of my engineering brethren can really only go out on the weekends and even then not all the time.</p>
<p>But if you have no work due at the end of the week, why wait to go out?</p>