I agree with what Monty said - Chem 101 will be 250, both sections and they will fill completely no matter what the time is. The reason is Engineers take it, Pre-Med takes it, Chem majors take and anybody else who has a chemisty requirement. There is an honors chemistry option that combines chem 1 & 2 which only has about 100 students (qualify if you got a 5 on AP chem, but I think you can test in as well if you got a 3 or 4). I think huge chem classes are the norm everywhere. I remember my chemistry, physics and calculus classes were probably the largest classes i ever took. But the discussion classes and labs are much smaller. My D did not get a chance to know her chemistry professor first semester, but I donât think she tried. Organic chem 1 & 2 are limited to 120 students. So, the numbers do drop off.
Also agree that greek life is less than 25% now. When Duke went to Quadex, part of that was that students could not pledge to fraternities or sororities as freshmen. So the greek council disenfranchised and moved off campus⊠really far off campus for the most part. If you want to participate you can, but you dont have to.
Part of the beauty of the Focus Program is that each cluster is limited to I believe 32 students max - but each class is limited to 16-18 students. There is one class in each cluster, the seminar, which all 30ish students are enrolled in. But my D22 got to know all 3 of her Focus Professors very well first semester. They knew her name, had coffee or lunch with her. I know I never had any professors like that in undergrad - definitely not freshman year. Now she will be doing research all summer (with paid housing and a nice stipend) in a lab with mostly post-docs and grad students.
I believe my D started to receive emails from Focus several days after she was accepted. She received them periodically after that. If I recall correctly, you have to select 4, because some will be more popular than others. The earlier you apply the better because acceptance is rolling. My D applied the last day because she wasnât sure if she wanted to do it. I believe the last day is late May. But it opens for Early Admits in February. So when she was accepted, she did not get her first choice, she got her second choice. But she really enjoyed her classes and it has worked out great for her.
The Focus cluster takes 3 classes together, one is an ungraded 0.5 credit special topic seminar that will probably meet once a week at dinner, one is related to the cluster and the third is an interdisciplinary class related to the cluster. The 4th is because each class is about half the cluster size, except the seminar. All the students in the cluster will be in the special topic seminar. So you choose 2 of the 3 classes plus the special topic seminar.
I honestly have no idea if it is difficult to get into the Focus program. It says they admit 20-25% of the incoming class, but it doesnât say how many apply. I do recall reading somewhere that Focus participants have a high percentage of graduating with honors. Found it!
o 35% of Focus students Graduated with Distinction by Honors thesis compared with 23% of all Trinity and Pratt graduates
o 14% of Focus students received post-graduation Merit Scholarship compared with 8% of all Trinity and Pratt Graduate
*One this I forgot to note - You also sign up for two non-Focus classes. With the 0.5 credit seminar, Focus students will have 0.5 credits more than most Freshman.
No, my daughter is pre-med. She took Chem 101, Calculus and the Focus courses. The focus courses should count towards her electives or towards her major requirement. The bigger problem is wanting to dual major and do pre-medâŠ
Are you in-state or out of state for Berkeley? What is the financial difference between the two schools? I know CS at Berkeley was CRAZY hard to get into this year because they are limiting the program to a very select few. Are you 100% sure about CS or could you potentially change your major? I am not CS so I canât comment too much on which program is better. Duke is my personal dream school, but my major is very comparable at both schools. Growing up in CA I have always heard about Berkeley CS. Seems you probably canât go wrong with either unless Dukeâs CS is considered a much weaker program. You should also consider the differences in price and campus culture (there are pros and cons to each IMO.) Also, is it important to you to be close to a big city (like San Francisco)?
Both schools cost similarly to me. I am also very sure that I want to learn cs. Duke has a small class with few students and high attention. I heard that Berkeley is a big class, although CS is very strong, this is what I am still hesitant about. Duke or Berkeley based on this situation?
I canât speak to the CS program at either school. Have you looked up the specific CS classes at both Duke and Berkeley? I have heard some colleges teach CS more theoretically and some with more real world applications. Maybe look up the actual classes and see what school has classes that appeal to you more. I know for me it was helpful to look at different schools and compare upper division classes within the same major at different schools. Also, I wonder if since Berkeley has a bigger program they have more offerings? I know they have changed their program to direct admit now to reduce the number of students in the major and it is much harder to get accepted into CS now, but should be easier to get classes, etc. You should also post on the Berkeley sub and try to attend admitted student day at both. I have heard that Berkeley CS has some special events for newly admitted students. Good luck to you in making your decision and congrats on two great options.
About 75% of US college students end up changing their major. I would pick Duke because Cal is overcrowded now, which means it can be hard to get housing and to get into the classes you want.
And as a residential university, Duke would provide an incredible sense of community among likeminded but incredibly diverse folks⊠Of course, certainty over on-campus housing as wellâŠ
We just committed to Duke! Weâre super excited.
Offers from Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCLA and GA Tech were tempting, but Duke is clearly the winner. Itâs the best place for my daughter. Best wishes to all.
Congratulations!! We are still evaluating Duke and Cornell, and if you have any insights to share about either school that you learned from your research, would love to know.
