<p>I have been reading some archived articles in the Duke online newspaper about the alcohol policy at Duke and I want to make sure that the picture I'm drawing from what I read is accurate. Sounds like for years Duke had some pretty big partying going on on-campus (mainly fraternity related) and was pretty lax about enforcing the alcohol policy. That changed after a tragedy occurred where a student died after binge drinking. Now it sounds like the partying has moved off-campus which is causing problems with neighbors and DUIs. Can someone currently at Duke accurately comment on what the current situation is? My son was turned off by the prevalent drinking when he visited Rice and has the impression that Duke has less drinking? What percentage of kids drink at Duke and is there alot to do for kids who choose not to drink? Are the frats and sororities located on campus and do they have a big influence on Duke social life? All comments appreciated?</p>
<p>I would say its incorrect that Duke has less drinking than Rice. The honest truth is besides perhaps the University of Chicago, drinking is common at most schools in the US.</p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>I'm enrolled for next year, but I spent alot of time up at Duke with a friend there. In my short experience, I would say that a fair amount of kids drink at Duke. At the same time however, I met alot of kids at parties who werent drinking and no one said anything or bothered them about it. There are substance-free dorms where all alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc are prohibited and it seems like there is a good social network within that. That being said, I would agree w/ slipper that drinking occurs on most campuses in the US, its just the individual's choice whether or not to drink that makes a difference.</p>
<p>I'm totally excited for both drinking and non-drinking parties, but I asked around and there is definetely lots of places to not drink at parties...drinking is a hobby, not a lifestyle for most dukies - you can do it, but its fine if you don't</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the kids are like who live at Brown (that's the substance free dorm, right?). Is it mostly kids who want substance free for religious reasons? Or just kids who want a healthier lifestyle and not much noise in the dorm?</p>
<p>i think its the latter</p>
<p>Ok well i just finished first year and am a student in Pratt. I didnt really find the coursework all that demanding and spent a good amount of time partying so maybe I can help you with a few of these questions. From what I saw, drinking was pretty prevalent at Duke. All of my friends drank pretty much every thurs, fri, and sat (and assorted weekdays when there wasnt much work to do). I did not personally participate in social activites not involving drinking, although I know they exist. I personally enjoyed this social atmosphere very much but it definately is not for everyone. Parties take place in fraternity sections located on west or at houses off east campus. Fraternities have housing on west in dorms and I feel they have a large influence on social life on campus. Sororities are not residential. Only on east is drinking regulated to any real extent, and even there i felt like you had to be pretty stupid to get caught. That said, I think that there is a place at Duke for non partiers, but I still believe you should know that drinking is there and many kids will drink, just like any higher learning institution in the US. Feel free to ask any further questions.</p>
<p>Thanks Captain M for your post. I know that you are right that every campus has drinking. What I'm really trying to get a feel for is what percentage of students choose the party scene over other activities not involving alcohol. Is it 50/50? Or more like 25/75? I think if MOST of the students are into partying, someone who is not may feel out of place. I am especially interested in the Pratt students ... are they less into partying than Trinity kids?</p>
<p>Hmmmm well for the question of how ratio of kids party Id say that about 2/3-3/4 drink and prolly like half of those that do party consistently. The other half of people who drink engage in other activities and party only occasionally. Although the id say the majority of kids do drink at least at some time I wouldnt worry too much about not fitting in if you dont drink. There will always be people around and things to do for people who dont drink. And since the party scene isnt really that good I dont think someone who doesnt party would feel out of place at all. As for the Pratt/Trinity thing, although im in Pratt I only really hung out with a few other Pratt kids, all of whom drank and partied. The rest of my friends all were in Trinity. I would say in general that Pratt kids are less into partying but Im prolly not too qualified to answer this since i didnt hang out with too many Pratt kids. It doesnt really matter which one your in for who you hang out with, tho, there is no real division between trinity and pratt kids especially within the social scene. The only difference is the classes they take.</p>
<p>Thanks, CaptainM ... that's very helpful. On another note, you said that you didn't find the Pratt coursework "all that demanding". Did you come from a super-competitive high school? Do you feel that you were better prepared coming in than most Pratt students? Stats-wise, were you at the top of the applicant pool coming in? What engineering have you chosen to major in? Any comments you have re: Pratt in general, quality of courses, professors, etc. is appreciated. Don't mean to barrage you with questions ... whatever you want to answer is great!</p>
<p>I dont think I came from an ultracompetitive high school. It was a private school with about 200 kids in my class. I was first in my class and got a 1580 on my sats. I feel like I may have been better prepared than most pratt kids in that I had done a lot of stuff that we did in my duke classes in high school I guess. However, I honestly just didnt feel there was much work to do in general. Like in Chem I had already done everything in high school but didnt take AP so I couldnt get credit so I didnt need to go to lecture at duke and I could just show up at lab once a week and spend about a few hours on that. Same for physics. I took an easy ss class that required no work really. Math 103 and 107 gave me some difficulty at times but there wasnt an excessive amount of work and I felt like our teacher was very generous when giving out final grades so I feel like I got lucky in that respect. The rest of the classes I took were pretty much all like these in some respects. I mean there is definately work but I just felt like I was only really pushing myself on a few nights where I had multiple tests the next day. I guess course selection in my case really helped me get through the first year with as much success as I did and having as good a time as I did. As for major, I dunno yet but def not BME or EE tho, so its either CE or ME which are undoubtedly less demanding than BME or EE but there is really no difference between the four respects in year one except for maybe one class out of eight. As for quality of Pratt, I only took two classes within pratt and had great experiences in both but other than that did not get a good feel for it in my first year. I will say that Pratt really goes out of its way to make you feel welcome and comfortable in everything you do. Feel free to ask anything else.</p>
<p>Thanks, Captain M, your responses really help to get a picture of life as a freshman at Duke/Pratt. It sounds like you did not take FOCUS, correct? Do you know if many Pratt kids do FOCUS and does it limit them in being able to study abroad later on or take a double major? Are you planning to study abroad as an engineering student? (From looking at the Duke website, it doesn't seem that there are many programs for engineers to choose from in the study abroad area.) Also, I am interested in how/why you chose to study at Pratt? Do you feel that the departments in Pratt are equally strong in terms of the quality of the faculty and course selection? Thanks again for your responses.</p>
<p>No FOCUS for me. I knew a few Pratt kids that did focus and it did set them back a few courses. It definately impedes the ability to do a double major or go abroad, but is possible. If there is a topic that REALLY interests you, then id say to go ahead and do it but it does leave u a little behind. Im not going to go abroad. I dont really know why I chose to go into Pratt I just guess that engineering as a major interests me more than anything else since Im a math/science person. I think Pratt's departments are equally as strong as the rest of the university and Pratt seems very committed to always improving in every possible way, even more so than many trinity departments in my opinion, which is obviously a good thing. As for course selection, theres obviously less within Pratt because its a smaller school, but you also have the entire trinity college to choose courses from too so its not a problem at all.</p>