Duke student(s) taking questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>1) With another sibling in college, your EFC will drop. It will be covered by grants, not loans. Talk to the financial aid office for more information about this if you’d like. :)</p>

<p>2) Pratt is unique. Only about 1/3 of Pratt students actually go into engineering, while the majority go into academia, medicine, law, or finance. This is not because Pratt students aren’t recruited by top engineering companies, but because Pratt emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to engineering. Personally, I feel that the education at Duke and Pratt is very different, and worth it if you want more than just an education in engineering. And, as you said, Duke is great in BME. If you want to become an engineer and don’t care about that interdisciplinary emphasis (or want a variety of engineering majors to choose from, as Duke only offers BME, ECE, Civil and Environmental, and ME), maybe OSU is better for you.</p>

<p>3) Regarding the social scene, look at one of my previous posts. As I said, Duke strikes a unique sense of balance between academics and social life that you’d probably enjoy, considering what you just said. I suggest visiting Duke to see if you enjoy the environment.</p>

<p>Word of advice, don’t go to a school just because the student body looks great though. While I have to admit that Duke girls are pretty good looking, they’re not going to be drop-dead gorgeous (although there are a few…). It’s hard to find that balance of intelligence and beauty haha. Most of Duke’s peers probably have a similar number of “good looking” people.</p>

<p>4) Dorms at Duke vary a lot in size and shape. There are triples, singles, doubles, suitse, etc. They’re building a new residence hall on campus and they are renovating older ones as well. They’re not palaces, but they are usually either better or about the same in comparison to some of my friends’ at other schools that I’ve seen (Penn, UNC, Berkeley, Columbia)</p>

<p>TV in your room can be expensive, and most students don’t have cable service. But there are TVs with cable all over campus and in common rooms in dorms. You don’t really miss need it in your room. You can order it if you’d like though.</p>

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<p>Hello, I was very luckily accepted a few days ago.</p>

<p>In the admission packet, there was a Community Standard of which the part said something like “high academic standards equal or superior to my past performances…”</p>

<p>But I found it a little vague as to what it means by “high academic standards.”</p>

<p>I’m expecting my grades to drop a bit, not significantly, but certainly by the end of the year.</p>

<p>But I’m logically assuming that a drop in grades after the acceptance, unless it is terribly drastic, shouldn’t cause a rescission of the acceptance, even if the grades don’t exactly show “equal or superior to” one’s past academic performance. Please correct me if I am wrong. </p>

<p>Thanks…</p>

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<p>Is Durham really as bad as people say it is? I’ve heard stories about people on campus getting mugged at gunpoint and although I’m not from the safest neighborhood, nothing like that has ever happened around where I live and it kind of worries me.</p>

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<p>Hello, I have a few questions about the academics at Duke…</p>

<p>1) What is the rigor of Duke’s grading system? Is there a +/- system? (i.e. A+ is a 4.33, A is a 4, etc.)</p>

<p>2) What is the percentage of people who get A’s in the core science classes (bio, chem, physics)? Is there a set percentage of people who will get A’s (a curve, basically) or will anyone who gets a score higher than a certain percentage get the A? </p>

<p>3) What is the average class size for the core science classes? For any freshman class? </p>

<p>Thank you! :)</p>

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<p>thank you eatsalot!</p>

<p>Another rather random question, nothing major but I’m just curious; what’s the deal with the 12 meals-per-week meal plan? Shouldn’t there be 21? I’ve read a abit about it (and am still slight confused about the system). It seems to come down to you getting your own lunch on weekdays?
How does it work actaully? Does the system actaully force you to have 12 meals every week? And you would just waste your pre-paid money if you’re not a breakfast person/ going to eat out sometimes for dinner?</p>

<p>Thanks again :)</p>

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<p>I have a question about the food since everyone pretty much covered everything else. Mainly, since most high schools/universities have bad food, how good of it is Duke’s? And is it like most colleges where you can only eat in your dining hall? What about life outside of Duke? Would you say it’s more rural or urban? Also, are cars allowed for freshmen? I know some colleges don’t allow it, and does it cost money to “buy” a parking space? And if so, how far is parking from dorms? And is there a best dorm? </p>

<p>Thanks very much for taking the time out to answer the questions?</p>

<p>Oh last one, is the atmosphere safe? No muggings, killing, burglary, etc. etc.?</p>

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<p>Obviously, I don’t have other schools to compare this to, but I would say Duke’s food is actually pretty good. The freshman mean plan requires you to have 14 meals per week at the Marketplace (the freshman dining hall on East Campus), and a lot of people will complain about this. Honestly, the food isn’t the same as a home cooked meal (they have to mass produce it, after all) but it really isn’t that bad. They have lots of variety within the Marketplace (Asian food, pizza, made-to-order pasta, chicken, salad bar, etc), and if you do ever get sick of it you can go to the Freeman Center for dinner instead, which is always really delicious.</p>

<p>Beyond those 14 meals at the Marketplace each week, freshman have food points that you can use at any eatery on campus. There are bagel places, sandwich places, Armadillo Grill, McDonalds, and a bunch of really great eateries (try visiting The Refectory or The Loop if you visit!). Plus the Great Hall (the West Campus dining hall) is really good! Plus, if you don’t feel like leaving your dorm, Duke has a Merchants-on-Points program which allows you to order food (TGI Friday’s, chinese, Jimmy John’s, etc) directly to your dorm room and pay using food points.</p>

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Duke is definitely NOT rural. Having said that, it’s definitely not as urban as say, NYC. It definitely has more of a small city feel. East Campus has an amazing location for exploring Durham. You’re right near 9th Street, which gives you great access to a bunch of cute shops and restaurants. A bunch of the bars/clubs that students frequent (these are mostly 18+) are also within walking distance to East. </p>

<p>Freshman are allowed to have cars at Duke, and the parking passes last year cost $240 I believe. If you do have a car, it will make things like trips to Target and Southpoint (the mall) much easier, and give you access to some really great food places a little further from campus. However, by no means do you need a car. Chances are someone else on your hall will have one, or Duke has ZipCars available. As for parking, it will actually be easiest freshman year. There is TONS of parking on East Campus.</p>

<p>As for the best dorm, I’ll make a shameless plug for GA (Gilbert Addoms), but really all the dorms have their pros and cons, and you don’t get to pick anyway. The air-conditioned ones tend to be kind of tiny, and the non-airconditioned ones have way more space. It all works out in the end.</p>

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Some people tell you that Durham is not the safest place in the world, and they’re probably right but it’s really the same with any city. I think there have been 2 or so armed burglaries/muggings this year. Having said that, I personally have never felt unsafe at Duke, or even the surrounding areas. If you’re smart and have some common sense (ie, don’t walk on Campus Drive at night by yourself) you’ll be fine.</p>

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<p>Thanks! Your answers are really helpful, but now I’m wondering what food points are? Are they 1 point/dollar? And do you pay for food points or do GET food points? Also if you choose not to eat at the market place and in fact eat at the Freeman Center is that not a meal plan? Also, just because I’m asian, is there rice there? Sorry, it’s something I’ve eaten with every meal since I was very small:)</p>

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<p>Oh, and are the car spots right near the dorms? And are you allowed to put in a request for which dorm you would like and how frequent would it be to get the dorm you’d like?</p>

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<p>“1) How incredibly beautiful the Duke Gardens truly are.”</p>

<p>I totally second that comment. They should take p-frosh through the gardens.</p>

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<p>Okay, I’ll attempt to tackle these questions about the meal plan. Just as a disclaimer, I think it took people about 2 weeks into the semester before we completely understood how it works. It’s a little confusing.</p>

<p>The freshman board plan (which you are REQUIRED to have) consists of 5 breakfasts on the weekdays and 7 brunches/dinners all week. These meals are at the Marketplace on East, which is the freshman dining hall. This amounts to 12 meals per week, so you have food points (around $400 in value) to cover the rest of the meals you eat. I think if I break it up into sections the plan will be easier to understand.</p>

<p>1) So Monday-Friday, you get 1 breakfast swipe per day at the Marketplace. This is all-you-can-eat. If you eat breakfast every weekday, you’re then on your own for lunch (meaning you use your food points and get lunch wherever you want to on campus). If you’re not a breakfast person, you can skip your breakfast at the Marketplace and you get a $6 credit for Marketplace a la carte lunch that day. So don’t worry about wasting your parents’ money if you don’t normally eat breakfast. Also, if you have classes on West in the morning and can’t use your Marketplace breakfast swipe, you get a $6 breakfast credit at the Great Hall on West (which has AMAZING omelets and chocolate chip pancakes, by the way). </p>

<p>2) Monday-Sunday you get 7 swipes for dinner and/or brunch. You can use these however you want throughout the week. For example: 5 dinners and 2 brunches, 6 dinners and 1 brunch, or 7 dinners and 0 brunches. Dinner is offered every day and brunch is 10am-2pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Again, both of these are all-you-can-eat. So to answer your question about going out to dinner (or eating dinner on West Campus), you can actually do it once or twice a week without wasting your money, because you’ll be out of Marketplace swipes anyway. </p>

<p>Like I said, you generally start off with about $400 worth of food points, and you’re free to add to this at any time during the semester. Some people (my roommate) ended the semester with $200+ food points Others have already had to add $300 or so this semester. It depends on how well you actually use your Marketplace swipes.</p>

<p>So for example (I’m really guilty of this), if you skip both breakfast AND lunch at the Marketplace (and don’t use your Great Hall credit), you’re wasting $6 you’ve already paid for, in addition to probably spending $6-7 to eat lunch on West. But if you can try to eat either breakfast or lunch on East everyday, you’ll be in really good shape food points wise. </p>

<p>Sorry if this confused you more! If you need me to clarify something I’d be happy to!</p>

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<p>Sorry for all these questions! But I’m not clear on the food points, is this per week or per semester? Are we allowed to go to the Great Hall on West if we don’t have classes there that day? So this basically means I need to buy 9 meals per week? And can you do the all you can eat thing to go if you are in a hurry?</p>

<p>Also if it’s per semester then thats 18 weeks times 9 meals per week which amounts to roughly 2 dollars per meal that is not in the marketplace?</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the helpful info! I have a (random) question: do most/all of the dorms have music practice rooms? I don’t want to major in music, but I’d like to have a place to play the piano for fun…or is the music dept. open to all students for fun-music-making? :)</p>

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<p>Also does Duke do grade deflation? Is there a gym, rock climbing, skating rink, etc. etc. cool physical activities? Are the dorms modern? How much more is an air conditioned room per year? And how big relatively is the campus? From a personal perspective what is your/your friends point of view on it and what are your favorite/worst points?</p>

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<p>Wow…thanks a lot , bluedevil13. That actually makes such a confusing system very clear and easy to understand! :slight_smile: I assume the left over food points from one semester can be transfer to the next? </p>

<p>I don’t know why I’m making a big deal about food lol…but thanks for your detailed reply again!</p>

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<p>Hi guys, thanks alot for doing this for us! I have a few questions about the dorms and stuff. First, if someone can clarify for me, is there cable TV in the dorms or not? Also, if you request and get a single, would it cost extra money, or do you just have to hope that your lucky and get one. Oh one more thing, do students get discounted tickets to events and such in Durham like sporting events, concerts, ect. Thanks in advance for your responses!</p>

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<p>1) Yes, food points are 1 point/dollar. You pay for them as part of your freshman meal plan. There are 3 different plan options, differing in the number of food points you get. </p>

<p>2) Dinner at the Freeman Center counts as a dinner swipe, so it’s just like going to the Marketplace for dinner. I think they have rice some days, but you can normally check the menu online before you go.</p>

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<p>1) Most parking areas are right in front of the dorms, and I would say none of them are more than a 2 minute walk. </p>

<p>2) You can’t request a dorm, with a couple exceptions. If you want to be in the Substance-Free dorm, you’ll be in Brown and if you want to do the Arts-Themed housing you’ll be in Pegram. Other than that, it’s completely random. </p>

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<p>Food points are per semester. You are welcome to go to the Great Hall and use your breakfast credit whenever you want - you don’t need to have classes on West that day. You’ll basically need to 7 meals a week at most (you won’t be eating lunch on the weekends because of the timing of brunch). If you’re in a hurry, they sometimes have to-go boxes, or you can bring tupperware. Duke Dining Services has a chart online with the different meal plans and how many food points per day you get with each, and it’s normally $3-4/day. That may not seem like a lot but speaking from experience I can say that it’s unlikely you’ll eat 3 full meals a day in college. I rarely wake up in time for breakfast. :)</p>

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<p>1) From my first semester and a half, I don’t really see much grade deflation. There are classes graded on a curve (Econ, pre-med classes, math) but I’ve seen that most of them are curved pretty reasonably. Maybe someone who’s been here longer can speak more knowledgeably on this subject.</p>

<p>2) There are two gyms (Brodie on East and Wilson on West), and students are free to use either one. Wilson has a rock climbing wall I think, and both have indoor pools.There are tennis courts on both campuses too. Overall I’d say the gyms are pretty nice. </p>

<p>3) Some of the dorms on East are new, others not so much. The three air-conditioned ones (Blackwell, Belltower, and Randolph) were built pretty recently and thus just look a little more modern (though quite honestly the cinderblock walls make them look a bit like prison cells :)). The non-airconditioned dorms were built in the 1950s(?), but by no means do they look ancient inside. The air-conditioned dorms are about $1000 per year, but like I said, you can’t pick anyway. If you do have a medical need for air-conditioning (ie, allergies) you can request it, but you might just get an air-conditioning unit in your window rather than one of the newer dorms.</p>

<p>4) The campus is big, but not huge. Walking from one end of West to the other probably takes 10 minutes. Favorite parts of the campus: Everything. It’s completely beautiful. The fact that it’s 85 degrees today isn’t hurting either. Worst things: if you only have 20 minutes to get from East to West for class, it can be a little tricky at the busy times of the day. Just something you have to keep in mind when registering for classes.</p>

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Yep, they can be transferred. And then if you have some left over at the end of the year, you can splurge and have a $40 meal at the WaDuke. Just an idea :)</p>

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<p>1) You have access to cable in the dorms, but you have to pay for it. It’s $168 a semester I think. My roommate and I split it. While I wouldn’t say it was completely necessary, it was nice to have at times. All the common rooms have really nice flat screen TVs with cable though. </p>

<p>2) Singles do cost more money. Though you can’t guarantee you’ll get one, I’d say you have a pretty good shot. I have friends who DIDN’T request singles and still got them. </p>

<p>3) There is something called The Hub on West Campus, and they sell discounted tickets for events in Durham: concerts/musicals/plays/sporting events.</p>

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<p>Cool, any idea how much extra a single is?</p>

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<p>Aside from club sports, are there any fitness groups on campus? If there are, are they any good?
I’ve been really active in sports since I was 8 and I can’t stand the thought of not being active.
Thanks a million for answering all of these questions!</p>