<p>Madboy -- I'm the Mom so am sure the hours are late enough for daughter......any safety concerns about waiting for a bus late at night?</p>
<p>I've never experienced nor have heard of any safety concerns regarding waiting for a bus during late hours, since the campus itself is a very, very safe place. However, if you are worried at all, it's always a good idea to travel to East/West campus with someone else during late hours. Also, there is a taxi option, Saferide, which I believe is 24/7, that you can call to eliminate the possibility of waiting for the bus altogether.</p>
<p>saferide is not 24/7, but it does cover the times when the buses aren't running. Also note that saferides do not operate very far beyond the boundaries of the Duke Campus. </p>
<p>from the website: "SafeRides operates from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. daily, except Thanksgiving Holidays, Winter Break and New Years Day."</p>
<p>1 down, 1 to go - My D says it was creepy sometimes to wait for the bus so she would just sleep in the library on West if she was there too late.</p>
<p>I would suggest you invest in a personal alarm - makes a huge noise like a foghorn for when you are out sailing in the fog. Or you can be like Veronica Marrs and carry one of the smaller foghorns in your bag. You can buy them at a marine store.</p>
<p>If you have no marine stores or your D thinks one would be too bulky - search for personal alarms on your favorite search engine and some websites will pop up. Do not call the Duke police department - they had no idea what a personal alarm even was when I called them to inquire about items like a personal alarm, mace and pepper spray. They will just tell you that your D should never be alone and always travel with a group although a robbery of a group of three happened in the Whole Foods parking lot (across the street from East campus) in Fall 2007.</p>
<p>Personally my D likes the foghorn although it is a little bulky. She is a great admirer of Veronica Marrs.</p>
<p>And as for Saferides - it was a big issue earlier this year as students expressed discontent with the fact that Saferides would take over 30 minutes to arrive and sometimes not arrive at all. And Saferides personnel lied to my D and refused to take her to a location within their designated area because they obviously just did not want to be bothered. I verified that the location was within the Saferide area and my D's second attempt at using Saferides armed with this information still resulted in failure. Complaints to the Dean of Students and Duke police went unanswered. Maybe things have changed since the Saferides issue received more publicity after the student newspaper published articles about the problem.</p>
<p>My daughter also big fan of Veronica Mars!</p>
<p>Thanks for the candid comments.</p>
<p>1down, 1 to go - be certain to look at college newspapers of the universities/colleges your student is interested in. Pick up the newspapers when you visit campus and you will get an idea of student concerns.</p>
<p>Also look at the College Publisher Network - this is a list of college newspapers. Most can be searched using the built in search engine. You can also subscribe on line to ones that your student may be seriously interested in to get a better idea of events on campus.</p>
<p>College</a> Publisher Network Affiliates</p>
<p>I believe in being candid and frank - there should be no surprises once you arrive on campus if the administration is honest. Very often they are not and students end up transferring after their first year.</p>
<p>As for Duke and other universities - also check out the daily police reports usually found under the university police department pages. That also yields useful information - look for reports or something similar. Clery reports are usually a year or two out of date.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>