<p>I’m currently at Duke.
I’m thinking of transferring to Brown.
I would have chose Brown over Duke, but I didn’t get in Brown…</p>
<p>There are a lot of things I like about Duke, but Duke is too ‘jocky’, politically apathetic, and surprisingly anti-intellectual. I’m not a fan of Duke’s social scene for the most part. The only things I like are the party scene and the fact that many Blue Devils are Super Smash Bros. fans! I have a lot of acquaintances but haven’t made too many close friends because I don’t have a lot in common with the people who go there. Right now, I am thinking of majoring in math. I will either go for pre-law or possibly pre-med (leaning more towards law though). </p>
<p>My first semester GPA will likely have three good grades and one bad grade (B-/C+/C) to hopefully average to around a 3.5.</p>
<p>For those of you who are currently attending Brown, will I be able to avoid many of the things I don’t like about Duke at Brown? I never got the chance to visit but have heard many great things about this school!</p>
<p>The things you mention not liking about Duke are not things I’ve experienced at Brown. So I’d say you’re probably looking in the right direction.</p>
<p>Agreed…it is a completely different climate. But keep in mind that every school has their niche..so maybe you just haven’t found it at Duke yet.</p>
<p>PS: There are some mean Smash players here as well.</p>
<p>Haha! Cameron Indoor is one of the good things about Duke! :)</p>
<p>I meant more so in terms of personality of the student body, very jocky, people kept letting me know of the stereotype once I chose Duke but never did I think that stereotype would actually be real! Mostly because it was usually followed by LOL LACROSSE SCANDAL and it wasn’t like most of these people knew anything about Duke. :p</p>
<p>I really think Brown is a better fit for me at this point. </p>
<p>However, I talked to my parents today about the option of transferring.
As of now, I’m not going to be allowed to. They want me to stick it out at Duke. They said the only reason I should think about leaving if I was ‘flunking out’. </p>
<p>The policy is that if I’m going to transfer out of Duke, they will only pay for a cheaper school. This is because I would have proven that a ‘private school education’ isn’t so great that we have to spend an extra 30K a year on it. Money doesn’t grow on trees, that is completely understandable. </p>
<p>However, they also believe that a Duke education will help me lot in the future and say that I will be sticking it out for all four years. (No denial that Brown would have the same benefits though, haha). My mom also made some comments about how I would ‘hate Brown’ more since there are more rich, spoiled kids there who are 7-generation legacies at the school. Maybe Duke doesn’t have as many legacies, but it isn’t like the ultra-rich spoiled kids avoid Duke like its the bubonic plague.</p>
<p>I’ll just have to make the best of things. Maybe, I’ll meet new people, Duke’s a big enough school.</p>
<p>^Duke blows for those who are not within the stereotype. Obviously you fit into it just fine.</p>
<p>Mondo, if you want to transfer to Brown, I would suggest doing so without the parent’s consent if need be…then telling them if you get in, considering transfer acceptance is non-binding (I think).</p>
<p>My brother went to Duke and found his niche during his second year. He joined the Wayne Manor house (I think it was dissolved in his senior year, though), and met his real group there. Not that he didn’t enjoy freshman year–I don’t know if he was as keen on his interests at that point. </p>
<p>I heard a barrage of complaints from him about Duke when he was there, mostly concerning the administration’s lack of care for the students and its main concern with the athletics (he is not a sports fan, whereas I grew up a Blue Devil because of his attendance at Duke). But he did note the student body’s generally conservative political views and certain level of “prep” as an issue for him. He described the school to me by equating it to summer camp, and said it was more of a social experience than an educational one (he was a little disappointed that he was not challenged on the level he expected upon entering college, but that was just his own issue with setting the bar).</p>
<p>Interestingly, your comments on “anti-intellectual” students seems accurate, as he told me just this weekend that it wasn’t cool to be smart at Duke. Odd, I guess. And yet he still told me before he left for home in D.C. this morning that he hoped I didn’t wind up at Brown and instead went to Duke.<br>
The point is, after all of his complaints (many of which are similar to yours), he still valued what Duke did provide for him, loved his four years at college, and obviously enjoyed Duke enough to heavily endorse it to his little brother… He was just sure to point out that he wasn’t sugar coating anything so that I don’t go to wherever school I end up with the same impossible expectations he did.</p>
<p>daveb: Good luck with colleges! If Brown is your first choice, I hope you get in!
Wayne Manor is still up. I went to a few parties over there. I was actually thinking of trying out for Wayne Manor or Maxwell House, I like the people I’ve met from both of these places.</p>
<p>There are many things I still like about Duke, it’s just that I believe that colleges do have ‘personalities’ and I didn’t realize how much the social scene would matter for me. I want to give Brown (and possibly Columbia + Chicago+ Swarthmore) a try though. I didn’t apply to Swarthmore last year, but it was a school my older brother (graduated from Harvard) raved about to me. I was worried that Swarthmore was too small of a school and that it would be hard for me to make friends, but if Swarthmore has the ‘right kind of people’, I may want to try it. Also my parents didn’t really like the idea of Swarthmore too much, they thought my older brother applied there because his guidance counselor told him to, but I know he had a genuine interest in the school.</p>
<p>The stereotype consists of Duke students being a bunch of jocky, politically apathetic, anti-intellectual, extremely wealthy, horny, future alcoholic partiers.</p>
<p>There are people at Duke I met who are not even close to this stereotype. However, I met more people here who can be said to fit it. I would take a bet that most people who are not part of this stereotype either</p>
<p>a.) Didn’t apply to Duke
b.) Are part of the majority who turned down Duke for another school
c.) Are ignorant of how accurate the negative stereotypes of Duke are and chose the school because its an academic powerhouse (which is in many ways true)</p>
<p>I didn’t think this was true until I spent a few months here. I heard about the ‘stereotype’. I thought it was part of an ‘old Duke’ and tougher admissions standards would lead to a ‘new Duke’. The stereotype may have been more so true ten years ago but it’s still here today.</p>