<p>So, my daughter decided to go to Duquesne to get degrees in education and math. There is not much response from the DU board, so I am trying here in case there are any parents or alumni. I'm looking for any advice on housing (on or off), dining, classes and activities. Thanks!</p>
<p>Subscribing. Thought if we were going to visit Pitt we’d look at Duquesne, too.</p>
<p>Sorry - no advice on specifics at Duquesne - but I wanted to say that Duquesne is cool. The Tamburitzans are little short of amazing. Duquesne has a good reputation. For some cute things - google “duquesne orientation” team leader dance - or read about their graffiti dance</p>
<p>Off topic (sorry): ^^^ Missypie if you come up to visit Pitt, as the kids would say, “come on over to the CLE” If your D would consider Duquesne, maybe your D would consider some of our smallish schools. John Carroll is a much-loved Jesuit college in University Heights and Baldwin Wallace is just west of town, noteworthy here on CC for its musical theatre (yes, they really do send kids to Broadway) but a very nice Methodist college, a lovely campus in a nice neighborhood in Berea, a suburb west of town. (John Carroll is a nice campus in a nice neighborhood - not quite as scenic.) Also - with more of a national reputation and very good - The College of Wooster is not far from Cleveland. None of these have Tamburitzans, though!</p>
<p>We visited Duquesne twice during one college search for one kid. All of us liked it a lot. It is a nice self contained compus within walking distance of a vibrant downtown. We also loved all that Pittsburgh had to offer. In addition, we know some Duquesne grads who lived off campus their last couple of years. Rental prices were quite good for nice places. </p>
<p>The school is a Catholic college, and it is somewhat conservative although DS did not think it too much so. We liked it enough to try to convince DD to look there but it didn’t fit her “warm weather criteria”.</p>
<p>I looked at Pitt and Duquesne and really liked both. I ended up choosing Pitt for many personal reasons, but still wonder what ti would have been like to have gone to Duq. Duq was a solid school with a nice campus.</p>
<p>My biggest problem with Duquesne is its location. It’s in the Hill District - AKA “Hell District.” Smack in the Hill District. That place is scary, and here at Pitt, were have one response to the Hill District: “There is no reason to go there. Ever.” Visiting Duquesne, while it has a lovely campus, was enough to convince me not to go. I just didn’t want to live in a place where I felt truly scared.</p>
<p>I’ve lived in the Pittsburgh area over 20 years and have never heard the Hill District called the “Hell District”. It is an urban school, but there are some dicey areas not far from Pitt also. Several kids from our suburban area attend Duquesne without fear, lots of students live off campus on the South Side. A with any urban campus, reasonable safety precautions should be taken. I don’t have much advice for the OP’s questions however, sorry.</p>
<p>LKF - Hope you get more responses! As time passes and D talks to more students, she is getting more + more excited about attending. </p>
<p>Duq’s campus is not in the middle of the Hill District. Where it sits on the bluff, it is self-contained, well-patrolled, and active and well-lit. Pitt and Carnegie Mellon also have some urban/dicey areas, as noted by Mamabear. Since their campuses are not self-contained, however, they have more traffic passing through and panhandlers/street people on occasion. That doesn’t happen on Duquesne’s campus due to its location on the Bluff. (Pitt’s school newspaper lists its police activity, and Pitt has its fair share of street-crime.) However, Pittsburgh is a great city whether you’re a student at Pitt, Duq, or one of the numerous other universities or colleges in our region.</p>
<p>I was surprised by the fact they have a semi-formal dance as part of the orientation festivities. They also have a special parents’ weekend just for freshmen, which I think is nice. My other kids went to very large public universities, which didn’t have this.</p>
<p>I know many Duq alumni who are very loyal to their school. For ex., I know some HR people who graduated from Duq, who told me that they always go to Duq first when hiring. For what it’s worth, my sons’ friends encouraged D to choose it over her other options and told her that they feel they’re getting a great education. This isn’t proof of anything, of course - but it’s always nice to hear from current students that they’re happy, and to hear from alumni that they don’t regret their choice. </p>
<p>I’d also like to hear about the dorms, the food plans, weekend activites etc. I’ve been watching the Duq board too, and it hasn’t gotten much activity for such a large school.</p>
<p>FWIW - My former boss, who is one of the finest men I know, went to Duquesne and has had a long and fruitful career. Also, the brother of one of S1’s classmates is currently a junior there, majoring in political science, and loves it. He’s just returned from a semester in Ireland. Another girl we know is going there this fall. It’s about four hours away from here and fairly popular, especially among Catholic HS graduates.</p>
<p>Hey, just wanted to pop on and say that I live near Pittsburgh and have several friends attending Duquesne currently. Most are in pharmacy, but a few are in business and education…PM me for specific questions. THey all LOVE it</p>
<p>Sorry to say I have no useful information, having only work-related acquaintance with Duquesne – but I had to pop in and brag that I know how to pronounce it. :D</p>
<p>This school make it onto my list. I know it’s a Catholic school, but just how conservative is it? I’m pretty liberal so…</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the input! I really appreciate it and am happy that people have good things to say about Duquesne. Please continue to add comments!</p>
<p>I was surprised to read in post #5 that Duquesne is in the Hill District, especially after getting my MBA there 15 years ago. I would consider it more on the edge of downtown Pittsburgh. Just to doublecheck my knowledge of geography, I checked google map and can understand where that assumption came from. I guess that I have driven past the campus on my way home from the Mellon Arena after a few Penguin games. </p>
<p>As an older grad student, I am afraid that I can not contribute much to the discussion of its undergrad programs. I pretty much drove to my classes and left campus immediately after. I always felt safe on campus. As a Pittsburgher, I have known a number of people who have attended the school and have never heard anything bad about it. Their music programs, especially, are well-known here.</p>
<p>We just visited Duquesne when we did the “Big Three” Pittsburgh college tour of Duquesne, Pitt and CMU. My son really liked Pitt, disliked CMU, and liked Duquesne. It was a surprise that he liked Pitt so much since he had expressed his preference for an enclosed campus which CMU and Duquesne are. But Duquesne is definitely on his college list.</p>
<p>One side of the campus is directly adjacent to the “Wall Street” of Pittsburgh which I feel is Grant Street. The other side is bordered by Mercy Hospital which has been acquired by UPMC. Beyond the Hospital is a nasty area for a few miles until you hit Oakland. Wish they could just eradicate that. Across Forbes Ave are more Duquesne buildings outside of the fenced campus which include the fitness center and the Barnes and Nobles which is the campus bookstore. But all of this is connected by overpasses that are all indoor. You don’t have to set a foot outside for access. The other side is bordered by a highway that is quite a drop below the college which sits on a steep hill. A beautiful view of the Monangahela River and South Side makes up that entire side of the campus. Truly gorgeous. The accessibility of Southside, Oakland and Northside is close by distance, but Oakland by public transportation is not something I would do in the evenings because of that nasty few mile stretch.</p>
<p>The campus itself was a perfect size, in my book. Small but not squeezed or cramped. A professor actually talked to my son for a half hour discussing opportunities his department offers. I was impressed.</p>
<p>Which department was that cptofthehouse, if you don’t mind my asking?</p>
<p>School of Business. The prof specialized in sports marketing. Gave S a lot of information about his experiences in the field and the opportunities it has.</p>
<p>We met a few business school representatives, and they were very welcoming. I’m hoping that the education school and the math department are good too!</p>
<p>People who go to Duquesne love it; as a Pittsburgh resident, I’ve worked with many Duquesne alums and they are nothing if not enthusiastically LOYAL to their school.</p>
<p>Duquesne is not located in the Hill; technically, I believe it is located (along with Mercy UPMC) in Uptown which borders a number of neighborhoods, including the Hill. And the Hill is a perfectly fine neighborhood.</p>
<p>Though not in the Hill, that area between Mercy Hospital and Oakland is pretty nasty. I’d like to see in razed and rebuilt, since Oakland is such a vibrant area, and that blighted section between Duquesne and Oakland is really the only thing that makes public transportation between the areas and among the other schools in Oakland problematic. Though the Hill is a perfectly fine neighborhood, for the most part, that part of Forbes that I’m saying is nasty, really is a bad neighborhood.</p>
<p>From time to time I tutor some of the local HS kids in preparation for the SAT. I asked one last fall where she was planning to apply and she included “DUSS-quin-nee.” It took a lot of Q&A before I figured out where Dussquinnee was. :)</p>
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