<p>So Duke is on my list and I'm 99.9% finished with the application and I will be sending it in, no doubt. But I've been wondering as of late. I have visited Duke before, but my stay was only a day long. I've been hearing that many NCers aren't fans of Duke. Can an insider offer opinions? Where's it coming from and does it affect your experience at all?</p>
<p>Within North Carolina Duke traditionally has had the reputation of being the school for the snobbish, wealthy elite (which is obviously not the case). UNC is the dream school for many students, and I suppose you can’t like Carolina without hating Duke. I think having a dream school is fine, but it’s blown way out of proportion, i.e. students feeling if they don’t get in their life is over.</p>
<p>Both campuses are gorgeous, and obviously they’re both very strong academically as well. I have found by talking to my classmates that though they love to trash talk during basketball season many of them are quite sensible when discussing applying to colleges. The reception in and around Durham will be mostly positive, and I think even in other parts of North Carolina you’ll gain respect if they find out you’re actually a student instead of just a basketball fan.</p>
<p>I should add that I’ve been a Duke basketball fan for a long time so I suppose I could be a little biased, but I think my observations are quite reasonable.</p>
<p>I completely agree with Secret Asian Man, I see this at my HS all the time. I know a kid who said that same thing, that his life would be over if he didn’t get into UNC. </p>
<p>I think in NC there’s just this rivalry between Duke vs. UNC that you will see often. However, I don’t think you’ll have a bad experience at Duke just because some NCers aren’t fans of the school. There are also some NCers who are die-hard Duke fans. To be honest, I think the only major difference between the two schools is that Chapel Hill is a much better college town compared to Durham.</p>
<p>In NC, there are many more UNC fans than there are Duke fans, mostly because UNC alumni are much more likely to stay in the area. However, that’s just a sense of rivalry. I think Durham residents themselves dislike Duke students for the reason stated in Secret Asian Man’s first sentence. It’s sad, really, but while most Duke students aren’t “snobbish, wealthy elite,” you still have to realize how drastic the socioeconomic differences are between the Durham residents and even those at Duke receiving full need-based aid. So how does this animosity manifest itself on-campus? Well, some might cite crime incidents, but those are actually pretty rare. On the other hand, you can really see it by looking at student-staff (excluding faculty) interactions. Go to the Marketplace, for instance. Take a look at how the staff interact with each other, then at how students interact with each other, and finally how staff and students interact with each other. It’s no one’s fault, of course. Duke has made quite a few efforts to try to alleviate the situation, to its credit.</p>
<p>^ knat’s first sentence is tcr.</p>
<p>More North Carolinians like UNC because more UNC alumni are in the area, and UNC is way, wayyyyyy more composed of Carolinians than Duke is. Duke has students from all over the country and all over the world, so it’s not a “North Carolina” school. After graduation, Duke students much prefer to work/live in NYC, D.C., California (maybe not anymore ITE lol), abroad, etc., NOT North Carolina.</p>
<p>Take any top 10 school and stick it in the middle of a random state. Which school are the locals going to identify with more: their local state school or the top 10 private school? Easy answer.</p>
<p>P.S. Compare both the socioeconomic and racial demographics of Duke and UNC. Which one looks “whiter,” “wealthier,” etc.? Ah.</p>
<p>82% of UNC students come from the state of North Carolina, while the vast majority of Duke students come from other states. Dukies are seen as outsiders by many North Carolinians, hence the animosity.</p>
<p>^I wouldn’t categorize it as “animosity”. Also remember that Duke traditionally has ~15% of its class composed of Carolinians.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all your help. I understand where its all coming from now.</p>
<p>Happy to help :)</p>
<p>and good luck!!</p>